Kūsankū

Kūsankū is the Japanese rendering of Kwang Shang Fu (c. 1670 - 1762), the ambassador from Qing dynasty China to Okinawa. Kūsankū, a kung-fu master, taught White Crane the Okinawans in the Kanemura/Naha area in 1756. The karate kata Kūsankū was created as a memorial by his student, Kanga Sakugawa (1733 - 1815). The kata Kūsankū was later sampled and remixed into the Pinan/Heian and Taikyoku series, which constitute the core curriculum of most karate and karate-derived styles.

The kata Kūsankū is characterized by the repeated use of a simultaneous rising shutō block and tate-shutō uchi. While Kūsankū is not part of the Goshin-Jutsu curriculum, we still make occasional use of its core concept -- that defenses and counterattacks can be performed simultaneously. Within Goshin-Jutsu, any simultaneous block and counterattack is referred to as a “Kūsankū movement.”

Kūsankū movements are intrinsically faster than performing two individual movements, due to their reduced time-complexity. Whereas the standard block-counter combination works on two beats (i.e, ♫, “1-2”), a simultaneous “blockcounter” only takes one beat (e.g., ♪, “1”). Training to perform a block-counter combination faster and faster will not change the fact that a two-step process is faster than a one-step process; it can only mitigate its effects. This is especially important in kobudō, because by definition, two-handed weapons (e.g., staves, spears, swords, polearms, etc.) cannot perform Kūsankū movements. Many kobudō waza for defending against these weapons exploit this fact by using single-handed weapons wielded in pairs (e.g., sai, tonfa, kama, tanbō, etc.) and using one weapon to block/parry/check the opponent’s weapon, while simultaneously counterattacking before the opponent can react.

However, performing a Kūsankū movement will render you completely vulnerable. Since Kūsankū movements require extending both hands, you must spend a beat to retract one or both hands; you will be unable to block, counter, or disarm in this time. “Firing with both barrels” takes twice as long to reload. There is no margin of error; Kūsankū movements must succeed, or be immediately followed by a perfectly-timed evasion to avoid the opponent’s counterattack. Training to perform Kūsankū movements faster and faster will not change the fact that performing a technique and rechambering is a two-step process; it can only mitigate this problem. As such, Kūsankū movements are an advanced technique. This is why karateka prefer to use one hand at a time; by simultaneously rechambering one technique as the other is thrown, continuous fire is achieved with no vulnerable gaps.

It may seem that Kūsankū movements neglect reciprocal action, but this is untrue. Reciprocal action largely serves as a mnemonic to remind students to tense the opposite side of their bodies in order to optimize snap. An advanced student should have enough control over their bodies to tense and relax in a way to make anything snap.

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