Osaekomi with knee on shoulder

Cool old photo of some jiujitsu women applying a pin similar to some of the pins we worked on last night in aikido.  Notice that tori has secured uke's wrist to her own thigh and has placed her knee on top of uke's shoulder.  Also notice the head is immobilized.  I wonder what role the overturned chair in the background played in the technique?

Photo courtesy of George Eastman House

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Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282 木蓮
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How to win a judo match

Good fundamental judo knowledge.

For kids younger than about teenage, we do not allow chokes or armbars, so there are 3 ways to win for them; ippon, pin, or DQ.

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

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Seoinage

Above is a good instructional vid of a standard, basic seoinage (shoulder throw).  I prefer to teach it with some motion, as in a deashi-to-seoinage combo so that you can start to develop some better footwork timing, but this is a very common way to teach it, and it is a decent way to teach it.  Below is a compilation of a lot of seoinage in tournaments.

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Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282
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Mokuren Dojo articles on Aikido Journal

Over the past few years, Aikido Journal has picked up and reprinted several of my articles from here at Mokuren Dojo. Thanks Aiki Journal guys, for the attention! I've enjoyed the increased exposure and it has allowed a much larger group of people to enjoy my ideas here on the blog (or at least a larger group is laughing at my ignorance now).

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Following is a list of my articles that Aikido Journal has re-published. You might enjoy perusing these and reading or re-reading them.

• The least sexy is the most important
• Kuzushi is useless unless it is effortless
• The Long, Lost Goshin Jutsu post
• What can aikidoka learn from judoka?
• Invisible Shomenate
• Shihonage - 4-way throw or 4-way release?
• Structure and pliability in ukemi
• Kuzushi is an out-of-body experience
• A fight to the distance
• Feldenkrais principles in aikido
• 10,000 hours over 28,000 days
• Slow and steady wins the day
• Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat
• Ego in the martial arts
• Knife changes nothing
• Atemi is 80% of aikido
• Aikido is 100% atemi
• Kata is not real aikido
• Interview: Gene Lebell
• Interview: Roy Dean
• Junanahon kata
• Aikido is great for self-defense
• Don't do tsuki forever
• The best self-defense skill there is
• Rethink your ukemi
• Attack of the living dead
• Advice from a world champion
• Seth Godin on aikido and judo
• Everyday aikido
• Aikido and Baseball
• Doshu aikido video demonstration
• Reps vs. "do it for a while"
• Expertise

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

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Calling all geeks! Contest!!!

UPDATE: I'm trying out IntenseDebate per a suggestion. Check it out below this post and leave me a comment so I can tell how it's working and how you like using it. Thanks, Pat.

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I am seriously frustrated with Disqus and with Blogger!

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For a week now my comments system for my blog has been non-functional. After writing 4 emails to the Disqus techies and getting one response and no help, I removed the Disqus code from my site and reactivated Blogger comments - and now Blogger comments system doesn't work on my blog either. I even tried reverting to a classic template and rebuilding all my widgets - to no avail.
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HELP!
I'm sure there are some Blogger-savvy martial artists out there. The first person to help me fix this problem such that either Blogger or Disqus comment system actually works, will receive the following awesome prize:

Kane & Wilder's excellent book, The Way of Kata.

Send your suggestions to me via email at mailto:mokurendojo@gmail.com?subject=[Comments with the subject line, [Comments Contest]. Solve my comments problem and I'll set you up!

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

I have a handful of announcements for my judo kids and their parents.

No class today

First, remember there will be no class today (Thursday, October 8, 2009.) It's QuinZilla's birthday, and we'll be at Fox's Pizza Den instead of the dojo. Y'all are welcome to meet us there if you like! Check with Elise or me for time and details.

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It's uniform time again

The hottest part of the year is over, so our no-uniform classes are coming to an end. The judo kids should wear their judo uniforms and their belts to practice because the uniform makes them feel like a part of a special group and the belts help to give them some motivation to strive to improve. It's also easier to do some of the exercises and wrestling with the jacket than without.

