Mokuren Dojo - Aikido and Judo

Game face

pat.parker@swmrmc.org (Patrick Parker) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 01:44:00 +0000

Whit trying on his judo game face in the mirror...

A few days ago, I asked Whit, "Son, how did you and me get to be so cool and awesome?" To which he responded immediately and without thinking, "I donno, Dad. I figure you used to be pretty lame, but then I was born and things started looking up for you."

____________
Patrick Parker, is a Christian, husband, father, judo and aikido teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282
____________
Subscribe now for free updates from the Mokuren Dojo blog

How to rank kids in judo

pat.parker@swmrmc.org (Patrick Parker) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:16:00 +0000

Photo courtesy of Vanou

I've written a goodly number of articles about children in martial arts - mostly about how to teach children judo - and a healthy dose of bragging about my kids' performance in judo. But I haven't much mentioned the elephant in the room - Children's ranks.

I was talking to a martial artist friend of mine a few days ago and I asked him if his son, who has been doing BJJ for a couple of years, had ranked yet and he replied, "Oh, no. They don't rank anyone younger than 16... And I respect that." And I respect that too. We've all seen the so-called 6 year-old black belts with black belt egos but not enough physical maturity to actually do any of the skills. You don't want that sort of situation diluting the value of your ranks.

But also consider, kids are externally motivated and not getting promotions at least every so often can be very demotivating. We walk a thin line when we try to figure out how to set up a ranking system for kids. Here's a handful of hints on how I did it.

I start kids as young as 6 or 7 depending on their physical maturity. If they are coordinated enough to play tee-ball or soccer then they are coordinated and large enough to do judo. I start the adult classes at around age 13, again depending on both physical and emotional maturity. So I have potentially a 6-7 year range of ages in the class.
If a kid starts at age 6 I want to have sufficient ranks for them to get regular promotions until they are old enough to get into the adult class at age 13. I do at most one rank per year - that's the time in grade. So, I have to have about 5-6 ranks for kids.
I recommend using colors for kids that are not used in the adult classes. My adult classes use green, brown, and black (yellow is a club rank for adults halfway to green belt). My kids do white, yellow, orange, blue, and purple. By having the kids never get an "adult" color, it effectively makes the kids automatically lower ranked than the adults. This prevents kids from diluting the value of the adult ranks.
The majority of the ranking requirement for kids is participation. If a white belt kid participates regularly for a year, enjoys it, and learns a lot, he gets a yellow belt. If the participation, enjoyment, or learning are marginal for a year, they get a striped belt of the next color. The stripe indicates "almost" the next rank.
The benefits of this sort of rank structure for children are 1) simplicity of one ranking per year and few ranks, and 2) subjectivity and flexibility of the 'requirements'. There is so much variability in physical, mental, and emotional maturity in kids ranging from 6 to 12, that it is impossible to create fair and objective requirements and tests. The requirements of participation, enjoyment, and learning for a year solves this problem.

How are your kids classes different from mine? What unique challenges do you face in ranking kids? How have you worked your kids' ranks to fix these problems?

Asian racism

pat.parker@swmrmc.org (Patrick Parker) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:28:00 +0000

Per Wikipedia:

In 1988, Congress passed and President Ronald Reagan signed legislation which apologized for the internment [of Japanese Americans during WWII] on behalf of the U.S. government. The legislation stated that government actions were based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership".

And now we are gearing up toward what looks like military engagement with another Asian country - one with which we already have a historical military involvement - North Korea.

I wonder, if we were to get into a sticky war in Asia, would we see the sort of "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership" that we saw previously with Japanese Americans? Have we learned from our history, as suggested by the reparations paid to Japanese Americans in 1988, or would we be in for another two-generation round of racism? Would such racism carry over to a distrust or distaste (or worse) for Korean martial arts like Taekwando and Hapkido, and their practitioners?

____________

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

____________

Subscribe now for free updates from the Mokuren Dojo blog

Kuzushi is an out of body experience

pat.parker@swmrmc.org (Patrick Parker) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:36:00 +0000

Photo courtesy of Germaine

Kuzushi can be thought of as an out-of-body experience! Consider this - uke and tori each has a center of mass. When they are standing upright their centers of mass are generally somewhere behind and below their navels - inside their bodies. When you walk your center rises and falls with respect to the ground and it also moves around inside your body. But your center of mass generally stays inside your body except when you get into exterme, weird postures.

