July 4th 2017

The iconic picture of Washington crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze. While fraught with inaccuracies, the image is a powerful reminder of the total commitment the rebels had, pledging their fortunes, lives and sacred honor to the cause.

Now used as a parody of saccharine inspirational posters. It translates the 18th century ideology to current parlance, a simplified version of commitment.

Washington defeating the Hessians at Trenton proved that the rebel army could defeat professionals.  Washington developed a challenging battle plan – crossing an ice choked river in the middle of a very cold winter night to surprise the Hessians – it required three separate and coordinated landings. Only the men in Washington’s command were able to execute the plan, but they were sufficient and the Americans won the battle.

It is far too easy to forget what total commitment meant to these Patriots. Paine’s words chided the sunshine patriots who only fought during their enlistment because they were not truly committed. Washington, however, risked everything. If captured he would have been hanged as a traitor. He pledged his family fortune – spending his own capital to support the war effort. The raw physical endurance – years of cold, fighting for supplies, battling discipline, the infighting among his generals, and the lack of support by the Congress – Washington exhibited the power of will and a steadfast commitment to character to endure it all.  Imagine carrying the courage of your convictions through the winter encampments, the long years of toil… In an age where entitlement is the norm, the value of sacrifice is unknown. With one-day shipping even delayed gratification is a quaint concept.

I spent July 4 watching my boys celebrate with fireworks. Oregon regulates the sale of fireworks to sparklers and snap caps so I did not worry about the explosives (thank you Nanny State). I do worry, however, for their future. Try as I might to instill the importance of history, discipline, patience, and gratitude, I fear that the inept and sanctimonious narrative that is the current zeitgeist will poison them: make them believe that they are owed something.

The 4th of July should celebrate the determined spirit of independence and reminds us of the high price that was and must be paid for it.[1] I only hope that my children at least learn that lesson.

I also hope that you all find a greater degree of self-reliance and independence through your training. Martial arts should inculcate more than physical skill. Training should forge the spirit. No one gave you the skills you are acquiring – your skills are yours by your efforts alone and you are setting yourself on a higher path. A path that requires dedication, perseverance, and leads to greater independence.

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Required reading

Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850) is most often read by economists because of his work on popularizing free markets. His emphasis on the unintended consequences is seminal, greatly influencing Friedrich Hayek. Bastiat’s pamphlet on The Law is a great reminder of the use and abuse of legislative power and should remind us all of the nature of Liberty.

Too few read history with purpose: that is; to learn the lessons oft painfully earned by our ancestors and thus avoid Santayana‘s admonishment, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

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Of course, even the great among us has their flaws and we love to parade their lesser moments in order to feel closer to par, but the sad truth is, we are not. Read the biographies and more:

Podcasts by Joseph Ellis Revolutionary Summer, His Excellency, and NPR

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[1] Only decades after I graduated did I learn of the sacrifices some of my teachers made; ones I could never have understood as a teenager in high school. I remember learning that our new principal was coming to our small regional high school from New York. I have a distant memory of his introductory speech which seemed overly harsh – bringing big-city draconian discipline to our small (graduating class of 65) school. I vaguely recall he had been in the military. A reminder that we may never know the true spirit that lives in others.  Col. Roy Conklin – R.I.P. (2019).

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Another Barker reflection on July 4th

Long Forgotten Fourths of July

July 4, 2019

I rarely think about my brief military career, but July 4 brings it to mind. It was on the first weekend of July 1961, that I reported for training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, along with a busload of fellow reservists from Northwestern Connecticut.

I was supposedly ‘in charge’. As the oldest recruit, with the most formal education, I had been given the temporary rank of ‘Sergeant’ complete with easily removable chevrons. Nobody listened to anything I had to say. It was a raucous bus ride that ended outside some run-down WW 2 barracks which would be our ‘home’ for following eight weeks. We were hustled off the bus and chivvied into the barracks by the training sergeants, who took the opportunity to teach us some of the basics of Basic Training–like how to get into a line, and which foot was the left.

But we were left alone for most of the following day, the Fourth of July. In those happy days, even soldiers were allowed to enjoy the national celebration–unlike today’s service members who must march through the heat and humidity of Washington D.C. to feed the ego of our contemptible Commander in Chief, ‘Bonespurs’ Trump.

It happened that one of the training sergeants was a black man named Sergeant Barker. He was delighted to greet me as I got off the bus, with my removable stripes. “Ah,” he greeted me, “another Sergeant Barker…” From then on, although not in charge of my platoon, he took a ‘familial’ interest in my military career, sometimes addressing me with ironic courtesy as ‘Sergeant Barker,’ although I was as miserable a recruit as any that ever served.

In those days (and I hope still today) the army selected its training sergeants from among the best it had to offer. Sgt. Barker was a veteran of the battle at the Chosin Reservoir. My own platoon sergeant, Sgt. Mastrovito, a small Italian man, not a great deal taller than his M-1 rifle, was also an admirable example–a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge–a first class leader and teacher, well able to turn recruits into something resembling soldiers.

