Things to be able to do from ukigatame

Ukigatame (knee-on-belly) is probably the most important hold-down taught in judo.  It is one of the two most-common transitions from standing to groundwork (the other is makikomi).  I recommend all of my students when practicing nagekomi of a throw that does not involve makikomi, always finish in ukigatame  (kneeling on top of a downed opponent) if possible.

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Here are a handful of things that you probably ought to be able to do from ukigatame -

• get completely away from uke with minimal exposure to being grabbed or struck
• maintain ukigatame as uke tries to bucks, shrimps, bridges, and rolls
• transition to tateshiho, munegatame, or kesagatame
• attack simple chokes, like katatejime, in order to expose uke to armbar attacks
• attack jujigatame or hizagatame on the near or the far arm falling backward or forward

If anything on that list seems like a stretch to you, I would recommend doing some drilling on that skill with a non-resistant partner, then try it out in randori.

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Patrick Parker

www.mokurendojo.com

Film of Tomiki doing judo

Tomiki Sensei was an expert judoka before he even started doing aikido with Ueshiba.  He ended up being very highly-ranked in both aikido and judo.  The Kodokan's esteem for him is illustrated by the fact that they chose him to chair the committee of masters that formulated the Goshin Jutsu in 1956.

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So why is there no existing footage of Tomiki Sensei doing judo.  He put plenty of aikido on film, but where is his judo legacy recorded?

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I'm dying to see him in action!

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Patrick Parker
www.mokurendojo.com

Difference between ashiguruma and oguruma

Seeing that I've been writing a series on differences between similar judo throws, one of my students asked me to clarify the difference between ashiguruma and oguruma.  "Oh no!" I thought!  "He's asked me the toughest one of all!"  This is a pair of techniques that I've traditionally taken the easy (and incorrect) way out of by saying that oguruma was just ashiguruma at the waist.

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But, that is obviously incorrect because the old dead judo guys that made this stuff up absolutely did not do this sort of needless multiplication of techniques.  In the same way that taiotoshi with a sleeve-lapel grip is still the same technique as taiotoshi with a 2-handed cross grip... If they had been into multiplication of technique, then ashiguruma at uke's ankle would be a different thing from ashiguruma at uke's shin, and both of those would have been a different thing from ashiguruma at the knee and so on...

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Thanks for exposing my long-standing cop-out!

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So, I had to go to Daigo's Kodokan Throwing Techniques book to find an answer.  It turns out that, according to Daigo these two things are pretty distinct.

• Daigo says in ashiguruma tori's blocking leg only touches uke's lower leg - no other part of tori's leg touches uke's body.  In oguruma, however, tori's thigh as well as his knee or calf is in contact with both of uke's thighs.
• This means that oguruma must be done more in-line with uke's feet while ashiguruma can be done somewhat looser (though I always try to get ashiguruma inline with uke's feet too).
• Daigo also discusses why Mifune invented oguruma (see, I didn't know that either).  He says that Mifune specifically intended oguruma to be used against much taller opponents, implying that the height of uke's center of gravity is the deciding factor.  Oguruma is easier with a taller opponent, but it's hard to get in under a shorter opponent with oguruma so you would use ashiguruma.
• The fulcrum for oguruma really is the blocking leg, whereas (just like in hizaguruma) the blocking leg on ashiguruma is not a fulcrum - it is a foot-stop.

I suppose that being taller than the average guy, I have never had many good opportunities to do oguruma, so I have developed a preference for ashiguruma and just assumed that oguruma wasn't much different.  But you know what assumption does... It makes an ass out of u and umption.  

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I guess I just learnt a thing or two.  That's just one more thing to add to my already-long list of stuff to drill and practice more.  I can already tell that I am going to regret teaching this to some of my smaller brown belts...

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Patrick Parker

 www.mokurendojo.com

Hizaguruma and sasae tsurikomiashi

Another pair of techniques that cause beginners much confusion is hizaguruma and sasae tsurikomiashi but once it's explained and you have a chance to practice each of these things slowly and carefully a few times, this mix-up is easy to resolve.  Hiza and sasae are different in several ways:

• Action - Hiza is a guruma and sasae is usually an otoshi.  This means that the primary action of hiza involves rotating uke around his long-axis, like rolling a log.  Sasae is usually done as an otoshi, or a cartwheeling action.
• Target - The difference between these two techniques is not a simple matter of targeting the knee vs. the ankle.  In hiza you target the knee of the rear leg.  In sasae you target the ankle of the front foot.  It is possible to sorta get these throws to work the other way around, but you're pretty much asking for trouble if you don't do them this way.
• Timing - Hiza happens early, as the rear leg is just starting to move forward.  Sasae happens late, as the front foot is just about to strike the ground.

So, the way I'd recommend getting these differences internalized is to practice slowly with a compliant partner, emphasizing as you practice, "hiza-early-back knee-logroll" and "sasae-late-front foot-cartwheel."

Here's one of the most beautiful sasae I've ever seen.  You have absolutely GOT TO WATCH the slo-mo replays in the second half of this clip!


