What I would say is these photos show changing doctrine. There is a clear difference between practise and party line. Funakoshi shows what the stance should be. In the 1957 book we see in the diagram what the stance should be, but the picture reflects the growing trend to force the stand deeper for the young uni students (note though that his knee is not so pushed forward even though the stance is deeper, and his angle is still greater than that i your colour picture). In Nakayama's book we see the newer party line as to what the stance should be with regard to the diagram (which incidentally I think is bad practice - but so much of the biomechanics in that book are bad practice) however we see Nakayama demonstrating something closer to what he was taught. Throughout Dynamic Karate, most of the zenkutsu dachi are that higher type, and that's the sort of stance I see in most JKA that I witness these days. Add to this we should bear in mind that even Funakoshi's stance was an extra low stance to illustrate a training stance for beginners. What I will say, from the experience of having had long photoshoots for a book, is that as the day wears on it does become harder and harder to hold stances. However, I chose to use stances like Funakoshi's rather than Nakayama's for my book. That said, I wasn't all that happy with the photos for my Kata book, but the do represent better stances than I've seen elsewhere.
@ Magpie: funakoshi himself said that stances should become more relaxed as one adances. considering nakayama was the head of the jka, i think we should be looking at some of the guys who trained under him instead of looking at him directly. besides, consider as well that he is demonstrating a stance without any hand technique, and thus has no real need to "finish" the stance with the z-axis hip movement that would bring the knee over the ball of the foot; why generate power if you're not doing anything?.
Hi Guys Fair enough i think we are flogging a dead horse here, i do agree that deep stances are for begginers and higher ones for advanced students. Does this mean that advanced students never practice kihon (basics) with correct form, ie deep stances?? Not where i come from.
@magpie So, let me get this straight. Its page 5 and your still believing we do it all wrong and you do it the correct way, throw in an accusation of Nakayama being slack, post possibly your own photo next to a diagram from legit karate book... Any other corrections we should be aware of within our arts? Perhaps our plumb lines arent settled properly in place, should they be seated left or right? lol
Hi Griffin /jwt Hey guys if i'm coming across as a master po type that isn't the intention and is certainely not the reality either. About Nakayama sensei seriously dude sometimes in his snap shots he does look abit loose, but then again who am i to cristice him, just my opinion thats all.
Nah, dont mind me, ive been out with an injury hence my recent involvement with the forum and general crankyness
