Kururunfa Bunkai Goju Ryu

We're back with bunkai: kururunfa bunkai! Whether you're just learning this bunkai for grading, or looking to find new applications, we hope you'll find our video useful.

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Chapters:
00:00 - intro
00:14 - Opening moves - osae uke & kuri uke
01:31 - sukui uchi and gedan osae uke (x 3)
02:15 - kake uke, nekoashi dachi, age tsuki, maegeri, empi uchi (kiai point)
04:12 -open hand chest block, turn, reverse elbow strike
06:34 -shikodachi, wide open hands, drop and reverse head butt
11:22 - segue into karate vs bjj and self-defence
15:31 - backward strike and push down continued
15:53 - kosa-uke/cross-arm block to drop down stance
18:20 - Kosa uke, koshi dachi
20:12 - zenketsudachi & sukui uke, mawashi

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Video produced by:
Zoe Jagger-Hinis

[RamonGomez-vggt]

Gracias maestro por tan excelentes explicaciones usted hace que el karate guste más .Dios lo bendiga

[matthews]

This is a rare video and such a good one because Kururunfa is a senior grade kata and to be honest there aren't many attempts to explain its bunkai - Sensei Che has covered the bunkai so well it's really very enjoyable to watch.

As we already know, Kururunfa literally means "Retain for a Long time then Instantly Break" (it's pronunciation is actually Fujianese, not Chinese, where by in Fuzhou: Ku=Long Ru=Retain Run=Instant Fa=Break) - which gives us a clue of how the kata may be interpreted. One observation I came across of this kata is the Bunkai gets more interesting the closer the opponent is to you, and the sensei who said it taught this bunkai:

The Opening move: we slide to the right, dropping down to Cat stance, parry with right hand while left hand slides up close to our face, then as we retract the right hand, we push the left elbow out...scenario: Opponent is before me, with both his hands around the back of my neck, about to pull me in for a knee-strike (like in Muy Thai) - I'd move to my right and push his left elbow/his shoulder/his head with my right hand (depending on how close he is, even do a nukite into his neck or face - in fact this sensei insisted on the nukite), then my right hand pulls his left elbow down (while I'm towards his left) and my left hand sneaks up between his forearms and pokes him under his chin with another my left elbow goes over his left elbow and presses down from HIS outside, trapping his left forearm between my left upper arm and my body, then do a downward circle with my left forearm (like a circular gedan barai) - followed by a sukui-uke - You'd have him in a painful elbow lock - then the lower kick breaks him completely - ie， retain and break.

As for this elbow attack: you know we mirror the opening move by sliding to our left, dropping down to neko-ashi dachi and parry with our left hand then pushing out with our RIGHT elbow, and this is followed by a double block (Right palm upwards, left palm downwards) - the elbow lock actually appears in the transition from right elbow push to to the sukui-uke, ie, when the right palm goes upwards and left palm goes downwards suppose he grabs your gi lapel with his right arm, you slide to your left, grab and retain his right hand with your left hand, holding it to your chest, then right elbow goes OVER his right elbow joint, goes down outside of his right elbow, trapping his right forearm between your own right upper arm and your chest, if you continue by moving your right forearm down (like in a gedan barai) then rotate it upwards in a sukui-uke (like in the kata), you'll find yourself behind the opponent - and your left palm conveniently in a position to pull him down by his hair (and if he's got no hair for you to grab, then you could do it with your fingers in his eyes and palm over his forehead - you are behind him at this point with his right elbow twisted behind him).

(I tried to find a video of this is an elbow lock which I also saw in a Koryu Uchinadi demonstration about 10 years ago, but this Goju-ryu Sensei taught me this bunkai long before that).

At 15:36 Sensei Che actually does a very similar move, except his right elbow attacked the opponent's left arm, now this bunkai wants the right arm to sneak up between the opponent's arms and then go for the opponent's right arm.


3:17 after the elbow strike, again a nukite to his eyes before grabbing his head with both hands to pull him to the ground.

