SHOTOKAN - Frank Brennan Kata Application

[paulribbens12]

Sensei Frank Brennan a living legend of karate, great presence strength of character a real 100 percent professional, and outstandIng karate champion.

[tokaidosan]

Frank Brennan kicked many Japanese Butt Asses...He would deserv a Gold medal for that!!!

[TheShodan2004]

Im doing this for my second dan grading......would love to be able to do it this good!!

OSS

[ElliotArden]

Fantastic performance of the kata with an absolute garbage bunkai.

[Sherry200643]

@ElliotArden - lol... I take it you're being humorous when you say the bunkai is 'absolute garbage'...! Please enlighten us all.

[dosnstuff007]

I was watching......when Sensei Brennan did his kata the whole room stopped to watch.

[BodomChildBreeder]

1:30 frank actually hurts that guy and a few times before lol (guy on the left of screen) meanwhile the guy below me is a crackpipe..

[gojuryukarateka]

give me a break ... this guys blows ... what the fuck is his mawashiuke blocking? toe first footing is horrendous ... other than an impressive yoko geri he sucks ... this guy needs to put some time into training.

[Sherry200643]

@gojuryukarateka - another idiot trying to sound like he knows what he's talking about...lol

[catalyn080]

@gojuryukarateka ...lol wtf ...this guy is SENSEI FRANK BRENNAN ..one of the most outstanding karate champions ...you saw his nijushiho kata ...then look at his kumite fighting if you are not impressed ...however you will never surpass his talent and training ...so do not talk about how people should be ..don't talk , do something ...train more , speech less ...

[ranjoharbri]

Frank Brennan inspired me through out my training in Shotokan, he was always someone to look up to and try to emulate. I never could make my Karate look like Sensei Brennan, but I tried so so hard. The mans amazing. Thank you for all you've given us Frank.

[shotokankjs]

People should shit in their pants around sensei frank! :D his kiah is good enough to create a hole in your heart! ( yes i mean spirit)

[muchosmuertos]

Must be the most impressive display of kata and bunkai that I have found so far. Something to aspire to.

[jason41760]

@muchosmuertos Sensei Brennan Lol...He is the Ferrai of Shotokan Karate..His speed is pheanominal(Ok I know I spelt it wrong)

But Yeah Sensei Brennan he really is a perfect role model.Excellent technique,Speed,passion and emotion and the ettiquettes .

[fredkarat]

great master of kime.OSS.

[fredkarat]

best of the best .king of kime.OSS

[afromeda]

Great kata! A real warrior! OSS!!

[Kuraidokarate]

awesone side kick

[PanicusVulgaris]

Brennan is as sharp as ever :) Thanks for this clip

[80KungFu]

Awesome! Karate is one of the best styles against several opponents just because it uses fast and simple techniques against the weak spots on the body. This sort of techniques gives you the speed and aggression necessary to win a fight against more than one opponent. Keep it up!

[tomasleeman]

Awesome application of Ninjushiho.

[Tapiola2007]

Sensei Brennan is amazing!.

He's one the best I've ever seen (not that my opinion counts for anything): but that's not surprising really as his instruction comes from a very direct line to Funakoshi himself.

I believe his first sensei was Andy Sherry (first person in the UK to earn Sho Dan in Shotokan), who trained under Enoeda, who in turn trained under Nakayama, who trained under Funakoshi.

Sensei Brennan is an inspiration for anyone who understands what Shotokan is actually about.

[KarateKUGB]

hey guys especially k77 person. its not funny, he is actually very serious about karate, he assesses my karate and he will be for my 1st dan too.

[sweetypie000]

i think he dosen't and i've trained under Kenneth Funakoshi, Sensei Enoeda, Sensei Ohta, Sensei Rob Butler and Ray Fuller.

What about you?

:)

[chevytruckjoe]

kushiro77 that's pretty damn funny you say that. Masahiko Tanaka was quoted once saying he trained the Japanese team just to beat Mr. Brennan. lol

[thematrixman2007]

When you do bunkai you must stay as close to the embuzan line as much as possible. In other words don't stray away to much from the actual moves of the kata (remember we don't do street fighting).

In a real life situation, sensei would adapt the techniques to deal with perhaps a round punch or a grab.

What we see above is purely for demonstartion and to show the effectiveness of the kata.

[BandanaBoy123]

Great Kata & again really skilful bunkai application that must have took hours of practise & Well Done to Sensei Brennan.

However, the bunkai he is showing is not effective for real life combat and that is what Kata is about.

a) The attack in the stree will never be from a perfect jodan oi zuki per say, 

b) The bunkai only works when the attacker attacks in a pre-set way, (e.g. lead punch, reverse punch and then a kick at the end)

c) If does was real why dont everyone jump him at once?

