Comparisons and differences

It is not my intention to set about producing a detailed examination of the technical nuances of Naihanchi as practiced by Wado Ryu karateka today. The best place for that kind of examination is in the Dojo and under the direction of a suitably qualified and experienced Sensei. The methods of training this particular kata and the subtleties involved are best expressed through actual practice and not via the written page.

However, readers may be interested in a brief journey into the technical differences between the various interpretations of Naihanchi across the styles, as far as I understand them (I would not pretend to have a comprehensive working knowledge of any styles methodology outside of my own.)

Although the bones of the various versions of the Naihanchi kata remain intact, it is amazing to see how different the individual movements are between the different schools of karate, both Okinawan and Japanese.

I have drawn my examples from a number of sources, including available interpretations of Motobu's kata and the Matsubayashi version of Naihanchi Shodan as taught by the late Shoshin Nagamine. Who was a student of Choki Motobu as well as Chotoku Kyan and Ankichi Arakaki.

Interestingly there are numerous differences between Nagamine's Naihanchi and Motobu's. The height and arm positions are lower and there are additional Nameashi-geri kicks included in Nagamine's version. It would be fair to speculate that Nagamine's Naihanchi was not greatly influenced by Motobu's. In fact it is curious that within the conservative world of late 19th century, early 20th century Okinawan masters there should be such big differences in one kata, seeming of the same lineage?

For this comparison I will use the Wado Ryu version of Naihanchi as the standard, even though there are other versions that have a greater claim to any purity of lineage. (as far as any claim can go.)

Perhaps it would be a good idea to establish which movements are found in the Wado Naihanchi that are not found in any of the other versions of this kata. (as far as I know.)

Right at the very beginning, the first opening circular salutation is an oddity. One commentator from the Okinawan side of the fence, who had recently been teaching and training in a Wado Ryu Dojo, was asked about the differences between the Okinawan Naihanchi and the Wado version, and said:

"There is a Kusanku-esque beginning to the Wado version that I hadn't seen before. The Okinawan version I learned simply had the right fist in the left palm and then went down with the hands like the last part of the Wado version."¹⁷

The Shotokan Tekki Shodan does not have this salutation, and neither does it feature in Choki Motobu's Naihanchi.

In the Wado Naihanchi it would perhaps be easier to examine this peculiarity by breaking it into four parts; the opening large circular movement, the roll of the wrists to return it back to the original position, i.e. left hand over the top of right, the scanning from left to right and the apparent raising of the hands which accompanies the step across to the right.

The first part of this is exactly the same as in Kushanku kata. The second part, the rolling of the wrists seems to echo the Okinawan Naihanchi, but only in that the hands are pushed downwards in front of the body. The Okinawan downwards push is explained in some quarters as a strategy that is directed against an opponent who is attempting to secure a hold on your wrists, and can be employed as a wrist lock. It is interesting to speculate on Ohtsuka Sensei's take on this, particularly coming from a Jujutsu background. Perhaps he saw the Okinawan interpretation of this as being too basic and not meshing with his own ideas as to how the principles in Naihanchi should be utilized. But then, intriguingly, we get this rather odd roll of the wrists which appears in the Wado version and, from a different starting position, in the Okinawan version. What did Ohtsuka Sensei have in mind for this movement?

There are some similarities and connecting factors with the previously mentioned Okinawan explanation of operating a lock or release against a wrist grab.

When examining kata and attempting to unlock the secrets of application, it is always worth casting around to look for techniques that appear similar, or operate similar principles. For example, when you are required to rotate your hands around your wrists, or to grip your own wrist with the other hand, this quite often suggests that you are trapping an opponent’s hand as they are attempting to grip your wrist. This then enables you to execute a painful wrist-lock.

