suwari waza, kuzushi and the releases.

I think that a lot of folks think I'm the kid that keeps playing in the street despite warnings that it aint that great of an idea.  My daddy told me I was the most hard headed human being that ever lived and I try to live up to that.  When It comes to Aikido I'd rather just be the Uke, because I know that If I try to get something right then half the time it wont come out right, but If somebody does something that feels right to me then it gets past the hard headed noise going on in my brain.  It sticks in there for a later date somewhere down the road. 

Kuzushi is a pretty hard headed subject.  Releases is a related hard headed subject.  I like doing releases, but there are times when they don't connect up well with the other stuff going on.  The regular Tomiki crowd calls the releases the 7 forms of kuzushi.  And while I call my own form of Aikido, horse shit aikido out of frustration, when I see other schools working these 7 forms of kuzushi I have to say they look like horse shit aikido.

This first clip is a couple of guys that do the releases pretty much how I know em, and have ran in the ground like a dead horse in the desert.   They have a couple of under the arm variations that I suck at 7 forms of kuzushi crowd saves for later.  I've seen Senta Yamada do things that are in this neighborhood, and Ive posted elsewhere how the Tegatana no kata that we do is pretty much The same as Senta Yamadas.  So something tells me that My School of Aikido was born in the same room as Yamadas.  We call this Hana-somethingsu kata, but I've heard that Miyake sensei said it wasn't a kata.  It was just an exercise that yielded some sort of point/benefit.  I heard the same story about the Big10, how Kogure was surprised people were still doing it. 

This is the standardized take on it.  I bad mouth my own school, but this is just because the Horseshit usually comes from one source, and its just how one guy somewhere down the line liked to do it,  it either worked for him, or it was easy for him to teach, which is usually never the same thing.  Most folks do one thing that they cant explain and teach another. 

Standardized martial arts is horseshit not organically grown, but processed focus group approved horseshit.

I could tell you that there is one full proof way to set your farts on fire and you would probably say I was an idiot for two basic reasons.  The first is: Why would anybody want to set their farts on fire? Two:  How much trial and error does it take to find the supreme method of lighting ones farts on fire? And why would you trust someone who put so much work into lighting farts. 

This is pretty much the mind splintering zen riddle of the martial arts. Listening to people coming up with better ways to light farts.  Anyway,  its always good to look at the standardized method of lighting farts and form opinions. Sometimes folks take your word for it on farts and fire.  Just because they are impressed by farts and fire, or they dont want to take the time to test every possible method.

I give my own school of Aikido a lot of grief because they have this thing about going slow.  Yeah, just about everybody new to anything starts out slow, but my question is, "okay Ive moved like a  dude crawling on a complimentary wal-mart scooter for five years now, when do we speed up?"

Speed has a lot of bad side effects.  The first is that it masks a lot of horseshit.  Heavy metal music sounds great only with a distortion pedal. Those Japanese dudes are bouncing around so fast that they aren't breaking into any kuzushi.  They are going through the motions.  Looking cool. 

Another thing is that kuzushi is divided into three levels.  Jodan, Chudan, Gedan.  I never really got what in the hell that meant.  Gedan was easy to pick out, but because I was looking at the whole thing, in a how in the hell does this shit teach anything about kuzushi?  kind of way. I never really gave a bag of monkey crap about the classification. 

                               

But Ive been doing some suwari waza in san kata, and Eric Pearson showed us some daito stuff the other day, and I think I figured out what this whole 7 forms of kuzushi is and what the releases are about. At least in theory. The thing about Tomiki Aikido is that it doesnt mention the first two items, and starts the student on the third.  Its a pretty frustrating way to live, makes you think you're learning bullshit half the time, but if you are stubborn enough to stay with it, and assume you are finding diamonds in bullshit, then you get something out of it.  All that matters is that you have the diamond, nobody cares where you found it.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure kuzushi studies in  tomiki aikido came from suwari waza.  Judo kuzushi is different. With judo its like you are carrying a big box where you cant see your feet and somebody puts a bar out at varying levels anywhere from ankle to hip height and you dump over.  Yeah, there are asides here and there but thats about it.     

But Tomiki tried to classify things with Aikido Kuzushi. There were other elements at work.

The first is Jodan.  Jodan is like your legs aren't moving and you are reaching for something up high to catch yourself.  Kind of like you are about to fall in a hole and you notice a overhead subway handle out there. The first place I think of this is in San Kata that part where you kneel and the other guy stands.  The uke has to deal with this kind of thing a lot.  The heaven and earth throw has it.  There is a part later on where Jack teaches to take the slack out of your arm and flop your arm over the guy, and Pat Parker has a similar thing going on in Ichi kata the first standing technique where you take the slack out of your arm.  The Japanese version of Hiki otoshi works on this type of kuzushi.   Its basically when you take all the slack out with a hole waiting.  Nariyama says you have to back up to do this, but its just another way to take out the slack.

  

Chudan is illustrated in the Yoshinkan suwari waza and the two college kids going in granny mode.  its because they are going in granny mode you can catch the same damn thing that the Yoshinkan guy is doing.  A lot of people put a lot emphasis on flipping the wrist and the footfalls and stuff, but the kuzushi here is like putting your hands in the center and wiping cornbread crumbs off the table laterally.  The walk around is something else, and I'll get to that later.  But the kuzushi is pretty simple.  Ive taken to taking a side step on number 3 release, the same way the Yoshinkan guy does.  I figured that out myself, but its good to know my instincts are up there with Gozo shioda.  Really, I think number 1 and 3 should be looking for a back corner/ front corner kuzushi.  The touchdown is sumi otoshi, the field goal is control of the wrist. or hiki taoshi.   Nariyama describes this as two guys standing still.  Like it starts with an equal situation up and down that  moves laterally.  

Gedan is easy.  Its anything that pushes into your center where you have to turn.  Its the hipswitch motion that a lot of folks subscribe to a shihonage set up, but its really #2/#4 release.  Its a situation where you have to turn into something and let it slide past.   The kotegaeishi in san kata kind of illustrates this, so does the shomen iriminage and the sokumen iriminage of Yoshinkan.  They all operate in a turning movement.   Nariyama shows gedan kuzushi basically going towards your nuts, and then turning, when you turn you bend your knees and pick up what ever happens from that point.  

