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Karate Bunkai: Jion

One of the things I do a lot (probably too much) is watch martial arts videos on YouTube. I watch a lot of form tournament competitions, but I also really like to watch Karate bunkai videos.

Karate bunkai (or bunhae in Korean) means analysis or application. Bunkai partner drills involve using moves from a form to defend against an attacker.

I’d like for our students who read the blog, as well as whoever is interested, to take a look at this video. It is bunkai (bunhae in Korean) for the Shotokan-ryu Jion, and it is a very good video with useful information.

Then I have a few notes on Jion for those of us who are interested in and research forms lineage.

The Shotokan-ryu version of Jion is obviously the basis for the Korean version, Jion Hyung, which is something NWSMA’s Tae Kwon Do students aren’t required to learn (yet).

NWSMA’s Karate students learn a Jion, but the Shito-ryu version is modified (because Shito-ryu focuses more on in-circle/close-range fighting techniques) and you can watch that one on YouTube simply by searching “Jion Shito-ryu.”

As far as I can tell, Jion Hyung doesn’t appear on Tang Soo Do syllabuses. (Significant because Tang Soo Do is Korean-ified Karate). I know there are many Tang Soo Do branches, so if yours has Jion Hyung, let me know!

Chung Moo Kwan has some Korean versions of Karate forms, but it also includes classic Tae Kwon Do forms like Jya Yu Hyung, which I have been told are forms that predate the formation of the ITF and WTF. They are almost nonexistent on YouTube, so if your style teaches classic non-ITF non-WTF forms like Jya Yu, Tae Sun, Nom Buk, let me know also because that’s cool!

We call it Tae Kwon Do, but I find it useful to conceptualize Chung Moo Kwan as being something in between Tang Soo Do and Tae Kwon Do. It has that Shotokan-ryu influence, but also has held onto old Tae Kwon Do.

Anyway, tracking down where all of your forms come from is useful, especially for the Korean styles. Karate bunkai videos should help you study your forms in the depth they deserve.

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