Okinawan Proverbs

Excerpted from:
_Kotowaze ni miru Okinawa no kokoro_ [諺に見る沖縄の心] (The Okinawan Mind in Proverbs)
by Zenko Shimabukuro

This is a set of proverbs that is found on many websites, which makes posting it again a bit redundant. However, I believe that the people who read this blog will find value in some of these and (if they have not seen these before) will appreciate having these posted here. Proverbs I that have heard in a karate context are highlighted.
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Ataishi turu atairu.  - We get along well with those we can get along with well.

Achinee ya tankaa mankaa. - Business is a two-way street.

Aramun jooguu ya duu ganjuu. - One who eats plain food is healthy.

Ichariba choodee. - Once we meet and talk, we are brothers and sisters.

Uya yushi kwa yushi. - Parents and children teach one another.

Kaagee kaa ru ya ru. - Beauty is skin deep.

Kamuru ussaa mii nayun. - The more you eat, the more you gain.

Kuu sa kana sa. - Small things are lovable.

Kuchi ganga naa ya yakutatan. - A smooth talker is a good-for-nothing person.

Kutubaa.  Jin chikee. - Spend words as efficiently as money.

Kutuba noo ushikumaran. - A word can't be recalled once spoken.

Shikinoo chui shiihii shiru kurasuru. - Let's live helping each other in this world.

Shinjichi nu ada nayumi. - Kindness will never be wasted in any way.

Jin too waraaran kwa tu ru waraariiru. - We can laugh happily with our children, but not with money.

Chu uyamee ru duu uyamee. - If you respect others, they will respect you.

Choo kukuru ru dee ichi. - The heart is the most essential human quality.

Tusui ya tatashina mun.  Warabee shikashina mun. - The old should be treated with due respect.  Children should be treated with gentleness.

Tusui ya takara. - The old people are treasures to us.

Miitundaa duu tichi. - Man and wife are one flesh.

Nuchi nu sadamee wakaran. - Only God knows one's term of life.

Machushi garu ufu iyoo tuyuru. - One who waits patiently will catch a big fish.

Miinai chichi nai. - We learn by watching and listening.

Mii ya tin niru aru. - Our fates are as registered by heaven.

Munoo yuu iyuru mun. - Speak well of others.

Yaasa ru maasaru.  - Food is delicious when one is hungry.

Duu nu duu ya duu shiru shiyuru. - You know your body best.

Choo kani ru deeichi. - Common sense is essential.

Yii kutoo isugi. - Do good things quickly.

Chira kaagi yaka chimu gukuru. - Kind hearts are better than fair faces.

Yuu ya shititin mii ya shitinna. - Even if you hide yourself from the world, don't lose sight of your real nature.

Nmarijima nu kutuba wasshii nee kuni n wasshiin. - Forgetting your native tongue means forgetting your native country.

Ashibi nu chura saa ninju nu sunawai. - The more the merrier.

Acha nu neen chi ami. - Tomorrow is a new day.

Yikiga nu kutubaa shuumun gaai. - A man's word is his honor.

Mookiraa kwee michi shiri. - Once you have made a fortune, know how to spend it.

Karate's Most Effective Form

This page is meant to present resources on Naihanchi Shodan (and to a much lesser extent Naihanchi Nidan) which are designed to highlight its functional utility as a fighting method. This page only attempts to highlight resources which are compatible with my own approach to the kata. It makes no attempt to catalog resources relating to other approaches. This isn't meant to suggest that those approaches aren't valid in their own way. Rather it is just meant to present an internally consistent approach to the kata.

The first resource is the Facebook Naihanchi discussion group:

 Naihanchi no Kenkyu (The Study of Naihanchi)

The footwork of Naihanchi is somewhat abstract and causes a great deal of confusion for many karateka in terms of bunkai (analysis/application). This article cover basic Tenshin (evasive body rotation) for Naihanchi kata focusing on practical applications of Kosa-dachi:

Naihanchi Footwork In Practical Application

This video show many waza using kosa-dachi footwork similar or identical to that shown in the article.

The video below presents many trapping and striking methods as well as Naihanchi nu tuidi (Naihanchi joint techniques). It covers mainly single waza bunkai and doesn't address combinations.

The video below is meant to be an instructional video and all techniques are performed slowly and typically with a distinct staccato rhythm. This is merely a teaching/learning device. It should go without saying that once proficiency has been achieved, these techniques are to be performed very quickly and smoothly.

It introduces "bunkai rules," tenshin drills, combination bunkai, and slightly more complex trapping.

Here is a simple Naihanchi Flow Drill. This drill is intended to develop trapping and  flow, and to enhance one's awareness of the relationship between techniques in the kata:

Here is a video covering 5 movements from Naihanchi Nidan and a flow drill to practice those techniques. This portion of the kata illustrates how to address resistance encountered while trying to apply tuidi (joint techniques). Instead of trying to muscle the techniques, the kata shows how to reverse direction and co-opt the attacker's force while transitioning into a new technique. In other words it shows how to "go with the flow".

Angel Lemus shinshii's One Minute Bunkai™  video series includes a number of videos on Naihanchi. His insights into the kata should be considered carefully. I actually don't think of us as having different approaches to the kata. Rather we just have slightly different takes on the same approach. I think you'll see what I mean.

The One Minute Bunkai™  Webpage.

Next I want to draw the reader's attention to Chris Denwood shinshii. Here is his Website:

Http://www.chrisdenwood.com/

Here is Denwood shinshii's article on the key structural elements of Naihanchi kata:

Structural Alignment in Naihanchi Kata

He are a set of drills from Naihanchi Shodan exploring the ways the different techniques can be combined and recombined to maintain control of an attackers limbs as the encounter evolves. This is exploring the techniques in a way that is not bound by the order they appear in kata. This is an important stage in developing Naihanchi as a fighting method.

Here is a demonstration of Nahainchi kata followed by a simultaneous performance of Naihanchi Kitae and Naihanchi bunkai. Both bunkai practice and kitae practice are important training methods for developing the full potential of Naihanchi as a fighting system.

Here is another demonstration of the techniques of Naihanchi being recombined in a new order to explore how the relate to each other in the context of a fluid and evolving exchange of techniques at close range.

Here Denwood shinshii explains some power generation principles from Naihanchi in a very comprehensible way.

Here Denwood shinshii adapts Naihanchi power generation principles in a way that alters the outer appearance of the strike somewhat, but utilizes some of the same core principles.

For comparison here is Shinzato Katsuhiko shinshii demonstrating Naihanchi Shodan kata with some very sophisticated body dynamics.... You can see that Denwood shinshii has presented some Naihanchi body mechanics in a way which is easier for people to digest, especially people without many years of training to draw on.

Here is a link to a web site dedicated to Denwood shinshii's new book on Naihanchi kata (definitely recommended reading) including a free 20 page preview.

http://www.naihanchi-kata.com/

Finally here is a link to Noah Legel's Budo no Kaizen blog. In it you will find many Naihanchi related articles which are well worth reading.

http://budonokaizen.blogspot.com/

Here is a video of Naihanchi Sandan Bunkai from Richard Poage sensei (Noah Legel's teacher):