Atemi waza or irimi waza?

In my aikido and judo classes I'm in a constant process of trying new ideas out.  I'll take some part of our curriculum and flip it and turn it and look different facets of it.  I'll put it in different orders and try looking at it from other perspectives.  I often end up putting it right back into the curriculum the way it was given to us by our teachers, but sometimes my studies yield what appears to be a better way to teach the thing or practice the thing.  And not only that, but even if I put it back just the way it was, I end up with a better understanding of why our teachers gave it to us in that form in the first place.

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Lately I've been thinking about the first five techniques of Junanahon kata.  These things are referred to as a group as atemiwaza - striking techniques - which doesn't make much sense to a lot of beginners because they don't look like how we usually think about striking someone.  It looks and feels like more of a pushing thing.  You can sort of justify calling #1-4 strikes because "Hey, you could hit the guy from that position if you wanted to," but then you get to #5 (ushiroate) and it seems like the least strike-like thing you've done so far.

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What if we stopped calling these things strikes and went back to calling them what the rest of the aikido world calls them - iriminage (entering throws)?

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See, an argument could be made that Ueshiba only taught two things - irimi (entering) and tenkan (turning).  The basic strategy of aikido could be boiled down to something like, "First try to enter in (irimi) occupying uke's space so decisively that he is overturned - BUT if something goes wrong with your entering, turn out of the way (tenkan) and look for another time/place to enter.

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Tomiki's atemiwaza fit this strategy perfectly.    In fact, didn't Tomiki allegedly say, "None of this will work unless you apply shomenate first."  That's about the same thing as saying "You pretty much have to try irimi first, then your tenkan techniques will work better."
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I don't know that changing what you call the thing changes it too much, but then again it could help to get us a little more in line with the rest of the aikido world so that some more meaningful communication and sharing of ideas could go on...

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____________________
Patrick Parker
www.mokurendojo.com

What Tomiki thought about weapons

Trying to divine the thoughts and intentions of the founders by looking at their kata (especially as performed now by students of students of students) can be tricky.  It can be easy to get off on a misleading tangent and spend a lot of practice time chasing ghosts.

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It would be better to read the writings of the founders and see video of them doing their thing - but sometimes the kata that they left behind are all we have to go on.  Take Tomiki Sensei, for instance.  There is relatively little available that was written by him and relatively few videos (though the ones we do have are very educational).

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I don't think I've ever seen a video or read anything regarding Tomiki doing any of the weapons work (jo and sword) associated with his teaching system.  The jo and sword work that he (or Ohba maybe?) did leave us consists of the second half of Koryu Dai San kata and the second half of Koryu Dai Roku kata.  The weapons techniques in Sankata and Rokukata feel to me like a sampler platter of just a few options with each condition - a foretaste or hint that there is much more there to explore if we're interested.

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This lack of material makes sense - they just weren't as interested in that aspect of the art.  They had different fish to fry -  they were engrossed in the randori problem.  But they did apparently consider it important enough to leave us at least a remnant of the weapons material.  .

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It occurs to me that perhaps we can divine a bit of the founder(s) thinking by looking at the structure of the weapons forms that they left us.  It looks like they may have been suggesting certain practices as more interesting or more important or valuable than other practices based on the number of each sort of technique that they put into the kata.

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For instance...

• jo-tsukai (jonage) - 12 techniques (8 in sankata and 4 in rokukata)
• tachidori - 9 techniques (5 in san, 4 in roku)
• tachi-tai-tachi (kumitachi) - 8 techniques (all in sankata)
• tantodori 8 techniques (all in sankata)
• jodori - 5 techniques (all in sankata)
• tanto-nage (4 techniques in rokukata)

Do the relative frequencies suggest to us that we should spend more time and thought and energy on jotsukai (jonage) than on the other practices?  Does it suggest that we shouldn't worry much about the opponent grabbing our knife-weilding arm? Does it suggest that we won't get much from working on how to take a jo/yari away from uke?

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Or does it suggest we should invest more on jo (17 total techniques) and sword (17 total techniques) than on tanto (12 techniques)?

UPDATE - A reader rightly pointed out that i failed to count the five tantodorin in rokukata. that means that there are 17 techniques for each of the three weapons, but the numbers between the different practices are still unequal.

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Or something else?

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Or nothing at all?

