Love and Joint Locks

Focusing on aikido

2008-08-18T11:25:00.003+03:00

Today I notified my Pekiti-Tirsia Kali instructor that I'll be taking an indefinite leave from studying PTK. I just don't have enough time to study two martial arts and I want to concentrate on the aikido 1st dan test. I'll be taking the test no earlier than a year from now, but I still need to focus more on aikido and one way to do it is to start attending Pertti Lehväslaiho's classes regularly. I still think Pekiti-Tirsia Kali is something I'd like to understand better and I hope in the future I will get a chance to continue studying it.

1st kyu Grade Test

2008-03-28T20:59:00.002+02:00

Had my 1st kyu grade test two days. All in all, it went pretty well and I'm happy with how it went. Manderbacka was judging the test and she commented that it looked "nätti" ("pretty"), which… I'm not 100% sure what that means, but I suppose it means it didn't look ugly or awful. She did comment that I should do less, let uke do more. I was nervous in the test, so I probably didn't want to give uke too much space or time, but I'm sure the comment also applies to my technique in general. Also, she said my technique had quite a lot of "mättö" (hard to translate, basically being a bit too heavy handed), but she did say that when you're young, that's the time for it if ever. One of the things she said that felt really nice was that my jiyuwaza looked like I hadn't planned anything, that I hadn't decided which techniques to use beforehand. The jiyuwaza was far from perfect, but it felp pretty good. I didn't panic or get too overwhelmed by the attacks. There isn't really anything I'd like to do differently, but it would have been nice if we could have show the jo katas more than once. Now I can start studying aikido again, not just the grade test techniques. To start taking it easy again. I think I'm going to study jo kata 22, as it was removed from the grade test technique list and I didn't practice it for the test.

Frank Noël seminar: 30°

2008-03-09T16:33:00.009+02:00

This was the first time I went to Frank Noël's seminar, even though he's been coming every year during the time I've studied aikido. I'm just too lazy an aikido student to go to seminars that are held outside our own dojo or Helsinki, and even so I attend seminars very seldomly. Thus my experience with well-known foreign senseis is pretty much limited to ENDO Seishiro Shihan, IGARASHI Kazuo sensei, and KOBAYASHI Yasuo Shihan. Now that I'm studying for the 1st kyu, I've been attending seminars to reinforce the momentum.

Throughout my involvement with aikido, Frank Noël has become familiar through people at my dojo teaching aikido using his approaches to techniques and principles. Now that I've been able to observe him in person and take ukemi for him, it's even more clear that our dojo unofficially follows his style. Noël's technique is almost more prominent at Meido-Kan that Endo Shihan's, but that may just be me. That's probably the reason why the seminar felt almost mundane, everything was so familiar. Not that I could actually preform the techniques the way Noël sensei showed them, but the forms were more or less similar to how I see kihon waza.

The subject of the seminar was the entry angle that applies to almost all techniques from a frontal attack. According to Noël sensei the angle is 30°, give or take an angle. Being reminded of this came at a convenient moment for me as I've been pondering on the entry for shomenuchi in jiyuwaza. I don't have to change anything, the fundamental parts are the same, but I can try and refine them by using the exact angle. This is good. Have to see what Igarashi sensei has in store for us, his seminar's up in a fortnight.

Martial no more

2008-03-04T00:08:00.002+02:00

Had an… epiphany of sort. When I started studying aikido, and for quite a few years, I thought of it as a 'martial art'. I thought of various aspects of self-defense, taking those into consideration when trying to understand the techniques. I'm not saying anything has really changed, but today I realized aikido is not a martial art. Not for me. Not anymore. The 'martial' aspect of it is gone, the 'art' remains. Some may read this as "aikido is choreography, a dance", but that's not exactly what I mean. The principles taught can be applied to a situations where violence is a real threat. The art can be used for self-defense. But it is not a martial art. For me, now, Pekiti-Tirsia Kali is the martial art I study. Aikido that I study is… merely an art. How it is used, it's immaterial. In a way, I've lost something. Something I miss already. But it will fade away and at some point I've forgotten what I thought I saw in aikido. I just hope the mere 'art' is enough for me.

