Do Nothing Different (Differently)

This was a bit of fluffy video that I was going to discard.  With all the four corners stuff from before, here's a an example of how I would apply it to holding a sword.  I just threw this together on the spot the same day that I did the ushiro stuff from Shirata Sensei, so obviously the sword cuts are for someone coming up behind me.  The same idea is possible for someone in front of me, the sword work would be just a little different.  I did all Doh cuts, but no reason to not be doing Shomenuchi or Yokomenuchi.

When you hold a weapon, does everything change?  Or have you practiced the same skills you would use with a weapon every day of your training?

But the Trilogy is Over!

Sauron's Tower starting to fall from Return of the King, the third installment of the Lord of the Rings

Emperor Palpatine's statue being toppled from Return of the Jedi, DVD special edition.  The third installment of the original Star Wars trilogy.

 

I've sometimes wondered at the blatant use of imagery in this scene from the Iraq war.  In the years that followed, I wonder how many people were complaining that this scene from the end of movie trilogies was being played out, but now there was a book 4?  Book 5!?  Book 6!?!  The story isn't over yet?!?  WTF!!!!!!!! 

 

Some critics of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series have commented on how long the books keep dragging the story out.  "The author is just being greedy!"  In an age of trilogies, a man who was a graduate of a military college started to write a story about a world war and the story got long.  More characters introduced, more characters dying, more complexities and simply having the protagonist be the most powerful on the battlefield wasn't enough to tie up the story with a pretty bow in 300 pages or less.  "How are we supposed to make a movie under 3 hours with this material!?!"

 

I'm looking forward to Book #12 of the Wheel of Time (if you don't count the prequel, which would make this #13).  The war story that Robert Jordan foresaw outlived even the author, who had to give his notes to Brandon Sanderson to finish after his untimely death. 

 

Was Robert Jordan being greedy?  Or did he maybe know something about the truth of war that we might do well to never forget? 

Stop playing games.

 

Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro were famous samurai from the late 1500s.  Their match was arguably Musashi’s most famous duel.  It was also apparently one of Musashi’s last lethal duels.  Eiji Yoshikawa tells the story very well, but his version is still historical fiction rather than 100% fact.

What interests me about the story is that centuries later, Kojiro still has his defenders.  He was famous, and very skilled.  He lost.  Most versions of the story still temporize and somewhat dismiss Musashi’s victory.  Depending on the version you hear or read:

-          Musashi showed up late

-          He insulted Kojiro to drive him more crazy

-          One version, Musashi waited until Kojiro had his famous “Drying Pole” cut shorter – Kojiro was using an extra long battle field sword for years, then had to switch to a shorter Iaido type blade largely out of social pressure.  Kojiro’s skills were with a longer blade.

-          Musashi whittled a bokken that was longer than he knew Kojiro’s sword would be, allowing him a lethal shot while Kojiro couldn’t quite reach him.

-          Some versions say Mushashi positioned himself so that the sun was in Kojiro’s eyes.

 

Musashi was famous for using every advantage, so he probably made sure he was close to the surf with the firmer sand and tried to leave Kojiro either in the water or in the dry sand.  Kojiro had spent extensive time in the city at this point, and not on the beach.

So, Musashi was not credited clearly with the win, and he was also declared a coward for jumping back in his boat the second Kojiro hit the ground, making a quick getaway before Kojiro’s students could take revenge.  Musashi was a “cheater.”

The various versions out there are statements on Musashi’s time.  Wartime had passed.  The samurai’s abilities were about politics and social stature.  Victory and defeat were secondary to Honour.  Honour was a form of social control that those in charge could bend to their needs.  Rules could be broken.  Someone could train for years under their superiors to develop a weakness that their superiors could exploit in a second.  Low ranked samurai had their weapons removed and were left in Seiza while their superiors had cushions, chairs, or the right to stand.  Paranoia was a virtue.

Why is Musashi not simply the guy who killed Kojiro?  Why is Kojiro not simply the loser? 

