Yet another cool class

Two more new students and one more watching on the sidelines, along with Kristof, Patrick M., and myself, made for a good, full class. Wehad almost all the mat space laid out. We need to work on the positioning of the mats to get all of them into our new space. Three pair of partners had plenty of room, and I can see how two more pair could easily work in our space. Beyond that we'll have to start working groups and taking turns, but that shouldn't be a problem. We're planning a seminar for end of October, in which we are likely to have 12-15 people working out. depending on what we are working on, with 7 pair we might have to group and take turns but it'll work out.

Tonight we worked on the first 4 moves of tegatana, the first two of hanasu, and 1 or 2 of the chains related to release #2. Everybody caught onto the motion well and seemed to enjoy it.

Structure in nijusan

Today I was thinking about the structure of the Tomiki system and came upon an interesting concept that I'd never considered (probably because I'm behind the curve - other instructors probably already knew this).  The techniques of junana all start with one of the release motions.

• Except for shomenate, eveything in junan) prior to and including kotegaeshi is built off either the first or third release motion.
• Everything after kotegaeshi is built off of the second or fourth hanasu motion.
• Shomenate and the first four of owaza jupon are built off of a #9 or 10 hanasu motion (the inside releases that start yon kata).
• Owaza #5 is built off of hanasu#1 and owaza 6-9 are built off of a variant of hanasu#4.

All this info is encoded in the release followups so that we get an intuitive feel for which technical possibilities live in the vicinity of each hanasu motion. I think it is really interesting to see that structure existed within the Tomiki system (i.e. junana and shichihon) prior to the explicit development of the hanasu no kata or the release followups.
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So, if the first 6 of shichihon are the prototype motions for most all the material in aikido, why did Tomiki include that odd 7th technique in shichihon? And why were shichihon#1 and #2 removed from the material that was used to create hanasu?

New Student, old ideas

Today we had a new judo student. Paul is a (perhaps) middle aged guy who did Judo as a kid and who has dome some isshinryu recently. We warmed up (or calibrated - see the earlier posts on this) and practiced some backfalls, side falls, and forward rolls. He did great! Then we worked on the kito principle using some suwari (suwari kubinage and suwari hizaguruma). This got us into kesagatame and munegatame so we could discuss these positions and beginbuilding the situp escape from kesagatame.

From standing we used kosotogari as our excuse to practice some more ukemi and talk about tori's responsibility to help uke fall properly. This also afforded us an opportunity to talk about how to engage by occupying the center with your hands as you approach. This gives us an advantageous inside gripping position and provides an automatic block/parry. The Gracie guys (I think) call a variant of this the cowcatcher or the wedge.

Suwariwaza

Suwari is an interesting practice. It's hard to get a handle on the underlying structure to the practice. I think that's because Tomiki structured the tachiwaza and weapons practice to a greater degree and left the suwari as both more advanced practice and more of a retro-type of practice. Thus its inclusion in the koryunokata. So the small amount of suwari practice that we get tends to be either exemplary techniques (i.e. koryu) or freeform playing. Of course, suwari is a beneficial practice, but I think it would be more beneficial if it were subject to the same structure as the tachiwaza we learn.

I've been thinking about the suwari that we do a lot lately, and I want to begin including a very small amount of suwari as part of the warmup in each class. I've actually been including some suwari in the judo warmups and it has been a good thing. It introduces some techniques as well as the Kito principle while serving as a physical continuation of ukemi practice. Y'all aikidoka can probably expect to see 1-2 techniques from koryu katas #1, 3, 5 ,and 6 over the next few weeks while I try to figure out how to both structure it and fit it in.

Who's uke now?

Today there was only Kristof and myself at aiki practice. The Hattiesburg group couldn't make it because of car trouble. Patrick M. Didn't show. Brian & Jennifer havent started back since school just started. When only two people show up we always have a much more fast paced, physical class. Today we reviewed tegatana and hanasu then practiced the chains associated with releases 2, 3, and 4. We were particularly looking at the techniques that spin off of 2 and 4 when tori (mistakenly) turns wide around uke or cuts sharply into uke. The wide #2 and #4 were pretty straightforward. These tend to blend into release 1 with all its' versions of oshi taoshi, or #3 with wakigatame.

On the other hand, #2 when done sharp like an iriminage, becomes this confusing jumble of uke and tori changing roles and practicing shomenate, wakigatame, gedanate, and ushiroate. Nobody ever knows who attacls each time. The easiest way to keep on track is recite "I attack, I attack, you attack, you attack," as you practice the techniques. I for one wound up thoroughly sweaty and exercised despite the coolness of the dojo this morning.

