I got schooled tonight by a measley judo shodan! Rob tapped me 5-6 times to my 1-2. Mostly positional deals, but I do recall him getting one fine jujigatame and one good choke of some sort. I think I tapped him with a sodegurumajime (sleeve wheel choke) and with a head-crushing tateshiho (north-south hold). But I know for sure that my mat mobility was off tonight and Rob did very well. Standing I got a sode tsurikomigoshi (sleve lifting hip throw) and a morotegari (double leg pick). Rob, as I recall, mostly got these clinches and dragged me into the ground, from which position he crushed me. He must have had a good judo instructor at some point in his past.
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And that was all before aikido class started! By the time Kel got there I had the shaky jelly triceps fasciculations. We worked releases into ukemi, tegatana, and the atemiwaza (striking throws) from Nijusan. Kel is getting very good at shomenate and his aigamaeate and gyakugamaeate were better than mine tonight. We'll keep working on his rank requirements and solidify his skill and knowledge and have a rank test in a few weeks. At the end we played with the offbalance for kubiguruma and the kata otoshi brushoff from Owaza Jupon. Fun, but not very sklled performances on my part by that late point in the night.
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If I did not already have a great name for the dojo, I think I'd come up with a name involving a bear - as in my defacto motto, "Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you."
Hows it going, Patriclus? I had a similar experience wednesday at class and i felt it noteworthy in this situation. Usher-san had the upper ranks work through the atemi-waza at a brisk, flowing, and continous pace for approximately 15-20 minutes solid. It felt far longer than that i assure you.
ReplyDeleteAnd then Usher-san stopped us and made his point, and for some reason it has really stuck with me-- and i think you'd like it. As all six of us stood there heaving for breath, Usher-san said something to the likes of "constant motion/exertion over an extended amount of time makes us realize that if we dont relax, we wont make it (through the technique/altercation)."
That really helped me, that constant thought of relaxtaion during the technique. I dont know why in particular, perhaps jus the right lesson at the right time. Anyway, enough rambling. Until next time, may you eat the bear, or learn from him one.
chops
Usher's right on, as usual.
ReplyDeleteI looked up some Japanese words involving eating bears...
kamoru - to easily attain victory; to eat one's opponent alive
guma - a bear
I don't know, though, how those would be properly combined into something like "the bear eater's dojo" That would be a cool teeshirt logo!