Embusen
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Kūshankū |
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Embusen |
Also Kūsankū, Kankū Dai 観空大 (Shōtōkan), Kosokun. In Tae Kwon Do, it is called Kong Sang Koon. Practiced in these ryū: Shitō, Shōrin, Shōtōkan, Wadō, Isshin, Kyokushinkai, Chitō, Seibukan
Kankū translates as "viewing the sky," "contemplating the sky" or "gazing heavenward."
The Chinese man usually taken as named Kūsankū has also been called Kosokun, Kū Shankū, Kung Hsiang Ch'un, Kwang Shang Fu, Ku Shan Ku, Koshokun, Kwanku, Ko Sokun, Gong Xiang Fu. He was reputedly an expert in Shaolin quan fa from Fukien province and came to Okinawa in or around 1756 as a Chinese government emissary, settling with the "36 Families" of Chinese emigrants in Kanemura, near Naha. He remained in Okinawa until 1762.
Numbered among his students were Chatan Yara and Sakugawa Kanga ("Tode” Sakugawa). The latter was also a student of Takahara Peichin.
“Tode” Sakugawa or Sakugawa Kanga studied under the Chinese emissary, Kūshankū, for six years. Sakugawa met Kūshankū in an interesting manner. He came upon Kūshankū one evening while Kūshankū stood on a bridge looking out over the water. Sakugawa, acting as a young, rebellious young bully, attempted to push Kūshankū off the bridge. As he moved to push Kūshankū from behind, Kūshankū suddenly sidestepped the attack and instantly grabbed him. He then gave Sakugawa a harsh scolding and a lecture about respecting one’s elders, the point being that karateka need to know “why” not only “how.”
Naming a kata after its "carrier" is a traditional practice.
The kata enacts an encounter taking place in a large field at night with numerous opponents. It involves perfecting the ancillary senses of hearing and touch due to the difficulty of seeing clearly at night. Kūsankū involves swift stance shifting, low defensive postures, as well as the development of the “sixth sense.”
Kūsankū’s requirement of constant alertness and unpredictable combinations find immediate applicability to kumite. It moves both on the ground and in the air. In the opening movement of the kata, the hands circle in front of the body in a wide arc. This arc symbolizes the moon because the kata was performed at night. It might also symbolize Yin and Yang and the shielding of the eyes from the blinding flash resulting from the splitting of the cosmos.
In 1922, Funakoshi Gichin led a demonstration of karate at the Kōdōkan for an audience that included Kanō Jigorō and his senior instructors. Funakoshi performed Kūshankū, which was reputedly his favorite kata. The demonstration was very well received, and Kanō pressed Funakoshi with many questions about karate.
The flowing movements of Kūshankū have been compared to the techniques of White Crane Kung Fu, and it is widely believed that Fujianese White Crane was a prime progenitor of Okinawan karate.
In Shintani Wadōkai, there is a kiai at each nukite and uraken.
Wikipedia article
Iain Abernethy article
Kūsankū Kata—Is It Really for Fighting at Night?
Video
Kankū Dai - Kanazawa Hirokazu
Shintani Wadōkai - Nico Gosselin
JKF Wadō Kai - Fukazawa Hiroji
Ōtsuka Hironori (1965)
JKF Wadōkai - Honami Iwasaki (gold medal, 2008 JKF Wadōkai World Championships)
JKF Wadōkai - Arakawa Toru
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In Matsubayashi ryū, this position is called ura gamae 裏構え (cheating fighting posture), because the sudden pivot and drop into this posture in Kūshankū "cheats" the opponent of his/her opportunity to attack from behind. In Seidō, it's called garyū dachi 臥竜立 (reclining dragon stance).
Nakayama Masatoshi, Best Karate 6: Bassai, Kankū
Fuse no shisei (going to ground position). Also migi ashi mae fuse 右足前防 (left foot forward guard) or ryō te fuse 両手防 (both hands guard).
Patrick McCarthy, Classical Kata of Okinawan Karate
Note the line of the kata as marked on the floor. In the transition from shutō uke in kokutsu dachi to tate nukite in zenkutsu dachi, the shutō and the nukite are delivered along the same line, that of the opponent. But this necessitates that, when stepping forward into zenkutsu dachi, the left foot does not remain in the same place and simply rotate, but shifts laterally to the left. If that foot did not shift, the strike would be delivered off line, to the right.
This principle also applies in parallel situations in this and other kata, such as the tate nukite in Pinan Nidan.
Shintani Masaru and Greg Reid, Wadō-kai Karate Kata
The final position, before the close, is ryō ken yama gamae 両拳山構え (two fisted mountain posture).
