Sunday I watched a yondan test. That was impressive. The sensei had the fellow go through virtually every waza imaginable. Zagi, ushirodori-you name it.
When he was performing all the hanmihandachi wazas, the sensei called in four of us to attack the test-taker. That was fun, just flying at the guy randomly. He later went through the jo, tanto and katana techniques as well. He did quite well, in my opinion. Very fluid motions. Of course, he's being doing this for 10-12 years.
For me, there's no real hurry. I'd like to take my time and slowly work my way up. Still it's inspiring to see someone else make fourth-degree black belt.
Monday, April 30, 2007
April 28th, 2007-Control and Release
Saturday we practiced more for Tokyo. My partner and I spent 45 minutes trading off throwing each other. We have to decide soon what wazas we will do, got less than a month left.
Got some mixed news. Sensei wants me to be the tori in Tokyo. Wow, my first time to throw my partner. I was quite flattered until the sensei said it was because my uke is so bad. Still, I'm pretty happy.
Before that, all of us worked on a technique that starts with being grabbed. Then the tori drops and spins while raising our other arm. Essentially we guide the aite over our shoulder and onto the floor.
I was practicing with a rather tall nidan and we spent some time experimenting on how much we can control our partner's fall. If the tori releases us early, we can gently (relatively speaking) land on the mat. If the tori aims for below the mat and doesn't release us, then the uke gets slammed pretty hard.
My partner was rather merciless, so he was not releasing me at all. Instead he just whipped me full force. I felt like a cheap futon. Loosened me up real good for the rest of the night.
Friday, April 27, 2007
April 27th, 2007-Variety is the Spice eh?
Quick one hour practice today. Besides sensei, there were four of us this morning. We did a variety of techniques, let's see if I can remember them. Kotogaeshi, ikkyo, shihonage.
Actually, we spent quite a large part of the session practicing ushirodori. One of my favorites. It involves grabbing the tori's wrist while running behind them (hence the "ushiro" 後ろ）and trying to grab their other wrist. The tori has to tenkan and act as a pivot for the attacker to spin around. Their momentum, combined with the tori sliding back a bit, puts them into a disadvantegous, unbalanced position. This makes it quite easy to perform the technique.
The final segment consisted of me in the center doing kokyuunage with four people attacking. They were flying at me with no warning, not waiting their turn. It was pretty fun, but a bit confusing at first. Then I stopped thinking about everything and just did the waza. Over and over, from all angles. Just a smooth blur of tenkan.
After practice, sensei and I were chatting about the group today. We were a mixed group of different ability levels. Different nationalities, too. And I had to work with all of them and react to their movements without fear, panic or even much thought. To achieve this in the dojo would be impressive, to utilize this firm yet respective calm in my life outside the dojo would be amazing.
Actually, we spent quite a large part of the session practicing ushirodori. One of my favorites. It involves grabbing the tori's wrist while running behind them (hence the "ushiro" 後ろ）and trying to grab their other wrist. The tori has to tenkan and act as a pivot for the attacker to spin around. Their momentum, combined with the tori sliding back a bit, puts them into a disadvantegous, unbalanced position. This makes it quite easy to perform the technique.
The final segment consisted of me in the center doing kokyuunage with four people attacking. They were flying at me with no warning, not waiting their turn. It was pretty fun, but a bit confusing at first. Then I stopped thinking about everything and just did the waza. Over and over, from all angles. Just a smooth blur of tenkan.
After practice, sensei and I were chatting about the group today. We were a mixed group of different ability levels. Different nationalities, too. And I had to work with all of them and react to their movements without fear, panic or even much thought. To achieve this in the dojo would be impressive, to utilize this firm yet respective calm in my life outside the dojo would be amazing.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
April 22nd-Tokyo here we come!
So even though my wrist is still sore, I went to the dojo Sunday. We were practicing kokyunage some more. I was in a trio with my girlfriend and this oaktree of an Englishman. He throws pretty hard, bit daunting at times. It pushed me to work on my tobiukemi in this waza.
As with so many other situations in and out of the dojo, I just have to let go and let myself to do it. So I dropped my fear and ran full steam at my partner. He performed the throw very well and I went flying head over heels. Banged my butt pretty good, but it was a better uke performance. Speaking of which, it was rather amusing watching my girlfriend get thrown and seeing her spin 360 balanced on one buttcheek.
