Three Types of Bunkai

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In a recent posting the author mentioned that there were three types of bunkai, as follows:

1. Omote [表] (suitable for beginners), 
2. Ura [裏] (intermediate) and 
3. Honto [本当] (the real application). 

So, after reading it and the following article by the author I had to do my personal analysis of the three terms and their presented meaning. 

First, Omote [表] (suitable for beginners). Using the character(s) involved, it translates into English as, “surface; face (i.e. the visible side of an object); front; outside; exterior; appearance; top; first half; cover; foreground.” Now, as to suitable for beginners as a definition we would have to assume the term when used with bunkai along with its intent in karate could mean that omote infers the face, exterior, surface or bookcover of bunkai. 

Second, Ura [裏] (intermediate). Using the character(s) involved, it translates into English as, “lining, inside; behind the scenes, hidden side, etc.” Now, as to being intermediate bunkai I am left wondering exactly what they mean because intermediate may be inferring something in the middle or a second stage/level of a three level artifact. I have a bit harder time validating the term as indicated. 

Third, Honto [本当] (the real application). Using the character(s), it translates into English as, “truth, reality; actuality; fact; proper; right; correct; official; genuine; authentic; natural; veritable.” If you stick to genuine and authentic it could mean real application but that left me considering “why.” Why real application and why begin with something that isn’t real. What reason is there to have a beginner and intermediate bunkai? 

Fourth, Bunkai [分解]. Using the character(s), it translates into English as, “disassembly; dismantling; analysis; disaggregating; disintegrating; decomposing, etc.” If bunkai actually does mean to analysize something then there can be no beginner, intermediate or real applications because bunkai does not mean application. Bunkai is a process whereby one creates, discovers or finds a real applicable method or methodology. Ouyou is a proper term, Ouyou [応用] translates into English to mean, “(practical) application; putting too practical use; applied.” 

As you can see, even if we switch out the less appropriate term of bunkai for the more appropriate term of ouyou it still does not warrant the breakdown of beginner, intermediate and real. Now, if you take a possible method, analyze it, then test it thoroughly to ensure it meets the standards of reality based adrenal stressors, etc., then we can say it has three stages of learning to achieve a real ouyou or practical application for self-protection in self-defense. 

So, to make the clearer and applicable to me I would rephrase it too: “

Theoritical (riron-teki [理論的]) Method (hoho [方法] [理論的方法])

Methodological analysis (bunseki-hoho [方法論分析])

Practical Method (Ouyou [応用]) (jissai-hoho  [実際方法])

To reach a practical methodology we may want to break it down into these three stages of learning, i.e., theoretical method, methodological analysis to practical method. Rironteki-hoho, bunseki-hoho to jissai-hoho. 

Or we can simplify it into two stages, i.e., bunkai or analysis of method/methodologies to ouyou or practical applications in self-protection for self-defense. In short, we do have this pension to complicate things into complex systems rather than the shorter simplified easy system. Even shorter, discover your bunkai then test and translate that into ouyou or practical applications/methodologies. 

Ok, Omote/Ura concept. Omote [表] Ura [裏]: It seems to me that the meaning of omote/ura is also not in line with the definition it is given at the start of this article because it is not truly about beginners, that is too narrow a category, and it is not about anything intermediate, that is also too narrow a category, because the concept is about what we see or think we see in relation to what we find or hope to find when we take the actual omote/ura concept and apply it to the other concepts I provided above to find the true nature of things be it methods, methodologies or practice applicable techniques. So…

Omote, the characters/ideogram means "surface; face (i.e. the visible side of an object); front; outside; exterior; appearance; public; cover; foreground." Ura, the characters/ideograms mean "bottom (or another side that is hidden from view); undersurface; opposite side; reverse side; rear; back; inside; out of sight; behind the scenes; opposite; inverse."

Omote and Ura are also significant cultural words, terms or ideogram/character's that help us understand the culture and beliefs that are the foundation of many aspects of the martial arts.

In the martial arts I refer to those obvious things as omote and those things often revealed in addition or underneath the obvious things as ura. It is the obvious, the practitioner, who looks within the reflective mirror to display the inverse or back; behind things to see what is underneath or undersurface of the obvious things.

For instance, omote are the techniques you derive from the various movements of kata while ura are the underlying principles and methodologies you would extract from the experience of those technique-based basics of kata. 

You can also symbolize omote-ura by the Tai Chi symbol, i.e. the yang-yin.

I quote, "In the martial arts, omote refers to the techniques that are officially recognized as being characteristic of a given system, style or branch school. In signifying the surface, the term omote always presupposes that which is underneath the appearances. To every omote there is a corresponding ura, "behind" or "the other side (as in the reflection of the mirror - a Shinto icon in Japan)."

I quote, "To learn, practice and apply martial arts requires it be transmitted by following both sides, omote and ura. The main substance, the fundamentals, of the system, style or branch is provided solely through the visible forms and formulas, so the transmission relies on what is not visible from the outside, the ura."

Omote-ura model is about what is obvious vs. what is considered underlying the obvious, especially since this model is a yin-yang of martial disciplines. It is often misunderstood to mean both what is obvious and what is hidden, i.e. where hidden infers or implies secrecy (secret). This is just not true.

The Ura is actually the follow-on inter-connectedness of the obvious application toward principled based multiple methodologies, etc. to fully implement the system toward its ultimate goal. Look at Omote-n-Ura as the need to see both sides of the coin, i.e., like seeing the yin and the yang of things. It is about seeing that which you don’t know so you can understand the things you do know and grow from there as a natural stepping stone toward proficiency and mastery.

Finally,  Kata/Ouyou [応用]

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