But what happens when uke and tori grab ahold of each other? They become one object with one center of mass, and that center of mass is generally outside of both bodies.

Now, center-outside-the-body does not necessarily mean offbalance or unstable in either the separate or together conditions. Each person may get his center outside his body and still be stable, and either or both partners might be stable with their collective center of mass outside both their bodies.

But here's where it gets interesting. Each partner, individually, has equal control over the collective center of mass. If uke (for instance) stands still trying to remain stable, and tori shifts his individual center then he shifts the collective center. For a moment, until uke is able to compensate, he is unbalanced.

This trick works best with tori shifting slightly after uke's footfall. Tori lets uke pick a place to stand, and an instant later, shifts the collective center, disrupting uke's balance and forcing another step from uke. I highly recommend playing with this as a balance game to introduce the practice of randori.

____________

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

____________
Subscribe now for free updates from the Mokuren Dojo blog

Kuzushi in your spare time

pat.parker@swmrmc.org (Patrick Parker) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:57:00 +0000

Photo courtesy of Gravestone

There is some debate in aikido and judo circles about the nature of kuzushi - whether tori has to specifically do a kuzushi to uke or whether uke is always offbalance and tori just has to figure out how to make use of it. I tend toward the second opinion, though I will readily admit that there are times when you do a specific thing to uke to make him lose his balance.

It is also commonly said that aikido and judo are based on unbalancing the opponent, and this is so. I would, however, like to assert that if you are going to deliberately effect a kuzushi upon uke, then kuzushi is not the first, or last, or even the most important thing that you are doing. There is a lot of stuff that you have to pay attention to (like your own balance and movement and evasion and positioning) prior to ever getting to the point that you need to worry about doing kuzushi to the other guy.

A while back Chiron had a note about discretionary time. That's what I'm, talking about. As you become more skilled at things like controlling ma-ai, evasion, taisabaki, positioning yourself in shikaku, etc... you get more and more discretionary time (I often call it 'slack' in my lectures. You can use that slack for many things, including kuzushi. So, in short...

Kuzushi is something that you effect upon uke only in your spare time.

It takes two to tango

pat.parker@swmrmc.org (Patrick Parker) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:18:00 +0000

Photo courtesy of Sebastien B.

Here's a very fundamental consideration for soft (perhaps you call them internal) martial arts like aikido and judo- strength is not a unilateral quality. Strength requires an object to be expressed against.

Any time you feel like your partner is too tense, too strong and forceful, consider that it takes two to tango. If you were yielding and flowing properly it would not even be possible to feel his strength because there would be no object for his strength and tension to direct itself against. If you feel like you are getting into a fight or a struggle with uke, it is perfectly within your capacity to end that struggle - by not struggling against him.

Sometimes you'll have certain practice partners that you naturally jive with and that you flow well with, and other times you'll have partners who you don't flow so well with - who you seem to naturally clash with or struggle against. It's like there are some people who are so damned strong that they make you have to be strong against them.

Not so! Consider that they might just be reflecting your own strength back onto you! Such a partner can be an opportunity to look within for the discontinuity that is amplifying the struggle between you and them. It takes two to tango!

____________

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

____________

Subscribe now for free updates from the Mokuren Dojo blog

Core throws of Judo

pat.parker@swmrmc.org (Patrick Parker) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:10:00 +0000

Photo courtesy of Parrhessiastes

One of my favorite blogging topics in the last few years has been the idea of a core of throws in judo – that is, the idea that there is some handful of throws that are representative of and foundational to the rest of judo. If one could identify such a technical core, then it seems to me that core should be practiced more regularly than the rest of the judo techniques – as in every class or nearly every class.

Well, in my research and practice, I have identified nine throws that I consider to be the core of judo. For a while I have called this handful The Divine Nine at my dojo. Following are some good links to resource articles I've written over the years about the idea of a core of throws in judo, as well as articles about each of the individual throws in the Divine Nine core throws of judo.

