Tomiki Aikido Study Group - Yudansha Session in Antwerp, 17th
December, 2011
Once more an informative, interesting and stimulating 4 hour session
where we studied elements of Yamada Sensei's hand movements.
Shomen Ate forwards and to each side. Inside & Outside sweep
forwards and to each side. Inside & Outside turn forwards and to
each side.
Our observations where that whether the arm was swept or turned, the
finishing extension is a stretch from the body centre to the limb
extremities.
This is how the power is acheived using the body frame.
From this evolved the idea of ROTATING and REVOLUTION.
We studied some applications of SWEEPs & TURNs with emphasis in the
detail and when performing slowly.
This posed the question of TIMING versus OPPORTUNITY?
A more practical application of Gyakugamae Ate was studied, when using
the Jo.
We were introduced to the concept of I KI CHIKARA WAZA - The technique
must come from the inside.
The session finished with kneeling exercises, Tori's both hands being
grasped.
Tomiki Aikido Study Group - Yudansha Session 18th December, 2011
In the Sunday morning Yudansha workshop we studied the idea of STRETCH,
RELEASE & THROW. To begin with we practised the individual
elements. These combined were applied to variations of Aigamae Ate,
Gyakugamae Ate and Omawashi.
The session finished with kneeling exercises, Tori's both hands being
grasped.
It is always difficult with stills to see what is happening. The only
way to fanthom stills out is to look at the lines on the pictures, like
the lines created by the seams of the tatami or a line on the wall, and
to see how positions have changed in relation to these lines.
Let me describe what I see.
Page
42: top right, Yamada has already avoided, he's not anymore on the
centerline / middle left, Yamada is still in the same position but
Uke's toes seem to point slightly differently and his hips have turned
so it looks like his feet are next to each other and not anymore one
behind the other and he is bending forward from his waist / bottom
left, Yamada has entered and Uke is bending backwards from the waist
and is thrown to the top of the triangle formed by the original
position of his feet (see picture of Ueshiba on page 44 which is taken
from another angle but looks basically the same).
There is a
great difference with the sequence of Tomiki on page 44. What strikes
me is that the Uke's of Tomiki are always on the tips of their toes and
when the balance is reversed from forward to backwards they stay on
their toes. This is also apparent on the pictures of Tomiki where the
technique is done on a grip, balance is broken to the litlle toe of the
right foot and at the moment of the throw the uke is again on tip toe.
Unless
all of Tomiki's Uke's liked to walk on the tips of their toes it means
that Tomiki had more control of the waist area. But we can't really
decide since we don't have enough images. However, if it is true what I
just wrote it means that you could call what Yamada does a postural
disturbance and what Tomiki does is a balance disturbance. Please, don't hit me.
On
page 43 you have about the same execution but taken from another angle
with more images. But it is clear that you have an Uke who is turned in
an Ushiro fashion as you describe it, I guess this is impossible
without having brought the balance of Uke in the direction of the
little toe of his right foot. So, there is a balance disturbance after
all. The first three pictures op page 42 are literally stills taken
when they were standing still and acting out badly the crucial fases. Of course I only mean the Uke.
What
is very interesting on page 43 is the movement of Yamada's left arm in
relationship to his hips. It can be seen on the middle row and it is
repeated on the bottom row. Maybe I would never have remarked this if
it wasn't for Sato who explained this movement when he first came to
Sheffield in 2008. Standing sideways to Uke you let you fingers glide
to the inside of uke's arm and then by bringing down your wirst while
turning your right hip forward or rather moving your left hip backwards
which brings your right one forward, you make the change from forward
to backwards.
It
is interesting for me to see the different versions ( or what seem to
be) of techniques, for example i have been reading through a pdf file
sent to me on the 24 of April titled Early Tomiki Aikido part one.
When
reading about Ai gamae ate the balance break is created by a Hineri
action on Uke and Uke loses balance onto his toes, ( sometimes I get
students stepping forward at this point with their left foot, this
could be due to many reasons, for example me breaking balance to much,
or Ukes ability or understaning )
he then tries to recover and Tori assists him and takes advantage and enters with Ai
gamae ate.
More
recently, because of my study of Sotai Undo, after the initial balance
break, Tori continues moving Ukes arm in a circular motion ( keeping
the tension on Ukes arm) to bring the balance break over the outside of
Ukes right foot, creating a gaeshi balance break in Uke, and so the
feeling for Uke is compltely different. In the first example he has a
feeling of toppling forward and tries to recover, in the second he
starts to feel himself turning around, like in Ushiro and this makes
his back foot move behind his right foot ( where his weight is pinned,
and the leg made immovable), to try and recover , Tori enters and uses
this moment to apply Ai gamae ate.
In
some of the Yudansh classes we have been studying the shift or movement
of body weight from one leg to the other , and the timing in the
application of the technique. However on page 42 of the study Uke is
just bending forward and then bending backwards and there is no
movement of his feet. I guess this could be descibed as a more basic
form.
I
guess it could also be argued that it is one and the same, as the
continuing application of Kuzushi by Tori is taking advantage of Ukes
initial response to recover, but it doesnt feel the same to me ( of
coarse this is also to do with my ability at the moment).
I have also had it explained to me that case by case, is the appropriate attitude to have.
Of coarse these arguments can be applied to all techniques, which is why we are studying this at the moment.