At the end of Basic Training most of us were sent to Fort Sill for Basic Cannoneer Training. This course was run by Captain Wing, a Chinese-American officer, and his Battery ‘top’ Sergeant Rodrigues–who warned us all to remember that although born Mexican, he was “A U.S.Army citizen.”

Again, he and the other artillery training sergeants were outstanding teachers and leaders who returned us to our Reserve Unit eight weeks later as reasonably competent artillerists. Several months later I returned to Ft. Sill for OCS training under Captain Dawson, a professional soldier, and his ‘Tac Officers’, Second Lieutenants, who had been outstanding graduates of an earlier OCS training cycle.

I was certainly not destined to be a soldier but tutored by these men I came to realize that there was honor and satisfaction to be had in a military career. I admired them, and I still do. It has not escaped my notice that many of them were minorities. Contrary to those who mock the military and suggest that professional soldiers lack the qualities required for success, ‘in the real world’, I admire that great institution for nurturing and utilizing abilities which might otherwise have gone to waste in a less ‘color-blind’ civilian society.

I wonder what happened to them later.

I would not be surprised if Captain Wing became a general–and I dearly hope that Sergeant Rodrigues achieved his retirement dream of processing and selling Mexican food–which, in those long-ago days, would have been a new thing.

IKKYO – SOLVING FOR THE INFINITE

There was a time when students paid their teachers for each technique. At first glance that may seem expensive – especially if you believe the hyperbole that Aikido’s techniques are infinite – but that would be to confuse naming conventions for patterns of movement.

Ikkyo. The first technique. The first teachings form the pedagogical foundation but to draw the connections and show the range of expression of the technique is to begin to understand.

There are no kata in Aiki budo. All phenomena of this world vary constantly according to the particular circumstances and no two situations are exactly alike. It is illogical to train using only a single kata, thereby limiting oneself.

-Morihei Ueshiba

Wrong.

Earlier I suggested heretically that the lack of kata in Aikido is a limitation. Properly used kata allows a student to learn a pattern of movement that can manifest as a technique in any number of expressions. But the critical element in learning is the pattern of movement – the kata.

Aikido dojos usually use a brute-force (rote repetition) method to instill competency and while it can be highly effective, more often than not, it seems to lead to years of fumbling precisely because “all phenomena of this world vary constantly” and the teachers either don’t show or (more likely) don’t know how to show the universals: to draw the connections.

So ikkyo as a kata: (1) assume migi hanmi – hands in neutral position at your sides (2) right foot moves laterally as the hands are raised directly up the center line (3) left foot moves 45-degrees forward with a slide-step and the hands are brought down – timed so that the hand come to waist level as the left foot stops. Repeat on the left side. That is it.

Learn that kata and really understand it as a pattern of movement that can express itself as necessary to contend with the constancy of flux (Heraclitus). We are pattern-recognizing animals par excellence – so avoid the limitations of the specifics and learn to see the universals.

Tonight with ikkyo we explored the range of expression it contains. From suwari-waza shomen-uchi ikkyo we develop hip stability and see that first we must not be hit – the intercepting arm must learn to take a hit because moving off the line laterally from suwari-waza is slower than the opponent’s strike. Then moving to standing – moving off line (zoning out) to avoid the strike is possible, but one must still control uke’s striking arm, so back to the R-R or L-L intercept. Once contact is made, the one-hand control is achieved because the counter strike to uke’s head inspires uke to receive strongly without collapsing. This then locks uke’s elbow allowing nage to flow to that joint.  Now with two joints locked, uke’s center is compromised. If uke blocks remember this is a fiction of the dojo – the breeding ground of blind confidence and insipid ego. Bypass the second hand control on the elbow and flow immediately to a palm-strike/eye rake through the low gate. The entire reason uke doesn’t stop nage’s lock flow is because uke is avoiding the more devastating hit. Now that uke understands why they should move, the ukeme becomes responsive, because uke now understands the logic-chain (and that by responding in flow uke can counter).

From this kihon presentation of the unarmed expression we explored the paired bokken.  Nage gives gedan kamai which invited uke to strike shomen. Moving exactly like the kata, nage takes uke’s kote with a secondary strike. The subtle refinements that follow do not materially change the ‘technique.’ The basic form is still ikkyo: await a committed attack, then zone to the inside line and counter-strike. The refinement of performing a rising strike to the underside of uke’s descending kote, then at the apex of the rising cut, to snap turn the sword and return on the same line just delves the depth of the technique. The cognate in empty-hand is to see the difference between intercepting with the ulna and shyuto edge alone (one bone block) and using a rising back-hand and the flat of the forearm (two bone block). In tonight’s class I only showed the one timing – where uke’s strike is committed and descending as opposed to nage catching it on the rise (as in the terminal move in roku-no-tachi) – but the principle would not change, just the timing and target (the tricepts instead of the wrist).