The general idea...

deashibarai

A great deashibarai!

kosotogari

osotogari

hizaguruma

A handful of hints on hiza

ukigoshi

Gearing ratio in hipthrows

ouchigari

Amazingly enough, I've written very little on ouchi - I'll have to set about fixing that...

kouchigari

ogoshi

A handful of hints on ogoshi

seoinage

____________

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

____________

Subscribe now for free updates from the Mokuren Dojo blog

Kuzushi is positioning plus timing

pat.parker@swmrmc.org (Patrick Parker) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:05:00 +0000

Typically in judo you begin learning throws by making an agreement that uke will stand still and let you push and pull him into the right shape for the throw. Then it is sort of assumed that you can, over time, figure out how to get uke into that shape in randori or shiai. The problem with that assumption is the opponent never stands still! Never - Ever! So, it is really hard to translate the so-called skills that you are alledgedly learning in kihon practice into resistive randori practice.

Part of this problem is a misunderstanding of what kuzushi (offbalance) is. Kuzushi is not just a positional challenge for uke. You do not necessarily attain kuzushi by pushing or pulling uke into a certain posture - even if you do the pushing/pulling exactly right. You can do everything that sensei tells you, consistently right every time, and sometimes you get a true offbalance condition and sometimes you don't.

The secret: Kuzushi is not just a positional thing, but it is also a timing event! If you do something close to right positionally, and you do it with close to the right timing, you get a reliable offbalance condition nearly every time! So, what's the magical timing?

The instant that uke's moving foot hits the ground is the time to do an offbalance. You can perhaps find other times, but this is the only reliable one that is easy to use. As uke moves either foot, watch for it to land and then do your offbalance push or pull that sensei taught you. You'll get much more mileage!

PS. This is equally applicable in aikido, judo, or karate!

____________

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

____________

Subscribe now for free updates from the Mokuren Dojo blog

Step counting and efficiency

pat.parker@swmrmc.org (Patrick Parker) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 03:05:00 +0000

Here's a little aspect of Tegatana that Bridge brought up this evening. We rarely talk much about it but tonite we explored it in detail. - the number of steps it takes to turn a certain degree is dependent upon your hip and knee flexibility - and most everyone has the same amount of slack in their lower extremities. For instance...

It takes 2 foot motions or weight shifts to move anywhere within about 135 degrees of where you are facing. We practice this in the first four pushing motions in Tegatana and in the hip switch.
It takes 3 motions or weight shifts to move farther than about 135 degrees - as in turning to face backward (180 degrees). We practice this in all the turning motions of tegatana as well as the motions of Hanasu (it takes 3 steps to turn around and start walking the direction uke is attacking).

You don't want to blur through these steps. You want the things that take 2 steps to actually take 2 steps and you want the things that take 3 steps to take 3 steps. You learn from every repetition this way.

Count the number of steps that you are taking on each movement and watch carefully for extra weight shifts or steps. A little shift here or there might seem insignificant, but consider it this way, if it should take you 2 steps to make a move and it takes you 3 then you are 50% less efficient or 50% slower! If it is taking you 4 steps to do a 2 step move then you have the potential to be twice as fast as you are now!

____________

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

____________

Subscribe now for free updates from the Mokuren Dojo blog

Defining kuzushi

pat.parker@swmrmc.org (Patrick Parker) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 06:01:00 +0000

Photo courtesy of Colin Whittaker

There is a funny phenomenon about defining terms - you have to strike a balance (get it? ;-) between having a definition that is sufficiently broad and vague to encompass all of the meanings and connotations of the construct, and having a definition that is more specifically useful but which leaves out part of the meaning of the construct.

For instance, the definitions that we typically find most useful in judo and aikido are so broad as to be nearly useless to the beginner.

Offbalance is catching the opponent unprepared

Offbalance is when the opponent has to make an additional arbitrary motion before they can continue fighting effectively.

The immediate first question is always, "Well, how do I do that?" These conditions can be easy to achieve but difficult to know how to use effectively and systematically.

