Foreward by Mike Flanagan
Shinsei Kata is the formal exercise that defines the system of Shinseido.
It is a sequence of martial movements that the practitioner performs on their own.
It contains all of the techniques of Shinseido and embodies its essential principles.
Regular practice of this kata is necessary in order to become proficient in the art.
The development of the kata is described below by its originator, Roger Sheldon.
Introduction
Inspired by conversations with colleagues during the latter part of 1991, and also through a need to somehow
draw my Project 5 techniques into a formal method of transmission, I embarked upon the creation of a new form.
For many years I had sought to identify the simplest and most effective practical techniques for the management
of violence. Such techniques form the basis of my professional 'Project 5' system which is disseminated under the
auspices of the Institute For Research into the Management of Aggression. Traditionally, the Luchu samuree
developed forms (kata) to suit their needs of the time as warriors and to express their own emphasis and
methodology. Today we perpetuate kata developed by these old masters, especially those of the Machimura
family. I do not think that a valid kata can be created unless the need exists to preserve certain techniques that
one has discovered over a period of time to be effective and that do not appear in existing kata in quite the same
way. This need arose for me as a result of my long association with professional people who cope with real
violence on a regular basis. I became acutely aware of a fundamental need to recognise the Project 5 techniques
within the classical forms. I felt they had to be there somewhere because of their totally functional and utilitarian
nature -these are techniques that cannot really be bettered in contemporary terms for use by people with minimal
strength and with minimal training (a maximum of five hours on my one day course) with no previous experience.
However, I also realised that my contemporary needs and the needs of Machimura Sokon in his day, are
fundamentally different. I am sure that the concept of giving people practical skills for the management of
violence in five hours was not a concept embraced by Machimura's thinking. Neither was Luchu law concerned
with 'reasonableness' as is English law today, and this has played an important part in identifying passive
responses to violence as well as the more usual 'reactive' variety. In times past the aim was to stop an assault
even if it meant killing or maiming an assailant. Today my aim is to neutralise violence in the most passive and
reasonable way possible. The present method embodies all the 'five hour' techniques that I teach in professional
circles, and also many that will take much longer to learn. All, however, have total validity in general
contemporary terms.
So as a result of my experience, I embarked upon the creation of a completely new' method. Of course, 'new' is
hardly an accurate description, for all the techniques I currently employ must have been used before me even if I
have been unable to find then in a classical kata - all I have done is to choose those that I feel afford the best
chance of 'survival', the best control in a given situation, and arrange them in some coherent, and useful order.
An advantage in creating my own method is that I can fully explain its meaning. I can define the purpose of each
move and every little nuance, every little turn of the hand. The student need not ponder, wonder and
contemplate the meanings of the movements as has been the case with the old Ryukyu forms. I wonder (thinking
in terms of the old classical kata, was there a time when the creator of a kata was able to explain the precise
meaning of each move? Almost certainly the answer must be, “Yes.” Since those times, the classical forms have
been subjected to the varying interpretations and development of many masters. The classical forms are
therefore, a culmination of differing interpretations. Because of this, a certain abstractedness in the manner of
performance has occurred. This could be good, it could also be bad. No doubt the original meanings of the form
were just as valid (if not more so) than the multiplicity of meanings they have today. By way of clarifying how
one's abstract viewpoint can effect the nature of one's own kata, despite my having a precise technique in mind
for each of the moves, I quickly recognised additional meanings. My training in searching for the meaning of
movement within the classical kata carried over into a form I had created with an express purpose, so that it's
nature changed and it became at once a simple form (practically) and also very complex and difficult, if not to me
as its creator, but to those who undertook to learn it subsequently.
Creating a form
That I sat down on sudden inspiration and devised a form on the afternoon of 28th November 1991 would be a
simplistic viewpoint. However, that is exactly what happened. I took my '' printed lists of disengagements,
receiving techniques, holds and strikes and began to assemble a sequence of movements from techniques I had
learned to trust only after many years study. The very next day I asked my students Tony and Sandy Asquith,
Lynda Dailey and Ian Marchant to try the applications from the form. After that first session I amended my
thoughts and further developed the kata, trying to simplify some parts and introduce other aspects. An amended
version was again tested on 3rd December 1991, less than a week after I created the form.