Those of you who missed aiki this morning also missed out on a breakfast of blackberry waffles and smoked sausage. Hmmmm, sounds good doesn't it? WELL SHOW UP NEXT TIME!

;-)

Judo plans for tonite

Wow! I'm excited about getting to resume Judo classes in an airconditioned, lighted dojo. I'm going home midafternoon to get the dojo cleaned up some in preparation for class. We'll be able to lay out the entire mat space tonight and leave it because the karate instructor is going to be on vacation for another week. Tonight's judo plans involve kosotogari and osotogari and some ground randori. The adult class (tonight probably just Cody and I) will be doing some ground cycles and some ukemi practice warming up toward seoinage, kubinage, and ukigoshi, then some standing randori.

Dojo progress

In addition to a good class tonight, we had a special surprise when we got home. The workers had finished the lighting and A.C. and started the ceiling. We'll have a truly functional dojo by Friday. Can't wait to see everyone Friday and Saturday!

4 ideas to improve anyone's aikido

Tonight's aikido class we worked outside for about half the time until we (finally) got our thunderstorm that cooled us off. We did tegatana, making a point to completely recover the back foot after each step. Then we zoomed in on the first turn, as in yesterday's aiki homework assignment. We worked on it for several minutes emphasizing getting the timing of the push up synched with the timing of the body rise. Then we worked this motion into hanasu, reviewing #1-4 with Kristof and introducing #5 to him. In hanasu we emphasized low-level strategies, including:

1. 
   
   get out of the way
2. 
   
   turn to face uke
3. 
   
   get behind uke
4. 
   
   move with uke

It turns out that each technique in hanasu is an example of these principles in this order. Really, these four principles will improve your aikido randori pretty much no matter what type of aikido you do. Keeping these principles in mind instead of trying to DO a technique to uke tends to help performance considerably. Tonight's material included some of the techniques surrounding hanasu#4, including reverse kote gaeshi, aikinage, ushiroate, kaiten nage, and release#3.
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One of the great things about training at Mokuren is the variety of students. We get to work with a small, maybe 130 lb, student, a 170lb student, a couple of 250 pounders, and a 350 pounder on a regular basis. We also have the special benefit of having a student with a birth injury that resulted in one "normal" arm and one arm that is drawn into a permanent chudan uke (middle block). Aikido that will keep a one-armed guy safe against a 130 pounder a 250 pounder and a 350 pounder will work for anyone! We pretty much have the 5th through the 95th percentile of the population represented. We are looking forward to having a couple of females practicing with us starting this summer, including one blind student. Aikido is awesome as an adaptive self-defence!

Shichihon no kuzushi

Some schools of Tomikiryu practice an exercise caled shichihon no kuzushi early in the syllabus. This exercise consists of seven fundamental forms of offbalance found later in other aikido techniques. We, instead of practicing shichihon no kuzushi, practice an exercise known as hanasu no kata (forms of release). Hanasu consists of eight ways to move from in front of uke to behind uke while releasing any tension or pressure that is building in the contact between uke and tori.
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The first four hanasu are roughly identical to the shichihon techniques named chudan aigamae, gedan aigamae, chudan gyakugamae, and gedan gyakugamae. The last four hanasu are responses for tori when uke changes one ofthe first four. for instance, in hanasu #5, tori begins hanasu #1, chudan aigamae, and uke changes it so that tori's easiest release is to step under the arm into something similar to tenkai kote hineri.
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Later in our syllabus we encounter shichihon no kuzushi as the first seven techniques of yon kata. By this point #3-6 are mostly trivial because the student has practiced these techniques as part of hanasu in every class for years. But the first two techniques of yonkata (jodan aigamae and jodan gyakugamae) are monsterously tough for us. I have been working on yon kata on and off for probably ten years and I still feel like I don't have a grasp of how these two are supposed to work. I wonder if these two techniques are particularly hard for other Tomiki practitioners? I'm looking forward to having Usher-san and some other instructors in the Mokuren dojo at the end of October to work on yon kata and maybe enlighten me.

Tonight's aiki homework

Here's what I'm working on tonight at home for aiki-sans-uke practice. The eighth motion in tegatana (the first turn) is essentially the same as the first motion of hanasu.

• practice this motion five times on either side for warmup.
• five more reps concentrating on only bearing weight on the first two balls of each foot.
• five more reps imagining that you are being pulled by a rope attached to your center.
• five more reps imagining you are being pulled by your wrist.
• five more reps imagining an iron rod keeping your spine straight.
• five more reps imagining your head as a balloon that is bouying your spine upwards.
• five more times visualizing your hips as a fountain bouying your head upwards.

