Iain Abernethy on "Angles"

I was browsing YouTube yesterday looking for videos to help me get an idea for some "Wanshu" kata bunkai when I came across this video of an Iain Abernethy seminar in Colorado. I have read Abernethy's articles on The Basics of Bunkai as well as his Introduction to Applied Karate e-book so I was familiar with what he was talking about. But I just had to blog about this because he reiterates something that is helpful in understanding kata:

"...the angle doesn't represent the angle the opponent's at, it represents the angle that you shift to..." (1:34)

What he's talking about is the angle at which you begin the movements in the kata. For example, when executing the "Pinan Shodan" kata, I would first turn my body to face left. The way I was taught was that I am turning to face an imaginary opponent who has come onto my left side. Abernethy mentions this also in the video about how we think that is what the kata is telling us to do, to turn towards the opponent. I am no great judge of the legitimacy of martial arts teachers but I can say that when something makes sense, it makes sense. And what Iain Abernethy highlights here about angles makes sense because, when looked at within the context of bunkai, being off the opponents line of attack is, as Abernethy says, "advantageous". But for those of us who are factory-farmed karateka (like I was) we might view what he's saying as sacrilegious ("Abernethy's a white guy! He doesn't know what the Okinawan masters were really saying!"). What's ironic for the narrow-minded-stuck-in-tradition-karateka to know is that Abernethy is just simply stating something that yes, even the Okinawan karate masters of old knew well. Take for instance what Shoshin Nagamine wrote in his I-highly-recommend-that-you-read-it book, Tales of Okinawa's Great Masters:

"...Seek to understand the value of angular movement. Never face an opponent directly, and learn body change through mastering foot movement." (pg. 102)

And that was something Nagamine Sensei wrote after contemplating the teachings of one of his sensei, Choki Motobu, another famous Okinawan karate master. So you know people like Abernethy must be onto something if even the Okinawan masters have said it! I mean, I'm not doubting Abernethy's insights. I'm just pointing out that his discussion of angles in the kata makes more sense than what I was taught (and hey, I was actually taught by an Okinawan sensei!). If I were to apply what I was taught, it would probably look something like this:

As you watch that video, ask yourself, "Do those movements make any sense for actual self-defense? Is that how I would actually counter a kick or a punch? Do people really attack like that?" What's interesting too is finding this same discussion of angles in other martial disciplines (like this). It kind of lets me know that this is a critical yet common-martial arts-sense principle.

I should mention here that what I'm blahging about is pretty obvious for those who are already in the know. But this blog isn't for those that know....it's for karate students like me who are finally waking up! But I think all karateka need to have an understanding of these principles if we should seek to bring our training in line with how reality operates (or go ahead and stay stuck in your tradition, doesn't matter to me).

Elbow SMASH!
- Hiji Até