But on the other hand, you could define kuzushi as when the opponent's center of balance is teetering over the edge of their base of support and their posture is completely wrecked. This is a offbalance condition that is easier to use but harder to find or achieve - you just can't get the enemy to hold still in that wrecked posture long enough for you to do something to him.
..

As you move beyond the uttermost basic levels in aikido or judo and you begin to make a study of kuzushi and how to attain it and how to use it, you will find that the previous, more broad definitions are far more useful.
.
Kuzushi is everywhere. It is in us and all around us. We just have to figure out how to recognize it and how to put it to use.

____________

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

____________

Subscribe now for free updates from the Mokuren Dojo blog

Gedan barai as kuzushi

pat.parker@swmrmc.org (Patrick Parker) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:53:00 +0000

Let's start off this month with a demo of the principle of kuzushi (unbalancing the opponent) from a source you might not typically associate with kuzushi - karate-do. Notice the repeated gedan barai (downward sweeping) action used here as a grab and off-balance instead of being used as the expected low block.

Kuzushi in July

pat.parker@swmrmc.org (Patrick Parker) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 18:38:00 +0000

Photo by Andrew Deci

"Off-balance is the fundamental principle of aikido and judo."

I'm sure that you've heard something like that before. Well, it's partially true - perhaps even mostly true. Kuzushi plays a large role in aikido and judo. I probably wouldn't call it the single most important basis of these arts, but still indispensable. Without kuzushi, smaller players would have virtually no hope against larger players and the two arts would be unidentifiable, but there are a lot of fundamental elements that you need to get in order before you start worrying a lot about kuzushi. That will be part of the subject of this month's principle theme at Mokuren Dojo.

July is Kuzushi Month!

Stay tuned for some good posts on the role of offbalancing in aikido, judo, and even karate.

____________

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

____________

Subscribe now for free updates from the Mokuren Dojo blog

On deck at Mokuren Dojo

pat.parker@swmrmc.org (Patrick Parker) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 21:19:00 +0000

This past week, we had two students test successfully for Green belt (Yonkyu) and one student test successfully for 2nd Brown Belt (Nikyu) - Congrats Kel! So what material is waiting in the wings for these guys?

In aikido, our green belts will be working on elbow techniques - controlling uke's center of mass through his elbow...

oshitaoshi (A.K.A. ikkyo)
udegaeshi
hikitaoshi
udehineri (A.K.A. kaitennage)
wakigatame (A.K.A. gokyo)

The 2nd brown belt will be working on floating throws - hitting precise timings and directions to effect an otoshi...

kotetaoshi/maeotoshi
sumiotoshi and its variants
hikiotoshi

Here are some links to previous articles on the abovementioned aikido techniques.

In judo, we'll have another student ready for green belt in about 2 months. Between now and then, this student will be working on the following material...

inside reaps (ouchigari & kouchigari)
seoinage
ogoshi
improving the fundamental escapes from kesa, kata, kami, and mune
hadakajime (rear naked choke)
basic armbars (wakigatame and udegarame)

Here are some articles I wrote about these judo throws, and about hadakajime.

____________

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

____________

Subscribe now for free updates from the Mokuren Dojo blog

Otoshi-Guruma recap

pat.parker@swmrmc.org (Patrick Parker) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 10:58:00 +0000

Photo courtesy of Kentanen

In my ongoing series of monthly principles, June 2009 was Otoshi-Guruma month. In several posts I discussed an interesting dimension of human motion that, if you can take some time and get acquainted with it, you can use this type of motion to your advantage. To see the posts in which I discussed otoshi and guruma, check out the following.

...and stay tuned to see what this month's theme will be at Mokuren Dojo.

____________

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

____________

Subscribe now for free updates from the Mokuren Dojo blog

Helpful handful: Ogoshi - the major hip throw

pat.parker@swmrmc.org (Patrick Parker) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:26:00 +0000

Our older kids in judo have gotten into hip throws. Above is a good example of the basic form of ogoshi - the large hip throw. Notice the main parts:

3-step entry for tori (the thrower). 1) Right leg turns inward in front of uke's right foot, 2) left foot steps behind to face the direction of the throw, and 3) right leg adjusts to face the direction of the throw.
Tori wants to enter this throw with his feet close together and between ukes' feet. If your feet are wide, you prevent your own throw.
I call this thing the "crack of the butt throw" because the correct positioning for tori's hips places his buttcrack on uke's right thigh - low - toward the knee. Also, the correct fulcrum for this thing is the top of your buttcrack, near your tailbone - not the side of your hip
To throw, tori bends forward, straightens his knees, and turns to look behind himself toward uke's feet.
Uke must not cling to tori. If you do, you will pull tori down on top of you and you'll be sorry. Slide over tori's back onto the ground just like in our oozing exercise. When you land, make sure you are on your side, that you arm slapped beside you insted of getting under you, and that your feet are separated.