Those practising on the second night were Tony and Sandy Asquith, Ian Marchant, Bill Rowles, Ian Swyer and a
new member David Bines.
Since 1976 I have been teaching functional self-defence to people who deal with real situations. Over the last
sixteen years therefore, I have developed an extensive understanding of the problems involved. The techniques I
gradually utilised represent the best options that I have discovered in practical terms, despite all these years of
continually trying to further improve the moves. They certainiy do have validity and can, for the most part, be
effected without strength or great skill. Obviously, strength and skill may well enhance the effectiveness of the
movements, but that should not detract from the fact that even a young girl could use many of these techniques
(in their simple form) in a desperate situation. Each move also has the added benefit of being either passive
(responsive) or aggressive (reactive). Each move also embodies the five aspects of evasion, parrying,
disengagement, restraint, or striking, in addition to use with the short 6 inch stick (my favourite self-defence
weapon).
Having created a new form the obvious became immediately clear - that for the most part, the moves from which
I constructed the form, demanded a change in direction - a turning movement in order to be effective. This
reinforced my already extant conviction that the turns and changes to a new direction within the classical kata
also represent specific applications that take one move into the next.
I also began to believe that the classical kata had been created for right handed people. This, because my own
intent was to create a 'right handed form, one that felt totally natural to me as a right handed person. My
thinking was that a left handed person should learn the form mirror fashion! Support for the belief that classical
kata are right handed might come from a consideration that in former times, the world over, left handedness was
positivejy frowned upon, and was regarded as evil.
As I constructed my right handed form I found that the turns matched those in the classical kata this was not by
design. Subsequently, I found that I began to incorporate more left handed versions of the same techniques
within the form, especially where I thought right-handedness alone might represent some disadvantage. I
eventually arrived at a good right/left compromise that did not detract from either You should understand that I
do not subscribe to the popular belief that training to be equally good on the left side as on the right is
necessarily valid in practical terms. I believe that to develop ones best side and accommodate differing attacks
through a change in application to be the best approach - certainly for people with limited experience. This
accords with my naturalistic approach to everything I do. However, I do believe in the validity of training both
sides from a long term or therapeutic point of view.
In creating my own method the very abstractedness that I seek to achieve in the classical kata, becomes
optional. Each move can be performed in a specifically defined 'root' manner and also in a breakaway mode, a
restraining mode, a parrying mode or a striking mode. Each practitioner may therefore adopt a personal approach
to the form. However, having said this, the beginning student should always work the 'root' applications and
meanings, that is the purpose of the kata.
Another benefit of creating one's own form is that one is not hampered by aesthetic considerations. Because the
precise and definitive nature of the response is known in the greatest detail - that is the only way in which it
need be performed (accepting the varying qualities of each individual movement and each individual performer).
I have made these notes first to remind me of what I was thinking when I created the Long Form Hand
Techniques (Kata Shinsei) and also because am not aware of anyone else who has done a similar thing and at the
same time recorded their thoughts regarding their motives. This seems to be fundamentally important, despite the
fact the form more or less speaks for itself.
On the 3rd February 1992 1 was inspired to add an exercise to the front of my form, one that I had devised many
years ago as part of the 'Project 5' system. I subsequently removed it again and relegated it to position of an
Introductory Method. Today, I put the method on the front of Kata Shinsei when working in the meditative
breathing mode only. I had realised the importance of this little method when, back in 1978 I felt the need to
create a practise method that people who attended my short courses could practise subsequently at home. The
major problem was that in the space of five training hours such a task seemed impossible. Eventually I arrived at a
solution which comprised four major movements - a large outward circle similar to the opening of the classical form
Kusanku; a two arm push; a two arm pull; and then a large reversed circle to return to the beginning and close
the exercise. The movements were aimed at instilling fundamental responses of parrying and thrusting.
subsequently recognised that my exercise was similar to a number of Qi Gong exercises. This realisation at once
disappointed me then inspired me. I felt I had created something simple yet unique, but to find the movements
validated in old exercises confirmed my thinking about the value of the exercise. Of course, the reality is that no
one can find anything new in functional movements. Man has discovered all there is to know about such things
over the last two or three thousand years. Thus an old exercise was brought in to complement the training.
As for the Long Form Hand Techniques, the form actually feels good to do. After just Iwo months work, I had
created a new form which seems set to stay because of its total validity. I wonder if this is how the old masters
set about creating their forms?