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If your kids have grown and need a new uniform, the ones at Amazonare about as inexpensive and good quality as anywhere, and I get a small commission for referrals if you buy from there.

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Progress toward the next rank

We'll be having our next rank demonstration in March 2010, so we're about halfway through this judo class year. Time for some progress reports...

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Whit

• Great osotogari (outside leg reap) that he is making great use of in randori.
  
• Good defensive ground game, needs work on offensive ground skills - we'll be working on getting and holding specific, named pins
  
• needs more variety in his standing game - we'll be working on osotogari, taiotoshi, and deashi combos
  

Knox

• Good osotogari that pops up fairly often in randori.
  
• Good defensive ground game, needs work on offensive ground skills - we'll be working on getting and holding specific, named pins
  
• Knox needs more variety in standing technique - let's work on pull-push-deashi and push-pull-osotogari.
  

Quin

• Fast with the leg picks. Could stand a little better technical form with the leg picks.
  
• Needs to improve defensive ground game and osaekomi skills
  
• let's work on practicing all throws into ukigatame and moving from ukigatame into specific, named holds
  

Zack

• Generally good aggressive randori with good control
  
• Must avoid running at opponent like in football. The bull rush is intimidating to beginners but they will quickly figure out how to smash him when he does it.
  
• Needs more reps with osotogari and deashibarai
  

Mick

• really improving at ukemi (falling properly) attention and control is improving too.
  
• avoid trying the bull rush in randori (as with Zack above)
  
• more reps on osotogari and deashibarai
  

Brandon

• Great attention to technical detail and great technical variety in randori
  
• needs to improve his sense of synchronization and use that to build combinations
  

Shelby

• improving at falling, improving attention span
  
• needs more reps on osoto and deashi - she'd probably benefit from more work on the push-pull setups for these
  

Luke

• improving falling
  
• luke does great at partner drills and does well in randori
  
• more reps on push-pull osoto and deashi so that he can start trying these in randori
  

Jacob

• improving falling
  
• good aggression in randori, perhaps too much aggression/competitiveness in basic drilling
  
• We need to work on attention and basic drills, including osotogari and deashi
  

I know this isn't everyone, some players are taking some time off to play football this fall, but when your kids get through with football they'll still have time to get some judo training in before the March 2010 rank demonstration, so come on back.

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

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Hold, but don't cling

Photo courtesy of Spengu

Often, the harder tori insists on holding a pin, the harder it is to move to another safe position if uke does escape.

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In judo, it is often harder to hold a position when you clench tightly than when you drape loosely over uke. When you clench tightly, you make yourself a solid, unified piece for uke to lift. When you drape loosely it is much harder to lift you because you are both heavy and pliable. A better hold-down often happens when you drape yourself loosely over uke and allow him to shift under you (within constraints).

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The same thing happens in aikido when tori almost has a good pinning position but not quite, and the desire to hold that pin makes tori try harder and harder. If uke is able to reverse that pin, then tori will likely be in trouble for having tried to hold the position so hard for so long.

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Moral of the story - when your position starts to degrade, let go and move on instead of clinging to the past and riding it down the toilet.

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Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282
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Nobility, superiority, and martial arts rank

Occasionally the topic of rank and the value of rank and whether or not to concern oneself with rank bubbles through the martial blogosphere. Today I ran across a great quote that speaks to that subject...

The truth is that there is nothing noble in being superior to somebody else. The only real nobility is in being superior to your former self.  Whitney Young (1921 - 1971) US civil rights leader

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Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282
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Who's controlling who?

