Passai no Kamae
By
Dan Smith, Kyoshi of Shorin Ryu Seibukan
(This material is proprietary Seibukan Yudansha Kai members only)
Passai kata is possibly one of the only kata that was not brought from China but created on Okinawa. The history of Passai kata makes it one of the oldest kata on Okinawa and every Shuri or Tomari based system has a version of Passai.
The importance of Passai is the uniqueness of the body shifting techniques. The closely correspond with Naifanchi which is also believed to by the earliest kata of Okinawa. The kamae that we will cover in this training session will be focused on those unique kamae that develop body shifting.
I have included in the seminar training material a more detailed history of Kyan’s Passai for your review.
A kamae is a fighting posture and it should not ever be considered a static posture. During an encounter you could be shifting from one kamae to another without the opponent having attacked. You also condition yourself to assuming a kamae at the outset of a surprise attack to insure your safety from potential following attacks.
Tenshin No Kamae – Body shifting or turning posture. It is very important to assume a kamae that allows you as much flexibility as possible for movement in any direction while achieving your initial defensive posture. The cross-legged stance of Tenshin no kamae creates the cradle position for centering your balance and allows for the movement in any direction without an additional body shift.
Surikan No Kamae – Drunkard fighting posture. This posture with both hands raised indicate someone that is defenseless or giving up. It is important to insure that that by proper positioning you create the circular cradled position in the center of the body so you can move quickly from the center in any direction.
Hikite no Kamae – Both hands withdrawn posture. This posture allows you to demonstrate to the opponent that you are prepared to defend with either hand in any direction. This posture allows you to move to another stance and use the hands in the same or opposite directions. The opponent has many choices of attacks and should be confused by your apparent openings.
Naname Zenkutsu Kamae – This kamae allows you to body shift and dodge to the side with minimal body motion and disguises your movement while allowing you to create the maximum body movement. This kamae and the intermediate movement of lifting the leg and dodging is one of the most important body shifting techniques in Okinawan karate. This technique is only found in the Passai and Naifanchi kata, which I believe are the two kata of Uchinan Di.
These four kamae of Passai are by no means all of the kamae found in the kata but in my opinion are four of the more important ones that should be studied with considerable emphasis.
The kamae are movements when removed from the kata have a full meaning on their own without requiring the connectivity of belonging in a sequence of the kata.