Move as One

2008-02-24T21:59:00.003+02:00

Aimer, ce n'est pas se regarder l'un l'autre, c'est regarder ensemble dans la même direction.

Antoine de Saint Exupéry

(For those of you who don't speak French, that's, love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction.) I think MK was in right quoting that in his class, it's a good thought for aikido.

1st kyu grade test notes

2008-02-20T13:30:00.002+02:00

I'm the laziest blogger ever. Anyhow, thinking about taking the 1^st kyu grade test in the ~~spring of 2007autumn of 2007~~spring of 2008, and thought I could actually write down some notes to myself about the techniques.

The grade test requirements changed in the beginning of 2007, but the table still contains the old ones. I think I still want to practice them for the test, just because studying them too is good for my technique.

All in all, I need to ask whether the non-jiyuwaza techniques should be performed so that uke will be able to complete the grab, even in kubishime.

tachiwaza
	katadori-menuchi	~~ikkyo~~	~~omote~~
		~~ikkyo~~	~~ura~~
1		nikyo	omote
2		nikyo	ura
		~~sankyo~~	~~omote~~
		~~sankyo~~	~~ura~~
3		iriminage
4		shihonage	omote
5		kotegaeshi
		koshinage		~~2 different~~
6	chudan-tsuki	ikkyo	omote
7		ikkyo	ura	The entry is the same as in omoto even though it feels odd.
		~~iriminage~~
8		kotegaeshi
9		sotokaitennage
		~~udekimenage~~
10		hijikimeosae
11		uchikaiten sankyo
12	jodan-tsuki	ikkyo	omote
13		ikkyo	ura
14		shihonage	omote
		~~uchikaiten-sankyo~~
15	maegeri	iriminage		Ask if the techique has to be the long form, or can the short form be used if uke fails to block the atemi
16	maegeri	kokyu-ho
ushirowaza
17	ryokatadori	ikkyo	omote
18		kokyunage
19		kokyu-ho
20		aikiotoshi
21	eridori	ikkyo
22	katatedori-kubishime	sankyo
23		koshinage
24		kokyonage
hanmihandachiwaza
	~~katatedori~~	~~sankyo~~	~~omote~~
		~~sankyo~~	~~ura~~
		~~iriminage~~
		~~kotegaeshi~~
25	ryotedori	shihonage	omote
26		shihonage	ura
27		kokyunage
28	shomen-uchi	iriminage
jiyuwaza
29	shomen-uchi
30	ushirowaza toriwaza
bukiwaza
31	jo kata	13
		22
32		31

It's the easiest thing in the world

2007-03-29T10:57:00.000+03:00

Why is aikido easy?

There is only one direction: forward. No matter which direction your body moves, your spirit will always move forward.
Your hands are always in front of you. How convenient, you have something to remind you where your spirit is moving to.
Hands are an extension of your center, seika tanden, and as such don't really do anything on their own. Every action starts in the center.

I'll list more as I remember them :)

The Role of Atemi for Uke

2007-02-27T21:24:00.002+02:00

What's the role of atemi anyways? I've always thought that it's about giving the nage more time by distracting uke and creating a situation where blending can continue. Thus the atemi shouldn't stop uke, just redirect the attacking strike or move uke to a position where off-balancing can take place. Atemi doesn't really even make contact with atemi points and is usually slow enough for uke to see in time. This way uke has a chance to dodge either by moving their body or changing the attacking strike into a block.

To achieve this effect, uke cannot know that the atemi is not intended as a counter-attack. They have to think that, for example, the nukite will strike their trachea and cause damage. They have be be afraid of the atemi and act accordingly.