The thing is that Tomiki was thinking about Yield when he designed his releases/ kuzushi movements. I figure He wanted to teach three things at once.  The kuzushi is pretty much the first damn thing.  What folks call the recovery step or what I call the swing back is Tsukuri.  And then it all hangs on a wire waiting for the finish where ever it needs to go.  Tomiki also wanted to practice whole body movement which I think the Japanese do better than what I usually see, but they are clueless about the kuzushi.  

And that leads me back to Senta Yamadas walking style.  It accounts for the under the arm stuff that the two college kids are doing, and the step to the side motions could account for the lateral hand movements and turning ideas.  I dont think he's facing towards other opponents to the side, thats a karate idea.  I think he's either wiping a table for chudan, or turning to get gedan kuzushi going.  The clockwise circles make sense in this way in returning to center rather than steping from center.  It't a #4 release.  The pet the dragon/deliver the pizza movements/ maki zuki are wrist control ideas after you've wiped the table. 

I think our releases and walking ideas have a lot more ideas than the standard Tegatana dosa. But not many people talk about the 8 releases and Senta Yamada's walking being related, except me. Tomiki simplified things when he tried to find a better way to set farts on fire.  But I'm pretty sure that he got his  Aikido Kuzushi ideas from suwari waza techniques.  Morty Youshiba swore by them, and their had to be a reason.  What you see with his 7 forms of kuzushi is an attempt not to address kuzushi, but also Tuskuri and whole body movement across space. He had a lot of concepts to teach in a short time.  

That's why such a simple exercise has a lot of explanations on how to go about it.  It was an attempt to move suwari waza lessons to a standing exercise, but also tried to splice in other principles too. Teachers try to multitask.  By doing so I think some of the issues got confused.  I have never seen a link between footfalls and the releases.  I think that's supplying Judo Think. But like I said its confusing when you try to sort through it, and people tend to make their own sense of things.  Sometimes they find better ways of doing things.  I know a lot of people like that. 

 I think its a simple push/pull thing.  I'm not saying that footfalls can't be used to explain things, balance the last time I checked was heavily dependent on whatever the feet are doing, but its pretty clear to me that the 7 forms of kuzushi are suwari waza based. 

I'm a Man. I'm forty. A look at fear and anger.

My Aiki pal Pat Parker wrote a post on paranoia.  I think its pretty damn good.  The other day we had an Aiki get together over in Denton, and my other Aiki pal Eric Pearson said something like, " The unfortunate side effect of martial arts is that it makes you exercise."  Which makes me think of this particular book about one man's Aikido Legacy.  Click to see it.  

My personal take is that the unfortunate side effect of the martial arts is Paranoia.   I went through a phase at the start of my Tomiki Aikido love affair and relationship where I was a pretty angry person and didnt really know it.  Anger is usually what happens after fear.  Someone scares the shit out of you, then all the sudden you get pissed and want to come out swinging.  Its the flight response clicking over to fight once the brain orients to a problem.  

I call it my Mike Gundy"I'm Forty.   I'm a man." phase, and have been on guard against it ever since.  Life makes you angry sometimes.  But I was constantly in this state of mind, afraid and compensating for the fear with totally being pissed off all the damn time. 

I changed basically because of a J.W. Bode clinic.  He said something to me that was like one of those buddhist instant enlightenment things.  He described a situation where some dude came into my home and did horrible things to me in my family in pretty specific detail, and said that the dude took a break in between horrible things, to sit at my kitchen table and calmy drink my beer.  Then he paired that with the most brutal thing about the world is that the only thing I can control is myself.  My feelings, my reactions, my mental noise. 

What he actually did to me was get me to think about losing my family.  And it made me want to cry, and what it did was physiologically loosen up my chest and neck muscles.  We unforutnately live in a culture where a guy can't tear up every once in a while, so we vent off anger.  And nothing really good comes from venting off anger.  Learning to tear up when you need to is probably the best lesson ive learned as a man.

Anyway,  this got me thinking about what Aikido actually did for me.  I dropped my notions about self-defense, because I think most folks notions of self-defense come from Cloud KooKoo land.  Rory Miller said that one of the big problems in the martial arts is that martial arts instructors set themselves up either intentionlly, or just from  dipshit American cultural expectations to be experts with dealing with violence.  So the first thing I did was quit expecting folks to have a clue on what to do when the shit hits the fan.  And by the way, I also quit reading Rory Miller.

 What I focused on was the fitness benefits, and that made things better. The by product of feeling better is that you start thinking better. But then I got kind of pissed off when people came to class with the idea of talking shit through, instead of sweating their problems out.  I started using the analogy of shooting the basketball, when you miss the basket you dont take 15 minutes to talk about whats wrong.  You shoot more baskets, any problem solving is done inside the act of actually shooting baskets.  Martial arts, I hate to break it to you, is the same way. 

The other thing is that I adjusted my diet.  Tried to eat stuff that didnt make me think crazy.  The few bits of advice I can give you is that we eat too damn much salt, any corn product outside of the garden is satan's tool,  most of what actually makes us fat comes in liquid form, and fast food is pretty much the same as smoking crack, its addictive, and it takes only slightly longer to kill your ass. 

Anyway, the other unfortunate side effect of my Aikido explorations is looking deeply at my own line of Aikido.  Why it had this move slow, slow is good affliction.  What I made up my mind about is that it was more about dojo control, one particular dudes dojo control than anything else.  I can be a master of everything if I can slow it down to my liking. 

 I can tell you that folks in my line actually learn , for the most part from the study of Judo.  Because Judo allows them to move and sweat their problems out. And eventually they know they are getting better because they sweat less.

The Aikido, I hate to tell you, is geniune straight out of horses ass grade A shit.  Because it was engineered into a solve your problems with out the sweat model which is basically cloud kookoo thinking.  The Aikido moves the way it does because once upon a time, one guy quit seeing the value of breaking a sweat and forced that outlook on everybody else.

Every person I have met who has struggled with the no sweat horseshit for ten years or so has realized this.  This is why everybody has been forced to make it work for them, to make it serve some sort of purpose.  They are all masters of problem solving.  I can give you five or six high level aikido players in my line and tell you that their Aikido is all totally different, and definitely non-horseshit. Because they learned Aikido from a vastly different place then where most folks learn aikido.  They had too.

