Effective karate - a little bit of Junro in my karate

It's no secret that JKS South Africa is devoting a fair amount of time and effort to introduce the Junro katas into our syllabus.
 

One could very well ask... why? 

There are a number of other katas that address specific needs - so why stop at Junro? Why not add another 5 or 10 katas?

Asai Sensei provided some guidance on the purpose and value of the Junro katas including: 

 

• using stance changes to alter distance
• double hand techniques
• spinning and lateral movement
• the use of mae-ashi mae-geri 
• the importance of neko-ashi dachi

 

Elevating the role of neko-ashi dachi opens new insight into our karate. People correctly characterise Shotokan as a large, expansive style of karate, with deep, low stances. What tends to be glossed over is the transition from one stance to the next.  It is clear that Shotokan incorporates small stances as a critical component during movement.  At some point, the feet will be close to one another and weight will be distributed across a small stance.  In most cases, this will be a variation of neko-ashi dachi!

Neko-ashi dachi is present in all our action stances - the front leg in zenkutsu-dachi and sochin-dachi, the back leg in kokutsu-dachi and both legs in kiba-dachi. The value of isolating neko-ashi dachi in the Junro katas is the physical training of the muscles to keep a constant hip height and attitude and, importantly, to develop the single-leg drive during transition.  In the Junro katas we isolate and stress neko-ashi dachi stance. The training, however, is transferable to all our katas and kihon. 

In training it is possible to ensure that, as we transition from one stance to another, we move through neko-ashi dachi to force the hips to remain level (no up-and-down movement or pitching forwards or sideways) and, most importantly, to project the hips towards the target with strong rear-leg drive. This addresses a common problem where karateka use body momentum to move rather than leg drive.

Without losing sight of the objectives behind traditional kata, the lessons of Junro can be incorporated to improve our performance. It is possible to introduce elements of Junro as explicit movements in traditional kata, but this should only be done as a training aid and not a modification of the basic kata. 

We can introduce the elements of Junro kata to develop specific strengths and skills and, as soon as the concepts have been grasped, move back to the traditional movements.  The key lesson is the use of neko-ashi dachi as a transitional stance.  Granted, in reality it is used for a split second only - but it will improve:

1.      Balance - hips remain stable and level - better posture
2.      Power - hips are driven in the direction of application - better impetus
3.      Control - less reliance on momentum - ability to operate without over-extending

So - a little bit of Junro in my karate is a good thing and should be seen as an integral part of our traditional karate.

Alan King

June 2009