Hi mike, Naihanchi may be done by some Goju people but it is really from Shorinryu based systems.
It fills the space sanchin does for Uechi and Goju.
But does so sideways.:-)
How about Uechi plus grappling plus points 'n' joints, plus kicking?
Long a while back a couple other Okinawan masters named Nakamura and Shimabukuro, saw many different styles, and decided they wanted to conine the best aspects into a fighting system containing all aspects, basics, kata, applications, self defense, throws and takedown, groundfighting, kicking, and locking and vital points.Also kobudo weaponry.They made free sparring contact with hard and heavy armor,and emphasized bag and partner training, . lots of baiscs, all basics, and whenever another style showed something good, they swiped I mean 'borrowed' it.
The kata were and are Shorin based with some Naha Ti influence on basics and tomari flavor to the technieues,meaning the applications of the kata moves.
Fighting is hard and self defense is taught as a parallel system of jiujitsu called goshinjutsu , along with the basics. Turns out it derives from kata.
Some specialized in different aspects of the art.
Seems you may be taking Uechi the same way. That is no bad thing.
Some think that no one art can cover it all, but that isn't true. There are a few techniques that are the most impotant from each category.
We had about twenty-seven basic techniques we trained in, then moving versions, combinations, partner work, bag work,kata, self defense, and the rest was worked into the overall framework with no problem.
If someone came up somewhere with something new, we hadn't seen, we learned it and well, then we found a defense for it and mastered that.
How'd we get around people saying, 'that's not Kenpo?'Simple, we called the other techniques 'Borrowed techniques', and used Kenpo principles to make them more effective if we could, and if not,stilll devised defenses against them, whci since we devised them, were kenpo.
No problem.
For instance, many of the kicks we practiced and defended against were called 'Korean borrowed techniques.'Groundfighting takedowns and defenses with legs were called Chinese leg maneuvers.'Also borrowed. Then there were Shotokan techniques, borrowed.and Judo and Aikido stuff.
But none of this distrbed the core training in the twenty seven basics, the thriteen kata and ten weapons kata, the basic self defense series, and all the bag and partner training plus the progressive kumite training drills, we just did the other stuff after we finished our main training.
Why did we do it? Because a technique you don't know can defeat you, so we leqarned all we could about all the techniques could.
We had judo, and Aikido, and other karate style instructors come and do seminars for us, we read books, got films, etc.
This was in the early seventies.Taekwondo held no terror for us, we did more kicks than they did per workout.
The idea we had was style was great, we stuck to our own style religiously in basic trraining, but we learned all the others too, to defend against them.
Some would go take Taekwondo, some Shotokan, or judo, or Kendo, or aikido, to bring it back to others. Some learned Goju ryu and brought back sanchin and tensho, some did Shotokan kata, and shared what they learned.
And did we get whipped first time out on something new? You bet!:-)But not the third or fourth time, also you bet.
So we stayed Kenpo, our style did not change , except it broadened our base of knowledge and skill.
We learned what our weaknesses were and took appropriate measures.
And it was good.
For instance, before the first UFC,we alll knew what was going to happen to al the karate and kickboxing guys that wnet in.Sucker bet, they never did grappling before. They sure did later.:-)
We'd already met Mr. Mat, long before.We had intimate acquaintance with Tatami Sensei.
Regards,
John
Uechi can and should, imo, do the same, and I see it happening.