Leftover questions about Sankata

Last year's (October 2009) Aiki Buddies Gathering I had intended to work on Owaza Jupon and the nidan part of Sankata (first 16 techniques) because a couple of the attendees were working on these nidan requirements.  It turned out that was too ambitious - we had a great time spending the entire ABG on Owaza Jupon and we didn't get to Sankata at all.

.

So, I had a handful of questions left over from that clinic regarding suwariwaza...

• We (every aiki class I know of) only does a handful of suwari, and only in kata mode.  Why do we never progress past this kata mode in our practice of suwariwaza?
• In the other kata (not Sankata) there are hints of other suwari modes - i.e. jutai timing - that we never play with - why?
• Why don't we play randori on the ground? Why don't we do releases from suwari? Why not chains? kokyuho/kokyudosa?

...these all really boil down to one question...

• If suwariwaza has significant value, why don't we practice it more often in more varied modes? If suwariwaza does not have significant value, why not drop it completely from the requirements?

 [photo courtesy of Shugyou]

____________

601.248.7282  ~ Subscribe ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~  email