Budo no Kukyo – 武道の空虚: Kata Focus

Thursday 29 June 2017

Kata Focus - Sepai

Sepai has many things in common with last weeks Kata Seiunchin.
There is so much in common between the two kata, there is a theory that Sepai was originally the second half of Seiunchin (but unfortunately, there is no real evidence to back this up).
Just like Seiunchin, Sepai is a very close-range Kata relying on maintaining a low centre of gravity using leg and core strength.

Sepai can be suited to a person of any size, it works best for a person of small stature and great strength (which is very common in native Okinawan Budoka).
Many of the bunkai techniques focus more on unbalancing the opponent after striking them as a distraction.

There are different interpretations of the Kata’s name '18' or '18 Hands'.
There are a few Kata with similar names e.g. 18 hands, 36 hands and 108 hands, all of which are divisible by 108.
It is thought that this comes from Buddhist beliefs and ideals as the number 108 is important in Buddhism.
The 'Hands' part is thought to be an Okinawan term, they say that in the original Chinese it was thought to be 'steps', 'positions' or 'people'.
I personally think the 'Hands' part of the names are a recent addition, an attempt to make the kata sound more meaningful.
It is a relatively recent addition to the interpretation of the name and most likely not the original intention at the time that the name was decided. The reason being is that we only see 'Hands' when it's written down (十八手).
The Japanese for '十八手' is 'Jū hachi-te' (sounds nothing like Sepai).

The Chinese names give's away the fact that 'Hands' isn't included.
'18 Hands' in Chinese is 'Shíbā Shǒu', but just 18 is 'Shíbā'. It seems obvious to me that 'Sepai' is the Okinawan pronunciation of the Chinese word for '18'.
The same is true of the other kata mentioned above:
Sanseru (36) 三十六 Sānshíliù
Suparinpei (108) 一百零八 Yībǎi líng bā
None of them mention the Chinese word 'Shǒu' (meaning Hands)

Sepai was taught to Chojun Miyagi by Kanryo Higashionna.
It is thought that Higashionna brought this Kata to Okinawa from what he learned from Ru Ru Ko in the Fujian province of China.
Techniques that exist in Sepai may have also been introduced to Okinawa much earlier by the 36 families that immigrated from the Fujian province and started Kumemura village in the late 1300’s.
Much of Okinawa’s early martial arts are thought to have been introduced by the 36 families.