I am excited to announce that I will be teaching a practical kata bunkai seminar focused on Wansu at Heartland Dojo in Roanoke, IL, on January 25th, 2025! While it certainly helps to know this kata in advance, it is not necessary to know Wansu in order to benefit from the combative applications we will be covering at this event, so all martial artists are welcome, regardless of level or style. The material being covered is also going to differ from the standard applications that are commonly taught for this kata, as the focus will be on functional techniques for self-defense and fighting, so even those who have learned their style’s traditional bunkai will be learning new and effective ways of using the kata.
The History of Wansu
Wansu is often called the “dumping form,” or the “strong arm form,” and can be read as “Wang’s series” when considering potential Mandarin translations. According to Nagamine Shoshin (founder of Matsubayashi-Ryu), this kata is believed to have been formulated by Tomari-Te practitioners in 1695 based on the teachings of a Chinese Sappushi (envoy) and martial artist named Wang Ji (pronounced as “Wansu” or “Wanshu” in Uchinaaguchi), who first visited Okinawa in 1683. That said, while documentation supports that Wang Ji was a real person and envoy from China, there is no indication that he was actually a martial artist, and even if he was, we know that he came from the Northern region of China, and the material found in the kata Wansu more closely resembles the Southern Chinese arts that have been known to hold a much more significant influence in Okinawan martial arts. It is possible that the material which became the kata Wansu was introduced by the famous “36 Families” who relocated to Okinawa from China as part of a cultural exchange in 1392, but it could just as easily have been brought over by any number of Chinese envoys or Okinawans who traveled to and from China for schooling, government work, or business over the long alliance between the two nations. It is even possible that the material was influenced by the Japanese Satsuma clan, as they invaded and conquered Okinawa in 1609, making it a tributary state of both China and Japan. Unfortunately, as is often the case with karate history, there is no way to know for certain what the true origins of this kata are. Regardless of its origins, however, Wansu is a simple but brutal kata that incorporates some very effective fundamental fighting techniques.
The Core Wansu Kata
While Wansu is present in many different styles, and has many variations, they are all largely recognizable as having come from the same origin. Perhaps the most widely practiced version of Wansu comes from the Kyan Chotoku lineage of Shorin-Ryu, as some other styles have adopted and altered this version to suit their preferences.
A variation on the Kyan version of Wansu can be seen in the various styles tracing their origins to Robert Trias, such as Shuri-Ryu and Shorei-Goju-Ryu, as he took the Kyan version and modified it to fit his system, and made it the first foundational kata of Shuri-Ryu.
The Isshin-Ryu version of Wansu also comes from the Kyan version, as Shimabuku Tatsuo trained directly with Kyan Chotoku, but it has been modified and added to in his blending of Shuri-Te and Naha-Te methods to develop his style. This makes it fairly unique, with several techniques which do not appear in any of the other versions.
Divergent Kata
To muddy the waters, a bit, there exist two other kata which are sometimes called Wanshu or Wansu Dai, and the more common Enpi/Empi, both of which are believed to be related to the above examples of the kata Wansu. In these kata, you see varying degrees of commonality with the core Wansu kata, but also some consistent differences which hint at a major divergence in the lineage of what are now distinctly different kata. Even so, these divergent kata can provide additional insight into the possibilities of application to be found in Wansu. It is also historically interesting to note that Matsubayashi-Ryu features this Wanshu version instead of the Kyan version of Wansu, despite Nagamine Shoshin training directly with Kyan, while Shito-Ryu features both a Wanshu and an Enpi kata, Shotokan only features Enpi, and Wado-Ryu teaches almost the same kata as Shotokan’s Enpi but calls it Wanshu.
Formal Bunkai vs. Practical Bunkai
For many, kata bunkai is taught not as a study of kata for the purposes of extracting applications, but instead as a collection of simplistic techniques for countering sterilized karate attacks that the student must memorize along with the solo kata. If you have been involved with traditional karate for any length of time, chances are high that you have at least seen, if not been forced to learn this sort of kata bunkai, where impractical blocks, punches, and kicks are strung together to try to make sense of the sometimes strange and unusual movements and postures in the kata. This is not how I approach bunkai, so we will not cover such material in this seminar. Instead, we will be looking at bunkai as a process, focusing on practical, effective applications that incorporate both striking and grappling methods which make use of every part of the kata. If this is your first foray into practical kata bunkai, don’t worry! I have been where you are, and I will help you make sense of the kata in a way that you may have never even considered before.
Event Details and Registration
HOST: Mike Oliveri Sensei
LOCATION: Heartland Dojo, 1407 W Front St C, Roanoke, IL, 61561
DATE: Saturday, January 25th, 2025
TIME: 2pm-4pm Central
COST: $20 or $15 for INKKS Members
AUDIENCE: All martial artists
ZOOM: Available for remote attendees
Click HERE to pay in advance! If you intend to join via Zoom, please include your email address in the payment notes so we can send your invitation!