Tandoku and the Way of the Sword (Do Nothing Different)

Our shared art is said to be descended from sword work. Specifically, a Japanese in origin sword style that has little resemblance to modern Kendo nor Iaido and no resemblance to Korean, European or Chinese sword work. Definitely, this is not supposed to resemble any movie sword work - as much as I loved The Matrix, the movie did a disservice to us mere mortals.  We can never look as cool as what the public has come to find boring.

I have often wondered if the reverse was true - that our juijitsu came before our weapons.  Takeda Sensei, Morihei Ueshiba's teacher, was to my understanding mostly a Juijitsu teacher.  Takeda was not trying to gain popularity for his sword work, but rather his empty hand techniques.  Many Aikido teachers in different associations will have something probably called Shihonage, probably have something looking like Ikkyo with a variety of names, Iriminage by a variety of names and styles.  The devil is in the details.  Our empty hand forms have movements in common, though our language does not reflect that from association to association.

Basic sword and Jo work from Birankai, to New England Aikikai, to Iwama, to the students of Nishio and Shirata - very little resemblance.  Some do weapons daily, some very seldom.  Their empty hand work has more in common.

Of course, regular weapons training feeds and informs empty hand work.  But, when I look at the Tandoku clip of Tomiki Sensei, or the Iaido of Kanai Sensei - the weapons work follows the empty hand.  At one point in time for the Samurai, this might have been reversed.  Many decades if not centuries have passed since the sword was the default weapon.  Today, we learn to use our hands first.  The Samurai class was all but banned from wearing swords and guns in public in 1876.  The Founder of Judo would have been a teenager; Morihei Ueshiba would not have been born yet.  Post WWII, the sword would have probably been subject to heavy restrictions.

Kanai Sensei was a very impressive and powerful man.  I am friends with a number of his students.  His empty hand work was gorgeous and unique in the details.  His own Iaido system to look at it either came simultaneously or the empty hand Aikido came first.  The Shiho Omote movement in particular - the empty hand technique is the same, and unique.

http://youtu.be/cabwIuuKYSs

(bonus points for anyone who can tell me how to put two Youtube videos in a single blog entry)

At the start of this exercise, we were given several source videos one of which was Tomiki Sensei doing the same movements as appear in his Tandoku kata/exercise, but holding a bokken and swinging it.  He's doing nothing different.

Chicken or Egg?  Swords or Empty Hands?  Why care?  But if our empty hand is what taught us to get off the line and bring a weapon to bear to bear with mobility, power and stability - then who cares what tools we adopt into Aikido next?  Just do nothing different.

Da Lu

One exercise that I am somewhat upset to see isn't seeing much Youtube time is Da Lu. I approach it as a way of issuing and neutralizing that starts with the stepping and body movements. The hands play a secondary role. This is, I think, a more formal practice in Yang Taiji, and maybe one of the Yang developments along with the San Shou two person combat form.  There is a Chen Style practice called Da Lu, but it is more like what I equate with Walking Push Hands - nothing is different from regular push hands, your feet are just moving.

This video is a good representation of basic Yang Style Da Lu as I learned it.

For those people out there who want to bring Aikido and Taiji together, or for people who are following this as part of the Tandoku Challenge - I see something similar to the final movement in Tandoku, and some similar ideas to the Tomiki Walking forms.

Nothing Natural about "Natural"

Whole body movement is not how we like to move. Like most people, you probably didn't get lessons on how to move. One day, you didn't fall over when you sat up. That worked so well, eventually you didn't crack your skull standing and then eventually you threw all caution to the wind and moved your feet. Whether or not you moved effectively or smoothly was mostly an accident. You might have been teased on the school yard, or taken a dance lesson or joined Junior Miss pagents or something that made you pay attention to your walk.  Your first pair of heels maybe, or an injury.  Walking was not likely judged for it's effectiveness - the only standard was, "don't fall over most of the time."

