Kusanku (Matsubayashi) - Reverse knife hand/drop section

Very nice! I like that Jeb. Here’s my take on the sequence as found in Shotokan and Wado (from 2:07) onward.

All the best,

Iain

Good stuff! Thanks for sharing, Jeb. I also look at this as a takedown, which makes sense historically, given what we know from the Oshima Hikki. Mine is a little bit different, probably because our version of the kata does that sequence slightly differently. I was going to just post the video clip that I already recorded a few years back for the takedown, but it occurred to me that I should probably include that technique within the context of the movement before it, the way you did, so I threw together a video for that, this evening. Here are both clips:

Thank you, Jeb, for posting this and all the other videos you are posting! Full disclosure: Jeb and I are members of the same organization (Shorin Ryu Karatedo International), but, sadly, we haven't met yet in person. Hopefully soon!

I've been tinkering with this section of Kusanku, and in the Matsubayashi version I was taught, both hands move upward, almost like a press. I llike the chop application, and I've been toying with using the upward press to hyperextend a straightened arm. Our verson also has the back hand positioned behind the head, and I often wondered why. One explanation is that you are pulling the arm back as far as you can to straighten it for the upward press on the straightened elbow joint. I then kick out one of his legs with the front kick, then use the pivot and inside chest block motion as an arm bar on the straightened arm to force him down to the ground (most likely he'll put out one arm to keep from going all the way down, leaving his head at your waist level). Clear the limb by pulling his arm back, punch him in the head and back away defensively.

Not sure if that makes sense. Unfortunately, I do not yet have a video.

I've recently "learned" Kusanku (it comes last in our system of 18 kata), and I'm slowly building up some applications. Thanks so much for these videos!

Best,

David

Total inspiration for me to see endless variations of Kusanku which has variations from different katas such as Pinan Yondan and others that I see....Regard...Gerald.

In a place I cannot now find, Jesse Enkamp says he saw an old text with the behind-the-head version of this move.  It's a response to a hair grab of a Manchu-era pigtail:  you lock their grabbing hand behind your head, to nullify the  effect of the grab, then smash into their elbow with the other hand. 

The front-of-the-head version could work similarly against a front- or top-of-the-head hair grab.