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I am not writing about this as to either being a correct teaching or not a correct teaching but rather to ask the question why it is only taught in one faction of the entire Isshinryu community. I also ask why it has not been adopted in all Isshinryu factions and practices and teachings.
I ask this because when I was taught Seiunchin kata a very long time ago the aspect of dynamic tension and breathing in the beginning moves of the kata were not taught. I have kept a close eye on this and found at least two of the three main factions of Isshinryu didn’t apparently teach this part. I also heard somewhere that this came about because they didn’t train long enough under Tatsuo-san on Okinawa but I would then ask, “Why not, shouldn’t it have been taught before moving on to the third kata requirement and especially before allowing a grade award of sho-dan, yudansha status?”
To this day I have found nothing positive explaining this difference in the kata. I expect each person’s presentation and practice of kata to vary some what simply because we are all humans and tend to do things with at least slight variances but this is not a slight variance, it is a huge thing to my perception and perspective.
Like the Sanchin kata, dynamic tensioning teaches us aspects of the fundamental principles of martial disciplines and applications. This is absolutely critical to the training, practice and application of karate or any martial discipline toward self-defense.
Like I said, since I first discovered this along with the principles I find it beneficial in many ways and would therefore teach it to new students at least at the novice levels. I wonder why other luminaries and pioneers of Isshinryu forgot, failed or just left it out of their teachings? I also was led to believe that the main proponent of this teaching actually didn’t learn or practice it until much later and wonder if that was because it may have been added at a later date like many techniques, traits and principles, i.e., twist punch to vertical fist to twist punch until the final discussion to use a vertical fist, etc.
Some sources say it has always been there and if that were true, I don’t think it is accurate, then it would be practice in some form in all the factions that make up the Isshinryu communities, right?
Personally, I don’t care who gets credit for what and I do care that something with at least a potential of being critical to the system and especially to the application of self-defense is not left out or forgotten or simply ignored because someone didn’t think of it first and so on.
Seiunchin should be taught with this aspect not because it may or may not be the wishes of the systems creator or that it is supposed to be how the creator practiced it but because it is important to learning the principles that drive self-defense methodologies one derives from the practice of such a system. Simply, it is not about ego but practicality in defense of one’s life and limb.
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