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____________________

Patrick Parker

www.mokurendojo.com

7 reasons Bram Frank's Modular knife is exceptional aiki

Lately Ive been hyping Bram Frank's Conceptual Modular knife system to all of my buddies as being exceptionally aiki-like and therefore, a great match for aiki-folks looking to improve their knife skills.  In fact, this is a large part of what I'm planning to share at our Aiki Buddies Gathering in October.

I thought today that i'd enumerate seven reasons that I'm so thrilled with Bram's work - particularly in the hands of aikidoka.

- It is conceptual rather than technical.  We always like to claim that our aikido is based on principles rather than techniques - and this modular knife system is the same way.  It teaches how to handle and move a knife in a functional way instead of trying to learn "100 new and improved techniques!"

- it is a small (think Tomiki-small), cyclic, modular training system very similar to the renzoku chains that we have spent so much practice time on for the past decade.

- It is based on probabilities rather than possibilities.

- it is relatively compassionate - so far as the act of cutting people with blades can be.  The biomechanical cutting concept is not only less lethal than exsanguination, but it is faster and safer and more of a sure-thing.

- it gives a rich context to the knife stuff that we learn in sankata and rokukata.

- it makes extensive use of aiki-like off-line movement and angulation.

- both partners are learning simultaneously - similar to the renzoku chains or toshu randori - instead of one partner having to waste half of his time being a dummy while the other guy gets to learn something.

Can't move? Move where you CAN!

Part of the beauty of judo and jujutsu is their ju-ishness.  Because these arts are built on the principle of pliability, it means that whatever problem you are given, the answer lies not in what you can't do, but in what you can do!  This is freeing and empowering and it gives us hope in any sort of difficulty.

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Sure, the problem places restrictions upon you, but no problem can restrict you completely in every way.  If there is somewhere you can't move, then move somewhere else.  If there is somewhere you are not strong enough, then be strong in some other place or some other way!

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Take kesagatame as a concrete example.  We often approach groundwork from the perspective of trying to identify the hold-down and then apply the correct, known, named escape.  We say (in a bad kung-fu movie accent), "Aha! I see your kesagatame is strong, but my uphill escape is stronger!"  This is an okay way to get started playing with groundwork, but there is a problem - you have to know an answer or two to every problem that the other guy could pose.  Otherwise, you rapidly reach some position or condition that you dont know the answer for and you get frustrated and lose hope and submit.

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Look at the real problems that kesagatame presents...

1. Your side of ribs are being compressed (probably painfully)
2. Your back is being pressed flat against the ground, creating lots of contact surface and limiting your mobility.
3. Your head is being controlled, and is probably being pulled out of alignment with your spine, weakening your muscles.
4. One (maybe both) of your arms is being controlled tightly.
5. It is hard to breathe - positional asphyxia is imminent.
6. The opponent is hooked to you in an assymetric position, making it hard to lift or push him off.
7. The opponent is sitting close to one side of your body, which makes it hard to move that way.

So, in the face of such daunting problems you might be tempted to submit just so that you stop the pain and breathlessness and lack of control.  But check this out.  Those are just about the only ways that he IS controlling you!  He is leaving you several options, like...

• Bridge with your powerful leg muscles to lift your butt a little bit, then turn on your side facing them and press your sternum against them.  This reduces or resolves several of the problems above, including 1,2,5, and 6.
• Fling your hips and legs away from the opponent, rotating at your held head/shoulder, then fling your hips back into the opponent.  This will often tear some space in the hinge, reducing or resolving several of the problems above - 1,2,4,5
• Put your free hand on the back of the opponent's head/neck and bridge your butt as high as you can, piling weight into their neck and driving their face into the ground.  This reduces or removes problems # 1,2,3,4,5,and 7.
• Put your free hand between their head and yours and push as you turn to your belly and get your knees under you.  Voila - problems #1,2,3,4,5,6, and 7 solved.

We happen to call this sequence of actions "uphill escape" for convenience, but it is not "uphill escape" that the bottom man is thinking when he gets those problems piled on him.  He is thinking, " can't breath...hurts... can't move... Let's see where I can move freely.  Yep, I can move there.  Yep I can move there too!  Now it's not so bad and I can move here!  Oh!  where did he go?"

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All of these actions have in common that they are motions in unresisted or minimally resisted directions.

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It's not about what you can't do.  You can never know if you are powerful enough to blast through any potential problem, but you can know for certain that you are powerful enough to act in ways that you are not resisted.

 

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____________________

Patrick Parker

www.mokurendojo.com

 

Aiki lives within movement

O Sensei Moirhei Ueshiba was reported to have said, when asked about the meaning of aiki, "When I move around, that is what aiki is."