But they didnt have a finger pointing to the moon thing.  They had a finger poking in the eye to keep you from seeing the finger pointing at the moon.  You have to get rid of the finger to see the finger to see the moon.  Thats the zen riddle of horseshit.

The truth about the Tomiki Model of Aikido is you learn it through sweat.  Your progress is measured by sweating less and less.  You get better through the act of sucking at it over and over.  You have to locate the horseshit either in doctrine, or within the system.

I realized that my line was pretty much the victim of angry, paranoid, erratic behavior from the top down.  And that type of behavior seeks to control everything. Control is easy when you slip the world a mickey and make em slow down. 

The Judo in my line is okay. Judo because of its sporting nature has to have a prove it to me nature about it.  It has be sweated out.   But the Aikido moves like a timid, abused, red headed step child.  I cant say alot because I just dont know the particulars, I just see the splintering and the string of broken relationships with pretty much the same story.

The study of aikido is about connection and acceptance, it isnt about control, splintering, money, and paranoia.  That's why I think the Aikido from our line starts out as horseshit, and then through each individual wading through the horseshit, finds something useful.  Its the build your own aikido model.

That's why I am drawn more and more to the sporting side of Tomiki Aikido, because it isnt horseshit. It is what it is, and it doesnt try to pretend its anything else. What I mean is, to be Non-Horse shit you have to construct a Non-horseshit chamber first.  Judo does this through rules, techniques that can be done safely, and a system of randori practice that allows you to sweat.  Tomiki Aikido does the same thing. If its allowed to go there. 

sweat is its own reward.  You dont learn the hard lessons of maximum efficiency, minimal effort without sweat.  Sweat also tends to get things out of your system that make you fearful, angry and paranoid.  Randori sweat is the best kind.  Because I know tons of neurotic runners, and I wonder what they get out of it.

I'm not a proponent of Shiai Aikido because I'm just too effing old for it.  I am a proponent of honest aikido, movement based aikido to where the movements can be refined through real problems.  There has to be some rules to define what you are looking for, and to keep folks safe.  To promote mutual welfare and benefit that I have heard of, but never had to be taught because our Aikido doesnt ramp up enough for that lesson to fit into a teachable moment. 

 I can't tell you honestly what to do when you are jumped by a gang of teenagers, I can't tell what to do against a real knife.  I'm not selling that, what I do want to be in the business of selling is problems solved through sweat.  The less sweat, the better the solution.  But you have to allow the sweat, and you have to practice Tomiki Aikido the way it was designed.  Otherwise,  you should discard the name of Tomiki Aikido and call it something else.  Odds are you will still be the same person without the label, there are folks that I know that could rename what they do Wackojutsu and still be taken serious after five minutes.

Because you either know it or you dont,  and a label, and a certificate with with the name of an angry, erratic bully on it who happened to be one of the many thousands of humans who studied Judo or Aikido in Japan, doesnt take away from that.  Nobody gives a shit about that nowadays. I'm a facebook friend with guys who actually stood close enough to Nariyama and Shishida to hear them Fart.

You either know it or you dont.  You've either solved the riddle of horseshit or you havent.  You did the work, you invested the sweat.  You own it, and don't owe anybody for it, unless they allow you to be you, then you owe them everything.  Especially if they make you less afraid, less angry.  Lessons learned from fearful, angry people arent worth remembering. 

Sweat cures.  The Bohdidharma had the take that you cant be spiritually strong if you weren't physically strong. That whole shaolin temple thing and all.  Of course strength fails with age, and in steps Morty Youshiba.  Who loved to sweat so much that he became physically immune to it.  or so the story goes.  He wasnt much into the fear and anger thing either. 

How Big of a Fella are You?

I had a pretty good Aikido revival the other day.  Got a lot of things to soak in and think about.  And if I'm thinking about them then ill write about them.  The thing that has running around my Okie mind since then is some big muscular Tae Kwan Do guys who were also Aikido students.    The thing that impressed me the most was their ability to instantly resist.  My take is that they fire off their muscles so much in their sparring that they can send signals really quick.

I have to say that because of dealing with resistance I have pretty much diverged from the Geis Model.  I've started looking at the more hard headed shodokan stuff.  Sometimes I think we can look at things to the point where we bend over and insert our head up our own asses.  The only cure for that is to take our heads out and look at something else.

The first problem of head in assitis is that we don't ask the simple question of:

 How Big of a Fella are You?

I had an epiphany about speed, timing, and Tae kwan do guys.  These guys lift their feet off the ground a lot and actually try to touch their toes with another guys head.  After years of doing this they become pretty quick to react.  That toe to head motion is a big motion, kind of like a guy swinging a sword.  Which goes along with my feeling that Tomiki Aikido is related conceptually to classical weapon budo.  It's a creature of time and space concepts, as much as it is non-resistance and off-balance principles.

So the second question is especially for folks who deal in joint locks.  And that one is:

How quick can you resist? 

My two favorite types of training partner are guys who know more judo than aikido and stiff guys who want to resist just about every damn thing you do.  This is because they are full of surprises.  The Shodokan model pretty much assumes that folks will resist what ever you try to do.  

The Geis Model tries to teach this through a chaining system that has been intellectualized into a massive wall covering flow chart.  But like I've said before if you do some hard heaqded randori you will see the chaining in the 17 in a very organic way. It probably won't have that somber "looks great in a hakama" quality to it, but its there.  The kihara chains are very artificial and the times that someone has walked me through some of them, I find instinctual stuff between the chains. Forgive my french, but I think they are stupid.  Especially after giving in to the hard headed Randori model.  

But to be slightly diplomatic, I want to say that  a lot of my criticism of the Geis Model lies in my own footfall dyslexia.  The Geis model has a lot of judo footfall sensitivity to it that I just dont get  Anybody who works with me can tell right a way, I cant read feet very well. If someone reads along with me I'm fine and I understand it. But myself I dont do so great. 

It almost got to the point where I almost quit over it, but like most dyslexics I have to find other angles of understanding. 

One of these angles of understanding is a simpler standard of kuzushi.  Basically the first building block is unstacking the shoulders.  That is separating the shoulders from the base of the feet.  

