Paradoxes in aiki; to attack or not?

Over the years I've heard from multiple instructors that in aikido you must always attack.  Every step must be some form of attack.  You might attack uke's positioning (shikaku), his balance (kuzushi), his mind (zanshin), his body (atemi), etc... but you must attack uke in some way on every step or else the tide of the encounter will tend to turn in his favor.

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On the other hand, I've heard from multiple instructors that in aikido you absolutely must avoid attacking because you don't want to aggravate the violence and chaos in the relationship and you don't want to give the opponent support or give him something that he can counter.  The aiki thing is to stay safe and go with the flow, and because of a strange thermodynamic interaction between you and them, they tend to degrade into chaos pretty quickly.

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I've seen utterly amazing master instructors work their magic and then cite one of these principles or the other ("always attack" or "avoid attack").  I have tried both methods and I can get some pretty acceptable aikido going either way, but whenever I concentrate on one of these principles for a while I get to wondering if I'm missing something on the other side of the coin.

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What gives?  What do y'all think of this paradox?

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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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Marine Corps ma-ai

A while back I was talking to a friend who had just been to visit his brother's graduation from Marine boot camp at Paris Island.  He had an interesting story to tell.  He said that if any of the recruits got within arm's length of a Drill Instructor, that the Instructor would deck the recruit!  My first thought was, "Cool!  Marine DI's enforcing ma-ai."

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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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What are your club's tokuiwaza?

In judo there is this idea that you learn and practice all the techniques, but you develop a set of favorite or best techniques to focus on - things that tend to work best for you.  These favorite techniques are called tokuiwaza.  We usually think of tokuiwaza as an individual thing based on one practitioner's personality and build, for instance, my tokuiwaza include deashibarai, osotogari, and hizaguruma with perhaps an ashiguruma or koshiguruma in there sometimes.

But I bet the tokuiwaza concept could also apply to communities of players.  People that are coached by the same coaches or who practice in the same context (same city, state, etc...) are likely to have similar sets of things that work for them.  For instance, among my students and myself for the past 15 years or so, it seems like we've probably won the most tournament matches off of kosotogari, osotogari, taniotoshi, and sumigaeshi.

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What would you say are your club's tokuiwaza?  Not the individual players but the club as a whole?

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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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Great Gracie grandson story

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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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Over before it gets started good

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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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End the collusion by adding a knife

One of the most common complaints about aikido is that it is unrealistic because if compliant partners that give wimpy attacks and then jump onto the floor to make tori (the defender) look good.  Some have even gone so far as to call this collusion.  I wrote a few days ago about one way of ending this collusion by simply trying to screw the technique up every so often.

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Today I wanted to mention another way to improve the attacks and end the collusion - by adding a rubber knife into the mix.

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First, some warnings - use good sense.  Even a flexible rubber knife can destroy an eye, and the handles of rubber knives are often thick and inflexible and hurt when you get hit with them.  Don't ever, ever practice with wooden or aluminum simulation knives because these can still stab, and it's easy to fall on them. (It's nearly impossible to fall on a wooden sword, but easy to fall on a wooden knife.)

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With those common sense warnings in mind, adding a rubber knife into practice can make it a lot better - or it might not change your practice much.  It's tempting to learn 2-3 cool moves (one of them has to be tenkan kotegaeshi) and consider yourself competent at knife techniques.  Phooey.

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Let me suggest a different mode of practice.  You should never become completely comfortable practicing against a knife.  The purpose of adding a knife into practice is to make uke more aggressive and more obviously dangerous - to make the attacker totally outclass the defender.  The presence of the knife should make you very uncomfortable - so uncomfortable, in fact, that it should force you to grow and get better.

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And don't get stuck (pun intended) with simple, slow tsuki (chest stab) or men (overhead) attacks ala Jim Carey's famous karate skit.  Here are a couple of ways of varying things in order to end the collusion and put some spice - some life back into your practice...

