isshinryuronin
Senior Master
"Infinite bunkai in kata." I very much dislike this phrase. IMO it's inaccurate and mispresents THE kata as taught in curriculum. Before you call me a dogmatic Luddite, let me explain using an example comparing a three-move kata combo to the three-letter word "cat," with each move being a letter. (This is a long post, but please bear thru it along with the literary license taken in regard to the English language.)
CAT is a type of furry animal with retractable claws (except for the cheetah). Now, let's play around with these letters to "discover" a new bunkai for it. I can spell it KAT, changing the C to a K, perhaps representing seeing a block as a strike. This is reasonable as it sounds the same, and the pronounced word still means the same furry animal.
One can also spell it KHAT which still sounds the same. The insertion of the H may be likened to adding a pivot between the K and A move. It may change the inflection of the word, but not the actual meaning. This also seems a reasonable modification to me and may even make the meaning of the combination more effective. (Perhaps the sensei introduces the H at brown belt level.)
How about CAGHTE? This can also sound the same, but the number of letters has doubled. Here, some potential problem may creep in. If it takes that many letters/moves to give the correct bunkai, there should be some remnant of those extra letters in the kata. But the kata only shows the original letters and continues on to the next word series.
Now we go to KATTAPULT. Not only have we changed the original letters, we've added a whole bunch of new ones! This is getting bad. The actual meaning of the word has changed and is most likely the wrong spelling and use of the word the kata intended - an incorrect bunkai. Not that "kattapult/catapult" isn't a nice word with meaning, it's just not the right word for the story's context.
Some go to great lengths to twist and contort the kata to justify their own imagined bunkai. They say, "Let's change the C to a D, after all, they are alphabetically consecutive. And let's change the A to an O, after all, they're both vowels. And let's change the T to a G, after all, they both have an "ee" sound to them." Before you know it, CAT has become DOG. As any cat or dog lover will tell you, they are nothing alike. If the karate master wanted a dog, he wouldn't have gone and gotten a cat. So, we must pay some mind to the kata's intent.
But there is plenty of flexibility built into kata. IMO there are 1 or 2 specific bunkai for many of a kata's combos as intended by the style's master and maybe another 1 or 2 additional logical and natural adaptations within the kata's framework, not compromising the kata's integrity. It is wise to explore these options as many masters encouraged in their writing.
Now, outside this framework there is little to restrain us from doing almost any effective MA moves we wish, using the kata merely as a springboard. This is the true value of kata - allowing us to creatively apply its principles to actual dynamic, free-flowing combat, adaptable to most any self-defense situation. BUT if we start overmodifying bunkai within the kata, weakening its integrity, when we leave the kata for actual combat we may find its intended lessons not there when we need it most.
CAT is a type of furry animal with retractable claws (except for the cheetah). Now, let's play around with these letters to "discover" a new bunkai for it. I can spell it KAT, changing the C to a K, perhaps representing seeing a block as a strike. This is reasonable as it sounds the same, and the pronounced word still means the same furry animal.
One can also spell it KHAT which still sounds the same. The insertion of the H may be likened to adding a pivot between the K and A move. It may change the inflection of the word, but not the actual meaning. This also seems a reasonable modification to me and may even make the meaning of the combination more effective. (Perhaps the sensei introduces the H at brown belt level.)
How about CAGHTE? This can also sound the same, but the number of letters has doubled. Here, some potential problem may creep in. If it takes that many letters/moves to give the correct bunkai, there should be some remnant of those extra letters in the kata. But the kata only shows the original letters and continues on to the next word series.
Now we go to KATTAPULT. Not only have we changed the original letters, we've added a whole bunch of new ones! This is getting bad. The actual meaning of the word has changed and is most likely the wrong spelling and use of the word the kata intended - an incorrect bunkai. Not that "kattapult/catapult" isn't a nice word with meaning, it's just not the right word for the story's context.
Some go to great lengths to twist and contort the kata to justify their own imagined bunkai. They say, "Let's change the C to a D, after all, they are alphabetically consecutive. And let's change the A to an O, after all, they're both vowels. And let's change the T to a G, after all, they both have an "ee" sound to them." Before you know it, CAT has become DOG. As any cat or dog lover will tell you, they are nothing alike. If the karate master wanted a dog, he wouldn't have gone and gotten a cat. So, we must pay some mind to the kata's intent.
But there is plenty of flexibility built into kata. IMO there are 1 or 2 specific bunkai for many of a kata's combos as intended by the style's master and maybe another 1 or 2 additional logical and natural adaptations within the kata's framework, not compromising the kata's integrity. It is wise to explore these options as many masters encouraged in their writing.
Now, outside this framework there is little to restrain us from doing almost any effective MA moves we wish, using the kata merely as a springboard. This is the true value of kata - allowing us to creatively apply its principles to actual dynamic, free-flowing combat, adaptable to most any self-defense situation. BUT if we start overmodifying bunkai within the kata, weakening its integrity, when we leave the kata for actual combat we may find its intended lessons not there when we need it most.