Sensei Mike
Yellow Belt
Chufeng stated: I don't study in another system...I train in YiLiQuan...
I use Naihanchi Shodan to emphasize to my students how even the simplest (on the surface) forms contain a wealth of information...I am quite frankly surprised at how many karateka don't know more about the layers of technique within kata, and even more surprised at those who would discard kata altogether.
By showing them a form from a different system, I hope to stimulate my students to start seriously examining the forms within our own system...I could just show them; but, when its spoon fed, it doesn't stick...
Like your "discoveries" in Naihanchi bunkai...if those were just given to you, if you didn't have to work for them, you would have a hard time remembering them, let alone executing them.
Chufeng:
I enjoy your perspective. I too show my students how basic kata, such as Naihanchi Shodan and Pinan Shodan have such a wealth of information. Do you know where some of my best ideas come from? My students. An example. I had taught a strike to the biceps to lower the head. Some months later, I was having real trouble making a particular big spin work well as a takedown for large opponents. (It worked against smaller opponents) A student tried the biceps strike and voila, magic, one of the best takedowns I use. Now this takedown is referred to by the student's name.
This has happened time and again. Just the other evening, a student was toying with a move I had used against a grab. He wanted to make it work against a left strike, right strike combo. (In my class, we are pretty much in agreement that this is an attack we have to deal with, and it is a big problem.) We both had a couple of good ideas, as did other students doing partner work next to this student. Together we crafted a great response to this attack. After effectively blocking both strikes, there is a left elbow to the head/neck coupled to a 180 degree rotation of the body for lots of power. The takedown was a new one, but worked really well. Like all the bunkai I practice, it came from the next movement in the kata.
For me, the key to success in motivating students, is to find techniques that they believe will work (whether mine, someone else's or their own). Then they often become determined to do the massive repetition (both kata and partner work) necessary to make them work.