Bunkai Pinan 1 Direction 1

The opening move of Pinan shodan can be used to defend when an attacker grabs your sleeve or forearm and your lapel or shoulder, at the same time.

That kind of two handed grab, one low on the arm and one high, is used in judo and other grappling arts.

This is relevant to our defense – we need to defend against strikes and grabs as well as chokes and tackles because many people use these techniques.

This application works two ways – coming over the higher arm of the opponent we can pin his arm and do a shoulder lock, off balancing the opponent and dropping him forward. We follow up with the punch as shown in the kata.

Coming in under his upper arm we can off balance the opponent and use our dropping arm for a brachial stun or hammer fist, and follow up with the punch as shown in the kata.

These versions work in a way similar to the opening of Pinan yondan, but the yondan version works better when the opponent is grabbing higher on the biceps or shoulders. Pinan shodan works better when he is grabbing a little lower on one arm. In both katas the move is repeated on the opposite hand so we can gain proficiency on both sides.

Shoshin Nagamine, founder of Matsubayashi Ryu was a San dan – third degree black belt – in judo. He called his dojo the “Nagamine Kodokan”.

As a young police recruit, Shoshin Nagamine was trained in the Japanese National Police Academy curriculum. The arrest technique course at that time was based on judo techniques. That was true earlier, at the time when the Pinan katas were developed.

At the time that the Pinan katas were formulated, judo was popular and effective. It still is. We can use this move defend against its techniques. This move can be used to defend other techniques too.

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Post Copyright © 2023 by Jeffrey Brooks, Mountain Karate, Yamabayashi Ryu, Saluda, NC USA

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