Practical Kata Bunkai: Stances & Heian Shodan Application

This video was filmed in July 2011 at Marc and Dianna MacYoung's annual Animal List BBQ in Colorado, USA. It was an amazing four days spent in the company of many highly talented people. I taught for a couple of hours on the Saturday where I covered general kata principles. This clip shows a little of our discussion on the application of stances.

Stances are frequently viewed as something fixed and static; whereas in truth they are momentary positions moved to and thorough in order to facilitate the efficient use of bodyweight. This is what is behind Funakoshi's statement that "Fixed postures are for beginners; the advanced student uses natural postures". There is more on this statement in the video itself.

I use the opening three motions of Heian Shodan (Pinan Nidan) to demonstrate the general concept. Notice how the front stances add to the shifting of body mass on all three techniques. One other important point to understand is that the angle in the kata represents the angle you should be in relation to your enemy. Because the first motion of Heian Shodan is at ninety-degrees, I follow the kata and shift to ninety-degrees in relation to my partner when applying the first technique. Angles were explained in the session too and I'll make a related clip available soon.

I hope you enjoy this clip and I'll be back with more soon.

All the best,

Iain

[RubenOL]

practicalkatabunkai I just wanted to say that this possibly is the simplest, most straightforward and probably best application for that kata-movement I've seen. The bunkai I was taught in my Dojo is abit different regarding the 180 turn and gedan barai, but I think personally this bunkai is a long shot better, and more in harmony with the movements of the kata. The explaination of stances in the beginning could not have been better formulated. And finally, it's a joy to see the light atmosphere in which you guys train, and I did smile a few times myself when watching the video. Osu!

[johnburke]

Iain’s videos are the best kata application videos I’ve seen. I was also lucky enough to train with him prior to Covid. I hope to again as soon as possible.

[toddspencer]

to the students of Sensei Abernathy, you are blessed to have a teacher who "gets it", i have no doubt that he will make you the absolute best artist you can be. as a long time practitioner of shorin ryu (39 years) i have seen alot of good and bad in the art, and his applications are top notch. OSU!

[akrocuba]

"Hit while getting into my stance"....best explanation I've ever heard!

[gabrielr.]

Brilliant! A good way to think about stances base on the sensei explanation, is... an stance is a picture of a movement, not a fixed position.

[claudes.whitacre]

Karate isn't my art, Kung Fu is. But I would see these "lower blocks" in kata, and think that they had to be used for something else. Thank you...Thank you for demystifying this for me. And every Karate practitioner I ever met still thought these were lower blocks for a kick. I've just subscribed to your excellent channel.

[sleep]

That's a great explanation, thank you. Can't believe I had to get to 2nd dan and then google "why oi zuki" to find this

[MrBeiragua]

Awesome! This is some great bunkai. After sometime looking for bunkai for the heian katas, I was almost giving up and looking for the naihanchi/tekki katas. I too am going to get my black belt in a few moths, and I started questioning the basics and application of the karate I've learned till now. This surely gives me a good start for trying to interpret the heian katas. Domo arigato gozaimashita! Oss!

[Crystalgate]

I don't practice martial arts myself, but I could still understand what was said in this video. Also, thanks for explaining stances, people talking about them didn't make any sense to me until I saw this.

[BFerreira]

Finally....someone with no nonsense bunkai! I've never done karate...because katas always seemed waste of time! Thank you sir.

[stuart]

the katas are not explained in shotokan karate or tkd-this is why many people believe katas are worthless. We need more sensei like Abernathy

[bushido]

This is amazing. So many years of "wax on, wax off" and this was never explained to me

[freelancerblitz]

bbq and karate sound like the best combo! our dojo does a yearly "karate camp" karate training, camping, bbq and games near doncaster, bit of a family event, my first time doing this year, my little girl is really exited, i guess i am too haha

[tbuksuperfly]

Superb explanations! I can tell you are obviously a very very good instructor.

Taking my black belt in a few months and I have a kind of a 'half' grading on Sunday (my club has recently introduced a kind of 0.5kyu. brown/black stripe belt which has a cut down version of the black belt grading) so I've been looking at all the bunkai videos I can to get ideas and I keep coming back to these videos. Awesome vids. Oss.

Like everything you put up, this is really absolutely outstanding. Brilliant, brilliant stuff. I'm saving up for some of your dvds and can't wait to get them. Your books and website have truly revolutionised our dojo in the last 12 months. Thank you so, so, SO much! :-) OSU!!!

[BelloBudo]

Bunkai, humour & some very good legal tips tossed-in for good measure. You'd have to be happy with what he offers on a training course.

[senseiruss]

Fantastic explanation of stances, transitions and application of these techniques! Osu!

[ccoorrddxx]

3:14 "If you hit that side, it'd be polite to hit the other side next" - hahah ;) Excellent lesson, I must remember that! Thanks a million!

[bloodriotiori]

Wonderful as always Ian, i learn a lot from watching you! I REALLY wish you would come do a seminar in ohio some time (any of those places lol) so i could come!

I'm starting with my first couple of students come this febuary, and i have learned so many things from you that i plan on applying with them!

[WolfGhost]

I really liked what you said on stance. In Japanese, as you certainly know, they use kamae which I believe carry 3 meanings in one word "stance - attitude - movement.
Anyway, excellent bunkai.