I am not suggesting that this is the interpretation of this move, or that Ohtsuka Sensei embedded these Jujutsu type moves within his embellishments to the Naihanchi kata he learned from Motobu. He obviously had a list of priorities concerning Naihanchi and the Jujutsu mode of operation seems to be way down on this list, and besides, whatever constitutes a "jujutsu mode of operation" to the Okinawan stylist, or even a contemporary 21st century martial artist or commentator, may not necessarily mesh with the Jujutsu/Japanese Budo that Ohtsuka Sensei was used to operating with. As mentioned before, to Ohtsuka Sensei principles of movement were the key issues.

Look also at this perceived raising of the hands as you take the first step across to the right. In actuality the hands do not raise, but the body drops and the hands remain at their original height and then track across to the right, following the body and guarding Suigetsu (the Solar Plexus). Anyone who has had any experience in the traditional schools of Jujutsu and Aiki-Jujutsu will perhaps wonder if what they are seeing here is the well-established principle of letting the hands remain in the position where an opponent is attempting to hold them, and moving the body around the stationary hand, usually used to create slack and facilitate an escape or reversal.

For examples of this look at the escapes from Pinan Sandan and Kushanku.

Throughout the traditional martial arts opening movements of this nature are often interpreted as being either salutary in nature, or indicating a signal or gesture to an opponent or partner, or as a gathering or sinking of vital energy. There can also be hidden practical applications.

Is the scanning from left to right unique to the Wado version of Naihanchi? (It does not feature in the opening sequence of Kushanku). This scanning found in the Wado Naihanchi does not make an appearance in the photographic stills of Motobu performing his Naihanchi, but Motobu's son, Chosei Motobu, inheritor of his karate tradition, does perform this same scanning move in his version of the kata.

Obviously the key difference from all other versions of Naihanchi and the Wado interpretation is the height of operation. Ohtsuka Sensei purposefully raised the height of operation to Jodan, as he did with the Wado Shuto Uke. His reasoning behind this was to force the practitioner to work at a more difficult height, in order to extract a greater involvement of the body placing further demands on the control of the centre, the logical way to do this is to move the range of operation as far as is reasonably possible away from the centre. So again we come back to Ohtsuka’s primary intention for Naihanchi. Ohtsuka Sensei explained this by saying,

"All hand movements are done high. In this kata, this statement is true. When hands are held high, one concentrates about his hands and his lower body tends to collapse easily. It is with this fact in mind; that one trains Naihanchi without compromising his stance or posture".

The height of Motobu's blocking and covering arm position in his version of Naihanchi is also quite high, and his lateral strike, where both fists are extended away from the body, is higher than the Wado version, actually seeming to attack to jodan height. The Matsubayashi Shorin Ryu version operates primarily at Chudan level, as do the Shotokan Tekki Shodan equivalent.

The stance in the Wado version is generally considered to be close to the original root. The Shotokan Tekki series has a stance that differs greatly from the mainstream Okinawan tradition, being more extended and a completely different set of physical demands.


Motobu's thoughts on the Naihanchi stance

Choki Motobu had his own thoughts about the dynamics of the stance used in Naihanchi kata. In his book, "Watashi no Karate-jutsu" (My Art of Karate-jutsu) he had this to say;

"You may probably already know that there is a kata (Naihanchi), which uses the hachimonji-dachi. There are those who believe that the proper way to perform this stance is by twisting the toes inwards and squeezing the feet together. Hence it is often taught this way. However I believe this to be completely wrong. This way of performing the stance has been handed down through the Itosu lineage. However, disciples of Matsumura and Sakuma just naturally opened their feet up into the eight-shape posture (hachimonji-dachi) without the application of power. I once questioned Matsumura and Sakuma sensei about this point. Matsumura sensei responded by saying, "I think the practicality of Itosu's method is precarious and someone using it could be easily defeated." I considered those comments and I agreed with his theory. Using the hachimonji-dachi by twisting the toes inwards and squeezing them together, as prescribed by Itosu, would be unstable. A person could be shoved to the ground even if just lightly pushed from the rear with someone's fingertips. I just don't think this is the kind of stance that functions very well when power is applies to it. Kata should be taught in accordance with the practical issues it represents. I don't believe that it is wise to teach a student how to apply force to the movements if the application of its technique is impractical or misunderstood. This is why I disagree with twisting the toes inward and squeezing the feet together and felt it necessary to clarify my point."¹⁸