Too often even the yudansha forget this in day to day practice. Take yokomen-uchi attack for example. No matter if the entry is irimi or tenshin form, both entries contain an atemi. It's not uncommon that when you make an open handed reach for uke's face, they just stand there, not react in any way. They know that this is aikido, we don't hit people. Atemi is just a threat. Atemi in aikido is void. I disagree. The role of uke is to attack and keep attacking until they cannot. Thus they have to dodge counter-strikes, always be aware where nage is, look for openings in nage's technique and continue with additional attacks. If uke doesn't react to the atemi in nage's entry, this basically signals that they've lost their will to attack and nage really has no need to execute a technique. Uke should always remember that they don't know what will happen, they should always think of every atemi as a blow that could permanently injure them.

Some people have commented that is look silly that whenever someone strikes an atemi towards my face, I pull my head back, move my body to dodge, even close my eyes. I don't do this because I want to perform demonstration aikido and want the nage's technique to look good. It's because I strive to forget that the other person will not hurt me. I moved in to hurt the nage by trying to strike them, and I expect them to do the same for me. I try to dodge the counter-strike and search for a position from where I can launch my counter-counter-attack. It may look silly, but in the mind of the uke, the only thing that matters is who throws the last punch.

Like I had better things to do

2007-01-09T14:35:00.002+02:00

I think it's stupidity that my name appears three times in my dojo's class schedule, but at least right now I think this is what I want. I had to quit the Pekiti-Tirsia course because my muscles are too inflamed to take the beating there. I hope to continue next autumn with that, at kali felt like something I'd like to study more. While Pekiti-Tirsia and Aikikai's aikido superficially look very different, I think they would complement each other well.

The aikido basics course will start today, about a dozen people have signed on and I think we'll get some more during the first few weeks. At least initially it looks like most of the people are young men, which is itself is not a bad thing, but optimally there'd be men and women in even proportions, both young and old. That would help everyone as they'd get the change to study with various people, not just their own body type and stiffness. (In the beginning men tend to be too stiff while women too limp, and they learn the aikido softness and strength as time goes by.) I will start off with ikkyo, that's quite enough for the first class.

When you tap with your foot, I'll throw

2006-01-25T10:59:00.002+02:00

Studied kotegaeshi with ML yesterday after the beginners class and right now I think kotegaeshi is all about timing, not about hand, feet, or hara movement.

The hand and feet movement is important, you have to have that working first so that you don't have to focus on yourself throughout the execution of the technique. Also, you should keep in mind that the power comes from your hara, kotegaeshi is not about twisting the uke's wrist and forcing them go down. However, right now it feels like the moment you throw is the key to just about everything; if you wait until uke has regained their balance after the initial guidance, it's too late. The thing that I use as a guideline is uke's feet, specifically the rear one. If you let the uke to land the foot firmly on the ground after they turn towards you, you have either off-balance them again or simply use brute force and turn the wrist. By changing the timing to throw before the rear foot lands or just at the moment when it taps on the tatami, uke is still light and moving and can be easily guided by turning the wrist and dropping your hara.

What has coffee have to do with it?

2005-10-10T12:48:00.000+03:00

Making a cup of coffee is like making love to a beautiful woman. It's got to be hot. You've got to take your time. You've got to stir... gently and firmly. You've got to grind your beans until they squeak. And then you put in the milk.

—Swiss Toni

Making coffee really has absolutely nothing to do with shihonage (四方投げ); shihonage has everything to do with dropping bricks! Let me elaborate: the "throwing" stage of shihonage can be seen as something where you move the uke's hand behind their shoulder and then you either push it forward or down. This works, the uke will most likely find themselves laying on the tatami, wondering how they got there. This, however, is perfect case of using force where there is no need for it. When you use force, the uke will reject it, i.e. resist it, and will end up stiffening the both of you, requiring even more force to be used to down the uke.

