Gassho!
Now that the new kamokuhyo is in effect (and eBudo's back ) there's a couple of questions and comments I have, after working through it – the Kyukenshi part, at least.
The first question is about the wording of the (thankfully a bit more extensive) comments on the execution of techniques. These seem to be somewhat incoherent at times. Does anyone have an explanation for that?
Examples:
- For kote nuki it says "grab inner wrist in jun, pull" whereas for katate yori nuki it says "grab and pull outer wrist in jun".
- Sometimes 'katate' etc. are put in different positions, like "ryote yori nuki" but "maki nuki (ryote)".
- In tsubame gaeshi the defense reads "uchi uke dan hangeki with shuto giri" while in chidori gaeshi it's "dan response of uchi uke to ura te uchi" (the latter one referring, I presume, to me uchi).
I wouldn't normally see something like this as a big deal, but since there's very few 'official' information available for SK techniques and since slight differences in wording can sometimes make a big difference I'm basically going through this with a fine comb and can't help but wonder whether there's a point to these deviations …
The second question I'm rather surprised I haven't encountered earlier: Is there an official arm position called jodan gamae? We always use this for a raised front fist (as in gedan gamae – chudan gamae – jodan gamae) e. g. for shusha in juji and kiri nuki. In the new kamokuhyo this has various descriptions like "front hand high" (juji nuki (katate)), "keep the front hand high" (juji gote (katate)), "front fist held high" (kiri nuki (soto)) etc. and I haven't found a reference to it in other material either. Following this would be the additional question whether all of these positions are actually the same, the obvious exception being both hands raised for ryote attacks.
The next question might be a bit more pertinent to actual technical differences: In morote juji nuki the attack is described as either pushing or pulling ("ude gyaku dori"). This is distinctly different from the old kamokuhyo where only pushing was noted. Ude gyaku dori is usually (or was) defended against using morote hiki nuki. Also IMHO the juji defense isn't very sensible against a pull. Any ideas or comments on that?
A smaller question also for morote juji nuki and gote is the description of the attack as "grab one wrist with both hands in gyaku" – what does gyaku refer to here? Obviously it can't really mean that (just) the inside of the wrist is grabbed since it's a morote attack …
Another question of that kind refers to katate oshi nuki, where the attack is described as "grab inner wrist in jun, ushiro neji age". Is that the same attack as in the kiri kaeshi techniques ("ude ushiro neji age")? We used to do it like kote maki gaeshi (no info there), i. e. grabbing the front hand in gyaku gedan gamae (from hiraki) with jun from the outside and just holding it there. The explanation was ' this used to be stopping someone from grabbing their sword'. Was that wrong or did it change …?
In gyaku geri hiza uke nami gaeshi there is now an additional juji uke against a non-existent attack. Is that prophylactic against a possible further attack, similar to what we do in ryusui geri, or maybe rather the possibility of the keri being pulled up from kinteki (which would make this doji uke, I suppose)?
I'm also curious about some of the empty fields. For one, there's the matter of most techniques being either from tai or hiraki gamae. Some are from both (e. g. ryusui geri (ushiro)). But many in the higher kyu ranks are missing that information altogether (e. g. the johaku techniques). Does that mean it's free? And if so, why doesn't it just say that?
The same goes for the (mostly) empty fields for many techniques (under "kosha" and "shusha"). I understand that some techniques (especially juho waza) aren't quite as easy to put into words as others, but why are many not showing any information at all? Especially since the author's obviously went to some lengths to – sensibly – include more information than in the older versions.
Lastly I'm a bit surprised about how the techniques are spread out across the grades by number. E. g. why are there so few techniques in the shodan syllabus? I'm pretty sure there's a reason for that, maybe someone knows something …
I might follow up later about the way the techniques are organized now (i. e. what went up or down, what's combined with what now or not anymore …), but maybe someone's already got some thoughts on that.
Maybe the most pertinent question of all is that of several techniques officially having ura and omote versions now. I'll probably come back to that, too.
Kesshu,
______ Jan.