From these very candid comments we see Motobu as critical to the translation of Naihanchi through the Itosu lineage and, more crucially, the exaggeration of the inwards turning of the feet and unnatural inwards tension. Interestingly Ohtsuka Sensei's teachings on Naihanchi-dachi also stresses that forcefully squeezing the legs together is to be avoided at all costs. Regarding the stance, he said;

"…. it is obvious that if there is tension in the legs, then it would be difficult to move the body, for example. In Naihanchi, one must not place strength unnecessarily in the legs to facilitate a turn or other similar movement. The waist must be used instead. One important thing to remember is to not collapse the posture of the legs by placing strength in them."

But looking at stills of Motobu performing his Naihanchi it is clear that the feet are positioned in a parallel fashion, pointing almost straight forwards.

But remaining with the sequence of the kata.
The strike that follows the first step across is usually a backhanded swing. This is generally the accepted rule, with the exception of Okinawan Isshinryu, who not only start the kata to the left, but also execute the first move as an upwards scoop with the open hand, a completely different loci to the Okinawan, Shotokan and Wado katas. The Wado Naihanchi uses the first move as a Shuto straight thrust, again a feature unique to Wado and not part of the Okinawan/Motobu version, evidence of pure Ohtsuka.

The head level palm-up punch, just before the mid-point of the kata is often shown as an Uraken in the Okinawan schools. Motobu uses the preceding downwards movement with the left hand as a downwards strike onto the incoming hand/arm of an attacker and follows this up with the uraken.

It is obvious that Motobu’s interpretation of the kata has a certain amount of flexibility of interpretation woven in to it. For example, he says that the first elbow strike would be better employed as a punch, but, "in the kata the elbow looks better".

There are numerous other anomalies that exist between the various styles, but I would recommend that those who wish to explore these further should examine them from a reputable source and actually try them out and by doing so gain a real feel for the meanings intended by those who employ the various methods.

The Naihanchi of Wado Ryu karate is perhaps one of the most unusual interpretations of this ancient kata available to modern day students of karate. Its singularity is a result of the intentions of the founder of the Wado school, Hironori Ohtsuka, and what he saw and understood within the nature of the kata as presented to him by the Okinawan masters.

Interestingly, any Wado Ryu Sensei who is confronted with the task of teaching Naihanchi to their students, invariably has to encourage the students to go beyond the surface appearance of the kata and look towards the dynamics and physicality of the form. This then has to be explained in terms that the students can understand, particularly when they are looking for “application”. Hopefully, if the students have been given a solid grounding in the Pinan katas and Kushanku, there will be clues in abundance for them to draw from. But sadly, there is a worrying trend that means that some students, in their hurry to climb the grading ladder, only take from the Pinans and Kushanku a superficial, surface-only understanding. To look at Naihanchi in the same superficial manner will only result in the kata appearing unfathomable and perhaps anachronistic. The Sensei has the advantage of hindsight, he is able to view the kata from the vantage point of maturity and experience and to make the appropriate links to other aspects of his training that make direct connections to Naihanchi.

In conclusion, the importance of this kata is indicated by its durability. It is obvious that throughout history masters of the empty handed fighting systems attached great importance on the series of moves called Naihanchi/Naifuanchin. This kata has great depth, not just in its history but also as an area of physical study. It contains strata of physical exploration, not just in relation to the individual as he/she evolves on the spiritual side as a martial artist, but also in understanding the dynamism of one-on-one physical confrontation.


credits, footnotes and sources

© WadoWorld/Tim Shaw