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Mabuni (Shito-ryu founder) in a sanchin posture
Miyagi sensei
(Goju founder) sanchin
Morio Higaonna's sanchin posture
Shinyu Gushi of Uechi-ryu (passed away at 73 yrs in 2009) was a big proponent of sanchin
Author of this article, Jason Armstrong in his shito-ryu's sanchin posture in 2013.
Sanchin Origins & Practice
The breathing focused kata Sanchin is one of the core exercises of traditional karate and is practiced by such styles as shito-ryu, kenpo, isshin-ryū, kyokushin, uechi-ryu and goju. It is a kata that to a large degree, has little focus amongst sports karate practitioners who have also discarded a number of other core attributes of traditional karate e.g. ude tanren. Sanchin translates to ‘three battles’ and is sometimes interpreted as the three way battle to unify the mind, body, and spirit. The kata sanchin is therefore typically regarded as something embracing the spiritual or ‘zen’ side of karate and encompassing strong links to the development of health. In a large part the focus on health is due to the kata’s emphasis on breathing as a core component of training the unification of heart/mind, spirit and body (also termed shingitai in Japanese budo; Wilder, 2007). Furthermore, as we discuss below, its links to health also stem from its origins in Chinese qigong.
Despite sanchin kata’s ‘internal’ label, the data in this text shows that even the Okinawan sensei who typically practiced it daily for a lifetime, in fact had shorter lives than their Okinawan peers who did not practice karate. However, there is little doubt that sanchin kata enhances one’s karate through optimizing breath-technique connection and developing the hara and tanden, two key attributes of Eastern martial arts. In my travels I have been taught at least four different versions of the kata and I am not referring to the petty differences in the pattern, but differences in core approaches to breathing, body posture and muscular contraction. All of these differing thoughts have come from high ranking Japanese and Okinawan sensei.
Sanchin practitioners don't seem to live longer
I myself have settled on two versions of the kata, with one version containing a hybrid of some of the differing viewpoints to which I have been exposed. One of these versions I feel is probably not healthy but is great training for budo, again raising the point discussed in the textbook questioning why most 8th Dan instructors die younger than the normal population in their same region/era (see a by style & instrcutor analysis in Karate - surprising lifespan links), that training for true combat is not necessarily consistent with good health (similar thoughts have been expressed by the late shotokan sensei Asai, 1935-2006 and Itsosu sensei, a key forefather of karate; see Section 4 in the same textbook).
Sanchin for body awareness, conditioning or health?
A related past-era example indicating the primary purpose of sanchin kata comes from Mabuni Kenwa, the founder of shito-ryu. In his 1934 book, his introduction notes that sanchin’s use is not for health but rather mental calm and body awareness (however, in the foreword of the same book Mabuni suggests that karate as a whole is a pathway to all-round health).
Note that Mabuni (who lived from 1889-1952 [63yrs]) performed the ‘straight back’ or ‘open chest’ version of the form versus the alternate more round back form which is akin to that of the photo of Shinyu Gushi (pictured above). Both posture forms of the kata are performed in Shito-ryu and Okinawa, depending on Master teaching. In the book, Karate - surprising lifespan links, we discuss some of the physiological differences between the kata and relate back to loneavity data of karate practitioners, and other sports.
Of course the nature of hara shut down, body and shoulder positions are not the only things almost religiously debated about the kata. Some of these include the muscular actions, bi-phasic breathing (kangen no kiai) versus single breath versions of the kata and punch delivery position (some styles aiming to the solar plexus to always re-enforce target tracking to the largest chudan kyusho, while others target the rib region below the nipple [which has an advantage in locking the technique and protecting the shoulder's rotator cuff better, which after years of repetition is "wear and tear" weakened more so by solar plexus punching]).
In the same vein, debates regarding sanchin postures not only from a health perspective but the topic of function and bunkai related to grounding, posture and balance. A contestable issue being that training for one's center of mass to be tanden based with a somewhat immovable stance, goes out the window as soon as two people become connected in a grab/grapple. This is because the centre of mass is now somewhere between the two connected bodies and any throw/manipulation is not directly related to the martial arts defined single person's tanden. Whilst working one's centre of mass for an immovable as possible stance is standard practice in the martial arts and worthwhile, one has to be aware of overemphasizing time on a particular stance which may be grappling centric but have the reality of a altered "centre of mass point" as soon as opponent engagement begins.
More on Sanchin kata's history
The kata sanchin is believed to have its roots in ‘monk fist boxing’ from China and the consensus is that Higashionna Kanryo is the first person responsible for moving it from China to Okinawa (Sells, 1995; Higaonna, 1996). Higashionna was born in Okinawa in 1853 and studied martial arts there for approximately 6 years before it was reputed that he left for Fuzhou in China and returned to Naha in Okinawa in 1883 with sanchin and other kata. However, the time he stayed there ranges from 15 years to potentially only 3 years, the more recent research has begun to point to the later (Clarke, 2009). Higashionna’s two most famous karate students were Mabuni and Miyagi who were respectively responsible for founding shito-ryu and goju karate.
The Chinese versions of the kata often have faster spear hand strikes (a little snake-like) and are also used to introduce students to the use of chi/qi (Chinese version of the Japanese term for ki). Although the Chinese styles also have considerable practice variations as well, it is understood to be a form of qigong (life energy cultivation) in Chinese martial arts. Typically in such qigong martial arts the hands are not closed into a fist, as is the case in some Okinawan forms of the kata, as it would be deemed as restricting the flow of chi. The focus in terms of Chinese qigong, is on controlled breathing, movement, healing, and meditation to generate chi in the body.
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