In the Japan Karate Association (JKA) style of shotokan karate, a karateka is required to perform the kata Heian Yondan for their 5th kyu grading. This is the 4th kata in the heian series and there are several aspects that deserve careful consideration. In this article we'll consider the opening movement.
In the JKA style, the opening movement requires slowly sliding the left foot out from heiko dachi into kokutsu dachi. This movement contrasts with the other slow foot movements within the heian series - count 11 in Heian Sandan and counts 3, 6, and 22 in Heian Godan (I exclude count 14 as this does not involve foot movement). These other slow movements all involve withdrawing an already extended foot back into heisoku dachi whereas count 1 of Heian Yondan requires the extension of the leg.
Extending the leg in a slow movement is a much more difficult technique to execute correctly and further contrasts with other slow stepping techniques in more advanced kata. For example, the slow movements of counts 31, 32, and 33 of Empi are generally performed by placing the foot before the movement has completed. Synchronisation of the upper and lower body is achieved by completing the movement of the knees and hips at the end of the movement.
In contrast to this, in yondan we must keep the left foot moving until the end of the entire movement, a much harder task. A common technique to facilitate this movement is to adjust the angle that the left foot contacts the ground at - reducing contact and hopefully reducing friction. Typically this is a slight tilt of the foot to emphasise the big toe and the associated ball of the foot. While this is an attractive approach it is generally insufficient for large adults.
The fundamental difficulty comes from putting significant weight on the left foot during the movement and the only way to address this is by keeping as much body weight on the right foot as possible. This requires great right leg strength to allow the bended knee to take almost the entire body weight. With such strength comes the ability to smoothly slide the left foot as it is almost weightless.
However, to achieve all the weight on the right leg requires our centre of mass to be almost directly above the right leg, in contrast with its central location during our initial heiko dachi. Therefore there must be some rightward shift of our body weight during the inital dropping motion of the movement. Such motion needs to be minimised in order to stick to the intent of the movement as a leftward step. To do this we slightly narrow our heiko dachi so that the initial drop-and-slight-right-movement is less noticable.
Finally, in kokutsu dachi our weight is only 70% on the rear foot, in contrast with having almost our entire weight on it during the movement. Thus, as we complete the movement we also shift our weight leftwards as we finally arrive in kokutsu dachi.
This concludes my thoughts on the opening move. In the next article I will discuss my thoughts on the two yoko uraken uchis.
Continuing on from the last article, we now turn our attention to counts 5–10. These two sequences of three moves each are our first introduction to a sequence that recurs in many advanced kata. And despite it being a focus of this kata, key aspects are often overlooked.
The sequence consists of three counts and since it appears twice, with directional changes before and after each, it is apparent that it represents an independant waza. As with most waza like this, we would expect it to start with defensive movements and finish with offensive ones. This presents somewhat of a conundrum as there are no obvious blocks in the sequence.
While some counts with our hands together represent grasping or grappling techniques, this is unlikely bunkai for the initial koshi kamae as there is no previous move that presents an opportunity for grasping. Thus it seems that this movement is a true kamae—that is, preparation for a later technique.
For confirmation of this interpretation it is instructive to look at similar techniques in other katas. Koshi kamae occurs in a similar context in Kanku Dai and Sochin but in Gankaku there is a telling difference. The koshi kamae of counts 26, 30, and 34 all come after a manji uke and involve a compression of the legs and body. In count 40 there is a similar compressive movement. This suggests that the koshi kamae serves as a compression to prepare for the expansion of the next move. This suggests that contrary to common instinct, we should perhaps stand with our supporting knee partially bent.
The 2nd count of the sequence consists of a simultaneous yoko geri keage and a yoko uraken, both at jodan height. At first glance this would seem to be a double attack but closer consideration complicates this idea. Typically the power of a yoko uraken comes from rotation of the upper body, and this in turn is supported by hip rotation. However, keage generates power from the hips tilting upwards. Thus, we are restricted in the strength of our blow. Coupled with the general weakness of a keage and a more plausible bunkai is that these are intended as more defensive or distracting techniques.
Although the yoko uraken is unlikely to be a finishing blow it is still important to strike with maximum effect. Power in this technique is primarily developed through speed as the rotation of the strike prevents using body mass or muscle strength. To generate maximum speed we need to minimise the torque generated by the movement of the left arm. This is achieved by keeping the mass of the arm as close to the line from the initial position of the hand to its final position. That is, we keep the fist close to the body.
