Saifa Kata in Detail

Here is Saifa in more detail. More information, including videos, can be be found here.  

Busaganashi 2

What is significant about the Busaganashi posture is that it is the only occurrence of “Sagiashi-dachi” or “egret stance” in Gojuryu kata.  There exist two photographs of Chojun Miyagi in which this posture is visible. The first (above left) shows Miyagi as a young man blocking a kick and punch and delivering a kick to the groin from underneath his opponent's thigh. The second (above right) is of an older Miyagi teaching the technique to his students.

Busaganashi 1

Chojun Miyagi was said to have learned Saifa from Kanryo Higaonna who studied White Crane Kung Fu in Fuzhou, China for ten years under Ryo Ryo Ko. While many of the techniques appear in White Crane forms, there is no form in modern White Crane Kung Fu which is recognizably Saifa.

The second section of the kata can be seen in traditional Fukien White Crane forms.  It is also the posture of the Busaganashi, a statue of a deity which Chojun Miyagi brought back from his travels in China. The Busaganashi stands in the Jundokan dojo to this day. 

,

Higaonna Sensei Performs Saifa

Renshukai Update

Members of Gojuryu Karatedo Yoyogi Ryushinkan continue to train together as "Renshukai" at Shinjuku Sports Center. The budojo there has been nicely refurbished and is often full with a variety of practitioners of martial arts and related activities in the bustling student area.