By 10th February 1992 I had developed two additional passive restraints for Lewisham Social Services People With
Learning Difficulties Department and incorporated them into my form. It had reached such lengthy proportions (by
modern Karate standards) that I felt obliged to break the form into a series of short training methods that
comprise exercises towards learning the complete form. I wonder how often this has happened in the past. How
many masters decided that a long classical kata was just too long to be taught in modern terms and then split it
into shorter sections? It occurs to me that Naihanchi is a possible contender for inclusion on a short list of split
forms.
I appended names to the exercises I created by splitting the form into beginner sized bites. These names
reflected some aspect or trait within the exercise, and while grossly fanciful they have proved good for kids to
remember and relate to the various aspects of the form if not adults too. The manner in which I split the form was
by making the separation it at the turn points thus retaining the lines of the form.
By June 1992 I had realised the full potential of my method and had developed an entire training system around it.
The student could learn the first of the ten exercises, then the second, then put the two together and so on all
the way through. It was really a ploy to help beginners come to terms with the length of the form.
It was during May 1992 that I developed a second form for my self-defence system, one that embodies the major
stick techniques. I called this form Long Form Stick Techniques (Shinsei no Hanbo). On this occasion I had lost the
creative inspiration and cheated by amalgamating two existing stick forms from Okinawa. I did however, include a
number of my own personal applications to the form too. The purpose of the form was to instil skills in handling a
short walking stick, umbrella type object. This form, while very good, fell into disuse in the face of the enormous
task my self-defence beginner had in learning the hand form. In any event the empty hand form can be worked
with the short six inch stick. In fact Tiger Reveals Claws was created especially for short stick, but is performed in
the kata empty handed so that the real application is hidden. I was concerned about teaching some aspects of
the form to children lest they made use of the techniques at school.
Later, wanting to embody as many principles of my system into my empty hand kata as I could, I ascribed vital
points to each move in the form. This was by way of helping students to visualise the precise points to be
attacked while practising their kata. The points, while fixed for the purpose of learning the kata, are of course not
fixed in reality. Once a student has learned the points, s/he can use the points at random depending upon how
the assailant is positioned. The class count was modified to state each vital point. Where a movement did not
have a vital point response I just described the essence of the move.
Shinsei kata has been in use now for eleven years. It has changed very little since it was first created and has
helped me as a teacher to make quick mental reference to a variety of techniques and concepts when I deliver
my various courses. It has helped me enormously to develop my own skills in the use of these techniques and also
to prove their validity. The kata has also helped me to understand my beloved classical forms too. All in all the
effort of creating, validating and building an entire system around this form has been worth every moment and I
am extremely pleased that I embarked on the project.
In doing this I confirmed my belief that all of the principles (and many of the actual techniques) certainly did exist
in the classical kata. There was then the temptation to interpret the moves in the classical kata in a
fundamentally different manner, according to my present needs. However, rather than do this I decided to create
an unarmed form that I called Kata Shinsei. I had been 'given' the name Shinsei (Born of Truth and Reality) by my
colleagues during the latter part of 1988. Today I use the term 'Shinseido' to describe my various collective
practical activities relating to the control of violence. I subsequently decided to call my first form Long Form Hand
Techniques because I felt the use of an oriental name such as Shinsei to be unhelpful in the context of the
Project 5 system. I later decided to use both names inter-changeably. Long Form Hand Techniques embodies all
those principal techniques that I teach to professionals for use in actually violent situations. That these
techniques work, there is absolutely no question of doubt in my mind.
As regards receiving techniques (interception and blocking), I am of the opinion that the classical receiving
devices such as the Karate devices known as soto uke (middle outwards block), shuto uke (sword hand block),
jodan uke (high block) and gedan uke. (low block) in regular terms, represent grappling techniques first and
parrying techniques second. By way of clarifying this statement, I note that my own receiving/parrying devices
are fundamentally different from those of Shuidi. My self-defensive aim is to create an opening for escape. In
order to do this both hands/arms move together in the same direction supporting or augmenting the action of the
other, not in opposition as in the so called 'classical blocks' where on hand effects the block and the other is
retracted. If I were to choose a parry, for a parry's sake, without consideration of a subsequent move apart from
that of escape, I would choose a blocking movement that was augmented by the opposite handlarm.