I recently stumbled on another nifty Shotokan Karate Blog, called Shotokan Karate-art of the empty hand.
Here’s what I like about that blog: everything.
The author has nifty videos, nifty analysis, and nifty bunkai.
Overall, nifty stuff!
He also talked about a list of the top ten sorts of violence that show up, at least in the United Kingdom.
I liked it a lot, so here it is, courtesy of magpie, a smart Aussie:
In 2004 using Home Office statistics, CCTV footage and witness/victim interviews Jeff Nash published a paper outlining the most common forms of attack in the UK, he found that following were the most common Habitual Acts of Violence;
1. One person pushes, hands to chest, which is normally followed by the pushee striking first, to the head.
2. A swinging punch to the head.
3. A front clothing grab, one handed, followed by punch to the head.
4. A front clothing grab, two hands, followed by a head butt.
5. A front clothing grab, two hands, followed by a knee to the groin.
6. A bottle, glass, or ashtray to the head.
7. A lashing kick to groin/lower legs.
8.A broken bottle/glass jabbed to face.
9. A slash with knife, most commonly a 3 to 4″lockblade knife or kitchen utility knife.
10.A grappling style head lock.
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Now, the next thing to think about is this: which of the kata we practice has the best bunkai for use against 1 through 10 above?
I plan to track down a few other “top ten lists” of habitual violence; I’ve seen a few before, and they are not identical to the list from the U.K., although they are similar.
You are unlikely to be attacked with martial arts-type techniques in the outside world, because a bad guy has to practice those sorts of attacks, and bad guys hate to practice; so you might as well prepare for the attacks that actually show up in the world outside the dojo.
And the kata do contain defenses against precisely these sorts of attacks, not leaping reverse back kicks.
