Karate Nobody

 I don’t know if it has subsided yet, but there was a period of time – let’s say 2005 to 2015 – where bunkai exploded. Suddenly the karate world was all about kata applications.   I think this coincided with the maturation of the internet and social media. Suddenly there were YouTube channels and Facebook groups that really spread the word about bunkai and how to practice it. They also spread the word about bunkai books and DVDs. I really enjoyed this and think it was good for the art as a whole. I certainly feel that I took advantage of it.* The dojo I grew up in always practiced bunkai applications. It was part of the testing requirements for each kata, but that is where it ended. There were allusions to “layers” of bunkai or higher-level applications, but the kata were never revisited to extract these applications and we never did “deep dives” into a single kata. Looking back, I view many of these bunkai as superficial, block-kick-punch level bunkai. My bunkai practice today