Much of what he said is up for interpretation - nobody knows just what he was thinking most of the time - and this one is no different.  But I'd like to offer a possible glimmering of understanding for this particular statement.

I think perhaps Ueshiba was saying something like, "Look! Aiki lives within the movements - not in the techniques!  It is the relative movements of uke's and tori's bodies that makes aiki."

I was watching an instructional video by Bram Frank, and he said something that put me in mind of this quote and led me to this interpretation.  He said, and I paraphrase, "This is all movement.  The techniques will not keep you from being cut.  Movement will keep you from being cut.  It is the movement that will save you - not the techniques."

____________________
Patrick Parker
www.mokurendojo.com

Taking kihon into pieces

What makes kihon different from other techniques?  For one thing, they are considered more foundational - kihon are the building blocks of other techniques.
    
But also, kihon are usually stripped of their practical fight  context and placed into an artificial context or structure to make them easier to do many repetitions more easily.  For instance, uchikomi in judo are set up so that you can efficiently do many, many reps of them, but the techniques in shiai and randori often do not happen just like uchikomi.
  
One of my favorite practices is taking kihon into pieces and doing them in steps, or "by the numbers."  Since the structure of kihon is somewhat arbitrary, you can conceivably break the same action into different numbers of steps. 
  
I like to do kihon with three steps for a while, then do the same kihon with four steps, then with five steps and so on, breaking each action into more microscopic parts for examination.
 
For instance, in Jo you can do kihon #1 - honteuchi - in 3 steps...
1-draw
2-raise
3-drop
 
Or you can do 4 steps...
1-draw
2-raise
3-drop
4-point at eyes
 
Or 5 steps...
1-draw
2-compress Jo
3-raise
4-drop
5-point at eyes
  
Each time you divide a step into two is an opportunity to explore the kihon in greater detail - and there is no end to the potential for explorations with this method.

Releases with a knife

Lately I've been harping on the benefits of adding a practice knife to your regular practices.  Note that I'm not talking about spending a lot more time emphasizing knife defenses - the very concept of martial arts knife defense is probably greater than 95% B.S.  The only reliable defense against a knife attack is avoidance...

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I'm talking about some collateral benefits to adding a knife to your practice. Just having either the attacker or the defender (or sometimes both) holding a knife changes your practice and adds a lot in a couple of ways.

• It teaches you how to move and hold and use sharp objects, so maybe you'll be less likely to kill yourself while running with scissors.
• Even if uke is not actively attacking with the knife, the blade absolutely screams at tori, "PAY ATTENTION TO ME!"

So, uke is learning how to move around in complex ways without cutting himself up, while tori is learning to move in a free and flowing manner while constrained by one thing and while paying attention to a second thing.

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A great example is the set of 8 wrist releases that we learn as beginners and that we review every class.  These 8 movements involve uke stepping into ma-ai and taking a hold of one of tori's wrists.  Face it, a wrist grab is not the most realistic or threatening attack in the world - but they are perfect for beginners to start learning movement and principle. 

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Problem is, after you're about brown belt or so, it's easy to feel like you've got a pretty good handle on wrist releases and they become just another boring thing that sensei makes us do for warm-up before we get to the real learning in each class.  It is easy to get complacent and lax and let your attention wander during releases.

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But then uke grabs a practice blade in his free hand, and all of a sudden the blade screams at tori, "HEY! LOOK HERE! DANGER WILL ROBINSON!" but tori still has to be able to move around the constraint that uke is imposing on him through the wrist grasp.

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Tori is learning in these releases to put some of his attention on the knife while still moving within/around constraints.

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Tori is also learning another of the most vital lessons in aikido - one of the foundations for everything - that all ukes are deadly dangerous. If uke is able to touch you then he is able to kill you.  Keeping this in mind helps tori to learn to use taisabaki and kuzushi to disarm uke by removing his opportunity and ability to touch you with the knife.  Having uke carry a knife in his free hand helps tori to keep this lesson in the forefront of his mind during practice.

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____________________

Patrick Parker

www.mokurendojo.com

Knife practice is tranformational

A while back, Nick came up with a scheme for organizing our aikido explorations - he said that he divides the whole domain of material that we can practice in aikido into three circles - foundational, supplemental, and transformative.

