Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen: A Most Aggressive Sequence

In today's training, I performed the kata Heian Yondan five times. The fourth kata in the Heian series is a real treasure of mine. It is second only to Heian Godan as favorite of the Heian kata.

What I noticed today was the extreme aggression of the attack sequence in moves 11, 12, and 13, shown in the screen shots of Osaka Sensei's near flawless performance of Heian Yondan with commentary by Nakayama Sensei.

What stood out while doing this amazing kata was the grabbing motion of the left hand, between moves 12 and 13. The sequence here is shuto uchi-age shuto -- mae geri -- tate uraken (kiai), or, ridge hand strike to head/neck-ridge hand block -- front kick -- grab with left, step in and strike backfist to face, chin, or neck. That is nasty. Grab the target, perhaps a fist, or sleeve, or arm, and then drive in with your whole body to deliver the strike with kiai and kime. Done properly, this sequence could well incapacitate an opponent.

The wealth of combat information in our kata is amazing.