I talked about a few specific
techniques and how they evolve over time in previous blogs: Attack
Punch in the July 2012 blog, Cat
Stance in the August 2012 blog, Front
Kick in the September 2012 blog, and Knife
Hand in the September 2013 blog.
The same is true for Hyung and
not just the evolution of the techniques themselves and it is not just that you
know more Hyung, but how you perform the Hyung will actually evolve. And while it may not look much different for someone
just observing, you will be able to tell a difference in how it feels. Specifically, what should be different is the
timing and the intent. I will look at each
of these in more detail.
Timing
In the beginning, we teach belts
to keep the timing of each technique consistent as if you were performing to a metronome. In fact, we had a black belt many years ago
that actually used to bring to class a metronome for students to practice to. We also have belts perform hyung by
breaking down each piece: prep, move, set, execute, prep, move, set, execute.
As a blue belt you should be performing
that “Prep” technique as you start to move versus one then the other. And the timing between the set and execute should
be fractions of a second from what it was as a belt. By performing the hyung this way, the time to
perform the hyung should be almost half the time as before.
In
addition, as you continue to advance, the timing should vary. For example, you may have two very fast techniques
then slower for the third technique and fourth technique. Or you may accelerate the techniques as you perform
a sequence of 3 to 4 techniques. In the
beginning you may just be playing with the timing to determine what feels right
to go fast, fast, slow, or accelerate through multiple techniques. Eventually, the variation in timing is
aligned with the “self-defense story” you are envisioning while you are going through
the hyung.
Intent
As
part of the “self-defense story”, you are performing techniques with application
and intent that may be different than what you were originally taught even though
the techniques look the same. What does
this mean? It is easier to describe when
discussing specific techniques. Let’s
start with hook punch.
A
hook punch can be performed where you are focused on those first two knuckles to
punch an assailant’s lower ribs or kidneys, or the forearm is used to strike an
assailant’s sternum, or throat, or it could be used as part of a hip throw. Each of these three variations are a different
intent although they all look the same to someone observing. Now let’s look at high block.
A
high block can be performed to break an overhead strike, or performed as an
upper hammer fist to strike an assailant’s cheek bone, or even performed using the
knuckles as an upper punch to strike an assailant’s face. Again, while the intent may be different, the
technique itself should look the same regardless of what part of the arm you
are using to strike or what target you are aiming for.
So, as you can imagine there now
can be hundreds if not thousands of variations of performing one hyung as you
vary timing and intent. You can now
better understand why Gichin Funakoshi, the founder of Shotokan Karate has said,
“In the past, it was
expected that about three years were required to learn a single kata, and
usually even an expert of considerable skill would only know three, or at most
five, kata.”
If this is all new to
you, I would start at the beginning with Kibon Hyung and focus on the timing to
perform the technique with the original intent you were taught. And then when you are comfortable with that,
you should start performing the hyung with different intents for each technique
sticking with one variation at a time until you are comfortable then moving on
to another variation. You will never get
bored with practicing hyung if you do this.
Regards,
Kelly
“Karate
is a lifetime study.” ~ Kenwa Mabuni (1889-1952), Founder of Shitō-ryū Karate.
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