Why qualify successful combat at all?  This comment on my blog about Tomiki and Ueshiba O Sensei:

A little known fact is that Ueshiba trained in judo under Kiyoichi Takagi from age 24 to 26 (before taking up Daito Ryu). Thus Ueshiba had an advantage because he knew the judo repertoire and how a judoka moves, whereas Tomiki knew nothing of aikido. A good guess is that Ueshiba neutralised Tomiki by preventing him from taking a jacket grip.

Not what you would call a 'win' by normal standards

 

Kenji Tomiki lost.  Tomiki decided, and apparently his primary teacher Kano Jigoro agreed, that Ueshiba O Sensei was someone worth studying with.  Respecting Tomiki Sensei is not reason enough to denigrate Ueshiba O Sensei.  Ueshiba had more education?  That's not cheating.  Ueshiba didn't play the Judo game rules and fought like an Aikido person?  That's not cheating.

I remember watching the Olympics last summer.  The female Gold Medal Heavy weight match had two experienced wrestlers who had faced off many times.  The Japanese wrestler let the Canadian wrestler hit her in the head several  times.  Her head was down and far forward, her hands and knees were back.  There were penalties for not attacking, so both would wait until one or the other would face a penalty.  To touch someone’s hair or head or perform a striking action was a penalty.  Finally, the Canadian could not afford another penalty, and faced with losing to the rules she held back, and soundly lost.  So, sticking your head forward at waist height with your hands unable to defend yourself against blows is a “Good Strategy.”

One of the Judo silver medals was won by a young man who defended himself by landing out of a throw on his face.  A point is won by having someone land on their back (full point) or on their side (half point).  So, landing on your face is a “Good Strategy.”

Boxers can enter grappling range and hug someone, because throws and sweeps aren’t allowed, knees to the groin aren’t allowed.  So, hugging someone and standing still is a “Good Strategy.”

Olympic Tae Kwon Do was frustrating to watch.  Two seconds of movement, a split second close enough to make contact.  A foot flies upward.  Someone demands a camera replay and everything stops.  The foot is seen to brush a single toe against the head gear; the person “kicked” in the head has not been moved, nor stumbled nor suffered any apparent trauma nor even impact.  Victory!  Nevermind the part where high kicks are more points than sensible combat, throws are illegal, contact below the waist is illegal (but your opponent has a large below the belt surface area effectively above the belt for a large portion of the match.)

In our combat games, there has always been a problem finding a way to make training safe for both partners.  Someone who cannot fight their way out of a wet paper bag in their 40s because they were too brutal in practice in their 20s missed the boat in my opinion.  Just like training for rules, training to be a cripple is training for eventual incompetence in combat.  MMA started as a relaxing of the rules, but now has safe terrain, no weapons, one on one, illegal techniques, weight classes, gender classes…mostly driven by a need for safety, but some rules like maximum grappling time limits were because the crowds found it boring to watch two sweaty guys laying on top of each other.

I am not questioning the athletic ability of these Olympians, nor the effectiveness of their arts.  I certainly don’t want to fight them.  It’s the rules so solidly in place that they are now defining dogmatic characteristics of who we are as martial artists.  It’s the lack of acknowledgement by some to say that all combat games are faked; whether to focus on a specific skill, or for health or safety.

Now, the people with nuclear stockpiles that can obliterate the planet have decided that chemical weapons that could obliterate the planet are “cheating.”  Same with biological weapons and plagues.  “We don’t have it so you better not.  Fair combat is what we can do to you, and you better not even try to develop the ability to do what we can do or we’ll call a foul and bomb you before you can challenge us on equal footing.” 

I think this is one truth that Morihei Ueshiba was absolutely correct about:  testing, competing with and criticizing others weakens us.  Legislation, sanctions, “limited” military action and speeches are not peace; they are a substitute form of violence.  When the first atomic bomb landed on Japan, I believe O Sensei learned we can’t always hide behind the “rules.”  Treating life like a damn game is a way we try to pretend there are no consequences to our actions and choices (and non-action is a choice!)  There is no referee to call foul, and there is cold comfort in having our friends write a favourable obituary.

 

It's not a game.  Stop acting like it is.

"Don't blame me, it's just the Rabies talking."