And here is a compilation of a couple of lovely hizaguruma.



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Patrick Parker
www.mokurendojo.com

Where is the fulcrum on hizaguruma?

Hint: It's not tori's foot or uke's knee.

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Consider this - even if you are the strongest dude on earth, it is not possible to balance yourself on one leg while holding uke's weight up at the end of your other leg.  If your foot contact with uke's knee were the fulcrum, or axis of rotation, for hizaguruma then you would have to be able to stand on one leg and hold up uke's weight with your other foot (even if only momentarily).

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The fulcrum for hizaguruma is the same fulcrum as for sasae (no, it's not his ankle either).  It is where his toes contact the ground.

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So, the goal of hizaguruma isn't to create a fulcrum with your foot and spin uke around it.  The goal is to stop uke's leg from moving forward long enough to advance his weight out over his foot so that his own foot becomes the fulcrum about which he continues to rotate.  If you catch the right timing and direction then you can reach across and tap uke's knee with your foot just enough to stop it then remove your foot and catch your balance with it.  If you can remove that foot during the throw, it's not the fulcrum.

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When I figured that one out it made hizaguruma SO MUCH EASIER for me!

[photo courtesy of Kyle Sloan]

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Patrick Parker
www.mokurendojo.com

A walking and release video I'd never seen!

This is a most remarkable video of the walking exercises (unsoku or tegatana) and release exercises. The first B&W section is Tomiki and Ohba doing these exercises. This first section is commonly seen on Tomiki blogs here and there. But the rest of this video shows these exercises from several different perspectives with different aikidoka. Most of this video I'd never seen before. Check it out - be sure to watch to the end!

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Patrick Parker
www.mokurendojo.com

Ogoshi and tsurigoshi

Last week I posted an article about the difference between ukigoshi and ogoshi and I used a cool hipthrow picture that I found on Flickr.  The problem was, The throw shown was tsurigoshi - not ukigoshi or ogoshi.  I knew that at the time, but the picture was so cool that I wanted to use it anyway.

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I said to myself, "I bet if anyone in the world comments that the picture was tsurigoshi instead of ogoshi, it'll be Sensei Chad Morrison at Akari dojo."  Don't know how I made that prediction, but sure enough, a day or two later, Chad sent me a note about my photo of tsurigoshi. ;-)

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My initial response (inside my own mind) was that those two throws are really the same thing - that tsurigoshi and ogoshi are not really distinctly different techniques.  The grip-or-not thing is a false distinction.

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But there really is a difference betwen these two techniques even if I tend to minimize it...

• The fundamental difference is that ogoshi is a pushing action while tsurigoshi is a pulling action.
• This basic push-pull difference leads to a secondary difference in hand placement.  Because ogoshi is about pushing uke over your hips, a higher hand placement on the back gives you greater leverage.
• Because you can't easily push uke over your hip with a low hand position, if your hand ends up low on uke's back then you naturally have to take a grip and pull, or lift.  Thus the name, tsurigoshi (pulling/lifting hip).

Sure, you can do ogoshi with a low hand placement, but because of the sorry leverage, it's hard to keep this throw from covertly becoming tsurigoshi.  It's also rougher on tori's shoulder trying to do low-grip ogoshi - especially with a larger uke.

I probably ought to do a better job teaching the difference between these two throws, because it would probably fix some problems and confusion that some of my students have with the action of ogoshi and tsurigoshi...

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If you have trouble distinguishing between these two throws, then here's something to try. Get a compliant uke and go slowly and lightly through a few minutes of trading throws, alternating between tsurigoshi and ogoshi, taking time to emphasize "ogoshi-high-push" and "tsurigoshi-low-pull."  I think the differences will become clearer and these throws will become more distinctive and useful for you. 

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Patrick Parker

www.mokurendojo.com

New Class Schedule

I promised some exciting changes at the beginning of 2011 and here's one of the first...

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Effective Monday, January 24, 2011, we will be doubling our weekday class offerrings and shuffling our schedule a little.  Our new schedule will look like this:

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Monday

• 5:00pm - Kids' Judo
• 6:00pm - Aikido
• 7:30pm - Judo

Thursday

• 5:00pm - Kids' Judo
• 6:00pm - Judo
• 7:30pm - Aikido

Saturday

• 7:00am private class
• 9:00am jodo (stick&blade work)

Additionally, starting in February 2011, we will have a very talented karate instructor teaching at these same time slots on Tuesdays and Fridays.

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Patrick Parker

www.mokurendojo.com

Ashiguruma, haraigoshi, and taiotoshi

Another set of techniques that are superficially similar and which cause beginners much difficulty is taiotoshi, haraigoshi, and ashiguruma.  All three of these techniques launch uke from behind tori to land in front of tori but that is really about where the similarity ends.