In keeping with the Tandoku theme, the idea of feet only movements, then simple one step movements with one hand in motion, then increasing the difficulty in the feet, then increasing the difficulty in the arms and eventually using two arms with the more complicated footwork - this formula is something I see in Taiji push hands progression as well.

Isolating a body part to move it, then isolating another body part, then slowly complicating the whole thing - now, the whole body is being used.

The video above shows a series of Chen exercises, and a nice progression.  Few students get past solo form, and those who do get into paired work often stay in the early phases.  Basic push hands is where power and neutralization is expressed in the hands, and the feet are locked in place.  The waist and the weight shift is the driving force.






 

Half way

It came to me after a tirade on the perils of trying to recreate a strict form.  I am only half of the equation.

Tenchinage is not about me going Heaven and Earth.  If I move little, but Uke's shoulders go Heaven and Earth then I have kuzushi.  If I raise my hands in the Heaven and Earth idea, but I have no kuzushi, no affect on Uke, then I have failed.

A good punch in a Karate form or a Taiji form really doesn't happen in isolation, nor do throws, pins, blocks or any other strikes.  Ukemi taken in isolation is not ukemi - it receives nothing.  

When I trained in a Ki Society offshoot dojo, the idea of the Ki no Taiso appealed to me.  Beginners need to have some sense of the shape of a technique.  I started to have my misgivings at that dojo when people who had done the same shape many times had no sense of the relationship required. The esotericly named forms that I was gleefully told I had never done as poor little me was just an Aikikai student - I had done them all.  I knew how to apply them.  

Maai is the space between myself and my Uke(s).  Ai Hamni, Gyaku Hamni, Omote, Ura, Hanmi Handachi - these terms are about a spatial relationship.  Sen no sen, Go no sen, Sen Sen no Sen - these terms are about a temporal relationship. We can do solo practice for a long time, but without the sense of the relationship our techniques will not feel correct no matter how correct our solo practice is.

Do I sink low, stay upright, dodge, enter, blend, lead - I might not be the person who determines that.  I get one vote, so does everyone else.

What form does offer is a common language.  We have dozens of different words now for very pedantic constructs.  Which word is correct, which minor variation is being shown - we in Aikikai respond like this is a declaration of loyalty/disloyalty.  Different is a synonym for wrong, or a mistake.

I like how this Tandoku thing was presented for this exercise.  Several variations, lineages, timelines all noted and respected.  A whole community from several decades and several countries who can all move forward with their practice.  Innovations and changes catalogued, saved, communicated, expounded upon and held up for civil discourse.  Videos presented by people who spoke different languages and lived elsewhere in the world but still able to communicate in a physical language of form.  Even people like me who didn't know the form.

Because, ultimately knowing something in isolation doesn't matter much either.  Education, discussion, classes - these words all imply a relationship too.

Tandoku Challenge Post (from out of left field).

This is an ongoing Tandoku Challenge post, but it started as a letter to the editor on an unrelated subject.

Stanley Pranin has made his point that his personal teacher was one of O Sensei's finest and longest serving students.  I will concede that point.  Saito Sensei seems to have also criticized O Sensei's teaching method and tried to improve on it, as did Tohei, Kisshomaru, Tomiki and others.

Why do I even care that another system exists?  Why bother to look at another person's ideas?  Have I mastered all my own lessons I was given?  H--- NO!

Recently, the Aikido Journal forum is about who developed Iriminage, how it was performed, and then that all other innovations are less historically derived from the source.  A long time intended blog entry on this one technique started to come out.  It's not on Tandoku, but it does touch on why I even care that Tandoku exists:

I’m not against your thesis, in fact I agree and I approve of this forum and this discussion.  We should know our history, and we should explore what we think we know.

When I go to my copy of Budo, the first step does show Uke brought leaning forward as pic #1, then transitions to the pics you posted. The text refers to hitting Uke in the face, then entering. This would cause the Uke to straighten up, and this elicited reflex that gets followed is the emphasis of some types of Iriminage.