I've used the following in the basics course to describe shihonage "throw": imagine you're holding a brick and you're asked to put it down on the floor. What do you do? Do you push it down? Do you throw it down? No, you drop it. The gravity will take care of the rest. Similarly, the "throw" in shihonage should be as if you were just dropping your hands. Dropping your hands, dropping ukes hands, dropping uke. In aikido fashion, dropping your hands is not just letting your hands go down, but rather dropping you hara and lettings the hands follow. Timing plays into this when you don't stop after turning under ukes arms, instead let "everything" drop after you've stabilized your stand, i.e. dropping you hands is an extension of the henkan. If you execute the technique with step back, step in before the "throw", the drop becomes the end of the step in. In any case, shihonage has nothing to do with pushing uke's hands down, or with coffee. It has to do with dropping bricks.

Tags: aikido, shihonage

There can be only one

2005-03-01T16:28:00.000+02:00

There is really only one iriminage (入り身投げ). I had thought the short, direct version was different from the long version where you make a tenkan (転換) and a henkan/kaiten (回転), but they're just two continuations of the same technigue, entering. Should one therefore always first attempt the short version and if the uke keeps the contact, only then take a tenkan step and unbalance the uke outwards. Of course there are attacks where you want to use the longer version directly, but still.

(Our cat, Kisshomaru, is trying to eat the curson on the screen again. :)

M showed me something he had studies in Tissier sensei's seminar. First a way of entering where you stay on the attack line, go down and lift you arm above your head, in a similar position to what your hand would be if you were uke in ikkyo and the nage was just about to cut through you with a tekatana. The contact point was under uke's elbow, so you have to be there in time and really had to bend your knees. That was actually a really solid and strong position and place, if you just kept you weight down enough, so that your ura side leg was more or less in the air, ready to kick or take a step. then you just steped to uke's ura side, in a way sneaking under uke's arm pit and cut directly downwards to unbalance the uke. Really strong. And difficult.

The other version was one with an atemi (当て身). Again you stay in the attack line and you just come in with an atemi stright into the face, and the moment uke stops or hesitates, you again go under/past the striking arm. The end effect of the uke hitting hard and you unbalancing when the uke is still trying to dodge the atemi is a really powerful throw.

Yet another was the direction of the "actual" throw. You didn't throw behind and against the uke, but rather continued his movement and the direction was sort of in a 90 degree angle to uke. This enables you to execute a hard throw, i.e. one where you throw the uke over your leg. Initially I found doing this really hard, as you're afraid you're going to break the uke's neck. But the trick seemed to be that you keep the "throwing" arm pretty much in place in front of you shoulder, and initiate and execute the the throw from the hand that holds uke's head. The hold needs to be a good one, not a light grip from the jacket or lower part of uke's neck—control the whole head. Then, just let your weight drop down and guide the uke down from their head. This requires some skill from the uke, that they make a yoko ukemi (横受身) and take support from you by just keeping their nage side arm in contact with the side of your torso.

Would God be cut?

2005-03-01T01:53:00.000+02:00

Went to see Cutting Edge at the British Museum late last year and it was quite an experience. Nothing flashy, just a bunch of old and pretty swords in display cabinets. You couldn't touch them but, as silly as it sounds, they looked really sharp (and who in their right mind would go and touch a sword to see if it was sharp or not). A feeling you don't get from holding a bokken (木剣), or an iaito (居合刀) for that matter. I think just seeing the proper katanas 刀 gave me new inside to aikido weapon training.

When you're swinging a bokken you're basically swinging a wooden bat, something that doesn't cut but rather smashes. And that's all right if that's what you're after— a bokken can be used like a hammer and probably works hideously well. That's how Conan the Barbarian would swing it. However, if aikido bokken training is about studying sword techniques, then you really should try and cut with the instrument, not smash with it. That's what seeing the old katanas reminded me of. When you're a beginner, you should strive for speed, not strength. Sure, you need to have power behind the cut when the opponent has armour you want to cut through, but generally speaking it's enough if the tip of the bokken moves fash and you're relaxed when you cut. (Damn those shoulders, why can't they just stay down.)