           

The foundational material is the stuff that we think every student should work on first until they become quite competent with it - material like ukemi, taisabaki, releases,  Junana, Owaza - this is most of the focus of most of our clubs up to about shodan level.

         

The supplemental material adds to the foundational, expanding its scope or applying it to specific contexts.  This would include material such as the Koryu no kata, tactical systems like Merrit Stevens' or JW Bode's, and aiki weapons systems - in other words, stuff that we mostly work on from about nidan up.

          

The tranformational circle of practice would be various practices that re-interpret or re-contextualize all of the foundational and supplemental material.  Anything that magnifies the aikidoka's capacities by fundamentally re-imagining or re-examining the previous material.  Such material would include randori, the renzoku chains, and our explorations of internal strength and systema.  Transformational material is not linked to a skill level like the other two circles of practice.  For instance, one starts almost from day-one transforming their understanding with randori.

         

I personally think that the addition of the knife to our practice is more transformational than it is supplemental.  The knife is just that good of a training tool.  What the knife does for our practice is nothing short of transformational.  We are not adding x-number of knife defenses to our regularly scheduled (foundational) practice.  We are using the knife to change the parameters of our foundational practice.

 

It is quite easy, when practicing empty-handed aikido - especially because we emphasize slow and gentle - to develop the illusion that uke is not really a threat.  Becoming comfortable dealing with a slow, gentle, compliant uke is probably the deadliest error in aikido practice - it creates an intolerable laxity in our practice.  But throw a knife into the mix and that illusion is dispelled instantly.

               

The addition of the knife sharpens uke's attacks and it simultaneously hones tori's concentration and awareness.  It forces tori to start working in the domain of strategy as opposed to technique or tactics.

        

Because of the transformational nature of the knife, we have recently been adding practice knives to all of our foundational practices.  We do the walk holding a knife in one hand (totally transforms your perceptions of which hand is the active hand at any given time, and it tends to make you more aware of where your hands are and their orientation.) We do the releases with uke holding a knife in his free hand.  Even without uke overtly lunging with the knife, just its presence is enough to create a big perceptual difference in the exercise. We do all of our junana practice with uke lunging with a knife, as in the tanto-ni-taisuru kihon no kata. We haven't been working Owaza with a knife - but just because we havent had anyone working Owaza for a while.  I fully expect to be playing knife Owaza soon.

         

As one of my FMA buddies was telling me some years back.  "The knife teaches the hand, but the hand does not teach the knife."  If you don't understand that idea, I recommend adding a knife into your regular practices and looking at how your practices are transformed and sharpened.

       

The addition of the tanto as a training tool is, in my opinion, one of Tomiki's greatest contributions to the practice and teaching of aikido.

             

Incidently, as a sort of postscript... I have the feeling that our jo and bokken material should be transformational instead of supplemental.  It is my understanding that this is what made such a distinctive difference in Nishio sensei's remarkable budo - the inclusion of the bokken into all of their foundational practices.  But the way we tend to practice jo and bokken (as an aside as part of a couple of of the koryu no kata) it is supplemental rather than transformative.  I would like to change that - but first things first - grab a knife.

          

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____________________
Patrick Parker
www.mokurendojo.com

Putting the aiki in aikijo

So, I've been contemplating for a while - what is it that makes aikijo aiki?  For instance, if an aikido guy does a karate bo kata, is it aikijo just by virtue of the fact that it's an aikido guy doing it?  If not, why not?  Can one get better at aikijo by studying medieval quarterstaff manuals?

        

Seems to me there is a pretty distinct difference between aikijo and pretty much all other ways of weilding the stick that I've seen.  But even though it is distinctly its own thing, it's kinda hard to put your finger right on what is different.  I think it has to do with the body management and strategies that the practitioner is implementing with the stick.
             

Morihei Ueshiba did not teach aikijo - he did aiki, sometimes involving a stick.  He was doing aiki and then uke picked up a stick and Ueshiba was still doing aiki and he took the stick away from uke and swung it and he was still doing aiki, and uke grabbed the stick and Ueshiba was still just doing aiki as uke sailed off into the sunset.
           

Ueshiba, when asked, "What is aikido?" replied, "When I move around, that is aikido."  In other words, "You want to see aikido, look at what I'm doing right now - how I'm moving around."  - he was just saying something like, "My motion incorporates and serves as an example of those principles of aiki.

         

I guess all this stream of consciousness boils down to this - Our jo work must necessarily adhere to the same principles as our taijutsu in order to be aiki-jo.  The same principles must govern our stick work as govern our taijutsu (and our knife work, and our sword, and our pistol training...)

