In this post, I look at some possible Bunkai for the first segment of Kata Taikyoku Shodan. This is a Block-turn baseline based on Gedan-barai and Oi-zuki. There are a few interpretations, with more or less grades of completeness, that I was able to find online. I follow the philosophy that looks at Kata as a repository of techniques for self-defense in civilian combat situations. This avoids the rigid and traditional view of bunkai like a fight against many successive opponents, which seems more ritualised than applicable in practice.

This is in accordance with the teachings of my teacher, Sensei Furuzawa, and of the TVSK association.

I sourced various Bunkai online, and compiled them here in different categories. For each, I tried to give at least one good video example, and in all cases I avoided listing videos that did not add anything new. This means you may be able to find Bunkai online that I don't have by other teachers you prefer, and also, obviously, interpretations, attacks and defenses that I have not found.

I have stayed based in Shotokan practitioners, but since Taikyoku Shodan is a reduction of a Heian kata, and these are well spread in various styles of Karate, I have also used demonstrations of other styles (ie Shorin-Ryu, where these Kata are known as Pinan). There are some small differences in the Kata in those styles, and I find they bring interesting insight and variety to the techniques.

Gain control of leading opponent's hand

This is my favourite interpretation of this segment. It utilises half the segment (essentially dividing it in two more or less symmetric halves) to demonstrate an evasion, an attack and a throw, for a complete framework of i) re-establishing control b) weakening the opponent c) assuming a dominating position, giving options for escape or keeping supremacy.

The following videos, by Iain Abernethy and Andy Allen, are like a canonical scenario, where both opponents start with hands touching, as in a theoretical simplification of some confused fighting. This sequence demonstrates how to take the initiative when the attacker tries to enter inside your space with hand techniques, and shows how to quickly gain a decisive advantage. The initial gedan-barai is used to grab the attacker's hand, pulling it (into a hiki-te) to unbalance the adversary, and is coupled to a turn into a position that favours our counter-attack.

Evade wrist grab

A very similar scenario replaces the start by an actual attack. The attacker has taken hold of our fist, and is ready to attack with the other hand. This grab can be actually provoked by us, for example, with a feint attack to the groin that our opponent will try to check by grabbing our wrist.

We use the gedan-barai motion, and importantly the turn, to pull the held hand, and either break the grab or unbalancce the attacker. Simultaneously, we use the initial chambering of the gedan-barai to block the following attack, and quickly follow with the motion (it is important to recall that barai means a kind of sweeping motion, and not a block) to apply a lock on the attacker's arm. This should be enough to free our hand, and follow up with a debilitating punch (the Kata's oi-zuki).

Finally, we interpret the following gedan-barai and turn as a movement to grab the opponent's head and quickly rotate to execute a throw and assume a dominant position.

Defense against double lapel grab

This section shows some videos by John Burke, of Bunkai Strategies, that I can't recommend enough. The next video focuses only on the initial gedan-barai, demonstrating how this can be used to prevent a different attack. The gedan-barai is used to unbalance, using the hiki-te to hold the attacker's elbow, and the sweep to execute a throw. We can link the rest of the sequences above (Abernethy and Ma Seirai Kai) to strike and possibly throw more definitively.

The following video explores the same bunkai, but gives much more details about the importance of the turn in the initial gedan-barai.

Bonus: Defense against single lapel grab

This is a more difficult application, that uses the gedan-barai to compromise the stance of an attacker that comes in with a single lapel grab preparing to throw a punch with the other arm. The gedan-barai defense leads to place the attacker in a twisted awkward position, and then manipulates the hand to cause pain and lead to falling on the floor. This execution seems very dependent on detail and more advanced than a Kata Kihon level.

David Hogsette, of Matsubayashi Shorin-Ryu, using the Pinan version of this Kata, gives a more natural defense against this attack. The key is to strike at the elbow of the grabbing hand, weakening the grab and compromising the attacker's posture. Then, as before, the gedan-barai is used to throw the opponent.

Bonus: Defense against hook punch / haymaker

The haymaker is one of the most commons strikes, and so it is often used to test Bunkai. Here, I take a demonstration of a defense by David Hogsette.

The Pinan replaces a initial gedan-barai turn by a tettsui in neko-ashi-dachi, so the application is a little different, but still conserves the expected principle of moving relative to the attacker to gain a privileged position.

The following video, again by John Burke, gives a bunkai for a straight gedan-barai, so technically is not a bunkai of this Kata (there is no turn, nor follow up). It interprets the gedan-barai as a block against an attack (a hook punch / haymaker), where the chambering for the gedan-barai is a deflection (this is standard: the chambering of a block typically is the actual block, and the rest of the technique tends to some offensive move). The other arm extends in the preparation position to strike low at the opponent, whose flank on the attacking side may be exposed .

If the attacker is suprised, the defender can take the chance to control the attacking arm and sweep over the opponent into a domination position that forces the attacker's head down. If the defender has its front leg forward (as in zenkutsu-dachi) this can lead to a hammer-and-anvil position, where the leg is the anvil, and the gedan-barai arm is the hammer.

The second video shows how to perform this on the inside rather than the outside.

Bonus: Defense against a front kick

The team at Waza Wednesday demonstrates a defense against an uncommon attack, a front kick. Their base Kata is the Pinan Nidan, from Shorin-Ryu, but I think the bunkai illustrated here matches the Heian version better.

It shows how to use the gedan-barai to deflect the kick and immediately take control of the leg, following with a counter-attack and throw to the floor. Despite the similarities with Abernethy's version in the final state, this is basically different in that the defender does not move off the attacker's line.

Bonus: Grappling on the floor

This is an unusual video, or series of videos, by Andi Kidd, applying the first Heian Kata to fighting on the floor.

I picked the following video, but this is a series of 5 that can be found in http://www.andikidd.com/bunkai-bites-archives.php.