The differences in our weights becomes an issue with these momentum-based techniques. When a smaller person is throwing a larger person, the smaller person must be grounded and confident with their techniques or they get thrown by their attacker. In kokyunage, we should redirect their momentum to throw them. We goofed a few times and the result was that we basically threw ourselves along with our uke. Baby with the bathwater, as it were.
Towards the end of the night, we started our pairwork for Tokyo. I'm working with one of the teachers again. He's a funny, kind man. Always good to work with him. We practiced some of the koshinage techniques together. Speaking of momentum, its easy to bungle these. If your positioning is incorrect, the aite feels really heavy. I threw my partner and sometimes fell on top of him as a clumsy grand finale. We haven't finalized our routine for Tokyo yet, but I'm looking forward to hammering it all out.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
April 13, 2007-Entering the Other's Space
My wrist is still messed up, so I'm resting at home. To be honest, it's my fault so I feel a little stupid. Yeah, mistakes can be painful ne? So I will compensate by posting about our Friday morning practice.
We are still practicing the multiple opponent style. Sensei varies the wazas every week. This week we practiced sumiotoshi and sankyo quite a bit. Having sankyo performed on me was tough with my bum wrist, but I endured.
Much of sumiotoshi's final stage involves moving past or through the opponent in order to throw them. Actually many of the techniques utilize this psychological concept. It is natural to think of two bodies being completely separate, law of physics and all.
I always consider the other person's physical presence too much when doing a waza. Honestly, I tend to overthink everything. But we have to project ourselves past that idea, get ourselves to move into and beyond the other person. The word irimi (入り身）literally means to enter the opponent or their space. With sumiotoshi, entering their space disrupts their balance and weight distribution. This makes it quite easy to throw them. If the waza is done properly, the opponent is merely teetering on a cliff.
On a related note, I started teaching some new kids recently. The smallest girl in the class was terrified to be away from her mother. She was balling her eyes out, so the Japanese staff came in to calm her down. As soon as they left the room, she stared crying again. The little girl wouldn't respond to anything I did. So I took a chance and put her on my lap. Totally worked. She stopped crying and started helping me turn the pages to the storybook. I completely entered her space, breaking the ma-ai (間合い）and she calmed down. I went from being scary man to warm chair.
We are still practicing the multiple opponent style. Sensei varies the wazas every week. This week we practiced sumiotoshi and sankyo quite a bit. Having sankyo performed on me was tough with my bum wrist, but I endured.
Much of sumiotoshi's final stage involves moving past or through the opponent in order to throw them. Actually many of the techniques utilize this psychological concept. It is natural to think of two bodies being completely separate, law of physics and all.
I always consider the other person's physical presence too much when doing a waza. Honestly, I tend to overthink everything. But we have to project ourselves past that idea, get ourselves to move into and beyond the other person. The word irimi (入り身）literally means to enter the opponent or their space. With sumiotoshi, entering their space disrupts their balance and weight distribution. This makes it quite easy to throw them. If the waza is done properly, the opponent is merely teetering on a cliff.
On a related note, I started teaching some new kids recently. The smallest girl in the class was terrified to be away from her mother. She was balling her eyes out, so the Japanese staff came in to calm her down. As soon as they left the room, she stared crying again. The little girl wouldn't respond to anything I did. So I took a chance and put her on my lap. Totally worked. She stopped crying and started helping me turn the pages to the storybook. I completely entered her space, breaking the ma-ai (間合い）and she calmed down. I went from being scary man to warm chair.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Saturday April 7, 2007-Building Stamina
Sensei started off saying we need to build our stamina, so we didn't have our regular practice. Instead it was juppon all night long. Yup, everybody threw everybody ten times. We went through our usual list of techniques, then sensei wanted us to do kokyuunage (呼吸投げ) ten times to everyone. I'm still working on doing tobiukemi when thrown kokyuunage. The knee in my pants got seriously torn at this point.
See what I'm talking about! It's quite a fun waza to perform. One of my favorites. If you can do the tenkan properly, you can throw multiple partners quite easily.
I was the uke for a young guy who is steadily improving. His shihonage is getting dangerously good. My wrist is still pretty sore. This is mostly my fault. When my wrist was twisted, I should have moved my body towards my hand. Guess I was too slow, because I didn't jump properly. Two days later, my right wrist is a bit tender. Ah, live and learn.