Lets look at the Shodokan Kihon waza.  And I'll try to write out my thoughts here. I'm going to say here that I dont know shit about shodokan or their interpretations.   But my thoughts here just come from my Geis line Dyslexia.  And some of it has to do with the feet.  These guys practice kihon from the static which I think muddies the issue about as much a highly presumptive cross arm balance break in the Geis non kihara / non-delusional 17.  Both takes cant explain fully what is actually needed to kick these techniques off.  But looking at both systems together gives some insight.

Anyway, The first idea is that you are outgunned.  You have a big guy, who is quick to resist.  And by resisting the big guy can begin to overwhelm you.  It's the same relationship between the Jo and the sword in Jodo.

Atemi waza should be seen as the glue that holds the entire 17 kata together in its application.  The Geis line folks see the eye threat as just an element of execution of certain techniques.  Here, as in Jodo, the eye threat/head shot is ever present.  What this does is force the ukes posture into the back corner.

1. shomen ate:   This technique is basically Implicated in Tegatana dosa(shodokan style).  You start with 2 movements.  A shomenuchi or a shomentsuki.   The shomenuchi either provokes a defensive movement(like in Koryu Dai Ichi #1 or invites someone to break maai.  Shomen tsuki is best applied when someone reacts by stepping backward, like after they miss. But it also regulates offline movement. basically, you start a shomentsuki and figure you are going to get the short end of the deal and step off line.  The timing is when your hand hits your center your feet engage with a side to side unsoku  Anyway, shomenate lives when your shomenuchi provokes an entry and you have to deflect the entry out of the center.  It also operates off of the side to side unsoku evasion.  that is the quickest evasion.  
2.  The thing about Aigamate is that operates off of a side to side evasion, with the shomentsuki rather than shomen uchi timing. It also introduces the first article of resistance which is a hineri twist of the arm.  A guy resists and you step through and pop him.  This atemi figures heavy into oshi taoshi which is the primary elbow technique on which all others spring forth from.
3. Gyakugamae ate:  The shodokan line assumes this is from a relationship in which no balance has been broken.   Theoretically you are aiming at the temple.  It assumes you will get a head turn reaction, a postural evasion to the back corner.  once you have entered you can  lay your arm on the chest area and further compress the spine and step through with your entire body.  This technique functions well with Eric Pearsons Johnny Appletree technique.  
4.  Gedan ate:  this is where the uke doesnt sway or posturally evade but instead stands his ground and chooses to throw his hands up instead.  It does key off of a legitimate temple smash and is very similar to the provocation principle in Tegatana Dosa.  It can be seen as a simple low entry body smash.  It seems like I never get this one in practice, but I could post 32 different videos from Jolly Old England showing 12 year olds doing this all day long.
5.  Ushiro Ate is very similar in concept of Aigamae Ate.  It keys off a resisted Gaeshi twist.  like a #2 release movement, a mae otoshi, shiho nage set up.  Its pretty simple to execute.  

The thing about how these atemi waza relate well to each other, and they relate well to timing, footwork, and resistance.  I think that you are living in cloud kookooland if your primary concern right out of the gate is non resistance/breaking balance.  Your primary concern is always to avoid being hit, and cover distance in and out.  1-2 assume side to side evasions or front corner evasions.  3-4 assume back corner evasions.  This set also separate/ unstack the shoulders backwards.  They also introduce dealing with two primary resistances, hineri and gaeshi and how to deal with them.

They basic rule of Timing is the further up the arm you go, the more ground you have to cover.  This means you have to move quicker and more directly the closer to core you have to go.   The type of Randori that the Geis line teaches really has to do with tekubi waza and balance breaking, because these are down the arm where they can lend them selves to slower more subtle movements.  I have seen folks mess with other folks with their finger tips at this distance

Atemi waza usually come up in Geis line Randori because you are overly concerned about what is happening to your wrists.  But when you deal with big folks who can resist your wrist techniques, you have make them more concerned with issues of breaking maai.

6. Oshi taoshi deals with one issue which is an extension past maai with a footstep.  What separates this from Gyaku gamae ate is that the extension leaves the Ukes shoulders a little unstacked where the Gyakugamae ate assumes no unstacking even though it could happen.  The next movement is a backwards tsugi ashi with a hineri twist at the arm.  If there is a fight here Aigamae ate is the proposed solution other wise the technique completes.  I have found using two hands here works alot better against a stiff person, rather than assuming you'll get this off a cross armed balance break.  (Like I said, against big fellas balance breaking should be the last thing not the first thing.  Nobody said it had to come first. 

7.  Ude  Gaeshi--  This is a counter movement to the first.  In the Geis line their is an assumption that folks resist when their arm is in a total state of tsukuri and push out from there, and loops their hand into a high circle.  Almost like a drunk on an icy sidewalk.  The Shodokan Line assumes that what the Uke is resisting is his elbow being drawn away from his body by the Oshi Taoshi attempt.  He resists by recovering at his shoulders( re stacking his posture) and dropping  the elbow.  In effect he's resisting with his upper body and not his feet.   The elbow is manipulated down/following Ukes own movement in conjuction with sliding your hips past the Ukes.  This spine locks him almost in the same way as the atemi waza except with a different trick of the trade. The hands more or less cut past his shoulders to make the fall happen. 

These two techniques illustrate the push/pull principles of aikido.   The lesson here is what you get at the depth of the wrist and how The Uke chooses to resist.

8.  Hiki Taoshi --  This the Technique in the Geisline that makes me think of copious amounts of Dojo Koolaid being swallowed.  After messing with it for a few years it seems like it passes up three good techniques and settles on a very shitty one.  It also assumes that the Uke is drunk on a frozen sidewalk.  Anyway, The shodokan version basically takes us back to the resistance in the last technique except instead of standing still and pulling, he takes a step to follow the separation of his elbow from his center.  Basically he steps into the pull of the oshi taoshi.  And you may have a lot more shoulder unstacking going on.

9.  ude hineri--  Basically you didnt get him down on the last technique he resists by dropping his ass.

I hope you are picking up a move/don't move pattern in the 17 here. Also you have variance in the the direction that the shoulders unstack and the degree.  You have three forwards and one back.  Two from a push and step, and two from a non move/pull resistance.

10.  Wakigatame in the shodokan has a lot of safety valves in place.  Because of the higher speed randori.  It works well with the cross arm balance break, or a grab in the #3 release motion.  My thoughts are since it doesnt seem to key off of an evasion, it may trigger off a grab/ extension from static.  Here lately, Ive had to stop Randori for a second to explain why this effing hurts at higher speed and the safety valves built around it.   The shuffle steps and the function of the farsided pinning arm are apart of the safety valves.

