Seiunchin Today

I've been practicing Seiunchin these past couple of weeks. The tips in my last post have really made the kata come together. Today, we did the kata again, but it was done individually, at our own pace. I was able to get through it, though once I had my feet in the wrong stance, and I had a few other mechanical problems. Still, what I did somewhat resembled the kata, and I was extremely happy and relieved that I had finally caught the kata. Practice is what it is all about.

More on Seuinchin

Worked on Seuinchin last night. After the three starting grab defenses, you can imagine the forward hand or wrist being grabbed from the top. Thus, you first hit the back of their hand with a backfist strike to your hand. Then, you grab their hand in a joint force, and push it into them, which could also be thought of as a two handed punch. Then, you do an empi (elbow strike) with the right elbow, while hitting your elbow with an open left hand. A Bunkai for this is forcing the opponents head into your elbow. Finally, the two handed block can also be seen as a two-handed trap and force of the opponents hand, where you force their arm, go forward 45 degrees to break the elbow, then pull back and do the second "lower block" to their head.