• The three throws use wholly different actions.  Taiotoshi is a hand throw (tewaza).  Ashiguruma is a leg throw (ashiwaza).  Haraigoshi is a hip technique (koshiwaza).  
• Much confusion comes from people thinking that the leg is necessary to trip uke in taiotoshi (it is not).  Of these three throws, ashiguruma is the trip - taiotoshi is not a trip.
• Taiotoshi and ashiguruma are often confused because people do not understand the fundamental difference between otoshi and guruma actions.  Otoshi happens as uke's weight is coming forward and down into the ground.  Guruma happens when you turn uke on his long axis as he is coming forward and up out of the ground.
• Ashiguruma and haraigoshi are often confused by people who lose track of the fact that haraigoshi is a hipthrow and ashiguruma is not.  The placement and action of the hip as a fulcrum is vital in haraigoshi, while it is vital that you keep the hip out of the way and out of the action in ashiiguruma.
• Additionally, ashiguruma is a foot-stop action, while haraigoshi is a sweeping action.  Without the hip as a fulcrum it is hard if not impossible to sweep with the leg for haraigoshi but you can use it as a footprop for ashiguruma

Following are pretty good representative examples of these three throws. 

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Patrick Parker
www.mokurendojo.com

Kata tells a story

Kata - there is this undying argument amongst martial artists whether Kata is the indispensible core of budo or whether it is the great evil.

Someone sent me an email a couple of days ago mentioning that they'd heard that kata was like the ancient equivalent of a DVD - providing the practitioners of old the ability to record, preserve, and study the technique of the masters.  And I agree.  That is certainly part of the value of a kata.  But it is not the whole story.

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See, kata (if they are well-constructed) tell a story.  It is a real story about strategy and tactics with protagonist and antagonist and dilemma and climax, often divided into chapters, and often encoded with a table of contents or an index or map key so that you can understand the story better.

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Anybody with little kids knows that they love hearing the same story over and over again, and that this is a crucial part of kids development.  It is through this repetition of familiar stories that they develop stable worldviews and personalities.

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The same applies to kata - particularly for the less-experienced martial artist.  Sure, you are developing strength and endurance and muscle memory and good technical form, etc...  But you are also listening to the kata tell a story over and over again.  More than listening, you are embodying and enacting the story over and over again, allowing you to develop stable, mature ideas about the kind of conflict that the story is about.

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There are problems with this kind of learning.  Not all stories are equal.  Some are masterpieces and some are dime novels.  Likewise, not all kata tell equally valuable stories.  But the best of kata tell stories that are part of the accepted cultural literacy of budo.

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Eventually you will have to stop listening to the same story over and over again and get some variety in your reading.  Eventually you will have to grow up and live your own life (do some randori or shiai) instead of listening to these (very instructive) fairy tales over and over again.

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Patrick Parker

www.mokurendojo.com

The differences between ukigoshi and ogoshi

This is one of the perpetual questions for beginners and often as not, even more advanced players have a hard time sorting out the difference between ukigoshi and ogoshi.

• The name ukigoshi means floating hip, whereas, the name ogoshi means large hip or major hip.
• Ukigoshi feels like your feet get lighter until they slip sideways and you fall.  In ogoshi you are spun around a fulcrum off your feet and onto your back
• Ogoshi is a crack-of-the-butt throw - tori's buttcrack goes on uke's thigh or knee.  Ukigoshi is not a buttcrack throw
• Ukigoshi often starts with  the side of tori's hip in contact with uke's groin.  Ogoshi begins with the back of tori's waist against uke's groin.
• Typically ukigoshi is easier with a low grip around uke's waist and ogoshi is easier with a high grip near uke's shoulder.
• In ogoshi, uke slides over tori's low back or kidneys as he turns over onto his back.  In ukigoshi there is no slide - uke turns horizontal on tori's hip then drops.
• Ukigoshi tends to drop uke with his feet behind tori.  Ogoshi lands uke with his feet in front of tori.
• Often ogoshi is a larger amplitude throw, but ukigoshi is a more severe fall because there is less time to get your fall right.

Following are a couple of pretty good video explanations of these ideas.

[photo courtesy of Basegrinder]

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Patrick Parker

www.mokurendojo.com

Multiple Randori - Spearing into the center

Very nice bout of multiple randori here - particularly impressive because of the apparent youth of the tori.  This young lady has apparently put in a lot of training.  Not that there aren't potential problems.  In this bout she appears to adopt the strategy of aggressively entering onto the center of the crowd of ukes in order to scatter them, almost like a bowling ball hitting bowling pins.  This strategy is risky but she pulls it off, partly because of her youth and the vigor with which she attacks.  Older, fatter men might think twice before trying this strategy.  Also, her ukes were holding back and attacking her singly even though she positioned herself where she could receive multiple attacks at once but randori goes like that sometimes.  Overall I'm impressed with the demo, mostly because of her age and size.

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Patrick Parker
www.mokurendojo.com

Shomenate variations

Interesting footwork dealing with people who want to fade back and around your shomenate.  Notice how this tori is able to remain squared up on uke's weak line as uke moves about.

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Patrick Parker
www.mokurendojo.com

Calling your shots in multiple randori

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Patrick Parker
www.mokurendojo.com