Anyway, My point here is to not only expect resistance, but also expect a certain speed of resistance.  Big guys can overwhelm once they resist.  Also, dont apply the principle of Non-resistance unless you understand the advantage it gives you, otherwise you'll be overwhelmed by a big guy.  If you watch the Japanese Kihon you should make crossing maai the equivalent of sticking your hand into a woodchipper.   Balance breaking shouldn't be the primary concern with big guys. Because a failed balance break is just a grab that has to rely on strength.  Big guys resist strenght pretty damn good.  Make big guys worry about the woodchipper.  But becoming a woodchipper is a matter of Maai, space and time.  

Meatheads, Atemi, and Timing

  If you read Nariyama's book there are three principles and six concepts.  It makes me want to check with Webster to remind myself what in the hell principle means and what in the hell concept means.  So lets be f*cking Voltaire here and define our stupid terms. 

1.principle: : a law or fact of nature that explains how something works or why something happens .  2.concept: an idea of what something is or how it works(something conceived in the mind)
3. (for the hell of it) idea: a thought, plan, or suggestion about what to do.

So principle answers why some one got an atemi waza or a kansetsu waza put on them, or the other side of the coin why they didnt.  Principles represent the things contained in the unfolding situation, what we are given, or gifts laid on our front step. These are the things done to us. Concepts represent things that we physically have to do.  The ways that we effect the outside world. 


So heres the 3 principles come from judo and my Okie translation of each of each

• natural posture( a way of standing and thinking that is unbiased in any direction and allows for both defense and attack)
• non-resistance ( most folks say dont oppose force with force but really it means giving away a dollar to gain ten.  Nariyama says you yield in order to gain an advantage.  If yielding doesn't give you an advantage then keep doing what ever the hell you were doing. 
• breaking balance ( you attack once the other guy is bent out of shape on something either mentally or physically and this principle cant stand alone with out the first two) 

 when you have a natural posture its because the situation allows it.  Swing a sword at a natural posture and it changes.  You give way to force because the situation allows it.  And balance is broken because the situation allows it.   The real hard lesson about aikido is knowing what the situation allows and what direction of movement contains the most options. 

 Here are the concepts that are things that you actually have to construct yourself.  the things that have to be regulated moment to moment  Most if not all of these concepts are borrowed straight from Kenjutsu.

1. Maai--  This is distance between opponents, and the angular relationship between opponents, it also determines the speed and timing. Its the distance that you can cover in one step to hit a guy/  One can argue that judo has its own maai, but judo doesnt work the  hit but cant be hit angles that aikido/kenjutsu does, and it isnt concerned with the speed of distance covered in one step.  
2. Metsuke--point of focus.  eye contact and vision that allows the entire body of the opponent to be observed.  I have heard tale of blind folks being very good at Judo, this is probably because of their innate understanding of principle, of recognizing what the situation is allowing. 
3. Seichusen-- this is keeping your center, and directing power from your center.  Its keeping your center closed, while opening up his.  Its keeping off his centerline, while putting your center line on him.
4. Tegatana-- this is the principle of using your hand and forearm as if it were an inanimate weapon.  This alone contrasts with the grasping quality of judo.  While I know little of judo, it seems that most of their techniques stem from a two handed maintained grip.  The grip is the precursor.  In aikido a grip is only employed to prevent a further attack by a weapon.  
5. Toitsuryoku-- this is unbendable arm, concentrated power through your arm though body movement.  Its shomenate.  
6. idoryoku-  this is start to finish movement.  it entails controlling maai, avoiding an attack, closeing the distance, breaking balance, positioning for a technique, and final application of the technique.  

  I have always had a problem with Geis Line Tomiki Aikido, because I have to finally admit it, I am a Tomiki Meathead. (And by meathead, I mean I concentrate on the concepts rather than the principle, the principle comes hard for some us folks. ) The problem with Geis Line tomiki is the concept of maai, the distance you have to cover to hit in one step is glossed over.  Because covering distance means speed, and Atemi waza and distance and speed are related.   

I'm probably the luckiest Tomiki Meathead on the planet,  because I am surrounded by Non-meatheads who understand the principles of Tomiki Aikido/Judo.  So in effect they are collectivelly building a better meathead.  

I love meatheaded Tomiki, and get a thrill out of watching Darth Nariyama ripping the arms off of college kids.  I totally understand the 17 kata better than pretty much anybody, because it was designed for meatheads. Any attempt to refine it is just a waste of your time.  I don't mean to be a spoiler on your budo journey but there isnt anything refinable or subtle about a punch in the nose.  And the 17 should be delivered like a punch in the nose. Kihara/ Geis line has a lot of chains of the 17, but if you ever cranked up Randori you would see the 17 is just one chain that leads up a " punch in the nose."  




Anyway,  I put a video up above of Tomiki and The Kenjutsu stuff in there and we'll look at it.   Look at the Tegatana of the shodokan line, that is the Imperial Meathead line. You'll notice a chop down and then a shomenate like movement.  These represent timings.   They happen to be Timings that aren't represented well in the Geis line.  look at the ikkajo in Yoshinkan and the first movement in Koryu dai ichi.  

In the Yoshinkan line Ikkajo, or what we call in the 17 oshi taoshi is done on a provocation. This represents the first movement of tegatana dosa.  This is the first timing.  Hit first.  The second timing is actually the first technique in the 17.  shomenate.  Watch the hand in the set up.  It doesnt get the provocation, it has to deflect an attack. Basically the provocation provoked the wrong damn thing.  The third timing represents the other side of the coin, is the second movement of tegatana dosa, striking when the Sword is at its highest point.  

Here is a daito ryu perspective.  The very first suwari waza represents catching the rise or the second tegatana movement.  Its also the first move in San kata.  Its the third timing.  The second move of San kata, is the Third timing except with a more direct technique. 

The fourth timing is when you have to vacate space and actually step offline to avoid being chopped in half.  You can see this in the second technique of the 17.  Aigamae Ate.  At least the meat head version.  You step offline grab the hand, get a failed Ikkyo, Ikajo control, and then pop the guy. 