                

Ueshiba didn't seem to have a bulleted list of the ten (or however many) principles that make moving around into aiki, but here is a list that I came up with some time back that seems to serve pretty well...

• relaxation
• shizentai (posture)
• metsuke (eye control)
• ashi sabaki (footwork)
• ki-musubi (synchronization with the opponent)
• ma-ai (personal space and timing)
• move offline (the aiki-brushoff)
• orenaite (unbendable arm) and kite (ki-hands)
• kuzushi (off-balancing the opponent)
• atemi (striking the opponent down)
• osaekomi (suppressing the opponent)
• zanshin (remaining aware)

...and here is a much more extensive list compiled by someone much smarter and more skilled than me.
          

How much time do we spend going through the motions of the aikijo material or the Sankata jo material or the Rokukata jo material, blocking in the moves, trying to get the hang of the techniques (thinking technique instead of principle) and how much time do we work on trying to figure out how these principles of aiki govern the use of the stick?

                   

The aiki appears to lie largely in the strategy, but when we work with sticks (or knives) we tend to get stuck thinking tactically.

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____________________
Patrick Parker
www.mokurendojo.com

Mutual welfare in zero-sum games

One of the things I do with my kids judo classes is I quiz them on general judo knowledge as we warm up each class.  It is sort of a catechism-type Q&A deal.  One of the questions is, "What were Kano's two mottoes for judo?"  The answer, of course, being "mutual welfare&benefit" and "Make the best use of your power."  Well, try explaining mutual welfare or maximization of efficiency to a 6-year old.  So I re-worded these two mottoes.  For the purposes of my kids classes, the right answer is, "You and me both win" and "Find the easiest (or best) way for you and me to both win."

  

That has worked pretty good, but every so often we meet with a glitch in this simplistic wording of these complex ideals.  For instance, If you and I are supposed to both win, how come we do zero-sum games and contests where there are winners and losers?

  

I've been trying to figure out how to explain this to 6-year olds for a while now, and hadn't figured out how to phrase it just right, so I just decided to pose the question to my kids class and see if it was even an issue for them.  I asked, "how is it 'you and me both win' if we have a tournament and one kid wins and the other loses.

  

Right off the bat, my 7-year old son piped up with the perfect answer. "One guy gets a medal and gets to feel good about himself and the other guy gets to learn some stuff.  Both win."

  

I was floored - I mean, I know I have spawned an army of geniuses and all, but seriously!
  

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____________________
Patrick Parker
www.mokurendojo.com

Something special about ukiotoshi

There is something sneaky about ukiotoshi that makes it special...

                           

A while back I was discussing  with some folks about what small group of techniques formed the core of kihon in judo.  For a while I have felt like it is a pretty small set but I havent been able to really pin down whether I think its 9-10 techniques or something like 5-6 techniques.  Well, one of them said that in his opinion and understanding it was more like 1-2 techniques - and the first one was ukiotoshi!

                    

I thought, "Wow! That's probably the one technique I would have picked last for inclusion in a small set of kihon."  I mean, really that's just a curiosity that crops up in the beginning of nagenokata, right?  Just a semi-interesting high-amplitude kata demonstration throw, right?
                           

Well, the more I look at that thing, the more I see there.  For instance...

                    

• Ukiotoshi is a prime, fundamental demonstration of the otoshi concept - one of only about two distinct throwing mechanics in judo.  There is not all that much that we actually do in judo tachiwaza other than try to otoshi the opponent and if that doesnt work, try to guruma them.
• Ukiotoshi is the first technique in nagenokata - one of the "randori-no-kata" intended to teach/demonstrate something about randori.  How many of us ever try to throw ukiotoshi in randori?
• Ukiotoshi is implied within the first technique of goshinjutsu - the modern judo self-defense exercises.  Ever thought about using ukiotoshi in "real self-defense?"
• In both nagenokata and goshinjutsu, it is the first technique, suggesting it sort of sets the tone or states the theme of the whole kata.
• Ukiotoshi (by other names) occurs in the koshikinokata and the itsutsunokata - two of the kata that are really supposed to epitomize the ancient roots and foundations of judo.

So, if you think that maybe you ought to give ukiotoshi and the other impossible hand throws another thought or two, here are a couple of excellent resources to begin your research...

