Report by Mike Scales, Karate BC Technical Committee Chair
On Saturday March 1st, 2015, Karate BC hosted an Okinawan Kata Seminar at the Pinetree Community Centre, Coquitlam.
The seminar was taught by Sensei Don Shapland 8th Dan Shorin Ryu. The event was a resounding success with 28 attendees from the lower mainland, Vancouver Island, Ashcroft and Kamploops. Karate styles represented were Wado Ryu, Shotokan, Goju Ryu, Shorin Ryu and Shito Ryu. Karate BC Technical committee members Akiro Sato, Mike Scales and Peter Akutagawa were also in attendance.
Sensei Shapland got things started with a short lecture on the history of Karate in Okinawa. It should be noted here that Sensei Shapland lived in Okinawa for many years and is part of an Okinawan family so his knowledge of the island is extensive. We were then treated to a demonstration of various Okinawan versions of kata by Sensei Shapland’s students. It was very interesting to compare the Okinawan versions to the Japanese and observe the changes that have been made since the Katas were brought to mainland Japan.
Next Sensei Shapland led us through the two Kata Fukyu Gata Ichi and Ni. These kata (Gata in Okinawan) where designed to be practiced by all the styles of Okinawan Karate groups when they got together.
We then moved on to the Kata Chinto, also known as Gankaku in Shotokan. Sensei Shapland’s students first demonstrated the Kata so we could see the sequence. Sensei Shapland taught kata by first showing and Bunkai (application) then the moves from the kata. We slowly worked through kata doing each Bunkai in turn then adding to the sequence we had already practiced. This took almost two hours then we stopped for a well-earned lunch break.
To start the afternoon session off Sensei Shapland showed us a two person exercise for Hikite (retracting hand) and a pushing hands drill.
Now it was time for the second kata of the day, Wansu (Enpi or Wanshu in some styles). Sensei Shapland’s students first demonstrated the Kata then again we went through the various Bunkai and all the matching Kata sequences until we completed them all. We now went through Chinto and Wansu again to make sure we had not forgotten anything, very challenging.
We finished off the day with very interesting self-defence techniques during which Sensei Sato and I tried to choke each other and twist our necks into unnatural positions, lots of fun!
We were finally treated to a demonstration of a really old version of Nipaipo by Lawrence Larocque, one of Sensei Shapland’s senior students. This is a beautiful Kata with an obvious Chinese influence that most had never seen before. This is twice as long as the Nipaipo must of us are already familiar with but we could see where the modern version came from.
The seminar ended at 3:00 pm with a group photo. Judging by the smiles on all the faces everyone had an interesting and fun day. On behalf of Karate BC I would like to thank Sensei Don Shapland and his students for an interesting and action packed seminar.
One of the mandates of the new Karate BC Technical committee is to provide more activities and seminars for the members who are not totally sport oriented and this is hopefully the first of many to follow. Should you have any requests for a seminar of a particular topic, please contact Mike Scales.
Mike Scales
Karate BC Technical Committee Chairperson
Tel: 604-945-9877 Cell: 778-877-2635
mikescales@telus.net
