Karate Bunkai in BJJ

I have been practicing my kata bunkai and have been thinking about if I could use any of them in my BJJ. In BJJ I have spent the last month or so of rolling (sparring) working on my open-guard, because it was a bit of a weak point, but last lesson I decided to go back to normal rolling, and not just start from open guard.

BTW if you dont know what open guard is, check this link http://www.grapplearts.com/Glossary_BJJ_Open_Guard.html

So instead of just pulling guard straight away, I tried to take the opponent down first. Note that we start 90% of rolling from a kneeling position, and so 'take them down' means knock them off their knees to their back, not a judo style takedown from the feet. Anyway, I thought that I might try a bunkai from Shisochin. It is a very simple bunkai - one hand (for me mostly left hand) swats the opponents right hand, pushing it down, while the other hand (usully right) pushes straight forward under the chin and drives them back. From there I passed straight past guard most of the time, right into side control. I was really amazed that it quite consistantly worked for me - 4-5 times over our 40 minutes of rolling (tried it against 3 or 4 different opponents).

Here is an example of Higaonna Sensei (10th Dan) doing Shisochin. The technique in question is demonstrated at 45-50 seconds, and the bunkai at 50-55 seconds.




And the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPoZgm9cHTI

Obviously it works as a stand-up takedown as well, as demonstrated by Higaonna Sensei (and how I have been practicing it). It is certainly not a regular grappling takedown, and I wonder how it will work against a standing opponent who is a grappler (as opposed to a striker). I think that the big risk is that it would be seen by a referee as a strike (which it could indeed be used as) an therefore get penalized. The other risk is that the opponent's head goes straight down and they arch their back and land with their whole bodyweight on their head - very dangerous. I think though that if you stop pushing after you have broken the opponents balance they will try and stop falling and right themselves and will naturally avoid landing on their head - I guess this is why we do heaps of breakfalls in BJJ! However I guess that is also why Shisochin is usually taught around brown belt level - so that beginners dont use this bunkai.

The second bunkai I used to great effect last BJJ class was one out of Sanseiru. Obviously if you cant get straight past guard with the takedown you have a fun fight trying to do that fundamental BJJ activity of passing guard. Now this bunkai I usually use as a takedown - in Judo the first part of it is called Morote-Gari, and can extend to the full range of double and single leg shoots.

Here is a quick video of Morote-gari



and the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN5qpGuseMs

However the second part is my favourite part of the bunkai, and it is probably my favourite bunkai of all at the moment.

Firstly, you can see the kata technique demonstrated here by Gosen Yamaguchi at 1.15 to 1.17.



and the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCcAu8mgwbo

Basically it is a downward (gedan) X-block (juji-uke) from shiko-dachi, then turn around and another gedan juji-uke. The first juji-uke is the Morote-gari as you cross your arms under the opponents legs and grab them, but the critically cool part comes from the step turning around to do another juji-uke. With that step you turn over a prostrate opponent onto their stomach while completely controlling their legs. If you lift them up while you do it they turn over on their face! Muahahaha!

The only online video I could find of this is the below one, although I swear I have seen it in a Goju-Kai bunkai demonstration somewhere. I have also seen it in 3 or 4 Zen Do Kai 5th Dan gradings I have watchd videos of. Unfortunately I cannot find any of them online after a brief search.

Have a look at Bob Jones demonstrating the technique (in very bad skinny jeans) at 6.48-6.52



and the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZUJiJYhj88

The cool thing that I discovered about this bunkai is that it also works as a guard pass!

For those whoe dont know what a guard pass is, he is the first demo I found on the net (BTW this is a really good website - I subscribe to it, and you should too if you do any martial art)

http://www.grapplearts.com/MMA-Guard-Passing.html

Importantly, the bunkai works *really* well as a guard pass. This is how I used it in BJJ - at least 3 times last class!

While I dont do like Bob Jones and sit on the person a few times after flipping them(nor do I train in those horrible skinny jeans), once you have flipped them onto their stomach with you sitting on top of them you are spoilt for options. If you follow the bunkai of the kata strictly, you will most likely apply the second juji-uke as a leg lock (probably as a figure 4 style undernath the calf or ankle) however white belts are not allowed to use leg locks. All I can do is curse taking 2+ years per belt in BJJ (but the curseing is for this instance only, it is actually fun being a white belt). Insead, after initially pausing and being amazed at how well the bunkai worked, I slid off onto an easy side control on top of the opponents back. Such an excellent position to be in!

On the street I would probably just strike someone in the nuts, which are presented so completely to strike...

Encouragingly the guard pass worked against even strong opponents, and I managed to amaze someone with it (and my Shisochin bunkai) who is usually a very close match in all of weight, height, and skill level.

And who was it that said "There ain' no wrasslin' in ka-rotty"?