• Stab twice - define uke's role by saying it is his intent to stab or cut tori twice, no matter what else happens in the technique.  Perhaps at a beginning level you might say the first attack has to be a zombie tsuki but the second attack can happen however uke wants.  Here's another article about the stab-twice idea.
• Progressive chaos - You might start with the first attack being a zombie tsuki, but then progress to practice where they still have to make a tsuki but they might preceed it with a slash or feint.  Progress from there toward freeform attacks in a stepwise fashion.  But progress instead of stagnating.
• Start already stabbed - Perhaps you can start some techniques having already been stabbed in the shoulder or side, working under the assumption that a sneaky knife attacker might likely hit you before you can pull the trigger on your technique.  Work your technique maximizing control and minimizing the frequency and depth of cuts you sustain.

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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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John Jerome's Staying Supple

Over the past few years I've read a number of good yoga books, but the best by far is Jerome's Staying Supple. I know, I know, "Yoga is not all about stretching," and Jerome's book is not really about yoga, but you can get some great information that will carry over into your yoga practice.  For that matter, you could consider it a great judo book, because judo can be translated as the art of flexibility, or suppleness (as in, supple mindedness or flexible tactics), and a lot of Jerome's ideas about suppleness can transfer to judo..
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This is IMO the best commonsense stretching book around.  Not a lot of technical how-to, but a lot of material on how muscles work and how they stretch and lengthen and how you can maintain a good range of motion through highly enjoyable groundwork yoga-like practices.  This is the book that got me started stretching 20+ years ago, and it is still my favorite.  Highly recommended book!

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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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Helpful handful: 5 lessons from karate

Here is a handful of lessons that you should probably get in a karate class.  At least, my karate teachers all emphasized this stuff.

• karate ni sente nashi - there is no first strike in karate.  That is, you (often) don't have to be the aggressor to defend yourself.  In fact, similar to the ma-ai idea in my previous post on 5 aikido lessons, the second guy to move often has the advantage.
• kime - When you recognize your opportunity, take a stand and throw all of your power and soul into it instantly, because you may not get a better chance than right now (ichi-go ichi-e - "one encounter one chance")
• kiai - can defibrillate, demoralize, or destroy.
• Seek safety in the mouth of the dragon - Seek safety in the heart of danger - it takes a special kind of person to "run toward the sound of the guns" in order to put an immediate end to a problem. Directness is a karate virtue.
• Circular defeats linear, linear defeats circular - Not exclusively a karate idea, this concept is incorporated into the structure of aikido and judo also, but it lies at the strategic heart of karate. Do not fight the opponent's fight. Wrestle a boxer, box a wrestler. If the attack is circular (like a haymaker), then there exists a linear solution. If the attack is linear (like a jab) there exists a circular solution.

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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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Ananuj is Junana backwards

Tomiki defined seventeen fundamental techniques, uncreatively called Junana Hon Kata (seventeen fundamental forms). In our school and a bunch of related schools, Junana makes up most of the material between white and black belt. We require #1-5 for green belt, #6-10 for the next belt, #11-14 for the next belt, and #15-17 for the next belt. This learning system works pretty good for us.

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But one problem with this organization, particularly in smaller classes where the senior students always have to work with beginners, is that if we go in order through Junana (or through any subset of it) we rarely get to practice the higher rank requirements. Sure, my guys end up being the ultimate masters of techniques #1-5, but we don't get to practice floating throws (#15-17) very much. Even if I break up the class and have the brown belts doing their thing while someone else works with the beginners, they tend to beat #15 to death, get a little less practice at #16, and not see #17 very much at all.

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One solution, both simple and obvious, is to work the rank requirements backwards at least occasionally if not more often than that. This way, the stuff at the end gets some practice too.

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Work on Ananuj instead of Junana - and I think you'll make some progress on #17 and #16.

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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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End the collusion by screwing up

A while back Aiki Journal reposted an old article about Ending the Collusion - the idea being to find a way to put a stop for uke jumping onto the ground for tori without regard for the effectiveness of tori's technique. The necessary compliance in ukemi always stands a chance of sinking to the level of collusion, so we must always be vigilant against this sort of fault.

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One great way to see if uke is deliberately taking a dive for you is to deliberately screw a technique up every so often. Stand still as uke attacks and see if he hits you or if he veers away on his own. Start a technique then let go and stop at some appropriate time to see if uke keeps going. Agree on one technique and try a different one.

