So last night we continued with our study of Chatan Yara Kushanku, We looked at the katas power generation, namely,
Gamaku and Chinkuchi to deliver Atifa ..
Gamaku:
Connecting the body..
In the process of lowering your shoulders, tucking your koshi, and squeezing your lats and core you can create a tension or Torsion that is from the perineum to the diaphragm and the whole size of the trunk that is called “gamaku.” But the name is not important — the torsion is what counts because you can use it.
Koryu Bujin practitioners employ gamaku, or shimegoshi. Arakaki Sensei describes it as “the moment a fist reaches a target, you employ gamaku so as to rapidly contract but not tighten the muscles between the lower ribs and the sacrum. Gamaku will put extra mass behind your strike and help stabilize your position, so when you hit a target, you will not be pushed back by a rebound from your own strike.
But from my own studies I have found the set Gamaku, before the strike delivers more mass,
A compression or rapid squeeze of the Gamaku then releases Chinkuchi at the actual impact, thus creating a Hydrostatic shockwave. (Atifa)
Gamaku creation.
Imagine a balloon filled with water and placing it in a hand towel you are holding at each end. The weight of the balloon will pull down the towel and increase its tension. The position of the balloon in the towel is the sacrum and the ends of the towel are the ribs. It is important to imagine a water filled balloon rather than a solid object, such as a heavy metal ball.
Another analogy I use is to imagine the core as a semi inflated beach ball, as we squeeze the ball to decrease the size and thus create a torsive contraction, this is Gamaku.
It’s important to note that you can’t use Gamaku, (Chinkuchi) from an empty or unprepared core, to try and use this Torsive state from an empty unprepared core will simply create a short lived Gamaku, better than nothing but not used as a release for a shockwave.
Chinkuchi
Chinkuchi has a couple of meanings actually,
1: The correct skeletal and muscular alignments needed to deliver maximum effect with minimal effort.
2: Release, relating to the use of, or projection of Gamaku.
Both are truly needed for sure but in this piece we shall concentrate on the release..
One of my students Veronica last night related and made the analogy of Gamaku and Chinkuchi to using a trampoline, and I feel this is a perfect analogy of what this process kind of feels like.
When you step on to the trampoline your weight forces down on the surface thus creating torque and torsion of the trampoline, (Gamaku), one then forces down rapidly allowing the release of yourself to spring up,(Chinkuchi) but upon landing we immediately go back to that torsive state of the prepared trampoline (Gamaku)
I related the process as such
GAMAKU- CHINKUCHI-MUCHIMI-NUCHUN-GAMAKU = ATIFA
With the whole process described in Uchinaguchi as SHISHEE
Muchimi and Nuchun I will go into more detail in another post.
But the end result has to be felt to be believed, the ability to create a man stopping blow even to the body from touching distance and literally without moving the mass (Tokiho)..
Massive effect from minimal movement..
I remember when I trained with Kase Sensei in the 80’s he stated that one should be able to create massive damage from minimal movement and from a very very short range, he actually said “ you should be able to drop a man from a punch to the arm” now as a 17yr old I didn’t have a clue but now 40 odd years later I fully do…
Hayashi Sensei, our Sensei in Amami has this ability, to feel a tap of his toes in the body is enough to make you feel physically sick and literally shake all over…
Another point that must be made is that Kokyu ( Breathing) plays an integral part in all of this process but that’s for another post, for that in itself is a truly complex and deep principle that needs correct understanding to correctly apply.
Seito Bugei Juku 