The last 2 long low stances of the kata (before the toraguchi/mawashi uke), where Sensei Che demonstrated a leg take-down - I came across this interesting bunkai: the throw prior to this lands the opponent on the ground-with his back to you - you go up behind him (while he's on the ground), you reach out with your left palm to hold his face from under his right jaw (so you're behind him, he's disorientated, you move in quickly and your left hand is holding his jaw) - then you pull back/upwards with your left arm (turning his neck) then you push the back of his head with your right hand, applying more torque to his neck thus injuring his neck - I don't know if it works because I've never tried it .

That's all I have, not much to add to be honest, because Sensei Che has covered so much of the bunkai on this kata.

Looking forward to the next video!

[siriusbontea]

Thank you, Sensei! This one is jam-packed with information. I'll have to rewatch this a few times!

[FirstDan]

I think the on screen captions are very funny. I particularly like the acknowledgement of the works of Senseis Higaonna and Paul Enfield. And I love the bunkai work you do.
GREAT VIDEO.

[guidolopezquerol]

Domo arigato sensei. I think surviving is the key of karate. That means that a lot of things from another disiplines can be use in our karate and sometimes if we look closer that tool is already in Kata

[barbarba]

Thank you Sensei Che AND Deshi Brain. Great as always. Thank you Sensei Zoe for your hard work and late night editing Brilliant job. Sending love and missing the Dojo.

[NotEbugaming]

I absolutely love this video! (The editing is awesome too.)
Master Ken approves of attacking the groin.
This video epitomizes everything that karate should be: simple, effective and brutal.

[joari]

Thx a lot for this instructions! 😊 And as always brilliant annotations 👍😂

[stevegray]

Definitely a favorite kata for me, so many variations for me to explore.
I've been working on a variation, I use the first step of the kata as a sweep of ukes front leg, which if unsuccessful becomes a lift of the ukes knee to unbalance uke, if that's unsuccessful a kensetsu geri to the back leg to unbalance uke. Another variation I use is at the kosa daichi turn, the crossing foot is used as a kick to uke knee, this positions uke in a wide stance as I do the ushiro hiji ate, it makes it very difficult for uke to defend the elbow strike, you get the idea I hope..
Thanks again for a great video.

[paulh]

Another great video and production. Way to go guys 👍

[williamyoung]

This was one of the best videos you have put out! The focus on practicality was welcome also that you knew what your were talking about.
It looks like the first throw is a variation on Tenchi-Nage the Heaven and Earth Throw. This throw has at least 10+ variations in the Aikido syllabus. If you had been on the inside of Uke then it could have been Ippon Seuinage from Judo. Also notice you did a Tomoe-Nage, the back sacrifice throw from Judo.
Have a lot more to say but dont want to ramble!

[shisoshin]

higaonna sensei would show some bunkai including eyes, neck breaks, crushing testes etc, serious waza.. lesson being that these serious targets are fundamental.. my sensei would remind is that any real attack could end up before a judge, who would question as to the need, to break his neck or elbow or enter his eye orbit etc.. thus the options of variations.. just came across your interesting demo, while checking kururunfa : )

[manubg]

Felicitaciones. Por la información y por la actitud.

[ravir]

You are genius and as asset to goju karate

[alexandrahoner]

Perfect video, I love your good inspiration for this Kata Bunkai 🇯🇵👊

[ctcm]

I have a feeling Kururunfa will be one of my favorite katas if not my favorite. I love Saifa. Amazing video and great bunkai!!!

[bassoskat]

The only thing I have an issue with is why the spine? Why not the neck or back of the skull? Maybe I’m wrong but I feel like the spine is actually a pretty resilient structure. Great points on “real” dirty fighting and some academic justifications.

[theyadorekayluhh]

I'm here live!!✨ Yay!!😃 I love the thumbnail!!🤣

[danielehrhardt]

At 17:09, I recognise an ude kime nage from Aikido :)

[h.e.troiani]

Also remember in the first sequence some very important Goju Ryu tip. When you shift to the side your front leg can sweep the oponent front leg. Then the sokuto geri to this "elongated" leg.