The characters Ananku 安南空 can mean “peace” “south” “sky”.
Ananku is sometimes translated as peace from the south, or light from the southern sky.
Some people have said that Kyan brought it back to Okinawa after he returned from a trip to Taiwan. There is debate on the origin of the kata.
It can be interpreted as consisting of seven ways to set up the same technique. In this bunkai we are interpreting the sequence as setting up and moving to a brachial stun.
*Do not make contact or apply any pressure to the neck or head while training this or any other technique.*
The bunkai interpretation shown is identical to the way the kata is taught. The attack is a standard attack in grappling martial arts, MMA and other competitive sports. Karate practitioners are building a defense against this kind of attack into their training – as did the originators of the kata.
US Army Field Manual FM 21-150, Chapter 4 Medium-Range Combatives, describes the brachial stun:
“A sharp blow to the side of the neck causes unconsciousness by shock to the carotid artery, jugular vein, and Vagus nerve. For maximum result, the blow should be focused below and slightly in front of the ear.”
“A less powerful blow causes involuntary muscle spasms and intense pain. The side of the neck is one of the best targets to use to drop an opponent immediately or to disable him temporarily to finish him later.”
Do not make contact with the neck or head in training this technique.