Subdivisions of Fluidity - Taika Seiyu Oyata's Bunkai and Real Abilities

I recently was forwarded a link to an online group of people complaining that one of Oyata's interpretations of kata wasn't remotely close to the motions in the kata, particularly the footwork, and thus must be wrong. I feel that the word bunkai is commonly misunderstood and/or lost in translation. Taika would frequently discuss many Okinawan/Japanese words and concepts that he felt poorly translate into English. We frequently talk about the finished product as the bunkai but Taika's bunkai was actually the quite unique process that produced many of the interpretations or finished techniques. Most of the time, when Oyata Lineage practitioners say bunkai we are really talking about Oyo that came from Taika's bunkai.

Many people still believe that a particular kata is a single battle, whether with one or multiple opponents. Others believe it is set in stone techniques. These three moves are this, the next three are that, et cetera. Some believe that a few moves are one technique and the next ones are alternatives to the previous ones. In all there are probably a million beliefs out there regarding kata. I feel I should share a little bit about Oyata's bunkai process.

One of his beliefs was that kata showed you how to move you body into positions they had never been in before. Think about the first time you learned a kata, those positions throughout are mostly postures, turns, movements you had never done before. Practice that kata long enough and they feel natural. Practice longer and the changes flow. Taika would say that pauses kill you. Once you get a basic understanding of that kata, you learn another with new postures, turns, sequences. 

I have lectured many times as well as posted videos on what we call the Oyata Shuffle. Taika thought that, if you knew how to turn every possible way (45, 90, 180, 270...) and do every possible stance, posture and motion, you wouldn't find yourself uncomfortable in a fight. Thus, you wouldn't pause. I believe the Chinese side of the art, the Happo series and Spider series greatly aid in that endeavor.

For Taika, one or two little snapshots of Naihanchi Shodan did not immediately turn that specific movement into a valid technique. Maybe it worked for an exact, precise attack. Maybe those two moves worked if you were perfectly aligned at 45 degrees front of your opponent, AND they had thrown a right punch, AND, they had not yet retracted the punch as it was still on its way out, AND their right foot was also forward, AND their back foot was both in range and at the correct angle to strike AND AND AND... That is a whole lot of variables for you to both get it right and make the exact historical prediction of what the kata founder had in mind, that was incidentally never written down. Learning only one specific technique for a specific series leads to the near impossibility of that exact encounter. It stifles fluidity.

Taika would frequently take one or two moves from a kata and say, this works pretty good under these circumstances. He would then start his what if's.

- What if they punched right but stepped left. 

- What if the stepped left and punched right.

- What if they throw a hook instead of a straight punch.

The root of each technique began with Naihanchi, thus it is relevant in Taika's eyes as Naihanch bunkai.

For each question, he would draw from the huge pool of static postures. He got great at this from his Oyata Shuffle Drills. His first deviation might start with Naihanchi Shodan but deviate to Tomari Seisan or even a third kata. Picking several postures from different kata, he would find a solution to the variant. He would then dream up a new variant or 'what if' and tackle the question of how could I get essentially the same or a similar result if they do something different. This led to him being quick at changing things up in unchoreographed sessions. Later he began experimenting at changing more details such as top half of the body Naihanchi Shodan, bottom half Tomari Seisan. This eventually lead to right hand a piece of Naihanchi, left hand a piece of Passai, legs Seisan, et cetera. Subdivisions of Fluidity.

This Oyata Bunkai process lead inevitably to people not understanding Oyata's process to believe he was altering things, interpreting things impossibly wrong. "That kata doesn't have a forward stance!" In reality, he simply was not constrained to specific motions in a specific fight. Taika frequently said that you cannot pick a technique before the battle, only your initial response. Taika frequently picked a starting motion, a piece of a kata. There are a lot of seminar videos out there of him where he was lecturing and showed 3 or more solutions to something like a punch. Many people believed his original intent was to show all those techniques but in reality he was showing different techniques only because of slight variances in how the uke attacked. He would say I do same motion, you punch fast I hit bicep. You punch medium speed I hit forearm. You punch slow I hit wrist. I hit same spot in space, uke strike my kata position. If he asked you to punch in a seminar or demo and it was excruciatingly painful, would you punch as fast the second time?

With that said, people also commonly critique his demo and instructional videos.

Instructional Videos: In these, first and foremost realize, he really didn't want his techniques filmed. He made these old VHS tapes as students kept begging for them and it would make a little extra cash. His prime stuff was not recorded in this manner as he said if everyone knows my techniques, all my secrets, then I'm out of a job. Not saying there wasn't some great stuff in these, just saying it was not Taika at his top level. There are definitely some amazing techniques, especially in some of the early ones before he knew tapes could be played at a slower speed. Also, he always had to pull back a bit as he couldn't permanently injure the uke. If you watch some of these he will do a fast take, though not full speed, and when he walks you through it in slow motion it isn't exactly the same.

Demo Videos: These were mostly at seminars and tournaments before the competitions started. A lot of people think these were all pre-arranged encounters. Taika would have an idea in his head of going left, right, back or something similar. He didn't 100% know what the uke was going to do. He might point at someone and have them come up to him. He might say punch, kick or just attack. These were not painstakingly choreographed like many people assume. And, 9/10 the uke had felt extreme pain at his hand before so it is a little difficult to throw your hardest punch at the man you know can cause so much pain. Go ahead, take the shroud off and stick your tongue in the fan....I triple dog dare you. Also, if you are going to try and sell such a product, you are going to pick the people that have more dramatic reactions as your uke. I have lectured and blogged about that much in the past, drama sells. I assure though, even the uke in this world that didn't feel near the pain were always under his full control. Pain was never the goal in an encounter, control was.....but drama sells.

Seminar demos: These were different. These were in teaching mode and never were professionally filmed. He tended to be more reserved around people he didn't know well, kinder, gentler... If he wanted to show something more dramatically he would grab a senior student he knew and trusted. Keep in mind, he had been sued and lost substantial money for breaking someone's arm, even though it was primarily the uke trying something stupid to prove how manly they were that got the arm broken. The goal at these was to teach, to transfer a portion of knowledge. Nobody could see much less replicate him at 100% nor was that even remotely safe. Also, these were open to all ranks, including white belts.

Dojo Training: At Taika's dojo he had only black belts with a rare exception of allowing an ikkyu prior to their shodan test. He knew people a lot better, and mostly trusted them. Anyone in that environment will wholeheartedly tell you his techniques worked, worked amazingly well and were significantly rememberable experiences. I'd say painful but sometimes he would devastate you without pain so not all lessons required pain.

I could continue this for yet another hour of thumb typing, but odds are less then 5% of you made it this far. It is a shame to me that nearly 12 years after this man's death, so many challenge what they see with their limited bias based experiences.If you have never met someone like this in your life, I am sure it looks unreal. It did to me before I felt it. In the unrealistic world of 2-year yudansha, we are now 6 generations past Taika's death. I have literally trained with hundreds of martial artists in this world and yet to find anyone quite like him, nor as painful. 

Just my 2 ¥.

Di