Ren han ko

[johan_frendin]

Gassho!

I have been visiting a lot of training camps in different countries during my 18 years in Shorinji Kempo. One thing that confuses me is that ren han ko in some countries always is predetermined and never practised freely. In some clubs all student do ren han ko in almost exactly the same way. Whats the reason of that?

How can a student become intuitive by doing ren han ko exactly yhe same way all the time?


Johan Frendin
Sweden

[Manuel]

Hello, Johan and everybody.

Although among the various Spanish branches I also have had opportunity of to observe different forms to confront the practice of renhanko, we in Oviedo Branch confront this practice in an absolutely free way, as if it was a combat form, even similar to randori at some moments, always trying to look for the hollows in kogeki's guard and trying to look in each case for different alternatives to finalize the sequence. Of course if we practice the technique slowly, we make renhanko with the same speed and not at combat speed, but the idea is to develop the attributes that allow to continue a defense up to the absolute control of the attacker. Other forms that I have observed, nevertheless, are more limited, and include the practice of sanrenko (that according to I understand it would only have to be limited on the number of counterattacks and not on its freedom of execution) or the type of predetermined renhanko which you talk about. In this last case it does not seem to me that its practice adds more than what adds for instance the practice of kihon by pairs.

I don't know if I explain myself.

Greetings.

[johan_frendin]

Hello Manuel!

This is my opinion.
Shorinji Kempo teach many ways of mowing the body to avoid punches, kicks, grappling and throws that I personally see as patterns. These patterns has names like uchi uke zuki, gyaku gote, oshi gote, han tenshin geri etc which is great. But if we prearrange the ren han ko it also become patterns and no intuition will be created. Shorinji Kempo is selfdefence and if you look to increase your ability in that area you need to learn how to break patterns. I believe that a Shorinji Kempo teacher should be watching his student to insure that when doing ren han ko, that student is not always repeating the same route of movements or combinations. Becuase it will make the student robotic, stiff, predictable, and create bad habits. If you are trying to make a good embu, of course you need to make beutiful patterns that work well. But if you are interested in better your intuition and increase your possibillity to defend yourself, free ren han ko is the only way.

Johan Frendin
Sweden

[shugyosha]

hmm can i ask two questions?
what is ren ha ko and which country did you visit?
thanks

[Steve Williams]

Originally posted by shugyosha
hmm can i ask two questions?
what is ren ha ko and which country did you visit?
thanks

Ren Hen Ko is "following movement/attack" and is sometimes pre-determined movement, sometimes it is free movement...... Well that is how we practice at my branch.... sometimes I "set" the ren hen ko, i.e. I tell them what/ how to attack, sometimes I just let the students do what they feel is best i.e. look for the opening and exploit it...

It is the movement/attack which is performed directly following a set movement (one-step/ two-step type pre-determined attack and defence sequence).

[johan_frendin]

Hello everybody!

During my years in Shorinji Kempo i have meet a lot of kenshis from different countries. The prearranged ren han ko I talk about are not derived from special countries but maybe certain clubs, I think. I have seen japanese, italian, american kenshi do these preaarranged ren han ko and they also got pretty upset when practice with people that do free ren han ko. Second-hand information told me that during the last italien taikai italian kenshis was openly angry and upset that swedish kyu kenshis did not do prearranged ren han ko.

Johan Frendin
Sweden

[Gary Dolce]

Gassho,

It is unfortunate that different approaches to renhanko may have lead to bad feelings among kyu kenshi at a recent taikai. But I am not surprised. I think most of us that have been practicing SK for a long time accept that even though we belong to a single organization with a remarkably consistant approach to teaching and practicing the techniques, different teachers still teach things in slightly different ways. But in my early years practicing Shorinji Kempo, these differences lead to minor conflicts and misunderstandings whenever I practiced with Kenshi from a different Branch. In retrospect, these conflicts were usually the result of too much ego and not enough communcation.

To counter this problem, I always encourage Kenshi from my Branch to try to approach practice with a completely open mind whenever they practice somewhere else. This includes trying things even if they seem counter to what they have already learned, withholding judgement until they have had the chance to fully understand a different approach, and trying to clear up misunderstandings with other Kenshi before they turn into conflicts (often as simple as saying, "This is not the way I am used to doing this, so please slow down while I learn your way").

That said, my response to the original question is that in my own Branch, I take an approach similar to Steve's. Sometimes we use set renhanko, but more often we practice free renhanko. But I always encourage people to keep it simple, make sure it makes sense, and practice at a level appropriate to their own skill as well as their partner's. For kyu kenshi, this might mean that more time is spent practicing relatively short set renhanko rather than free renhanko. So I wouldn't see any problem with another teacher specifying only set renhanko for kyu kenshi, or with one that says only do free renhanko, as long as people work within their abilites. I do think that yudansha should be fully capable of practicing free renhanko. Perhaps the real source of difference here is different approaches to when free renhanko is appropriate.

When kenshi with different approaches practice together they should first communicate what they are used to doing and then try both ways. Because set renhanko is simpler than free renhanko, I think the larger burden when it comes to preventing conflict over this is on the ones used to practicing free renhanko. Start with the set approach, then ease into the free approach by slowing down, using fewer attacks, etc. I would hope that the end result is that both kenshi see the relative merits of each approach rather than arguing about which is better.

[tony leith]

Interesting discussion.

I would side with the free movement camp, and encouraging students to be creative/intuitive in ren han ko (although practicality does come into play if you have a large number of students trying to train in a relatively confined space during kihon). I remember Sensei Russell Jenkins throwing a bunch of us (I was 2nd kyu at the time) into utter confusion at one summer camp by telling us we could do any ren han ko we liked, but not jo-chu-mawashigeri. The resultant paralysis was instructive.

I too have encountered indignation when doing non standard ren han ko, but to my mind the assumption that the initial counter might not work decisively, and from there it's going to be necessary to improvise, is fundemental to the practicality of SK as a defensive art. We don't after all believe in dealing death with a single blow.

Tony Leith

[Manuel]

Gassho.

Indeed the principle of ikken hissatsu ("to kill with one blow", meaning "one blow for finishing the fight") is strange to Shorinji Kempo. For that reason I believe that renhanko has been instituted, to avoid that kenshi become centered in an idea that invariably, in the first stages of the learning of hokei, could settle in their interior. From 1st kyu, in the kumi embus which must be prepared for the rank examinations is requested renhanko like conclusion of the goho techniques. I think does not exist any WSKO official document where they say to us how to do renhanko, so that the different teachers at the present time have much to say on this subject and perhaps that is the explanation of the differences that can be not only between nations, but between near groups. In the case of kumi embu, the fact that this is an adaptation of the training of kihon hokei sotai, that is to say, a predetermined exercise, could take to us to think that renhanko that here is requested also must be predetermined. This doesn't lack of logic. And following this reasoning it could be thought that renhanko that in the more advanced stages always accompanies to the practice of the hokei techniques (goho, and even nuki waza) must become in also predetermined way. Perhaps we don't have to discard predetermined renhanko as a learning form, mainly in the first stages, and is logical that both practitioners agree on a predetermined renhanko form for kumi embus. But from my humble opinion, I believe that the practice of free renhanko would have to be introduced soon fundamentally by the following thing: the circumstances of the self-defence not always make possible to finish with a single blow, as Tony says, and we would have to train for the changing circumstances of combat, becoming adapted to the different reactions that our counter-attack can produce in the attacker, which never they will adjust to foreseeable laws.

Greetings.