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STREET FIGHTING MOVES FROM KATA
The 5 Heian kata are supposedly created to make it suitable for teaching Karate techniques to the students at Okinawan high schools. But in a street fight, where your adrenaline is running and your heart rate increased tremendously, gross motor skills will be all that you can muster. Therefore, I find all the "basic" Karate techniques from the 5 Heian kata particularly useful when caught in a street fight. In fact, you can be quite an effective fighter if you know how to use Age uke, Soto uke and Gedan barai in a devastating way, the way we in Kissaki-Kai train for. All the Shotokan kata consist of so many techniques to strike at the throat or neck and human vital points that they are indeed meant to showcase deadly street fighting moves.
I believed that what you learn in any Karate training ought to be applicable instantly and not some 3 years later. Of course, the more you practice, the more proficient you will become in fighting or defending yourself from physical attacks. Although the Heian kata are said to contain only basic Karate techniques, in actual fact you can learn effective street fighting moves from them. In a heat of an imminent danger or hostile encounter, with your body undergoing extreme psychological and physical stress, most likely all you can muster are basic Karate techniques from your muscle memory. Therefore, even if you only know a few Karate techniques from the Heian kata, you should still be able to defend yourself, especially if you understand and have been practicing it's street fighting moves diligently. I believed that understanding and practicing the Heian kata and the trilogy of Naihanchi or Tekki kata will endow you with good street fighting moves and skills.
These basic Karate techniques are especially effective as street fighting moves AFTER you have:
1. Distracted or blinded your opponent, or caused him to lose focus on harming you.
2. Moved away from his center line, making it hard for him to reach or strike you.
3. Destroyed your opponent's limbs, balance, mobility, or vision.
Let's look at the bunkai of Heian Shodan, and the "basic" Karate techniques it presumably teach. In reality, even Heian Shodan have some devastating street fighting moves, for examples:
1. Gedan barai - as a downward forearm strike to your opponent's jaw line, back of arm, kidney or inner thigh. You can KO a person by striking 45 degree into his branchial plexus using this technique, especially after you have brought him down to his knees.
2. Oi Tsuki - as a straight punch to any of your opponent's vital points in the head while pulling him towards your punch simulteneously using Hikite.
3. Age uke - as an upward forearm strike to your opponent's jaw line or neck while pulling him towards your forearm simulteneously using Hikite.
4. Shuto uke - as a scooping strike into the inner forearm of any incoming punch/grab/push/pull. This would weaken your opponent's arm and deflect it away to open up his neck for the returning knife-hand to strike.
Similarly, "basic" Karate techniques like Soto uke and Uchi uke can be used to weaken or destroy the limbs and even knockout a person, when use as very violent street fighting moves. Do you see Soto uke in the trilogy of Naihanchi or Tekki kata? Imagine these usage:
5. Soto uke - as a flurry of pulls, pushes and strikes to your opponent's upper chest, collar bone, neck and jaw. Hitting all these targets with one hand like a solid club while jerking him violently with the other by grabbing his clothing. Or as a strike on the back of the arm while you grab and pull his wrist towards you. These are very devastating street fighting moves because you strike your opponent repetitively like a frenzied warrior while causing bewilderment to him by jerking him around like a rag doll.
6. Uchi uke - as a whipping strike (like a iron ball on a chain) to the lower back of your opponent's head while pulling him towards you simultaneously using Hikite. The side of your arm would hit his neck, jaw or etc (initial damage) while your fist will wrap around and hit the lower back of his head, possibly inducing a knockout. This is actually an advance Karate technique. The more relax you are, the more damaging this whipping blow will be.
I like simple and straightforward street fighting moves that can be easily executed under stress. Shotokan kata contain a lot of that if you research it deep enough.
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