Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)
It is told by some Isshinryu luminaries that Tatsuo-san taught that Sanchin is about health and fitness. It was one explanation as it is understood using the ken-po goku-i of Isshinryu karate. It is a kata that tempers the body, mind and spirit. It forges that body in its proper practice and application while adding to one’s discipline. Yet, there is so much more to the kata than simply supplementing our health and adding to our fitness.
Read more in the following:
My Personal Perspective (not as a replacement explanation but rather as an enhancement of the explanation, etc.)
Sanchin is also thought of as a form of “Prolonged Dynamic Tension” or what the Okinawans call, “Prolonged Chinkuchi.” It is comprised of a type of breathing along with a yin-yang concept of dynamic tension and positive relaxation. Regarding the concept of, “Prolonged,” that is relative to how the person wished to practice the kata. One reason why it is a consummate kata of karate is because it teaches us far more than dynamic tension or what some in the old days here in the United States called, “Isometric Exercises.”
To achieve a proficient and exacting practice of Sanchin requires one teach, learn and practice principles. When you think of chinkuchi you think of, “Muscles, ligaments, tendons, and the skeletal systems” all coming together to make sanchin work. Add in principles like physiokinetic, i.e., alignment, centeredness, structure, etc., you get a solid sanchin application.
When performing correctly you generate energy and you contain that energy while it circulates according to the breathing processes so that it circulates providing the health benefits along with greater fitness, etc. but more important it tests energy transference vs. bleed off through proper structure, alignment, and other sub-principles of physiokinetics as well as theory, philosophy and technique(s).
Then there is how it expresses, teaches and encodes such sub-principles as, “Centeredness, centerline, spinal alignment, hara or belly harness as well as shoulder harness grouping alignment, structure, etc., structure, relaxation and dynamic tension through sequential locking and unlocking, body-mind connectivity, rooting, etc.”
If a practitioner and student fails to achieve sanchin cohesive application of principles then they are not doing sanchin and they are not practicing the indigenous system of empty hand of Okinawan, Ti. Sanchin does not actually have or need what some called bunkai except in how the action and movement, etc., of sanchin is explained as a form of bunkai for bunkai is not just a specified technique per say but actually the expression of concept and principles manifested in the movement of the external body to the internal systems and mind and spirit of the karate-ka.
Sanchin bunkai, i.e., is the disassembly of the action or movements internal and external toward an analysis of principles so that one understand how they apply in karate, both as a way of life and as a defense system, that explains how all the atomistic components merge and coalesce into a one wholehearted sanchin. We begin through knowledge by learning the principles then we learn the movement, patterns and rhythms of the sanchin form toward connecting principles to the kata. Bunkai as principles so that they may be applied to any movement, any kata, any defense mechanism without regard to any particular technique as it would be defined against another particular technique.
Sanchin is that one wholehearted form, pattern, etc. that taps into the physics of the body, mind and spirit to achieve a foundation that transcends and becomes a model to teach students rather than being force into a form of study that is based on subject matter leaving the student to form to the subject matter rather than forming principles to the student.
This is the true nature of Sanchin, principles, and therefore the true nature, the very essence of foundational cornerstone connectivity, of karate from Okinawa.
Sanchin and Principles utilize all the bodies systems toward a wholehearted oneness, i.e., “Skeletal System, Nervous System, Cardiovascular and Circulatory system, Endocrine system, Muscular System, Respiratory system, Digestive system and other systems that contribute to health, fitness and well-being.”
Note: Prolonged chinkuchi or dynamic tension (Isometric) is NOT about holding the tension of muscles throughout the entire kata but rather a yin-yang process within the kata form and patter that provides a yin-yang circular process of strong dynamic tension to a balance of the opposite of positive relaxation - sequentially applying isometric dynamic tension to positive relaxation with body locking and unlocking, etc. It becomes clearer when actually taught tactically with hands-on teaching on the dojo floor so that the student can connect and apply the knowledge of principles, etc. while actually performing the form.
Bibliography (Click the link)
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