Don't neglect the inside condition

Photo courtesy of Kubina

When you are making a study of evasion, as we are this month, You inevitably get into a discussion of shikaku, the "dead angle." This is sort of like a blind spot behind uke's shoulder where, if you stand there it is relatively hard for uke to attack you. It doesn't take long for beginner martial arts students to figure out that it is preferable to evade to the outside, toward shikaku, behind the arm, than to evade inside toward the space between the attacker's arms.

.

But, it is difficult without foreknowledge of the attack, for tori to choose whether he evades inside or outside. In the heat of the moment, when jumped, hopefully tori just steps out of the way and puts his hands up. He might end up inside or outside. It's probably not exactly 50/50 chance of inside/outside, but a significant portion of time you end up inside the attack instead of in the preferred position outside.

.

Point is, you cannot neglect dealing with the inside condition in practice because you will end up there a significant portion of the time. Even though you prefer the outside condition (shikaku), you'd better spend some time learning how to survive on the inside. This is why we start our beginners learning shomenate as a solution for tori having stepped inside.

____________
Patrick Parker, is a Christian, husband, father, judo and aikido teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282
____________

Subscribe now for free updates from the Mokuren Dojo blog