We train to create a reflex.  Reflexes by definition are triggered by perception that the spine and not the conscious mind responds to.  We don't choose to flinch.  We might need to train poor reflexes out of ourselves:  it's not always helpful to fall into an infant startle reflex or fall into the fetal position.  Relaxing into good posture and awareness, full body connection - this is a good reflex to develop.

The USA decision to have people register their hands as lethal weapons is a little contorted in my opinion.  The idea that a reflex has been so engrained that I slash someone 30x with a folding knife in my pocket before I consciously think - this is the public image of this claim, and I think it insults us all. 

I met a security guard once who laughed and bragged that when he was playing a friendly game of water volley ball with his family, a relative of his jumped up for the ball and "our hero" responded to the person falling towards him with a palm strike that shattered the man's nose.  I think I remember other listeners saying, "oh, good Mushin!"

Musashi was able to cut without conscious effort to raise and lower his sword, but he was a brilliant tactician.  He wasn't a slave.  He was a genius and a top level manipulator, not a brain-dead robot.  Chinese arts take about Wu Wei, and in Aikido we talk about Takemuso Aiki - the spontaneous creation of martial technique.  This requires a free mind, a mind that embraces all possibilities.  Mushin is often defined as "No Mind," but this is not something to confuse with "Brainless."

A good reflex to draw a weapon.  A small step further to pull a trigger.  Hands up, making a fist (if part of your system), making space- but hitting someone in the face a dozen times?  Breaking a neck?  A stray punch can crush a throat I suppose, and kids in hockey do end up dying from a hard slap shot puck to the chest so why not a hard single punch.  An accident can happen; this is different from not taking responsibility for your actions because of "your superior training."  

Who you are shouldn't change.  If you want everyone safe, but see the need to make a choice, your response will likely be proportional.  Soldiers cannot hesitate on the battlefield, and they need to shoot to kill.  But, if a hypothetical soldier pulls a trigger and takes out a school full of children?  We don't credit his training.  We'd court martial him, maybe give the death penalty.  At our most compassionate, we call him sick and confine him.  We don't hold this soldier up as the ideal we should strive for.  We expect a proportional, reasonable and planned response.

I work in health care along side some great martial artists.  Their general health, determination and ability to override their stress and function well and remain calm makes them great caregivers.  I know MDs, PTs, OTs, CNAs, EMTs and many others with martial arts backgrounds.  One of the nicest RNs I ever met left us for a year to be a combat medic a few years ago.  Their emotions don't override their intelligence.  "We forge our minds and bodies in the fires of our will!"  Who wouldn't want someone like that backing them up in any profession?

If a weakened patient started yelling and flailing, and the nurse responded by breaking the patient's nose, the nurse would be fired.  We would not brag about Mushin, we would call it poor emotional control and a lack of impulse control.  We would not call this nurse a higher level martial artist.  We would call him a rabid dog.

The thing about rabid dogs - we don't say, "this is a good dog, just the rabies is responsible.  I want the dog to be rabid, because there's a good time and place for the rabies."  (However rare that time and place might be.)  

We shoot the dog.

Don't brag, "It wasn't me, my training took over and it just happened!"  If you are a slave to your training, then retrain yourself and be the one in charge.

Morote Dori Meanderings

 

Morote Dori is a bit of a strange exercise for many people.  I didn't get it right away.  I remember complaining, "But I would just let g-"... as the elbow hit me in the teeth.  I remember having issue at the beginning with being asked to move Uke with one one arm when I had two perfectly good legs for kicking and another perfectly good arm for striking.  In terms of combat - I had this image that always makes me smile:

There I was, in the bar minding my own business, and up walks Bubbah, lookin' real ugly and mean-like and he says to me, "Boy!  I wanna hold your hand!  It's your hand or your life!"

So, what a silly waste of time, right?

1.  The first movement in the 4 corners work above, I am doing something more basic out of Yoshinkan.  I also looks alot to me like Shomenate.  So, my Uke's neck stays in one piece while I get to practice a palm strike to an imaginary chin with power.  The Sokumen Iriminage movement gets practiced with solid resistence without Uke's neck getting broken.