I suppose that's it: don't hit with a bokken, cut with it.

Get thee behind me, uke

2004-08-22T16:20:00.000+03:00

I had a free-practice session with a bloke from my dojo today, just laid-back Sunday evening session, so nothing too strenious. We went through the ushirowaza ryotedori (後技両手取) techniques for the nikyu (二級) test, and I think I understand more about how to initiate the contact to uke and how to guide them behind you. Earlier I had just held up my hand towards the uke and stepped back and away from them as they made contact. Then, just let my hand be pushed down against my hips as the uke stepped behind me. The thing is, that way the uke really has no reason to step behind me, but rather just smash my face in. I had tried to guide the uke before, but not… properly. Now, I think got the hang of it, or maybe just a hang of it. I didn't let my had be pushed down immediately and kept the uke at an arm's length distance, guiding them outwards with the palm of my hand facing up. If you keep doing that, the result is that the uke will just keep rotating around you, you constantly facing them. The catch is to turn your palm down in an inward circle, to give the uke a change to push you hand down. Because you've already at that point made the uke mode around you, taking a step forward and outward will leave the uke more or less behind you, and they will most likely go for the other hand if you've left it there. Getting the timing right in starting the technique that follows is another matter, but you still have to get the beginning right, right? Right.

Flow Like the Water over the Fingers

2004-08-05T12:35:00.000+03:00

Have you ever observed your teacher (先生) showing you how a given technique is executed, telling you about some minute detail that makes a difference and then been asked "do you understand", to which feel like replying yes, I understand what you mean, but really don't know how to do it myself. Sigh. Anyhow, that's beside the point.

I've been studing kotegaeshi (小手返し) during the last few days, and noticed that I constantly keep forgetting the basics. I can't try and put the blame on the fast pace of the technique, as kotegaeshi really isn't that fast—I could almost say the opposite. In kotegaeshi, say from your most basic attack of gyaku-hanmi katate-dori (逆半身片手取), both the uke (受け) and the nage (投げ) have plenty of time and this makes it ideal to study hard ukemi (受身). Still, I seem to forget the basics all to easily. I was training with a small yudansha, and when ever I throw her she bounced right up from the ukemi. I suppose when you're light enough, there's a moment right after making contact with the tatami that you can use the momentum you still have to get up, bounce basically. She instructed me that I need to "cut" downwards with my free hand, with the one that turns the kotegaeshi, to block the upwards momentum and begin the osae waza part immediately after the throw, not to wait until the uke has landed and made themselves comfortable. Makes the landing a tad less comfortable for the uke, but sometimes you just have to forget politeness when it hampers with the effectiveness.

Also, I made the capital mistake of kotegaeshi, i.e. trying to execute it as a chudan (中段) techique, as opposed to gedan (下段). It's so easy for the uke to just let their hand drop, thereby ravelling the lock, and step behind the nage to perform an irimi-nage (入身投げ) as a kaeshi-waza (返し技). It's a gedan technique, damn it, why is it so difficult to remember. I suppose it has something to do with the fact that we try to throw the uke hard, teach them to fly and smack down, try to make the throw look impressive even though it creates openings to our defence. One should be mindful of the effectiveness, not care about how the throw looks. O-sensei's (大先生) aikido might have looked like something stright out from The Matrix, so let's leave astral aikido to him and demonstration aikido to Christian Tissier at Festival des Arts Martiaux Paris Bercy.

In a way related to the above, I was also reminded a few days ago about the importance of the "turn" bit in kotegaeshi. A kohai (後輩) had trouble guiding me down, her turning of my wrist just didn't work "enough". I asked her if she also turned my fingers inward, not just my wrist: simple anatomy, turn the uke's fingers inward, into a fist, that way the tendons are streached even more and quiding uke becomes easier. Works like a dream when you're executing static techniques, but makes all the difference in flowing and moving forms, too. Years ago, soon after having started the study of aikido, I was told by a yudansha to stroke the fingers inwards, just like water—I immediately classified it as being astral aikido, but soon noticed that it was not.