Anyway, my whole point is there is a lot of Timing lessons in Tomiki Aikido. And the timing is about maai, about covering the distance of one step. And its essentially about realistic Atemi Waza. Atemi waza is a matter of  Timing. It's matter of concept and not Principle.  Atemi waza is how you affect the world, not a matter of Big 3 Principles.  It's not a matter of recognizing the gift of the situation.  Its a matter of Timing.

Timing is a matter of rock scissors paper.   With big guys, you dont have the luxury to match up and feel for things or you will be overwhelmed with strength.  Remember that the principle of Non-Resistance applies if you can win an advantage from the act of Non-Resistance.  Its better to provoke a movement rather than to match a movement that can overwhelm you.  Or its best to vacate and get out of the way entirely, which can be called non-resistance, but is more of a matter of Maai and timing.  Non-resistance should not be timing oriented.  It should be done when you recognize the advantage.  Too often we try to tell folks to loosen up, and feel for it.  But this just allows them to be overwhelmed more easily if they don't understand the advantage of non-resistance. 

Anyway, the paternity test has come back and Kenjutsu is the Daddy of Tomiki Aikido.  And its about maai and Timing.  Meatheads live and die by timing. 

It's All About Atemi, til it Aint.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

I've been studying up on the other side of the tomiki fence a lot lately.  What a lot of folks dont reflect on a whole lot is that Tomiki Aikido is a weapon based system. Really. all of Aikido is weapon based, But Mr. Tomiki really looked at it in terms of weapons.  Look at effing San Kata, man.

I was thumbing through my Nariyama book and found a part where Tomiki held the opinion that sword principles were absorbed into Jujutsu and consequently Aikido.

  Its all based on sword cutting swipes and getting out of the path of sword swipes.   TheTegatana Dosa moose out in front of Waseda should have told you.   The trouble with Aikido is that you have all this peace and harmony and projecting your Ki to microwave popcorn and related bullshit.  People are always susceptible to that something for nothing kind of thing.   And like studying religious texts they can see justification for smoking pot and wife beating in the unsoku steps. 

In this clip you see Nariyama taking two wooden swords and showing how some principles of sword shit applies to the Atemi waza.   In the Geis Line atemi waza are done for the most part in Kito-ryu mode.  You get some down kuzushi and body rise into a technique.  The guy basically stands up into a technique.   Some  wise bearded Japanese dude with odd religious proclivities once said that atemi is pretty much all there is in Aikido, except when you get something else.  And in Tomiki Talk, something else is kansetsu waza, and Uki waza. 

People tend to fixate on the something else.  The Sex, Drugs, and Rock N' Roll pretty much take up an hour or two in the entire week. The rest of the week is showing up to work and doing seemingly pointless shit that gets you nowhere and sure the hell doesnt impress chicks.   Expecting Aikido to be all Hakama's  and harmonious Iriminages is like expecting Jimmy Hendrix not to be dead.  A hand in the face isnt that impressive because you can teach it in two minutes.  Just like flipping burgers.

So Atemi waza is pretty much what you are going to see all the damn time, until something else decides to happen.   Here's Tomiki Toshu Randori that has centralized the Atemi waza.  Here's a link. I'm not saying you are a pussy if you don't like it.    But I am saying that this is a pretty good take on Randori.  It's all about Atemi, until it decides to be about something else.  It cures the Hip throw phobia problem in Tanto randori. It does make me wonder why they dont allow head shots in Tanto Randori, because its looks like the tanto is widdled out of a nerf ball.   Either way an enterprising guy can combine all of this shit together and play around with some interesting Randori.

A lot of guys talk about principle.  Most of the time they are just preaching a methodology of the old dude with the most impressive resume that they hung around with the most. It boils down to setting the environment so the old connected dudes moves work all the damn time.  And it usually helps if the dude is Japanese or hung around in Japan for a while in the sixties and seventies and Eighties when people were easily taken in by all things Japanese.  While the world was still susceptable to mass consumption of  stereotypical cultural bullshit.

But constructing a dojo culture to where some old dudes moves work all the damn time, doesnt exactly mean you are teaching principle.  It may mean you are teaching bullshit.  That's why I don't mind the Competive Randori as stupid as it looks sometimes. Because the Competive randori has rules that deal with space and legal movements and what looks like a point and what doesn't.  Success comes in degrees and in a relative sense.  I just wakigatamed you, or I almost wakigatamaed you.  My almost only counts if relatively speaking you suck worse than me.  I dont have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun you.  Its honest because it constructs its own universe.  It's old dude proof. 

The five atemi waza have principles to them.  They were constructed as a safe way to hit somebody.  Legal movements to be observed and scored.  But in principle they follow sword swipes for the most part.  Slide one way, hit the guy( shomenate).  slide the other you can hit guy( and if you do it nariyama style you have a hineri movement( aigamae ate)   Go over the guard and hit the guy.  Go under the guard and hit the guy.  Gyakugamae/Gedan ate.  Ushiro ate a guy  Nariyama style you have a gaeishi movement that relates well to the whole sword swipe thing.  And it makes everything real symmetrical and easy for ignorant Okies like me to wrap their head around it. 

If they wind up in a throw with some guy looking at the ceiling  then they are worth big points.  If they dont then they refer back to the " who sucks the least" principle.   

The Geis Line Tomiki doesnt fit the sword swipe principles.  It just has one principle: the ol' kito rise and fall.   Shomenate is about the same, unless you do it in a Kihara circle.  Aigamae ate doesnt have a hineri idea attached.   Gyaku and gedan ate are just down up affairs.  Ushiro doesnt have a gaeishi idea attached.  The theoretical sword is pretty much removed.  

 I can pretty much say this.  That the Unsoku steps are pretty much irrelevant in Geis line Tomiki.  I say this because we arent dodging anything.  We dont do the 17 in Tanto mode.  The Prerequisite dodge isnt exactly needed.  We do matching timing, and matching things up is pretty much a requirement in kuzushi.  And when you match times, the feet do what they need to and dont follow concrete get your ass out of the way patterns.  

Tomiki Aikido is pretty much about Tsukuri.   And in this particular definition its the fit on the chin, or wrist or elbow that takes it all the way up until the completion of the technique.  Kuzushi may happen on the way to tsukuri but it doesnt precede it.   The exception to this are the seven methods of kuzushi which start with a hand grab connection that takes Ukes momentum and swings it up into tsukuri.   Anything thing else you dodge a weapon, and place your hand and move your body in a way that limits the weapon from performing the same action again. 