The difference between the generations is not the movement, but the degree of exaggeration. I have no concern about exaggerating an idea as a means to learning.

I have not been focused on trying to do only one singular version of Iriminage. The Dokka talk about a strategy based on natural patterns and an unlimited number of responses. So, rather than argue about who is right, I have no problem that Shin Shin Toitsu Do calls this Kokyunage – they do a lead and cut (at the one school I briefly attended), rather than cause kuzushi and respond to the Uke’s correction.

I like Shirata Sensei’s system of Sankaku Irimi, En no Irimi and Chokusen no Irimi with Omote and Ura but I think some other teachers like Akira Tohei did a better job of showing En no Irimi by expressing the circle more completely, and I tend to separate Chokusen no Irimi from variations found in Shodokan Atemi waza.  I see several teachers showing a wide variety of receiving, leading and cutting.  

I prefer to think of Yoshinkan’s Sokumen Iriminage rather than the increasingly vague-to-the-point-of-meaninglessness use of Kokyunage used to describe the identical technique and a million others that have nothing in common.

I think too little attention is paid to Ki No Nagare versus Kihon.

I only learned Gedan, Chudan and Jodan handwork explicitly in the CAF.

Our language needs a huge overhaul. I try to use the most specific names when I teach, even if that name is Shodokan, Aikikai, Shin Shin Toitsu Do, Yoshinkan, Iwama…

We need a way to communicate the different ideas beyond specific dojo. There are amazing ideas that deserve codification and dissemination. Overly focused on who is “correct” to the exclusion of all others – it’s not my approach. My Sensei was clear there were many right ways, just many, many more wrong ways. I don’t think attempted regurgitation of still life photos is the correct approach to accurately define “correct” for all time. Iriminage is supposed to be able to adapt to different weapons, different terrain, different sizes of attackers, different numbers of attackers. That means the form must change and be adaptable, not rigidly judged and forced into one external shape.

My final comment on the version being criticized – this large lead down works well in Hamni Handachi, which is great for learning to deal with attackers who are taller and have larger strides and reach. Sort of like a Japanese wartime student who suddenly found the country full of American soldiers, or teachers deployed overseas. This might have been a wartime innovation.

I like being unlimited.  Sometimes that means paying attention.  

As time goes on, I will probably edit this far beyond the scope of the original comment on Aikido Journal, so please bear with the discrepancies.  After the original tirade, I have come to realize that this is an example of Stanley Pranin's work as a historian.  We are ignorant of our roots.  Not merely ignorant of our uncles and cousins in the art, but of the Founder and his actual contributions.  Our shared art has been reinvented and redefined multiple times.  As our various political bodies drift further apart, we become more ignorant of our own shared history.  O Sensei should be correctly depicted, as should the historical art.  This does not preclude innovation.

Starting Points

This is part of a 12 day commentary on Shodokan Aikido's Tandoku kata/exercise as part of an ongoing challenge issued by Patrick Parker of Mokuren Dojo.

Where does your practice begin from?

When I train in the CAF and USAF, we start in Hamni.

The USAF dojo where I am now gives higher weight to Ki no Nagare style movement or Ki flow.  This has the benefit of having a sense of the encounter beginning before we make physical contact.  In Ki no Nagare, eventually Yokomenuchi, Shomenuchi, Tsuki, Katadori, Munedori, Katamenuchi all the way up to punch then do a triple kick to the head followed by some flying guillotine, eventually we get to respond to the first sign of movement so it all starts to look the exact same.  No waiting for someone to get their hands on your throat, no being an easy target.  We should feel connected and engaged from across the room.

In the CAF, we gave more regular weight to Kihon.  (We didn't call it that, this is a Saito Sensei term and the only one I ever heard for solid practice.)  We waited until we were grabbed Morotedori, then as Uke became as solid as they could, then we moved.  The same for any Ushiro work.  One of my sempai was a power lifter, and someone who did not get moved easily.  Kokyu Ho (Breath Power) was exhausting, but left me able to find the connections and structure to issue force.