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____________________
Patrick Parker
www.mokurendojo.com

Kuzushi in osotogari

Where is the kuzushi in osotogari?  Easy - tilt them on a heel into the back corner - right?  Sorta... Sometimes...
   

That back corner is often the direction of the offbalance in osotogari, but you remember from my last few posts, kuzushi involves three things; 1) a direction, 2) a point in time, and 3) an unintended action by uke.  Saying that kuzushi in osotogari means tilting them into the back corner ignores the timing aspect of kuzushi and minimizes the unintended action aspect.
   

BTW - that reminds me of a joke: Q: How many judoka does it take to screw in a lightbulb?  A: 5 - one to fix the bulb and 4 more to say, "That's not how I do it."
   

Well, anyway, "Tilt uke in the back corner and kick the hell out of his leg" is not how I prefer to do it ;-)  Here's how I like to do it.
   

Assuming you want to reap his right leg with your right leg, move with uke and watch his right leg.  Anytime he takes a step and that right foot hits the ground, pull with your right hand perpendicular to the line of his feet - a short, sharp tug exactly opposite to the direction you want to throw - enough pull to make him bobble front-to-back, but not enough to make him take much of a step. Then, as uke acts to right his posture against the forward tug, you step in and reap.
  

So, the offbalance for osotogari (the way I like to do it) looks like...
   

Timing - the instant the foot you want to reap touches the ground after a step

Direction - tug their lapel or neck forward sharply into the hole.

Unintended Action - uke wanted to take his step and end up balanced.  When you tugged on his lapel, he tilted forward and had to correct backward into your throw.

 
Sure, this thing throws into the back corner (usually) but that is the kake phase of the throw - not the kuzushi phase.  The kuzushi actually happens in the opposite corner in the front ;-)
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____________________
Patrick Parker
www.mokurendojo.com

kuzushi in hizaguruma

Continuing my series on specifically where is the kuzushi found in our judo throws - our third technique that we teach beginners is hizaguruma - the knee wheel.

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But first a tangent - coming up thru the ranks, we had the hardest time EVER getting hizaguruma to work.  And my instructor at the time was not much better than we were at the thing.  We asked him one time "why is this thing taught so early when it is so damned hard to make work?" and he made up some nonsense about how it was taught as the first thing so that by the time you get a black belt you will have had sufficient practice to (maybe) make it work.

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Let me state in an unqualified way, that is B.S.  This thing is taught early because it is both basic and foundational (it is a great early example of the guruma concept).  It is not difficult to throw - in fact my yellow belts tend to throw it regularly for ippon in shiai and it is often their favorite throw.  We used to have a hard time with it simply because we were throwing it with the wrong mechanics and the wrong timing.

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We teach hiza as a backup plan for a failed deashibarai.  Tori sails in and tries to sweep your front foot but can't get it to move.  So he places his sweeping foot on the line of uke's feet facing both of uke's feet, and immediately uses his other foot to block uke's back knee as he tilts uke into the hole.

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So where is the offbalance in hizaguruma?

• Timing - after an attempted deashi when uke's front foot is weightbearing.  Tori has made a tiny round-the-corner step and uke's back foot is just about to move forward.
• Direction - Uke's posture crumbles into the hole between his feet - 90 degrees to the line of his feet. 
• Unintended action - uke had intended to step forward with his back foot to face tori, just like in kosotogari.  Instead his step was blocked at the knee and his intention and momentum carried him into the hole.

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____________________
Patrick Parker
www.mokurendojo.com

Kuzushi in kosotogari

The second technique we teach in judo is kosotogari, and we teach it as a response to a deashi gone bad.
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You will recall in deashi we teach to push uke on a backstep, which should either cause him to rock back and forth or take another full step back, either of which allows us to do deashi.
But what happens when you get the timing of the sweep wrong and uke's front leg is more weighted than you thought - when you hit deashi and his foot does not move?
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In this case, you take a turning step (just like in walking kata) around uke's front foot to stand beside/behind him, then when he turns back to face you, kosotogari appears.
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So, where is the kuzushi in kosotogari?

• Timing - after an attempted deashi when uke's front foot is weightbearing.
• Direction - there is really not a lot of push/pull in this, but tori turning the corner invites uke to turn the corner after.
• Unintended action - uke had intended to stand still and weather your deashi attack.  Instead he was forced to turn the corner to keep tori from slipping behind him.

There is the off chance that instead of turning to face, uke may refuse to move, but that is just dumb because that is inviting some much more awful things, like sukuinage or taniotoshi or uranage.