2.  Circular movements have a new meaning.  If someone grabs my right arm in classical Morote Dori, if I circle underneath and up I have his left arm coming to Ikkyo and his right arm to Shihonage.  If I circle overtop, I have his right arm in Ikkyo and his left arm in Shihonage.  Play with that idea, and a thousand ideas come out.  As the circle continues, a long laundry list of classical movements becomes possible - in my own little world I started to call it a line.  There are decision points where the circle can change and find another line.

3.  Two people grab Morote Dori, and each hand has resistence and needs to be fully explored and expressed.  So, I can practice bringing my hands together against Ushiro Ryotekubi Dori with strong resistence without needing to find a pro wrestler to practice with.  Both Iriminage hands need to be expressed, both Shihonage hands need to be expressed.  With one friendly partner, I might never need to develop a large portion of a technique because it still works - until it doesn't.  I get a good sense of where my holes are in my basics, and I get to ramp up my structure practice without putting my partners at higher risk.  My bum left arm doesn't get to hide behind my right.

4.  Carrying on from the multiple attacker grabbing practice, I learn that one simple way of moving should be stable and powerful in multiple directions.  This is huge in randori.

5.  Ikkyo = two hands on one arm.  Nikyo = two hands on one arm.  Kotegaeshi, Shihonage, Sankyo, Yonkyo, Gokyo; you get the idea.  Morote Dori movements are the foundation of all wrist lock reversals.

6.  Tanto Nage, hand gun retention = Morote Dori practice.  Throwing with Kokyu Ho while holding a sword too.  Now I get to not be focused on my grab, but rather my ability to cut.

7.  If I can't hold with power and structure, none of the rest of the wrist locks matter - weak grip, poor structure: no Shihonage, no Kotegaeshi, no Sankyo...  This gets practiced by attacking Morote Dori sincerely.

8.  Jodan, or raising the hands up.  Chudan, or opening or closing.  Gedan, or sinking the hands down.  I get to play with these ideas against power.  I was told a million times before Aikido, "Lift with your legs, not with your back."  I did the flutter-the-arms-upward-and-downward movement at the start of the Taiji form many times.  Nothing informed the subtle points of the motion like having someone grab my arm who could bench 400lbs.

So, to round out the 12 Days of Tandoku and satisfy the requirements of the challenge - basics are the foundation of advanced material.  The silly exercises from the first class - they contain a huge amount of material that keeps giving and giving with more practice.  The lessons from the first class - those might be the ones you never outgrow.  Simple broken down structure and body movement work, whether with or without resistence - this is the foundation of moving with power.  Take the most advanced practice you know, and when you dissect it you will see your basics.  This is what might become a way of life.  As Musashi wrote, "your combat walk should be your everyday walk."  How your arms connects to your body and how they are best used - who cares if you never get in a fight?  These are the positions for carrying groceries, for pushing a door closed, for helping a patient to the bathroom.

Or, as a very smart blogger shared this week:

 

Those lessons that teach you better are likely your basics.

 



 

Yokomenuchi Tai Sabaki

More of the same ideas as yesterday's post. Yokomenuchi requires a little more movement to get off the line of the attack. Shomenuchi has a single vertical plane, and a movement in nearly any direction takes you off this plane. Yokomenuchi is cutting through the plane you are moving in (there is a variation where you duck underneath, but it is of limited utility for me - I am often too tall at 5'11"). You need to judge your Maai, placement and timing.

Working on this gave me a better foundation for understanding "Any 5." It also helped my Randori. Shodokan's Tandoku is a good repository of body movements, as are the Ki Society's Ki no Taiso and the Iwama Suburi. In Aikikai we don't have a universally accepted solo practice to teach us how to move our body, just some ideas that keep popping up.

Again, guidelines/suggestions and not something to hold up as dogma. This is not an exhaustive list. Which leg is weighted when you start? Tenshin is easier and faster with the front leg weighted, as is Irimi Tenkan. You need to shift to be back weighted to go to the other corners. How much momentum have you already generated? It's harder to back up when you are already moving forward, easier to back up when you are waiting for Uke. How would this be different with a weapon? Can you bring weapons and empty hand together?