____________

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

____________

Subscribe now for free updates from the Mokuren Dojo blog

Staycation, hip throws, & rank testing

pat.parker@swmrmc.org (Patrick Parker) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:59:00 +0000

I'm in the midst of staycation (some might say stagnation) and tomorrow is my 9th anniversary, so I haven't been thinking any martial thoughts at all for about a week. I've been swimming twice a day and taking naps in the afternoon and doing my aiki and judo classes, and I'm down about 8 pounds so far this week.

Ooh, I said no martial thoughts at all for the past week -that 's not completely true. I've been contemplating vicissitudes - trying to figure out why it is that I've been kicked in the nuts so many more times in the last eight years by my own kids than in the previous 15+ years of TKD, karate, judo, etc... We were fanatical about wearing cups in karate class - weren't allowed to participate without wearing one - but we were almost never hit there. Maybe they ahould issue groin protectors to new dads in the baby care packages that they give out at the hospital.

Anyway, tonight, we had a fabulous kids judo class, culminating in Whit&Brandon working on hip throws (REAL hip throws), including ogoshi and kubinage! Coolness. We also had a great aikido class during which two students tested for green belt (yonkyo). They are doing great work and we're looking forward to getting deeper into the rabbit hole starting next week. Congrats to Tony & Dallas!

____________

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

____________

Subscribe now for free updates from the Mokuren Dojo blog

Seth Godin on aikido and judo

pat.parker@swmrmc.org (Patrick Parker) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:53:00 +0000

Photo courtesy of Seth Godin via Squidoo

I read Seth Godin's blog because he is truly a braniac! He writes (on the surface) about business, marketing, communication, and advertising, but what he has to say about his domain of knowledge applies in many cases to other domains, like aikido or judo. For instance, today's blog is particularly practical and useful in the context of martial arts...

There's always a gap between the short-term results of a well-polished system and the first results of a switch to a more efficient one. If you stick with that thing you've worked so hard to perfect, the next few hours or weeks or months will surely outperform the results you'll get from the new thing. That's because there are switching costs, glitches and a learning curve... The end result is that organizations that choose to switch are usually the ones with the least to lose. The upstarts and the outliers. One reason they're always leapfrogging the market leaders. One way to stay innovative is to understand that this gap exists and to budget for it. Denying it won't make it go away.

You can brute-force your way through martial arts, even including aikido and judo, and get to a certain point. You can even get into the black belt ranks with this approach, but you are self-limiting. You will reach an age where you cannot continue to put more and more into it in order to get better and better.
.
At some point you are going to have to buy into the "maximum efficient use of power" ideal in judo or the aiki ideal in aikido. When you do, there will be a while during which you aren't able to get the results with the weakness approach that you used to be able to get with the strength approach. In other words, while you are becoming more efficient, for a while you'll suck.
.
You can get over the suck, but what you can't beat is the self-limitation of the strength approach.
____________
Patrick Parker, is a Christian, husband, father, judo and aikido teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282
____________
Subscribe now for free updates from the Mokuren Dojo blog

Skin contact in no-gi grappling

pat.parker@swmrmc.org (Patrick Parker) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:17:00 +0000

Photo courtesy of Ronald DeVilla

A while back I posted an article comparing and contrasting gi vs. no-gi grappling. An issue that I didn't address in that article is that skin-on-mat and skin-on-skin contact gives a different kind of friction than does gi-on-mat or gi-on-gi.

