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What is Koryu Uchinadi Kenpo Jutsu?

Koryu Uchinadi offers the advanced practitioner a set of tools designed to help them master their art. The beginner will be guided though a system that will help them grow, teach them how to defend themselves and improve their health.

What to expect in a typical class

  • A typical class begins with a bow in ceremony, to show courtesy and respect. 
  • This is followed by a warm up where the students prepare their bodies for training by performing various exercises designed to increase blood flow, raise the heart rate and loosen up the muscles, tendons and connective tissue.
  • Incorporated into this are exercises to increase flexibility and strength.
Students learn focus concentration patience coordination
  • Next the students go thru the basic (kihon) exercises which teach the various components used in Koryu Uchinadi such as punching, kicking, blocking etc. and how to use body dynamics to achieve maximum power with minimal effort. At this stage it is common for the class to be split into groups so that students can work at their own level.
  • From here the class can vary in content from focusing on pad work (kicking shields, focus mits) to 2 person drills, self defence applications, kata, groundwork or free sparring.
  • Class usually finishes with some low intensity training as a cool down followed by a bow out similar to the start of the class.

It's always been the human body

Martial arts all over the world have one thing in common; they all involve methods of impeding the function of the human body. It revolves around the fact that (for the most part) we all have 2 arms, 2 legs, a body and a head. The nervous system, circulatory system, muscular system and skeletal structure are the same for everybody. So therefore people's actions, and the best method of dealing with them, don't alter very much. 


Koryu Uchinadi uses certain principles to optimise our responses, such as, but not restricted to -

  • Pre Determined Responses (PDR's) - There are specific body responses which you have very little, if any, control over. For example - the gag reflex, flinching if your eyes are threatened, bending forward when struck in the groin. Knowing how someone will react when "stimulated" in a specific way allows us to be 1 step ahead.
  • Leading Control - Knowing how to disrupt someone's balance effectively allows you to throw/takedown an opponent as well as minimise their ability to attack.
  • The 5 ancient tools - understanding how levers, wedges, wheel & axle, pulley and screws work in relation to applying techniques to the human body


Application Principles (The 5 secrets of Karate)

  1. Location - where you apply technique
  2. Tool - which body part you use, fist, elbow, foot, etc.
  3. Angle - The angle at which the technique is applied
  4. Direction - What direction the force is travelling
  5. Intensity - The amount of power required to get a specific result

In the end you can only be attacked (empty handed) in two ways -

  1. percussive impact - punches, strikes or kicks
  2. seizing

That's it. Knowing that, and understanding the limitations and opportunities that dealing with the human body presents us, allows us to deliver a martial art that is, quite frankly, second to none

The origins of Koryu Uchinadi

Hanshi Patrick McCarthy

 

 

The founder and head instructor is Patrick McCarthy, Hanshi (Master) 10th dan. Hanshi McCarthy began his training in the fighting arts as a young man growing up in Canada. Hanshi holds Yudansha (black belt) accreditation in Jujutsu, Judo, Yamaneryu Kobudo and Sugino-ha Katori Shinto Ryu (Japanese swordsmanship). 

 

 Hanshi has competed in many events including kata, kick boxing and shoot fighting (wrestling) and was the North American Champion in kumite and kobudo. Hanshi has been published a number of times and his book the ‘Bubishi‘, commonly referred to as the ‘bible of karate’, has been translated into numerous languages and sold world-wide.

 

Following a successful competitive career on the North American open tournament circuit, he became dissatisfied with the sport and started seeking out 

teachers and schools that could provide him with a greater understanding of the art. This led him to Japan where he lived for many years, training with many notable instructors and researching the origins of Karate.


In the early '90s Patrick McCarthy started delivering seminars around the world teaching kata applications and associated application practices. Word spread of his innovative ideas and by 1994 he was invited to Australia by the President of the AKF to establish a course to accredit Karate instructors. This ultimately led to the development of a government-recognized under graduate program, the first of its kind anywhere in the world. 


Shortly after this McCarthy Sensei realized that he needed to formally name what, up until then, he had been referring to as "old school practices," hence; Koryu Uchinadi Kenpo Jutsu was born.

Lineage

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Patrick McCarthy's principal instructors were Master Richard Kim, Master Jay Wah Leong and Grandmaster Kinjo Hiroshi.  Grandmaster Kinjo was also Richard Kim’s teacher, and studied under Hanashiro Chomo, Oshiro Chojo, Tokuda Anbun and Gusukuma Shinpan - all students of Itosu Ankoh and Matsumura Sokon.   

Hanshi McCarthy and Grand Master Kinjo Hiroshi
Richard King and Kinjo Hiroshi


Koryu Uchinadi Kenpo Jutsu, (which translates as old stream Okinawa hands Quanfa art) means the old fighting arts of Chinese origin as handed down in Okinawa and is Hanshi Patrick McCarthy's interpretation of these practices. It is a method of responding to what we refer to as "Habitual Acts of Physical Violence" utilising punches, kicks, throws, joint manipulations, strangles, pressure point strikes and ground fighting. 

For today's person interested in the martial arts, it means Koryu Uchinadi is not sports based. In other words, the training does not primarily focus on preparing for competition. Koryu Uchinadi training prepares the student for dealing with unwarranted acts of aggression in the real world. At the same time the methods used to achieve this, and the code of conduct adhered to by the school, conditions the body, cultivates the mind and nurtures the spirit.


The school logo represents the tip of a sword on one side and the tip of a calligraphy brush on the other. This symbolises that there should be a balance between the physical side of learning and practicing the martial arts and the cultural, intellectual and spiritual aspects of our tradition, and by spiritual we do not mean religious. Although the study of the history of martial arts and the other components which make it up, such as anatomy & physiology, bio-mechanics, etc, are not taught as a separate section within the school, they are incorporated in to the lessons to varying degrees 

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