Expert: James Copple - 12/16/2007

Question
Hello Sir and thank you for taking my question.

I would really appreciate to hear what you teach for the bunkai in the opening 2 moves of Heian 4.

Again thank you so much for taking my question.
~Tony

Answer
Hi Tony,
For me, the second and third moves go together. In the second move, I am attacked from the front. The arms go up to block swinging punches aimed at my head, but the goal is to grab the attacker's head, with my left hand round the front of their chin and my right hand round the back of their head. The third move stepping forward into jujo-uke is used to twist the attacker's head and break their neck. Can you see it?
The first move is there in the kata for me to practice the blocking / grabbing of the head, and to make the kata symmetrical.
It's just my way of thinking about it, and might not suit everybody.
How do you see it?
Regards
James