Wearing shorts and a tee, you have a different sort of interface with the opponent and with the mat. Sometimes the skin interface is stickier than cloth (as with skin-on-mat in a warm, humid room) and sometimes it is slicker (as in sweaty skin-on-skin). I remember in college, grappling shirtless with my buddy, Steve, in the yard. I caught him offbalance and sailed in for a hip throw that should have been a sure thing but I slipped off his sweaty arm and busted facefirst into the ground! I had done a sweaty sukashi to myself!

When doing no-gi grappling, you also have to move differently to avoid matburn. Sometimes with a gi you can slide a leg or arm or shoulder across the mat to make a quick transition but often with direct skin contact, you have to pick the limb up off the mat in order to move it.

Bottom line: play both gi and no-gi grappling. You will learn different things under these two different conditions.

____________

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

____________

Subscribe now for free updates from the Mokuren Dojo blog

Spyderco Endura 4 FRN

pat.parker@swmrmc.org (Patrick Parker) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:10:00 +0000

My new Spyderco Endura 4 FRN came in today! I got this from climbinggearinc.com in exchange for some advertising on the blog here. Great knife! I'm looking forward to using this - it looks like it'll be a joy to use!

.
Here's a very good review (my knife is identical to this one except mine is black scale, is half-serrated, and is not a limited production run.)

____________
Patrick Parker, is a Christian, husband, father, judo and aikido teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282
____________
Subscribe now for free updates from the Mokuren Dojo blog

Power and mobility in aikido and swordwork

pat.parker@swmrmc.org (Patrick Parker) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 03:01:00 +0000

Photo courtesy of Vincent

Aikido is, in large part, based on swordwork. This extends not only to superficial motions (for instance, shihonage looks like shihogiri), but to concepts and strategies too.
.
Mobility and power is largely a trade-off, and each martial art makes this stategic decision differently, placing itself on a spectrum between power and mobility. A good example of this is modern karate, in which mobility is largely forsaken for power. Aikido would be an example of an art that largely forsakes power for the sake of mobility. There are, of course, counterexamples in both arts but the exceptions only serve to prove the rule in that they make it even more obvious that the exception doesn't “look” like karate/aikido.

In the case of swordsmanship, which is more necessary – power or mobility? Obviously you don't need power because you have a 3-foot long knife! You have so much leverage and mechanical advantage with the sword that any cut at all is likely to be very serious. If he can touch you, he can kill you. You'd better get your butt moving and keep it moving. You can't ever count on having enough time to stop to develop a maximally powerful stroke.
.
Aikido gets this idea from swordsmanship – if you allow uke to touch you, he may kill you, so you need to stay in motion more than you need to develop power. You need mobility – and the right mindset – to keep from getting cut

Avoid heat injuries in judo and aikido

pat.parker@swmrmc.org (Patrick Parker) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:42:00 +0000

Photo courtesy of IntangibleArts

Yep - it's that time of year again. Summer is just about here and we are languishing under day-after-day of 96+ degree temperature, combined with humidity that you can swim through. In such an environment, we have to turn on the air conditioner full blast hours before class in order to get the temps down to a survivable level - and it's still pretty hot in the dojo.

During the summer I am not a stickler for uniforms. We declare it to be tee-shirt season at aikido class and kids judo (most of our adult judo happens very early in the morning). It would just be suicidal to try to wear those oven mitts during the late afternoon classes. Sure, there's the down-side to it, we sweat all over each other. But it's either that or die of heatstroke.

Which brings me to the real reason for this post - to warn y'all to take some precautions against heat injury during the summer at your dojo. Some common sense hints you might consider, include:

Dispense with the traditional uniforms for the summertime. Implement tee-shirt classes.
Consider rescheduling more of your classes to early morning or evening after sundown.
Consider shortening classes or working less strenuous activities during the summer.
Make students, instructors, and observers bring bottles of water or gatorade with them and encourage them to drink. Watch out, though - drinking too much clear water while sweating can cause electrolyte problems - especially in children or low body mass adults.
You don't lose significant heat through your teeshirt until it becomes wet with sweat, so stop changing your wet shirt for a dry one.
Watch for the signs: red or very pale skin, confusion, irritability, headache, dizziness, fast heartrate and breathing, muscle cramps
Know the first aid: move the victim to a cool environment, remove clothes, try to get them to drink cool water or gatorade, pour cool water onto them, and put a fan on them. If they don't get better soon, or if it gets worse, call 911 and get them to the ER rapidly.

