This is a question I have had for several years, and I have put off writing about it because it seems like it violates a sacred taboo to even state it. That is; have we been training for years and years to do a stake that is, for almost all of us, impractical if not out and out injurious (to us)> When I began to study, at age fifteen, I learned sanchin first as we all did and then the other forms that followed from it and were based on it. We were told that the principles of sanchin carry over into the more advanced forms We were not told that sanction was a specialized exercise meant to establish a strong foundation BUT NOT NECESSARILY MEANT TO BE APPLIED IN A PRACTICAL APPLICATION. We were left to figure that out for ourselves. When we learned the subsequent kata we faithfully performed our nukite strikes, did prearranged kumites and bonkai that included nukites (but never with real contact). When early on I expressed some hesitance or skepticism about being able to actually strike with a nukite I was told to stick with it. The strength would come eventually with years of practice. I believed my teachers, practiced as taught and even did the supplementary pushups and grips, etc to strengthen my hands and fingers. But now I am at fifty-two years of study, sixty-six years of age and it is only in recent years that it has dawned on me that I would not trust myself to try to strike hard into someone's body with my extended fingers. Eyes or throat... maybe, but the situation would have to be quite desperate to do that. And those limited targets are quite small and hard to hit under the stress of real combat or self-defense. I had an ah-ha moment when I was walking on a trail in the woods and slipped and landed on the outstretched fingers of my right hand. A perfect nukite into the ground! My fingers, strong as they are, bent back almost ninety degrees. Sprained, but luckily not broken. Got me thinking... Why have I been repeatedly practicing something that really does not work, at least not for me? Well, my answer was the classic answer 'because that's the way I was taught,' and of course it was unthinkable to question what I was taught. My teachers, the reasoning went, and the masters before them must have known the secret power of the nukite, and I would be an ungrateful renegade to question them. I started to look at the kata. Season in particular if just full of fingertip strikes. I love season. It is probably my best kata. But to think that more than half the moves in seisan wouldn't really work for me gave me pause. I started to experiment
with some changes. hiraken fists or palm heels in place of the nukite. Feels so much more practical and simple.
But this raises the difficult question of who has the right to mess with the classical (sacred) forms? At what point would we actually DARE (that feels like the right word) to make a formal change in the way a kata is taught? Part of the problem may be that sanchin itself is so sacrosanct, and since 'everything comes from sanction' it would seem I was messing with the foundational exercise itself if I did not follow-it through on the higher kata. But does this have to be the case. If we recognize that sanchin is in a class by itself, meant as a foundational exercise and not directly applicable as a fighting form (though many principles translate well) we may be able to allow ourselves some latitude that brings us closer to practicality.
I would like to read what others think about this. Looking forward to your replies.