Koryū Uchinadi and HAPV

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Koryū Uchinadi Ryūkyū Kenpō Jutsu (Koryū Uchinadi for short, 古流沖縄手) is the system developed by Patrick McCarthy that reconstructs old Okinawan fighting methods on the basis of historical research and functional analysis. Koryū means “old tradition”, Uchinadi is the Okinawan word for “hand of Okinawa” (Jap. Okinawa-te). McCarthy (b. 1954 in Canada), Hanshi and long-standing researcher of karate history, founded the International Ryukyu Karate Research Society (IRKRS, 琉球唐手術国際研究會) in the late 1980s, which spreads his teaching internationally. He lived and taught for many years in Japan and Australia and now lives on Okinawa. At Ōkami Dō his work is held in particularly high regard; several chapters of the library draw on his books and on conversations with him.

A research-based approach to kata

The starting point is the question of what the kata were originally created for. McCarthy understands kata as recorded answers: solo summaries of techniques previously practised with a partner against specific attacks. The kata is therefore not the beginning but the end of the learning process – a kind of memory aid for applications already understood. In class this path is walked in reverse: first the attack and its solution with the partner, then placing it in the kata.

The applications (Bunkai, 分解, “dismantling”) are developed in partner drills (Futari Geiko) that lead from fixed sequences to freer, spontaneous practice. An important role is played by Tegumi (手組), an old Okinawan wrestling that McCarthy regards as the root of many grappling, locking and throwing techniques in the kata. Striking, grappling, locking, throwing, choking and ground control are thus seen as interlocking parts of one method.

Habitual Acts of Physical Violence (HAPV)

At the heart of the approach is McCarthy’s theory of Habitual Acts of Physical Violence (HAPV). It assumes that the old masters designed their kata not against sport karate techniques but against the attacks that actually occur in civilian life: grabbing, pushing, haymakers, bear hugs, chokes, kicks, tackles and attacks with objects. By this standard, an application is only plausible if it fits such a realistic attack.

McCarthy summarises these attacks in a list of 36 HAPV . The number 36 links to the tradition of Chinese martial arts numbers and is also used in the Bubishi. The list can be roughly arranged into the following groups:

  • Grabbing and holding: grabs at wrist, arm, clothing, lapel or hair.
  • Bear hugs: bear hugs from the front and from behind (with or without the arms), headlock.
  • Chokes: chokes from the front, from behind and from the side.
  • Pushing and striking: shoves, straight punches, haymakers, headbutts.
  • Kicking and tackling: kicks, knees, leg attacks and takedowns.
  • Weapons and objects: attacks with a stick, knife or everyday objects.

The exact wording of the individual points can be found in McCarthy’s publications; the grouping here is a simplified overview.

Connection to the Bubishi

McCarthy’s translation of the Bubishi (1995) is closely linked to this approach. The 48 self-defence drawings in the Bubishi show attacks and responses with grappling, locking and throwing techniques, supporting the view that the southern Chinese roots of karate encompassed far more than strike and block. The Kempō Hakku too, with its principle of adapting to change, fits the idea of testing techniques against realistic situations.

Connection to training

  • Bunkai starts with the attack: what form of violence is a kata sequence meant to solve?
  • Partner drills and Kumite connect kata and application; Tegumi and Kake-Te train contact, balance and feel for the opponent.
  • The Kata remains the memory of the method, but is always practised in connection with its application.

Sources

  • Patrick McCarthy: Bubishi. The Bible of Karate. Tuttle Publishing, Tokio 1995, ISBN 0-8048-2015-5.
  • Patrick McCarthy: articles and teaching material on HAPV and Koryū Uchinadi (IRKRS).
  • International Ryukyu Karate Research Society (IRKRS): official website
  • Patrick McCarthy: Koryu Uchinadi. USAdojo.com, 25. 1. 2011.
  • Emily Fitzgerald: Imagining embodiment in karate kata. Martial Arts Studies 15, 2024, S. 42–50, doi:10.18573/mas.178.
  • Wojciech J. Cynarski: Fighting arts: between formality and spontaneity. Ido Movement for Culture 21 (4), 2021, S. 47–52, doi:10.14589/ido.21.4.7.
  • Personal conversations with Patrick McCarthy.

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