Nikyu rank reuirements class

Today we worked on Patrick M's nikyu reuirements. Tegatana, hanasu (particularly working on getting off the line on #2 & 4 and making the beginning of #1, 2, and 5 the same), and the wrist techniues in nijusan (kote hineri, kote gaeshi, tenkai kote hineri, tenkai kote gaeshi, and shihonage). Patrick has got the gist of the techniques - he just needs the seasoning that comes with time in grade.

We worked chain #1 and used it as an opportunity to talk about randori. We played some randori in different modes, including regular hand randori, contact improv, and some taichi push hands.

Hot fundamentals class

Today it was so obscenely hot today that aikido started out miserable. We turned the AC on about 15 minutes before class and when we went back in the dojo was MUCH cooler than outside - but it was still too hot to wear oven mitts. We practiced in shorts and teeshirts and if that makes us the bad boys of the aiki world, so be it.

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We worked tegatana, focussing on the 'helicopter' pivot and the last move - the large side circle. From there we moved into hanasu #1 and #2, emphasizing moving before uke gets into a strong, settled position. We also looked deeply at why the first step is a cross step - essentially stepping over the hill. We worked on some hanasu drills that allowed uke to have perfect timing to attack tori at the absolute worst part of the stepping cycle, and the releases worked great. We also worked these releases with fingertip-pressure friction attacks instead of hard grabs and this led us to a short session of contact improv to make the point.

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The end of class was taken up with shomenate - another worst case scenario. Having evaded inside and parried with the power hand, tori is forced to learn to live in this dangerous place by efficiently trading hands and pushing the face backwards into a spine lock. Good work on fundamentals

Hey, Kristof, What's this guy saying?

Why not Christian martial arts?

I'm guest posting at TDA training again today, check it out. I posted this post here at Mokuren Dojo to take any comment fallout from that post at Nathan's.
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Nice comments go there, rants and vents go here. really vile comments will go in the trash. Play nice...

Pizza and aikido

Pizza and aikido - Eat your heart out, Usher-san!!!

Guest posting at TDA Training

Hi, all,

I'll be guest posting over at Nathan's TDA Training blog for a couple of days. Check it out. I had to promise to try not to tear things up too badly. We'll see. I'll probably just post interesting video clips here at Mokuren Dojo, and perhaps training logs during this time. See y'all back here in a couple of days.

Beach wrestling

Bretons (French) wrestling

The wrong yardstick

Bravo! This is a fine video essay on the effectiveness of aikido. It mirrors some of the material I have written on effectiveness here and here. I don't especially like this person's definition of aikido as 'the thing that Ueshiba invented,' (my paraphrase) because that makes it a static thing. A dead thing. Tomiki and many, many others have made advances on Ueshiba's ideas. As I wrote in a recent article, I consider Ueshiba's ideas of aikido to be the first, but not the last. But upon the idea of the effectiveness of aikido as a martial art, I think this is a very fine video response.

Shotokan and aikido

Tonight I got to practice for the first time with my new next-door neighbor, a long-time shotokan guy. We painted heian shodan and nidan with broad strokes and looked briefly at some interesting application for tekki shodan. My stances are too high for a Shotokan guy's tastes, partly because of disuse and partly because of old broken ankle and fat accumulation. I'll work on that.

In trade, I showed him tegatana no kata, hanasu no kata, and shomenate from aikido. He did very well. I'm really going to enjoy having a precise kata guy to work with again

Stick with Whit

Last night I practiced jodo with Whit. I practiced honteuchi and gyakuteuchi and hikiotoshi solo forms and then got Whit to hold a sword so I could practice kuritsuke and makiotoshi. I had to coach Whit a good bit not to flinch away from the jo, but that is understandable. A jo is a scary thing to have flinging around your head. We emphasized stretching your arms out and keeping the sword between us. At the end I took the sword and Whit spontaneously translated the jodo kuritsuke into a quarterstave technique and did a really good job of it. At the end we worked aikido releases #1-4.

I’m so proud of Whit’s progress. Last night he asked me, “How long ago did I learn this stuff?” It’s only been a few months but he’s doing it as if he was born to it.

New martial arts club in Orlando Florida

Hi, all, This is just a short plug for my student's blog. He is in the process of starting up a university club in Orlando and I'd sure appreciate it if y'all would all drop by his site and leave a comment with any wisdom that you might have on making a new club work. Thanks.

Child's mouth taped shut at martial arts camp

WLBT News in Jackson Mississippi had this story on the TV just now.

Child's Mouth Taped Shut At Day Camp
By Julie Straw

A six year old had her mouth taped shut at a summer day camp in Rankin County. Her mother is outraged and pulled her children from the camp. She wants to warn parents to be aware of what is going on at day care.

Jennifer McLemore, mother of 12 year old Alex and 6 year old Amber, enrolled her children in Kimery Martial Arts summer day camp. She thought it would be a fun place for them to go while school was out.

...When they confronted coach Kevin Kimery of Kimery Martial Arts about what happened, she wasn't pleased by his response. "He said yes he'd seen the tape on her mouth and that he got onto the guy, but he didn't do anything about it. He just got onto him and made him take the tape off of her," said McLemore.

Kimery gave this statement to WLBT. "An incident did occur. Reprimands have been put into place. One employee was involved and has since been terminated. It is not our policy to punish children in the alleged manner."

You can read the whole story here. The phone book online has this blurb about Kimery Martial Arts

Over 25 yrs exp in Tae Kwondo Hapkido Self-Defense & other Martial Arts Offering pick up for ages 5-12 in after school classes

Nathan blogged recently about the necessity of keeping a tight leash on your assistant instructors in a martial arts program. I don't know anything about this Kimmery guy but it sounds like a classic case of what Nathan was talking about.

Ssireum and Glima

While we're on the subject of ethnic wrestling styles that evolved to similar states under different conditions, check out the similarities between Korean Ssireum wrestling and Icelandic Glima. Both are belt wrestling styles in which each contestant is required to give the opponent a waist and leg grip using a strap or harness. Korea and Iceland. Hmmm.

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I wonder who were the first guys to say, "Hey, I'm bored. Let's tie ourselves together by the thigh and waist and wrestle!"