Most importantly for me - as we don't have a hard, fast, universal standard of solo Tai Sabaki practice, find your own sources of inspiration and test them out if this idea doesn't work for you.

 

What the heck is Shomenuchi Kokyunage? 4 Corners in Shomenuchi (and personal implications for "Any 5")

The 12 Day Tandoku Challenge is now in Day #10 at this writing, but between using my iPad to write the text and my Windows desktop to post the video I couldn't seem to get one coherant entry.  Here we go again.  How long can I write on something I know little about?  Apparently I can go on for a good long while.

This is a personal theory I started to work on after I was unhappy with my Shodan Randori.  I wanted an approach that helped my overall positioning in the room in relation to my training partners and I wanted to develop the Takemuso Aiki ideal of spontaneous creation of technique.  Good positioning, timing and kuzushi all seemed to start with the first movement.  This gave me better opporunties and a better platform to move from.  I talk about this at the dojo, but I haven't posted anything before and thank you to Steve Kaufmann for his permission to do this.

One of the things I wrote about in response to seeing the Tandoku form before was about seeing 4 corners used.  I have my own idea of the four corners, but I really took inspiration from the ushiro exercise of Shirata Sensei for the organization of the material.  Kawahara Sensei was the driving force,

In the old CAF test requirements, at 5th Kyu we did:
Shomenuchi Ikkyo to Yonkyo Omote and Ura
Shomenuchi Shihonage Omote and Ura
Shomenuchi Kotegaeshi
Shomenuchi Iriminage

Other techniques were asked for, but essentially the Gokyu test was all the basics against Shomenuchi with accuracy.  I am only referencing Shomenuchi for this entry.

For the Yonkyu test, we had to add:
Shomenuchi Gokyo
Shomenuchi Koshinage

At the Sankyu test, we got asked for three Kokyunage from Shomenuchi.  There are a few implications here.  One is that I believe Sensei wanted to communicate Kokyunage is the more advanced technique, instead of the Koshinage.

When the time came to do three Kokyunage, we did three different Tai Sabaki or body movement and placement.  I started to see different corners.

Shomenuchi Iriminage, Kotegaeshi and Ura all moved forward and behind
Shomenuchi Ikkyo to Yonkyo Omote all moved forward and in front.
Shomenuchi Shihonage Omote leads outward and in front
Shomenuchi Shihonage Ura and Goyo lead outward and slightly behind

So, forward in front and behind, lead out in front and behind.

Kokyunage is is becoming a meaningless term.  It applies to too much.  It is far to vague.  When I read Saito Sensei's Takemuso Aiki Kokyunage book, I see things called Kokyunage that I learned by another name.  I have heard all techniques are kokyunages, and it might be true but I don't find this idea helpful to communicate, teach and distinguish different ideas.  It also didn't seem to keep with what Kawahara Sensei was asking us to do.

I started to practice the most abbreviated, singular receiving movement made fully expansive and expressive.  I saw this as an opportunity to break the established forms and just move with an intention to time, place and lead.  The extended and complex kata distilled down and simplified to a split second of time and contact.  I started to see when I didn't cause kuzushi right away.  I started to see a myriad opportunities in the basic classical kata to finish the movement.  This became my personal understanding of Kokyunage. 

Each Kokyunage could also be represented by a single sword cut or a single movement with the Jo.  One particularily challenging student years ago was just given a few madeup Jo kata with these few body movements to practice on her own, and she did well on her Gokyu test.

For my kohei who have been preparing for Ikkyu and Shodan tests, I like to encourage this idea.  We get asked for any five techniques from a variety of attacks, and there certainly are more than five basics.  For preparing for multiple attackers and freedom of movement, I like to practice different initial moments of contact.  While I mention specific kata in the list above and we were asked to learn specific kata for Kawahara Sensei, really all of the basics can be done from any of the corners.  The corners are also suggestions/guidelines and not an exhaustive list of possibilities.  Neither is Tandoku I'm guessing.

Thank you Ross for taking Ukemi.

(After years of scribbling on napkins and practicing this on my own, I really wanted to be happier with the video.  Good to see what I look like, and things to work on...)