KISSAKI KAI BUNKAI Rules of Combat

Bunkai .......     What to look for in a Realistic System 

The Rules of Combat

                       Rules of Combat - The Development Of Warrior Tactics

Described as a "Modern Book of Five Rings" it serves as a guide for all students and instructors on the journey to principle based training and mastery of their skills.
All fights, large battles or individual encounters, follow certain rules. And if you know the rules, you can win any fight.

Here are just some examples:
Rule #4: Never stop until it's over - Would you walk away from a fight in which the assailant still has a weapon and can use it against you again?
Rule #7: Never fight at the same speed - Do not let a fight deteriorate into a one-for-one exchange of blows. Once you have started your techniques, the assailant should have no window of opportunity to regain the initiative.
Rule #12: A lock is only a prelude - In many dojos techniques are only practiced in isolation. For a more realistic training you must remember that a hold or a lock is often only a prelude to control or finish, not the control or finish itself.

I know its easy to say these rules, but what do they actual mean and look like, in application. 
 
The Rules of Combat can help you to structure your techniques in a way that maximises your chances to win any confrontation. These rules are principles that can be applied to any martial art, not just karate.
Like no other martial art, all of Kissaki Kai's techniques and bunkai are based on these rules or priniples.

This is from an article by VINCE MORRIS 9th Dan, Kissaki Kai (c)

Whenever the question of Bunkai arises, there are always a number of possibilities to consider.

Many years ago, I would be in classes in Sensei Asano's Dojo, and we had a continual stream of Japanese 4th Dan junior instructors who had to spend a few months with sensei to be under his guidance and tutelage before going off to become instructors in other Dojos.

Training with and getting to know them, it soon became apparent that they were mainly concerned with remembering all the sequences of the various Kata,(and in the correct order) and paid little or no attention at all to the "meaning" of the techniques (no need/requirement to).

Indeed I remember (and still feel the embarrassment to this day) of one such unfortunate who had been training with us for months but one night he suffered a "mental block" whilst performing Kanku-Dai in front of sensei and we senior grades, and even after many attempts he couldn't finish the Kata.Asano sensei got progressively angrier with each failure, and the outcome was that the junior instructor was sent from the Dojo. It was not long before he was sent away altogether as unsuitable!

If you think about it, considering the number of Kata that junior instructors were supposed to master in only a few years training, it should be no surprise to learn that even if they wanted to spend any time studying a particular Kata in depth, there simply wasn't time for this. Much later, I came to realize that this did not just apply to the junior instructors who lined up with us, but also to the senior instructors who had followed exactly the same pedagogic process.

I remember the standing joke in the Dojo that we would always look forward to sensei's regular holiday in Tokyo as we would be soon learning the "new" Kata that he would always bring back with him.

I have written elsewhere (Kyusho Secrets) about how it gradually became clear that whenever the subject of Bunkai came up with the Japanese sensei it was given only rudimentary consideration and the explanations in the main were patently combat ineffective.  

I'm sure many of you still remember the "attack by numbers and don't move until the previous attack has been dealt with" scenarios!As if that weren't silly enough, the attackers had to assume the characteristics of robots who would attack and hold position just long enough to allow the defense to work.

The whole concept of understanding what you were doing was completely overwhelmed by simply trying to remember what you were doing - and as long as it seemed powerful and well balanced, that was it! The final scales fell from the eyes when after spending hours videotaping sensei going through all the Kata in succession twice, one fast - one slow (a prodigious feat in itself) he turned to me and one or two other senior grades who been asked to be ukes and asked us to devise the bunkai!

OK. That was a long time ago, and nowadays, thank heaven, many students are really concerned with understanding the principles that the Kata were devised to impart.

However, how is one to know whether any particular defensive waza is any better than any other which may seem to fit the outward manifestation of the Kata movements?

It was a long time before I was able to satisfactorily devise a rough system to help to make a decision.

The culmination of my thinking and experience over the years was my book "Rules of Combat" and the video/DVD which also covers the topic.The various concepts in those works can handily be condensed into a little table which considers the way in which each Bunkai waza fulfils criteria which can be the deciding factor between success and failure.

Of course, you can devise your own list of which "Rules" should be given greater or lesser relevance, but I give here a basic example and give a brief explanation.

Waza Characteristics	Considerations
Reactive or Pre-emptive (Sen-no-sen, go-no-sen)	It is always safer to pre-empt an attacking move - either by simple strike or "pulling" the attack you want. Pre-emptive carries greater legal implications. The rule - "Action beats Reaction"
Keep it Simple, Stupid! Complex or Gross Motor Function	Simple techniques will always work better under stress. It is impossible to execute complex waza in situations of great stress, fear or shock. The body reverts to gross motor function.
Correct ma-ai (combat distance)	Does the waza place you in the correct range to defeat the aggressor? Remember that most of the fight will be at very close range!
Speed of completion	Depending on severity of situation, select the waza that finishes the attack fastest.
End Game	Does the waza leave the opponent unable to continue the attack? This is an important consideration.
Body shift (Tai & Ashi sabaki)	Does the waza take you to the position of advantage where you can best control & defeat the attacker whilst minimizing the danger to you? General rules - never step backwards, go 45�
Unbalance the attacker	Does the waza take away some of the assailant's power by unbalancing him?
Take the mind - Distraction techniques	Have you distracted, by strike, kick, sound, etc., as a pre-emptive device?
Predictability	The most effective waza have predictable results upon the aggressor, either by finishing the encounter or by forcing a reaction which brings his body into the correct position to take the finishing waza.
Vital Points (Kyusho - vulnerable areas)	Every human body has areas which are more susceptible to attack than others, not to select waza which utilizes this fact is foolhardy and unacceptable. Rule - Always use the vulnerable areas.
Waza is trained instinctive/reflexive	Humans have built-in reflexes which can be used in a positive manner (to train a reflexive defense reaction) or negatively (a reaction forced from the attacker - flinch reflex etc.)
Maintains initiative	There is no "Ichi - Ni" type of counter - all blows, kicks, throws etc., flow into one continuous technique until the attack is defeated, thus retaining the initiative and forestalling further attacks.
Simultaneous defense & counter	The simplest & most effective defences make blocking and/or escaping part of the counter attack.
Fail-Safe	Even if the unexpected happens, the waza places you in a position from which you can keep the initiative and flow into a follow-up technique without compromising the situation.
Realistic Attack & Defence	The whole scenario must be based only upon what actually happens in common acts of violence, and the reaction of the assailant to the waza must also be realistic. (i.e. - a hard blow to the face moves the head in the direction of the force etc.)
Use of Body weight	The waza maximizes the use of the defender's body weight to impart greater power to the defensive technique. Rule - Always apply body weight to technique if possible.
Defends against MOST LIKELY form of attack	The "rule" is - Always first train the techniques which defend against the most common forms of assault.
Both hands are working	Rule - Hands only do 2 things in combat - protect you & hurt him! Make sure that at all times the hands are correctly engaged - that means no silly "hikite" withdrawing to the hip, for example (without something in it).

Each element the above (and more) can be assessed on a sliding scale of 1 - 10, with the highest score denoting the higher level of compliance with the table.

Obviously, Bunkai waza which scores high on the list is more likely to be effective in a real combat situation, and should be inherently simple and straightforward both to learn and to carry out than those which have a low score.

Bunkai

 This is from an article by VINCE MORRIS 8th Dan, Kissaki Kai (c)