While writing this entry, I noticed that I used the word "force" when describing what happens in a kotegaeshi, when I should have used the word "guide". You don't turn the uke's wrist with force—that only stiffens the both of you—instead you simply guide the uke. Who wanted to learn something easy anyway :)

Turn, Don't Push

2004-08-01T08:46:00.000+03:00

Yeah, once again I relearned the same thing all over again: moving you center really makes a difference. We were studying the techniques for the sankyu (三級) test, ryote-dori kokyu ho (両手取り呼吸法) to be specific. I more or less know what to do in that particular technique, I can more or less make it work. But only when you try and teach someone else something about a given technique, you really see the differents parts and flows of the whole.

What I managed to show my partners was how the technique becomes a lot lighter, more flowing, when you simply turn from your center, instead of trying to push the uke (受け) with you center. The way they first went about it, was that they stepped side off the attack line, moved closer to the uke, constantly turned towards the uke, and pushed through. When they changed the way they positioned themselves before the actual "throw", i.e. turned to about a 90° angle to the attack line and maintained the circle their hands created, kept holding the big beach ball in hands, as opposed to leaning to the uke and flattening the circle, letting their to be pushed against their torso. And when they at that point just turned towards the uke, not leaned and pushed against, the "throw" suddenly became effortless. Just turn and that's it. And, to top it all off, when they kept close to the uke, stepping back into the attack line, into the empty corner of the "triangle", they were able to prevent the uke from taking a step back. Fun.

What Is The Sound of One Hand Clapping the Tatami?

2004-07-30T13:14:00.000+03:00

Correct me if I'm wrong, but to my best knowledge it should be "a silent tap". If so, I've a long way to get there. Thus, lately I've been thinking about changing my goal in studying aikido—instead of trying to learn the things needed for the next kyu, I should now concentrate on my ukemi and on how to be a good uke in general. This year I will be studying ukemi and next year I think I'll have a go at tenkan. Silly, I know.

One of the reasons I started to study aikido in the first place was the lack of competing, the lack of banging your head against the wall in trying to be better than your opponent. This, of course, can also be seen in the way aikidokas usually think about grades and tests. Still, I think I personally should stop worrying about knowing the techniques needed to pass the next kyu test and and simply study the things I think I want to be better at. Who needs a black belt anyway, you can't see it from under the hakama.

(Well, ok, there are some benefits to going to the tests. When you've managed to get 3^rd kyu, you can wear a skirt. After 2^nd kyu you can attend advanced classes during seminars, and with a 1^st kyu you can attend the monthly dan classes.)

So, the sound of one hand clapping the tatami should be a silent tap. I really admire some of the yudansha in my dojo for their "break fall", hard ukemi, which is basically silent. Kotegaeshi, koshinage, tenchinage, you name it—they fall "hard" and don't make a sound. I, on the other hand, will shake the earth accompanied by a loud smack, just like in Smackdown or Raw. In theory I know what to do: be lazy and relaxed, bend from your hip, touch the tatami instead of hitting it. In practice small women just tell me I really like to throw you because you land so hard. Yeah, cheers for that.

Maybe the next step I should take is to attack a tad less forcefully, give 10% less energy to nage. That way, maybe, I'd be more in control and I wouldn't have to be an "automatic uke", that is give in immediately. In some cases, like in hijikime osae, you don't really want to wait for the elbow lock to kick in, but normally you're totally safe in letting the nage to guide you down—or up and then down. And, when you think about it, hijikime osae too is absolutely safe when nage guides your momentum down, instead of giving your energy back into the elbow lock. Is it, then, that my ukemis leave something to be desired because I'm afraid of the techniques, or because I have this image of what aikido should be like and how the uke should react and I desperately try conform to that image? Probably both, and lack of experience and body control etc.

Yeah… at this point I think it's worth studying the ukemi—and motion and reaction in general—for a while, and get back to details in few years.