[Fallum1]

Frank really is inspiring, you see videos where the Martial Artist doesn't appear to be "feeling" the kata, but Brennan puts emotion into every move with flawless technique

[mokuso666]

"You really need to work on your technique a little, old boy." that is perhaps the funniest quote ever. Frank Brennan has moved Shotokan to a different level. His technique is perfect. This is an old vid and the image quality is lacking.

I train with Sensei Brennan often, and when i see someone like yourself telling him to work on his technique i can only laugh and think that when Sensei Brennan wakes up in the morning he trains to reach perfection, rather than judge perfection.

[perisville]

What a man..so sharp

[mechanix5]

a true gentleman and lethal karate man! hes the shotokan tiger after late sensei his kata shows heart and soul which is wat its about. noin the main off the floor! he come 2 our club once every month and has for the last 2 yrs! he is mr karate

[beltran1984]

eso es karate HERMOSO KATA ,SOLIDO ESTO SI QUE ES KARATE .ESTE INGLES FUE SUBCAMPEON MUNDIAL EN LA SHOTO CUP DE JKA,, EN KUMITE INDIVIDUAL.MUY MUY GROSO

[EASEDIGEST]

amazing

[Hotora86]

Wow. Great bunkai, fast, strong, loud even. And they he just says "osu" so calmly. ^^ Love it.

[scimowser]

that is how sensei brennan is, however his application is faultless

[andykarate]

Personally speaking ( as a mere 4th Dan ), I think Sensei Brennan's performance of Nijushiho is too loud.

One can use Kime without making all that noise.

My favourite kata is also Nijushiho.

[scimowser]

Sensei Brennan was the only ever Sensei i had that intimidated me with his ability. For me personally he is the best we have ever had, possibly the best non-Japanese instructor ever - certainly of his generation

[peter6bee]

I can confirm that comment having been a past student of Sensei Brennans

[blackbeltste]

i can guarantee that video is not sped up at all. im a student of franks, he is that damn fast, even now.

[jbob75butbetter]

There is no speed up here, Sensei Brennan is a complete force of nature. Amazing. Check out the "Brennan - A Profile" video for a clip of him doing the same kata when he was 17!

[Northernwatched]

Yes, I think what jfkcotter has done here is simply try to count the frame rate without realizing the difference in NTSC and PAL. The added problem of trying to count frame rates on a lowered quality upload is a nightmare. All things considered, having seen Brennan perform 'live' I can also state that this material does seem to be an accurate account of the guy's speed.

[200374]

The silence is truly deafening!

[shogunsan21]

I was lucky to have refereed Frank Brennan at the English Karate Championships in 1968 at Chrystal Palace. When I gave a score against him he turned and bowed to me. For a few seconds I could not move as I had never experienced this before, but sometimes got abuse! I will never forget this, him showing the true Karate-Do spirit! Frank Brennan is a great Karate-Do Karateka and Gentleman.

Oh, he did win all his fights on this day!

[200374]

@shogunsan21 - I think you mean 1978 - typo.

[shogunsan21]

@200374 No it was 1986 at the EKB Championships at Chrystal Palace!

[200374]

@shogunsan21 - Well between us we got it right!!

[shogunsan21]

@200374 Glad we got that right!

[200374]

Now let me help you out here. Did you count NTSC 29.975 fps or did you count PAL 25fps...did you also do the math for the upload conversion...? I guess not.

[200374]

Well, seeing that I work in broadcast television, and can assure you that the frame rate is PAL 25fpc - I don't quite understand where you get your frame rate from. Please enllighten us all.

[jamboni]

kool stuff but i wudnt say flawless, am not condemning Sensei Brennan for, that, wud luv 2 b his student

[dougrhess]

What kata is this? Very impressive performance, although the application part seems speed up, or at least the film gets very jerky at that point.

[200374]

The kata is Ni Ju Shi Ho and there's no speed alteration. The guy is 'that fast'... believe me.

[dougrhess]

I was watching on wireless and the speed must have changed some as the buffering was acting up. It looks normal (very fast! but in a normal way) now that I am at home on DSL. Thanks.

[pend1466]

What a master at work.

[maribk]

wkf sucks!

[Toxeh]

That's what Bunkai should be like, someone should do this in a WKF competition. Show them some real Bunkai!

[Rosslyn9]

Still puts the fear of God into me! Excellent bunkai

[scimowser]

absolutely faultless karate by Sensei Brennan. He used to put the fear of God in me when he was grading me, he has an aura about him and demands perfection