In the last Yudansha class we did some study of Happo undo where,
at the last moment we closed the hip before moving on to the next
movement. I have been looking through some of the research and on Page
16, there is a series of fotos of Tomiki doing Tegatana Soho, the last
picture shows that he has a wide hip posture, when compared to page 17
and yamada is doing the same exercise there is a definite difference in
the angle of the hips, Yamadas hips are squarer to the front.
Was this just Yamadas version, or was it a natural development as time went by to develope more power from the hips?
Page
24, Exercise 10, KO Mawashi, when Tomiki turns there is no foot
adjustment, and when he is facing the opposite direction you can
clearly see this, again was this because it was considered just as one
continuos movement, or as his feet are turned out and his knees bent
and so sinking into the posture the balance is sufficient.
I
have seen examples where people start by moving the front foot
diagonally accross, so that by the time they have turned they are in a
stable posture, again was this a change in emphasise for the technique,
changing from a flowing smooth movement to two individually different
moves.
When we do Schich hon number 5 and 6, we tend rightly
or wrongly to turn on the spot on the balls of our feet. I seem to
remember that in the Sato DVD, he shows a lifting and turning of the
foot,followed by a definite weight shift before turning.
later on there are pictures from the JAA modern style which show this movement on the same line.
The last Yudansha class brought back some memories of when I
use to practice yoga and Kyokushinkai, many moons ago, however it made
me look up some info which you might be interested in.
the
first part is about the unification of breath and energy chanels ,
just like when we were practicing the eight direction tandoku undo (
sorry I cant remember the name of it ), when we glide forward for the
first movement and then slowly twist the hip to close the groin area (
without pulling back the forward shoulder ), and then bring up the
back leg , turn and advance into the next step.
All of this is done whilst breathing correctly, remaining relaxed and in one continuos
movement, completly focused.
With all of the above I am looking for and trying to feel connections
throughout the body from the root heal up through the knees hip waist
shoulders and out through the arm, at the same time trying to use and
feel smaller internal muscles at work, this helps me develop Aiki power
and at this moment in time in my training I see that these should all
be done as one flowing movement, without stopping.( also for me I need
to practice slowly like a Tai chi kind of exercise until I can feel all
of the correct movements and connections in the right order)
If we stop it only becomes an outward expression of physical movement,
individual exercises which although have benefit, can hinder the
development of Aiki.
secondly,
as mentioned above this is done relaxed as tensed muscles prohibit the
flow of energy, however, as I start these movements there is stored
energy in my body and as i take the fisrt step the energy is released
and should flow through the body, through the energy chanels where we
are able to use this on a cellular level as the whole body and mind
become one, after the first step is finishing I bring up the rear leg ,
again collecting energy ( which I have built up from the first step )
ready to turn and move into the second step, and so it goes on.
Each
movement becomes a link to the next and therefore should not ( in my
opinion ) be considered individually, unless of coarse you are trying
to practice a particular part to correct a fault.
As I said in my last email, the biggest impact on me was the concept /idea
of "mirroring". I haven't stopped playing with this since.
It applies to all Martial Arts and indeed Life itself. I believe it was an
accident and that you mentioned it just in passing, to explain a point???
(please correct me if I'm wrong)
We could run a whole seminar just on this topic. In randori for example,
what we try to do is break the mirror. In life, if our surroundings are
poor, we too go down. At the weekend my surroundings and the people I was
with were good and it made me feel much better. "
The cross and three body zones concepts are very good but difficult to
grasp. And you are right, we have to feel it. Speaking about it and
looking at pictures is not the same.
I'm working on moving backwards with my students at the moment. I believe
that there shouldn't be any difference in posture, stance, smoothness etc.
but in practise the students' movement is completely different. The three
body zones change when the direction changes. So when they practise
UshiroAte and HikiTaioshi, for example, they struggle with the backward
movement, because the zones collapse.
last yudansha session we worked on :
/Concepts
/
* /3 vertical axis/
* /3 body zones - keep connected/
* /concept of the cross - using the arms/shoulder in a correct way/
* /using movement in the bodyframe/
* /generating power from the hip zone/
* /blending tori/uke/
* /concept of go and ju/
We used some special exercises and also some techniques from the 17-hon
and koryu no kata (dai ichi, dai san and dai roku)
Unsoku and tandoku undo explained from a point of view of generating
power and body frame
Last weekend there was the usual yudansha training in the dojo. As we did already many times the "8" sotai dosa, it seems not many people understood very well the purpose of these exercises. It is without fully understanding very difficult to transfer the "hidden skill concept" in those exercises to the different facets of Tomiki Aikido ( randori, shiai, kata, goshin,.....). Last weekend we discussed verbally but also physically the skill of body shifting, inside turning movement and outside turning movement. There was the case of "hiki taoshi" starting movement. A very difficult movement, but somewhere came it out of nowhere : the skill used in sumi otoshi - how to use the body and not how to throw - was also the skill to develop a strong hiki taoshi. The trigger was that simple exercise from the sotai dosa and an open mind. Skill development needs an open mind and sometimes syllabus (for grading...) is a mental block for creative aikido.
How to be creative in your randori training? This was the topic of Shobukai's Randori Seminar with Tim Wolput. Despite the heavy snowfall about 15 competitors from the UK came to this seminar. Also some Belgians were present. Unfortunately the weather conditions were not positive and many local competitors were not capabel to drive to the dojo in Brasschaat. More info about this seminar later on.
This is an rather old article about physics in aikido.