Actually, it was a night of injuries. My girlfriend twisted her ankle on the third waza with the sensei. She banged up her hand real good.
Check that bad boy out! She was hobbling off the mat after practice. Next morning she had a sweet eggplant on her hand. Both of us were hurting, but we agreed that was a great session.
The juppon is a fantastic way to practice. Rather than doing the same waza repeatedly, we can learn to perform different techniques without thinking too much. Likewise for our partners. They have to be thrown without knowing what technique is coming next.
By the way, another member estimated that we were thrown over 200 times that night. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday night.
See what I'm talking about! It's quite a fun waza to perform. One of my favorites. If you can do the tenkan properly, you can throw multiple partners quite easily.
I was the uke for a young guy who is steadily improving. His shihonage is getting dangerously good. My wrist is still pretty sore. This is mostly my fault. When my wrist was twisted, I should have moved my body towards my hand. Guess I was too slow, because I didn't jump properly. Two days later, my right wrist is a bit tender. Ah, live and learn.
Actually, it was a night of injuries. My girlfriend twisted her ankle on the third waza with the sensei. She banged up her hand real good.
Check that bad boy out! She was hobbling off the mat after practice. Next morning she had a sweet eggplant on her hand. Both of us were hurting, but we agreed that was a great session.
The juppon is a fantastic way to practice. Rather than doing the same waza repeatedly, we can learn to perform different techniques without thinking too much. Likewise for our partners. They have to be thrown without knowing what technique is coming next.
By the way, another member estimated that we were thrown over 200 times that night. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday night.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
合気道サイト
合気道のいくつかのサイト！
まずは。。。財団法人合気会の公式サイト
http://www.aikikai.or.jp/
合気道をしてる人なら、誰でもこのサイトは知ってるでしょう。
本部道場のことも出てます。
次に。。。合気道ねっと
http://www.aikido.ne.jp/
一人での練習についてが面白い！！
街中で人をよけて歩くとか←入り身(笑）
私もよくよく日常生活の中で合気道の基本の動きを
試してみたりしてます（＾＾）
運転中に手刀でハンドル操作したり。
この二つのサイトは日本語と英語を選べます。
また見つけたら紹介していきますね。
まずは。。。財団法人合気会の公式サイト
http://www.aikikai.or.jp/
合気道をしてる人なら、誰でもこのサイトは知ってるでしょう。
本部道場のことも出てます。
次に。。。合気道ねっと
http://www.aikido.ne.jp/
一人での練習についてが面白い！！
街中で人をよけて歩くとか←入り身(笑）
私もよくよく日常生活の中で合気道の基本の動きを
試してみたりしてます（＾＾）
運転中に手刀でハンドル操作したり。
この二つのサイトは日本語と英語を選べます。
また見つけたら紹介していきますね。
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
April 1st, 2007-Little Things Mean a Lot
Sorry for the delay in posts. Went to the dojo last Sunday. Only practiced two techniques. First was Aihanmikatatedori Shihonage. Shihonage has been a weak point of mine for years. Small class, so the sensei spent a lot of time with each student. I was making a mistake by turning my hand and grabbing the aite's arm too soon. Instead he taught us that we should keep our palms up and rotate down against the aite's grasp and bring them towards us. This serves to upset their balance and prepares us to twist the arm and go under their arm.
My second error was bending my arms when I pivot under my partner's arm. If I bend my arms, their arm is very loose and relaxed. When the sensei demonstrated it on me, my arm was completely immobilized. And it was painful, of course. I tried it again, this time keeping my arms straight and more horizontal. My opponent was not relaxed and their arm was twisted and immobile. Their balance was disrupted and it was much easier to finish the waza.
The interesting thing is that the differences between a good, effective waza and an ineffective one are quite small. Usually a centimeter in the right direction will make a world of difference. Yup, little things mean a lot.
My second error was bending my arms when I pivot under my partner's arm. If I bend my arms, their arm is very loose and relaxed. When the sensei demonstrated it on me, my arm was completely immobilized. And it was painful, of course. I tried it again, this time keeping my arms straight and more horizontal. My opponent was not relaxed and their arm was twisted and immobile. Their balance was disrupted and it was much easier to finish the waza.
The interesting thing is that the differences between a good, effective waza and an ineffective one are quite small. Usually a centimeter in the right direction will make a world of difference. Yup, little things mean a lot.
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