The two ideas are very complimentary, and I have come to agree with Saito Sensei that Kihon should be the starting point - if your timing is bad in Ki no Nagare, you need to be able to respond to actually having someone grab you.  The shape your body should default to in Ushiro work is still the hands in front and close together for either practice.  Without learning Kihon first, then a student asks Uke to move more lightly and possibly fake the ukemi instead of taking the responsibility of moving Uke.

Hamni is used as the default position.  It's the position a throw gets completed from.  The position a second throw would be launched from.  A person who practices like this should be learning to have one or twenty attackers should be treated the same.  Each split second of a technique is the shape and structure of another response to a different attacker.  A standing pin is often Hamni as well, and for the same reason.

Shizentai seems to be the default position in Tandoku.  This is the starting point in Shotokan Karate immediately before and after a kata.  If two competitors are squaring off before the referee blows the whistle, this is the posture you see them adopt as they size each other up.  This is a common meditation posture in the Chinese Internal Arts called Wuji.  No forward motion.  No extreme posture.  A relaxed springboard.  A position of stillness and rest, and similar to an everyday posture.  The person who practices like this should be ready at any moment during their day to launch into any movement.

One of the big changes I saw in O Sensei over time - in the 1935 Asahi News video, he strikes a pose in between throws.  In his later life, he's walking.  Just good upright posture with his feet rolling underneath him as he goes about his day, moving into Hamni when he needs to (which didn't seem to be often) then back to continuous movement.  No worrying if the correct foot was forward when the Uke attacked, no poses or pauses between movements, no forced stopping.  No trying to make the power stance of Hamni something used to walk across the room - Hamni to Hamni is an awkward way to walk and not really a way to adopt as an everyday stride.

Depending on where I was training, I could expect a dojo to tell me any one of these practices was "Not Aikido."  I see advantages to training all the above.

What is a small circle?

In keeping with the challenge of 12 days of writing and posting, the handwork in the Shodokan Tegatana no kata seems to have a great deal of variety.  There are a number of circular movements.  I posted on circles in Taiji before, but covered it very simply.

With each of the four corners, it seems we can cut up (ie Yokomenuchi Ikkyo) or we can cut down (ie Yokomenuchi Shihonage).  We can make the circles different sizes, but I decided for myself size is not just a matter of - well, size.

Jodan is the upper level.  This can refer to any motion above the shoulders, but Sensei used to encourage kuzushi at the Jodan level, then at Gedan level (hip level), then Chudan (middle).  So, not just having hands drop down, but actually causing kuzushi by dropping down.  Not just keeping the hands at the middle level, but causing kuzushi by opening or closing.

For a small circle, I started to see if I had kuzushi at one level.  For a medium circle (a Taiji term no one ever defined for me, so I made my own which might be total crap) I started to feel if I had kuzushi at two points ie lead Chudan, then cut to Gedan or Jodan.  Or, cut down and then lead out.

In large circles, something Y.Yamada does very well, I feel every point of the circle is being used.  The connection and kuzushi can go through Gedan, Chudan, Jodan, back to Chudan.  While the feet are still moving.  A finished full circle technique is very difficult ukemi.

Large circles are not what we do for one on one encounters in a real situation.  They come into their own for a group attack moreso.  Huge and expansive might need to appear suddenly, but keep a compact shape as the default - more power from structure, balance, more safe overall.

For me, I want to make sure I can use the circle.  I hear people talk about how much they like large circles, but for all the motion there might be minimal connection and kuzushi - and very little happening to uke.  Ditto for people who insist small circles are more martial and real - if the structure isn't stable and powerful or doesn't affect Uke somehow, some way, then is the circle really being used?  The difference between compact and collapsed - watch what happens to Uke.  The difference between large and disconnected/over extended - same thing.