Photo courtesy of The US Army

I don't think this is really a set rule in judo, but in my book, it's not really a hold-down if uke is also holding tori in place. If tori can't get up and get away quickly and easily, it's not really a hold-down but more of a tangle. There are a couple of common implications of this pseudo-rule:

• Leg entanglement ends a hold-down. If uke can get control of tori's leg then he can prevent tori from easily escaping. By playing newaza this way, we don't have to worry too much about leglocks because we're working on preventing or diffusing the positional pre-requisite for a leglock. If you're going to hold uke down, don't let him grab or entangle your leg. Thus, in judo, leglock is sort of assumed if you can get a leg entanglement.
• The guard doesn't count as a hold even if the top man is pressing the bottom man's shoulders down. With legs around, the bottom man is preventing much of top man's control, while positioning for various counters and escapes of his own. It is difficult to free yourself from uke's legs while retaining good control over his torso.
• What about holds in which uke is free to hug your head or torso? I say that those are still holds because it is usually trivial to use your body weight and leg strength to break uke's arm hold such that you can escape.

So, one way to improve your control of uke is to prevent him from controlling you. Try it. You might like playing it that way.

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Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282
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Kansetsu in osaekomi

Photo courtesy of Invunche

In judo and aikido, when an osaekomi (pinning technique) makes use of kansetsu (joint manipulation), it isn't the explicit purpose of the kansetsu to break the joint. The point of the kansetsu is to take all the slack out of the joint, thus limiting the range of motion of the rest of the body, making it that much harder for uke to escape the pin or continue the attack.

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Try this. Take a relaxed slow stroll across the room. Now stroll back but hold one elbow flexed as far as it will go and see if your gait is as relaxed or natural as before. Now walk across the room again with your arms moving naturally but your chin lifted as far from your sternum as you can get it. What does that do to the motion of the rest of your joints.

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Point is, your body is made to work as a loose, flexible whole. By binding any major joint, you limit the motion of all other joints. Thus, without stretching a joint remotely close to the breaking point, you can bind one and restrict them all, thus making your osaekomi safer and more effective. Or as Tolkien would have said it...

One joint to rule them all,

One joint to find them.

One joint to bring them all,

And in the darkness, bind them.

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Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282
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Quin randori video

My son, Quin, doing some reps of a cool osotogari followed by several falls in randori. My favorite is the first fall in randori - a cool runaround into tateshiho (the mount). Enjoy...

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Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282
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Name that atemi!

Photo courtesy of Bobster855

Cool old photo of WWII era marines training an aikido atemi as a defense against a bayonet thrust.  Question for my aiki-geek buddies: is this particular atemi technique shomenate, aigamaeate, or gyakugamaeate?  It has elements of each, but is also missing elements of each.  Very similar to some of the Sankata jodori techniques.  Also notice the sneaky footstomp kuzushi - one of my favorite tricks!

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Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282
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An inconvenient hold-down

Photo courtesy of Drome

In judo, one way you can win a match is to immobilize the opponent on his back for several seconds. In aikido and traditional Japanese jiu-jitsu many of the techniques end with tori holding uke immobilized (often face-down) for several seconds. This class of hold-down techniques is called osaekomi.

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Osaekomi is not really a hold-or-die thing. It does not necessarily mean tori is a failure if uke escapes the hold (though it's not really a good thing to happen). The main purposes of osaekomi include...

• ...making tori relatively safe, such that it is at least more difficult for uke to continue to attack.
• ...letting tori rest and calm down while making uke waste energy.

So, tori uses osaekomi to inconvenience uke while remaining relatively safe and fairly mobile.

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

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Wide-legged forward bend with twist

Besides aikido and judo, one activity I do for myself is yoga.  I've been doing this for about 8 years and am still such a noob.  Or another way to put it is, I am always finding something newly challenging in my practice.  There...  That sounds much more yogi-ish ;-)

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These days the thing that always surprises me is standing wide-legged forward bend with twist.  Try it - put your feet about 2-3 hip widths apart with legs straight-ish.  Bend forward at the hips, trying to keep length in the front of the body and back straight-ish.  Now put one hand on the ground and reach the other arm toward the ceiling, creating a twist in the torso.  Now, try that and keep breathing.  Now try it and breathe and stop counting seconds.  Challenging.

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I find that the physical practice of yoga helps remediate the dings and bumps I get doing aikido and judo, and it also helps me to relax and breathe and move during judo newaza much better.  I recommend trying it if you haven't.  The following is one of my favorite DVD instructionals.  Check it out...

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

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