____________

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

____________

Subscribe now for free updates from the Mokuren Dojo blog

...to be transmitted orally

pat.parker@swmrmc.org (Patrick Parker) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:51:00 +0000

"This volume is to be taught and learned by teacher and student in actual exercises, and need not be detailed in writing."
.
"The following...must be learned in actual exercises, for they are difficult to explain in writing."
.
"These six approaches must be learned and explained orally in actual exercises with your master, so they are not detailed in writing."

The examples above are from The Sword and the Mind. It was recognized early on that you couldn't pass on some knowledge in writing, so disclaimers like, "This is to be transmitted orally," are very common. Of course there is part (even most) of the art that has to be taught and learned by touching and speaking to each other in person, but what part of the arts can be taught via book or blog?

History - Who founded the art and what was he like? How did his life and his environment affect the development of the art?
Culture - Culture can refer to both the national culture of the founder and developers, or to the local culture of your club. House rules, preferences, unique exercises - these are all examples of the culture of martial arts - not just how to eat with chopsticks or how to tie an obi.
Mindset - How your thought processes affect the physical performance. What and how you need to be thinking during a conflict - why that helps and what it does for you.
Metaphor - Similar to mindset, I see metaphor as a way of tricking the mind into controlling the body in a particular way when you can't figure out how to explicitly tell the student the mechanics. "This technique is like..." or "visualize a great whirlpool drawing..." or "imagine you arm is a water hose with water blasting out the end..."

These things are all teachable in print. Movement and touch, nuance, aren't. What other aspects of the arts do y'all think are or are not teachable in print?

Which reminds me of an interesting story about the late aikido master, Terry Dobson. I read that whenever people asked him what he did for a living, he told them he was a "transmission specialist." They, of course, dismissed him as a mechanic, but he meant it as an inside joke. He meant that he was a specialist in transmitting Morihei Ueshiba's touch to people who the founder could not have otherwise touched. Ueshiba touched people through Dobson. Check out the books:

____________

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

____________

Subscribe now for free updates from the Mokuren Dojo blog

Sasae - otoshi

pat.parker@swmrmc.org (Patrick Parker) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:30:00 +0000

Sasae tsurikomiashi is a prime example of otoshi in judo. Notice that the throw happens right on the footfall, mostly inline with uke's feet, and produces a cartwheel-type airfall - all characteristics of otoshi motion. Both of the following videos are superb.

Also of interest in the second video, there is some resistance or hesitation for just an instant on the part of the uke, and this hesitation gives the throw a guruma-type motion (remember how guruma happens an instant after otoshi?). As uke begins to cartwheel he attempts to withdraw for just a moment and this starts him log-rolling through the air. This is more visable in the slow motion segments toward the middle and end of the second film.

____________

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

____________

Subscribe now for free updates from the Mokuren Dojo blog

Yoko guruma

pat.parker@swmrmc.org (Patrick Parker) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 16:14:00 +0000

Otoshi happens on a footfall and tends to happen in the direction of the step - as in yesterday's video. Guruma is the dynamic oposite - it happens late (wrt the footfall) and tends to happen about 90 degrees off of the line of the feet - between the feet. Yoko guruma is just about the best, purest example of the guruma action n judo. Kirby-san, I figure you'll especially like the second variant here - it comes from the setup we've been working on lately.

Taiotoshi - mine or his?

pat.parker@swmrmc.org (Patrick Parker) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 03:58:00 +0000

Time for some specific examples of some of the otoshi-guruma ideas I've been talking about for the last couple of weeks. This is a video of an outstanding taiotoshi. Not only is this player superbly proficient, but this video makes the otoshi footdrop timing perfectly clear on every throw. Watch the slow motion segments, and you'll see that every throw happens right after a little footfall. Tori is catching uke right as his front foot comes down, and is keeping uke moving downward.

This brings up an age-old question that students nearly always eventually ask. I'll leave you with this question... "In taiotoshi (body drop), whose body is doing the dropping - mine or his?"