  

 

The front part of this video shows Atemi waza Tsukuri exercise from the "hit first" timing.  It also serves as an exercise in basic Ukemi from an atemi waza.  There is also an element of reading footfalls from a separated state.  The Uke looks like a crash test dummy, but these things can be slowed down into practicality.  

At the back end of the video there are some Tsukuri exercises  with the joint techniques.  They have the same rationale as the atemi waza tsukuri.   They typically do a technique up into Tsukuri then then they complete the technique on the next go at it.   Yon kata highlights the kuzushi/ tsukuri from a matched timing. It almost implies that kuzushi is dependent on a state, no matter how brief, of matched timing.

Here the Tsukuri is either before the stab or after.  And the aikido takes on a  different look and feel. There is a high emphasis in the Japanese line on the practice of Tsukuri at speed.  This is how they prepare for a more physical randori.  I could say that in the Geis line the premium is on kuzushi studies, and in the Japanese line it is a study of Tsukuri.  In anycase it is matter of timing and not over all philosophy. But there is a divergent idea in the Atemi waza.  Japanese Atemi waza are based on weapons principles.  Geis line Atemi waza are based on Kito principles. And really one can argue that they aint really atemi waza.  They look at things in more of a Koshiki frame than anything else. 

Things get muddied with Judo entering an Aikido Conversation.   Aikido assumes you are going to recieve an attack where the attacker wants to maintain his distance.  A guy with a weapon in other words, who is using the weapon as a distance regulator and for a reach advantage.  The response to this is a weapons based response where you get at a dead angle, or an angle where you can hit but not be hit, and also at a distance where you minimize the secondary attack hazards.  Either in with a Tenkan or an Irimi.   Judo for the most part doesnt function like this.

Anyway, Its about Atemi waza until it aint about Atemi waza.   And thats pretty much Aikido. 

Training up to the Timing

I'm about to embark on a new project, technology and partner(s) willing to learn the Japanese Tomiki way of looking at things. It may take a while.  What it boils down to is a deeper study of Timing.

That means Tanto Randori.   I already know the limitations of Tanto Randori.  It looks like two judo players with a hip throw phobia.  But the Tanto lets you play with dodging shit, keeps you light on your feet.  It should be taken as an exercise of maai and Timing. And when you do get close to doing something in Junanahon it must be like college cheerleaders showing up on the front porch selling cookies. 

Sometimes I think The Junanhon/ Randori no kata should be renamed "things that will never actually happen in randori no kata".  Because I'm sure somewhere there are college cheerleaders who are roaming around looking to sell cookies. But not in this neighborhood, and not to this guy. 

The Sato Toshu Randori is what really interests me.  Its atemi waza driven.  The atemi waza become the Tanto.  The rules get rid of the hip throw phobia problem with the 3 second rule.  It provides the same maai/timing practice as the Tanto.  And it looks right, as far as the competitive model goes.  So that maybe something to look into. 

I'm talking out of my ass here, because I haven't done either one. There is nobody around right now to jump into that particular pool.  And I may be an ignorant Okie, but you Train up to a timing.  You don't simply walk into the dojo and say, "okay boys its full tilt from here on out."    That's just preparing for the dumbass Olympics.

 I used to think that what the Geis folks do is Judo influenced, even writing a lot of posts about it.  But like anything else, I'm wrong more than I'm right.  The Geis Folks are almost all cross trained in Judo.  So they have an inner voice that says, " that would never work against a Judo player."   So what they did was narrow the movement patterns to essentially be judo proof.  What this means is they take really deliberate small steps.  The footwork is probably Judo influenced more than anything.  The good Judo players dont sell a damn thing, and are poker players by nature.

But the arm motions the Geis-line does are very early tomiki big.  Tomiki even made the arm movements smaller over time. But the big arm motions are what we got and what we continue to train.  We got what we got when we got it, and kept doing it.  After that Common Sense started dictating a lot of things.

The other thing about the Geis Line Yon kata, or what the Shodokan folks call Nage no kata omote/ura.  The Geis line focuses a lot on execution of techniques off of a recovery step,or a body rise.  I'm pretty sure this is from the 8-14 in Yon kata, or the Nage No Kata ura.  They take this principle and restructured nearly everything in the Tomiki Curriculum around it.  It's kind of like what Brazillian Jujitsu has done with Judo.  It has taken a small slice of principle and reconstructed the Tomiki movements around it.

Another thing is Randori.  You could say we dont do it.  We have an exercise that we call Randori for the lack of better term, but it is done with deliberate timing.  Matching timing and movement. A go no sen randori. because people have to be sensitive to the loss and  recovery movements   In other forms of Tomiki Randori, the premuim is hitting the guy before he gets the notion to try something, or after he did something.   Thats that proverbial,   sen sen no sen, and sen.  Thats the standard take on Randori.  If you have a go no sen guy trying to work with a sen sen no sen guy its an exercise in futility.  

Another thing is when you do Go no Sen where the speed is a mutual agreement you can train "unsafe" techniques.   Most Geis Guys think Competitive Randori is a stupid idea because most of their techniques arent safe at high speeds.  The slow and methodical has turned the 17 and related techniques  back into pre-war aikijujitsu. A good example is kote mawashi/ nikkyo. Most Geis line guys learn this technique in Randori.  I went to a Akikai seminar and found out that my take on nikkyo was a lot better than theirs.  Because I knew the conditions and mechanics of it.  Never gave a shit about nikkyo since.   


This training to the timing difference is basically what you see between the Japanese lines and the Geis Line.  Geis line trains almost exclusively Go no Sen.  There is always a match.  The Japanese do the hit early, and hit after the dodge.  That is the difference between the 17 kata performed in Kihon mode( static) and with a Tanto.  

The kihon mode is,  for the sake of talking out of my ass argument, hit early, you use both hands in concert from a good distance and angle to manipulate a guys structure. There is a very direct relation ship between the unsoku movements and techniques. And there are a lot of A/B this or that ideas.  I think there is a lot of what they call hando no kuzushi implied.   You prepare one way and then go the other if you need to.  

Its actually hard to do after years of matching timing.  I find myself tipping off balance when I try to manipulate a guys arm.  Which I think is a very primary lesson of the kihon mode.