The shoulder joint has a simple movement from fully closed to fully open. However, the elbow joint starts and finishes in almost the same, extended state. This means that we must contract and then expand the elbow through the motion. Maximum effect is achieved by ensuring that the shoulder and elbow joint both reach full expansion simultaneously at the completion of the technique. In practice, the full extension of the elbow, especially at full effort, is likely to cause injury in unprepared elbows. Surprisingly, striking a punching bag is actually a safer alternative as the bag will absorb much of the force of the blow.
The final movement of the sequence is a mae empi uchi at chudan height and is likely intended as a todome or finishing blow. A general principle of bunkai is that a hand on ourself is likely a grasping or grappling technique. And so it likely that the uraken hand is intended to grasp the opponent and bring them to the empi. Given the jodan height of the uraken it may be tempting to see this as a blow to the head but it is difficult to grasp a head after an uraken blow, and difficult to strike a head at chudan height with an elbow. More likely the uraken invites the opponent to block and we then grasp their arm. The jodan keage further encourages the opponent to perform a high blocking action, leaving their chest open to our empi strike.
Performance of the empi strike with maximum strength comes from fully recalling the keage, dropping down and then shifting body weight forward in time with the elbow. Correct execution of a mae empi chudan positions the upper arm in the same position as for gyaku tsuki. A consequence of this is that at completion of the technique our two elbows are not symmetrically placed but rather the striking elbow is closer to our centre line and supporting elbow is somewhat off-line. It is tempting to wrap the supporting hand around the striking elbow but correct technique is to have the finger tips a few centimeters short of the striking elbow. This puts the supporting elbow further off-line and generally prevents the striking arm's fist from fitting in the crook of the supporting elbow.
Mastery of this sequence is important for more advanced katas. In the next article we will discuss returning to our embusen and the overall shape of the kata.
Within the JKA style of shotokan karate a particular emphasis is placed on returning at the end of a kata to where it started. There are several reasons for this: aesthetics of the performance, balancing our techniques, encouraging consistency and spatial awareness, and the ease of repeated practice of the kata in a dojo.
In the sense that a martial art is an art, a balanced kata that returns to the start is appealing. And the practicality when a full dojo repeat the same kata is also useful. But there are other advantages. Firstly, an unbalanced kata can be a sign of unbalanced techniques. If our stances on one side are shorter than the other then this will make us unbalanced. It is common that one hip, say, is more flexible than the other and the demand to return to our starting point can prompt us to work on our less flexible joints.
Furthermore, an unbalanced kata can be a sign of inconsistency of our stances. If our zenkutsu dachi is not of uniform length throughout the kata this can prevent us returning to the start. Similarly, katas like Heian Sandan advance up the line of attack with a variety of stances but return with a different mix. If, for example, our kokutsu dachi is not the same length as our kiba dachi, this will cause us to be unbalanced in our kata.
Finally, a focus on returning to our starting point encourages a kind of spatial awareness. In kumite awareness of our position relative to the ring and our opponent is important and this can be developed during kata. To not return to our starting point suggests a focus on individual techniques above our overall movement in the kata.
With that said, returning to our starting point in Heian Yondan is difficult even with consistent, balanced techniques. Many karateka overshoot their starting position and end up about a full stance behind it. There are two main adjustments necessary to avoid this.
Firstly, we extend our movement forward along the line of attack. At count 8, when taking a half step, we ensure our left foot steps in a horizontal line with our right foot, and not the hip width wider than it that it starts in. That is, count 7 ends with us in zenkutsu dachi with our left foot a hip width wide of our right foot. Instead of bringing our left foot straight backwards we place it in the same horizontal line as our right foot. If we did not do this we would lose a hip-width of forward movement. Also, at count 13 we ensure that our forward movement to the first kiai is about 1½ stances (about 3 hip-widths) long. A shorter movement leaves us another hip-width short.
Secondly, we reduce our backwards movement in the second half of the kata by adjusting the angle that we turn for counts 14 and 18. It is common to turn 45° on these counts but by reducing this to about 30° from horizontal (60° from facing ura shomen) we shorten our backwards movement. This change in angle is not easily noticable when performing the kata, especially as those sequences involve shifting from kokutsu dachi to zenkutsu dachi.
This combination of adjustments, along with balanced, consistent stances, are enough to ensure that we return to our starting position every time.
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