Let's Fly A Kite-October 5, 2007

Quick one hour practice this morning. Just two students, I like the small groups. The teacher today focused on two-handed techniques, the ryotedori wazas. We went through kohkyuuage, ikkyo and others.

The key point today was control. Even when using one hand (katetedori), we must follow the movements with our other hand. If we don't, our body won't move with the waza and we lose a lot of control over the aite. If we only move the one hand, our body remains behind with the remaining hand. If we move them in tandem, our body will move into the opponent's space and cause them to become unbalanced.

This point became especially clear when practing ikkyo. When we twist the aite's wrist with the leading hand, we must also hook their elbow with our second hand to spin/twist their arm. Their body to follow. If we focus only on their wrist, their body is quite relaxed. When the two hands work together, we gain control over their whole body. Their head and shoulders are turned down.

We practiced this idea for awhile, then our teacher demonstrated the incorrect technique using only one hand. The difference is quite striking. I felt my whole upper body being forced to the mat from having only wrist and elbow manipulated. The teacher laughed and said it was like controlling an old-fashioned kite. It takes two hands to control the kite and keep it in the air. Use one hand and it flips around ungracefully before crashing to the ground.