Mas Problemas con Tejazushi, part 1

I've read a whole helluva a lot on Aikido and some Old Timers say that you don't clash with the other guy.   That is, two guys running into each other and trying to one up each other either in the strength or speed department.  I've been at this for 4 real short years and while I occasionally say something halfway interesting on this dipshit blog( my throwaway post on Taichi and Tomiki has the most hits), I gotta give myself a C average in Aikido.  I think my problem is with clashing with people.  And Right now I'm looking at our notion of Tejazushi( that's the crosshand stepping forward/diagonal offbalance that seems to only exist in the Texhomiki Aikido world.   I've watched a lot of Tomiki stuff on the You Tube and I havent seen too many other people do an off balance quite like ours.

It leaves me wondering where in the hell it came from and whose idea was it.

I've been trying real hard to lighten up lately; My approach to martial arts has always been a scared shitless, knock the shit out of the other guy mindset.  And it just aint working that well.   I think guys like me should naturally learn to back up and rotate around the edges of conflict instead of going in. The simple reason is that if you get the drop on someone enough to execute a Tejazushi offbalance then why not start beating the shit out of em instead of waiting for the rise/fall reorientation?

Another thing I've been thinking on lately is the Psychological aspects/contexts  behind our techniques.   I've seen plenty and heard plenty about how tejazushi offbalance assumes that both guys are walking toward each other.  I call this mutual kick ass mode.  If I want to be like Morty then shouldnt I stand there and try to deescalate the situation.  Even Aikido Bad Ass Shoji Nishio says you dont even try stop the other guy.  Just let the guy come.  My Tetsuro Nariyama Randori book says that one of the main principles is non-resistance, and the notion of walking towards a guy who wants to kick my ass seems to violate this one.

Anyway, If you watch the Shoji Nishio stuff on YT and you read and look at what Nariyama has on the YT, I think their notion of non-resistance means getting offline.  Both say you should step off line at about a 30 degree angle.  They say its related to the sword.  I have to say that our Tejazushi concepts dont illustrate this real well, if at all.  I think its another animal altogether.

Here's clip i've been studying here lately.  It's a Fish and Chips group that I believe may be of the lee ah loi branch.  I say this because of the windup aigamae ate, I think she has that in her book.  anyway, I could be wrong.

Anyway,  We all know about Maai.  That space where things seem to work or they don't.  It's been called maintaining Maai, or controlling Maai.  I like to think of it as respecting Maai.  When you practice with a fake knife it makes you respect the edge/radius and point of an attack.  Doing tejazushi against a knife seems like  a real dipshit thing to do.  If you notice that shomenate gets off line by about 30 degrees and Aigamae Ate does as well once the guy puts his hand on the elbow.  ( I also like this variation because it foreshadows oshi numero 6.) 

I always have had a problem with Aigamae Ate.  It seems like a dumb technique. It presupposes that Uke is an idiot thats going to float arounds and turn right into you.  If you put it in in a non resistance/ get off line 30 degrees frame it makes a lot of sense.  Its  pairs up with shomenate in this sense.  One evades one way, the other evades the other.

Another thing about Tomiki aikido is natural stances. We dont stand in the standard hamni of other Aikido styles, we move into it.   Hamni should be called a 30 degree position.  Our Walking Kata embodies the often said concept of " Small in the Large" .  We do a lot of chalice steps and within those chalice steps is a 30 degree position.   These arent textbook akikai hamni, but they underlie the principle of the hamni stance which is the angle of evasion/position of counterattack.

Tejazushi seems to be a concept apart from non-resistance/evasion principle.  Its something unique.  I've heard it called a sheering effect, and I wonder if more traditional schools have a similar sheering principle at work.  I think its unique to Texhomiki Aikido, but I could be wrong.  Anybody, who knows about the history of Tejazushi( Cross-arm offbalancing)  I'd like to hear from you.