This comes from an interesting teaching process called ideokinesis, which involves changing the quality of your motion by changing how you visualize your own motion.

How would you describe the quality of your motion during each set?

Class plans for this week

Aiki class this week will be primarily spent on the atemiwaza that comprise Andy's yonkyu requirements (shomen, aigamae, gyakugamae, gedan, ushiro). He's certainly already ready but we'll work on them Tuesday and then have Andy's rank demo Saturday. We'll also continue on the followups to the wrist releases, probably getting through #3 into #4 this week. Lets also plan to start our jodo class Saturday after aiki class.
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In Judo we'll get back to grappling, assuming the A.C. is working. We'll also be working primarily on Cody's green belt nagewaza, including deashiharai, hizaguruma. seoinage, and kubinage.

Gokyo and kotegaeshi

Another day of no-gi, hot and dusty aikido. Fortunately it was cooler for our 9:00AM aiki class today than our 6:00PM judo class yesterday. We had to cancel judo class yesterday afternoon because it was simply to hot to be grappling. The ceiling, lights, and A.C. should be installed Monday or Tuesday.
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This morning we went through tegatana, highlighting the proper foot/ankle posture for tsugiashi and discussing the usefulness of the "helicopter" pivot as a great way to get from an omote position into an ura position. In hanasu we reviewed releases 1-4 and then explored the gokyo-like wakigatame and the kotegaeshi that comes off of hanasu#3.
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Kristof's aikido is remarkably clean and gentle. We started off our aiki relationship agreeing that each practitioner will understand aikido differently and that each instructor will teach what they understand of aikido differently. With that in mind, it will be easier for Kristof to look for the commonalities between the teachings of his American Tomikiryu instructor and his Ukrainian Aikikai instructor. Today we had somewhat different ideas about ukemi and about footwork, and we had different names for the same stuff, but both Kristof and the Mokuren guys recognized what the other was doing as aikido. It's pretty cool that a person can travel from the Carpathian mountains of Ukraine to the sweltering pine woods of southwest Mississippi and still practice aikido.

Cool class

Last night's class was very cool. Cool in the sence of interesting - not cool in the sence of cool. In that sence it was hot. We haven't gotten AC and ceiling installed in the new dojo yet, so it was an hour and a half of Mississippi Aikido - that is, teeshirt and shorts instead of the oven mitts that we call gi.

In ukemi we worked on trying to improve our sensitivity of the posture of our shoulders so that we can more easily determine when we roll over a misplaced shoulder.

In tegatana we worked on staying on the balls of our feet - specifically on the balls of the first two toes. We contrasted our ankle stability and balance in tsugiashi landing across the ball of the foot as opposed to landing on those to most medial toes.

In hanasu we worked on the idea of finding a place in space during the first step that is neutral between #1, #2, and #5. Then we dove off into the chains associated with hanasu#2, including kotetaoshi and maeotoshi. We mostly worked on kotetaoshi with the idea of getting into and staying in shikaku and keeping gyakugamae ate ready if shikaku fails. I thought it was interesting that I was forever going into gyakugamae early. I had to wait and wait and wait in order to get it right.

Choreutics and Aikido

Another genius whose work informs the study of aikido is Rudolf Von Laban, the mid-20th century dance instructor and ergonomist. Laban invented a field of study known as Choreutics, which is, in essence, an aesthetic instead of scientific approach to kinesiology and ergonomics. Some of Laban's insights that apply to aikido include:

• side-to-side motion implies (or facilitates or is accompanied by) forward-backward motion, creating motion in a horizontal plane.
• forward-backward motion implies up-and-down motion, creating motion in a saggital plane.
• up-and-down motion implies side-to-side motion, creating motion in a frontal plane

So, pure planar motion does not exist in the context of the human body. Any time someone is moving or exerting force along any plane there are also interesting interactions going on in the other 2 orthogonal planes. Essentialy all human motion is a form of spiral.

The magic of aikido and Judo often lies in these 2 orthogonal planes.

One of Laban's successors, Lisa Ullmann, followed up on Laban's Choreutics insights with the following:

• motion across the centerline of body implies straightness and stability.
• motion away from the centerline of the body implies flexibility and freedom.
• upward motion implies mobility and lightness.
• downward motion implies stability and hardness
• fast motions tend to contract inward toward the center.
• slow motions tend to extend outward (forward) from the center