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You probably shouldn't throw nasty surprises like this with inexperienced ukes - obviously dangerous situations could result. But as you gain more confidence and experience with your partners, check them every so often to make sure they are staying true to the practice. You don't have to do this very often to put a huge damper on the collusion.

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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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Two most important lessons in judo

I recently read Judo Memoirs of Jigoro Kano by Brian Wilson. Much of the book is very interesting, but just as interesting as the biographical material, is an essay by the author, titled, "Judo's Influence on Japanese Society," in which he describes the structure and operation of local (what we'd call grassroots) judo clubs (machi dojo). The amazing thing about Wilson's description to me is how close it is to the way our dojo operates here in southwest Mississippi. Wilson could have watched us playing judo and written nearly the same essay.

• run on a commercial basis (i.e. not subsidized by the government)
• small dojo, perhaps no more than 20 tatami (our mat space is 18x36)
• ex-champion instructor (that's me ;-) lives on the premises
• teaches anyone showing interest in judo
• usually only 2 classes/day - kids in late afternoon and adults in early evening
• kids as young as 5-6 years old
• integrated classes (boys&girls of all ages)
• 1-hour classes
• part-games part-judo

But probably the most remarkable part of this essay is Wilson describing the prime objective of these local machi dojo. What do you think these grassroots programs in Japan consider their most important objectives? Preparing the next Olympian? Teaching osotogari? Self-defense? No.

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According to Wilson, the ethic in these classes is that their most important objectives are twofold:

• to teach students how to fall without injuring themselves (ukemi)
• to teach students how to behave in the dojo (reigi)

I was so impressed with this that I proudly stole it. Frequently during warmups, I'll have a little Q&A session with the kids, including...

• Q: What does the word judo mean?
• A: Gentle Art
• Q: What are the two most important things to learn in judo?
• A: How to fall properly and how to control yourself (or sometimes I'll accept "How to fall and how to behave.")

.I recommend Judo Memoirs as an excellent, interesting read...

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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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Aikido & judo keep you mentally healthy

Today the USA Today reported on some recently published research that concluded that playing video games does not really provide any cognitive benefit - they'd previously been suggested as a way to help seniors stay sharp mentally.  USA Today provided some positive suggestions instead of video games...

• Keep stress levels low. Research shows it lifts mood and cognition.
• Stay aerobically healthy.
• Prevent or treat hypertension and diabetes.
• Find something that keeps your mind engaged — anything you find interesting.

Hmmm.  Lower stress, go aerobic, control blood pressure and blood sugar, and stimulate your mind...  Sounds exactly like a prescription for aikido or judo class! 

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Call me at 601-248-7282 or write me an email at mokurendojo@gmail.com if you would like me to help you get started in an aikido or judo class.

 

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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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Six best karate books

I have published lists of my favorite judo books, aikido books, Tomiki aikido books, and strategy books. Here is a list of several excellent texts on karate-do. Karate-do is such a diverse subject that I bet some of my readers will have different favorite books. I even suspect there are many better books than these, but these six are probably the best start for your karate reading.

Which books other than these would you guys recommend?

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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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My yoga resolution for this week

A while back I mentioned that I very much enjoy seated yoga over standing, though you can express the same principles and get the same sorts of benefits from both. I still prefer groundwork.  so much, in fact, that it is easy to get pressed for time or get to feeling lazy and only do the groundwork to the exclusion of the standing practice.
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Well, one of the interesting things about yoga is its balancing effects.  It's hard to get too far off one end of any spectrum in yoga before you start tending back the other way.  Lately I've been missing the standing practice, though it is onerous to me, so I made a resolution for this week - I will only do standing practices this week - no seated postures.  When the groundwork comes up in my practices, I figure to make the following substitutions:

• replace all virasana (kneeling) and shavasana (supine lying) with tadasana (mountain pose)
• replace supta padangusthasana (hip openers) and baddha konasana (bound angle) and upavistha konasana (wide angle) with vrksasana (tree pose)

and etc...  This is what I figure to explore this week whether I like it or not, and next week we'll see if my practices return to a more balanced routine.  Wish me luck!
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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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