Tanto based 17 is you have to get offline first.  Thats the third timing.  You get offline and grab some arm real estate from a good angle.  There isnt any feeling out.  In fact feeling out is pretty damn stupid at this point.  There needs to be some decisive techniques from this point and the whole menu isnt available.  Its probably " I got your ass atemi waza", served with a side of lucky ass kansetsu waza.   I dont know the Japanese Budo term.  But its loosely translated as , "Holy Shit that actually worked."   It goes with the Sun Tzu adage that victory can be known, but not made. 

Any sort of matching timing impies some sort of balance break to kick techniques off.  And that's what I'm used to doing.  The problem is that most unsoku movements deal with tanto timing or kihon timing.  Matching timing foot work goes where ever it needs to.  So there are a lot of times where the Tegatana/Unsoku movements are irrelevant except as a balance and posture thing.   

Anyway, the real difference between Tomiki Aikido schools is what Timing do you train.  The Koryu kata are filled with different timings.  San kata has them all.  Any grab is matching timing.  The weapon taking stuff is just like a tanto 17.  There is even that one move against a Tanto where you grab his arm before he even thinks of pulling  the damn knife.  It looks like something Farrah Fawcett would do on Charlies Angels.  There isnt a lot of hit first ideas because they are all cats ass simple so why have a whole kata devoted to it, with the exception of maybe Go kata. 

Omote/Ura, Yon kata, and why we aint that different after all.

I've started looking at the Japanese Tomiki school.  I like it.  Going to give some effort in learning what they are doing.  A lot of what they do, leads up to Competitive Randori.   So their practice is more on the physical structural side.  It deals with timing.  I have said that it deals with speed and Physicality, and that's just a failed attempt at description.   Japanese Tomiki Aikido doesn't try to obscure its trees in a forest.  Tomiki in his description and labeling of techniques and concepts was very literal, very concrete.   Japanese Tomiki is Timing based, and structurally based.

It uses judo concepts to classify things, but it doesn't necessarily use Judo concepts in practice.  Randori to them is a moving train.  Everything deals with being able to jump on a moving train, and understanding when a train slows down enough in order  to attempt the jump.  A lot of Randori is running along side a empty boxcar and either jumping in, or losing ground.

Aikido is really about dealing with someone who is attacking at a distance and wants to maintain that distance.  It's not a judo concept in that judo players want to take away all the distance.  I think that Tomiki Aikido includes some of the counter judo studies that Shishida sensei has speculated about.  A tomiki aikido player wants to avoid a grip, or allow a very unbalanced weak grip outside of the power zone/shoulder frame.

If you look at the 7 forms of kuzushi of Japanese Aikido, the first 7 of Yon kata.  You may see them as just another way to do the releases.  I think we dismiss it, because its at the far end of the Geis-ryu curriculum and its been done from week one. But I feel that our releases teach a different lesson than the 7hon kuzushi.

The major difference in the 7 and our releases is an intentional rotation of the hand before a grip is made.  The kuzushi/tsukuri is derived from a weakened grip taken out of the normal power frame for gripping.  The Kuzushi/tsukuri literally traces the half circles traced in the Tegatana Dosa/ walking kata.  The palm up/palm down half circles. The Tegatana Kata, 7hon kuzushi are the same thing. 

Look again at my favorite most comprehensive style of Tegatana Dosa.  The Senta Yamada Walk.  You will see the rotational movement that is seen in the first 14 of Yon kata.  The last set of techniques in Nage no Kata Ura detail the kito ryu aspects.  The kuzushi fall followed by a rise.


Geis-Ryu( I call it Geis-Ryu because that is the most honest label for the school) starts with the notion that you are working with two attached central nervous systems.  I think the heart of Geis Ryu is in the Nage no kata Ura (8-14).  It's a kito ryu driven, an Uke driven system.  The nage no kata Ura take years to train because you have to train yourself to feel signals past the the noise of your own central nervous system.  Here is an example of two fellows doing the Yon kata movements while putting the emphasis on the body rise and fall.  Randori in the Geis Ryu is about signal reading.

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The difference is that Japanese Tomiki aikido sees things  as two bodies in motion in terms of who has the strongest, most direct structure attached to a weaker more collapsed structure.  It's Tori driven. Timing based.  Hit the guy as he bends his knees and attempts to draw.  Hit the guy when the sword is up.  Hit the guy after his sword swings down and fails to hit.  The 7hon kuzushi emphasizes the half circle movements in relation to the down swing.  Uke has to settle for a grip he didn't exactly want while attempting to  recover and deal with the consequences. 

Here is the concept of weakening the grip. The 7hon kuzushi/ Tegatana dosa illustrates this through the half circle movements.  Nariyama is showing the concept with body movement.


The differences are even present in Atemi Waza.  Japanese Atemi waza are based on a different offbalance ideas.  Shomen ate and Aigamae ate are based on the notion of taking a sword out of center.  Its a sheer one way or the other.  Aigamae ate has an additional idea of an attempted joint manipulation that leads into the ate.  Gyakugamae Ate is executed with the idea that no balance break is present.  Gedan ate proceeds from a failed Gyakugamae ate.  And ushiro is an idea that plays off of a bent arm almost in the country of 2nd release or gedan kuzushi. It is assumed that Ukes body is stiff. 

The Tomiki School that I study is basically taking all its lessons from Nage no kata Ura.  Or 8-14 Yon kata.  I always had a mind splinter about what we did, especially when it seemed that there was absolutly no relationship in our Tegatana Dosa( the walking, and our releases/kuzushi.  well, I can now be pretty confident in saying that what we call our 8 releases is more of a Ura form than an omote.  The 7hon kuzushi relate to the standard tegatana movements.  I used to think that what we were doing was Judo based, the fact that maybe someone ( Geis) filled in the blanks with Judo stuff.  I wrote about problems with Judo based Aikido.  Well after some thinking and head scratching, its not really Judo based but it takes most of its key principles from Nage no Kata Ura or Yon kata 8-14.


















The thing is what kind of Tomiki Aikido are you working?  Is it omote based, or Ura based.  What ideas from Yon kata are you emphasizing?   Its taken my about two years of technical archaeology and Aikido comparison to figure out why Geis-Ryu Aikido seems patently different. Its not different, it just interprets it through the kito principles in Yon Kata.  Its an Obvious statement, but nobody has really looked at where we get our movement ideas from specifically.