Then the presentation with jyo. Uke deliver’s shomen – and using the same body movement, nage zones off-line, allows the blow to slide down the receiving/protecting jyo, glides to the end of uke’s jyo and performs a snap strike back to uke’s head. Ikkyo is makiotoshi. Of course there are refinements – the rising action of nage’s jyo, the pressure necessary to keep the strike connected, any number of details that correct repetition will expose.  Keep training! But most importantly, see the connections.

Then the sword vs jyo expression. Uke strikes shomen with a jyo. Nage with sword in sheath zones out and draws straight up and out to ward the blow with the flat, only to perform a snap cut. Repeat the action with uke striking with a sword and nage with a shielding jyo. Same pattern of movement. It’s all ikkyo.

Ikkyo -
It’s all ikkyo

In an earlier post I assert that there is no ura. The difference between the inside line (omote) and the outside line (ura) is a positional relationship – not a difference in technique. In the second class I illustrated that concept.

Remember the matrix – if ikkyo is a R-R/L-L encounter on the inside line is ‘omote‘, then that same encounter on the outside line is ‘ura.’ As a weaponized presentation of ikkyo-ura: uke cuts shomen – nage innocently had his sword in the sheath. As uke makes a committed cut, nage zones outside line, extends his sword (still in the sheath) to use the pommel to trap uke’s sword with a strike at uke’s hands. Ikkyo in one of its numerous manifestations.

The essential lesson I tried to impart and impress is that the pattern of movement – the kata – is the antidote to the infinite details. With poetic inspiration, O’Sensei may have known the exact response for each and every unique experience, but that is a failed pedagogy. One cannot teach the infinite. But one can discern the universals – the antidote for the infinite!

SAN NO TACHI

The third paired sword exercise – we broke it down into its constituent movements of uchi komi and kiri kaeshi then rebuilt it as a flow sequence. But each component has its purpose – its bunkai. Any given point in the flow could be a terminal movement.

Uchidachi’s opening gambit of kiri kaeshi could remove shidachi’s thumb. As shidachi escapes the cut to the thumb, uchidachi has a brief moment to cut shidachi’s wrist before shidachi returns the stroke to cut uchidachi’s wrist (kote), only to stop the devastation with a quick retreat and capture. And from that capture to try to cut shidachi again on the opposite side and as shidachi counters – uchidachi then cuts the final domination on the centerline kiri otoshi.

The finer points – experiment on the final cut by trapping shidachi’s ken using the weight of the press – not a simple stroke – uchidachi must close any opportunity for shidachi to escape.

There is the take away variation – uchidachi opens kirikaeshi, shidachi escapes to counter cut, but in time (with kimusubi) uchidachi continues to follow the uchidachi to jodan (threatening shidachi’s wrist from the underside) to use that pause to capture the tsuka (handle) only to then accelerate shidachi’s counter stroke with a downward drop.

There is a counter by shidachi at the ‘terminal’ cut whereby uchidachi’s cut is captured on the horizontal (like the exercise) and returned with a wrist snap cut.

The components of the kumi tachi are nothing more that a logic chain based on an opening gambit that forces a specific series of actions from each player. Like chess you will eventually begin to see several moves ‘deep’ and therefore know the conclusion at the first contact.

Playing the encounter with iaito adds a depth. This is not a recommended training practice. However, the play of steel on steel increases the mental focus and demands a new level of respect: mental acuity needs increase. Now the feeling of the planes of the blade, the angles of impact and the necessary transitional flows manifest.

Kiri kaeshi with a bokken can feel like a simple circular motion but with an iaito the conical entry and the manipulation of shidachi’s blade takes on new dimensions – there are angular forces as well created by the flat of the blade.

Uchi komi must now be felt with the flat of the blade – bashing shidachi’s blade aside is now clearly tantamount to suicide by samurai. The importance of the glissade and the small degrees or arc we must use are apparent.

Weapons training is supposed to elicit the seriousness of play.[1]

Ancillary exploration using the iaito – nikkyo off the cross hand grab; ikkyo off the cross hand trap (and the explication that the cut to the head drives the ukeme) – escape through rotational step; sankyo the lock from attempted grab with the direct relationship to the empty hand derivatives. It is important to remember that the weapons are primary – all the empty handed are nothing more than shadows.

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[1] The seriousness of play – I first came across the concept in Clifford Geertz’s analysis of a Balinese cock fight but it originates from Johan Huizinga’s (1938) Homo Ludens which is well worth revisiting and still proves influential. (And for the importance of play, listen to the Ted Radio Hour Press Play and follow the trail.)

For the martial artist the concept of play in war is a valuable one – mutual combat as a contest and war as an extension of the will of the prince allows for an honorable defeat where the rules take precedence over effective destruction. The rise of democracy (it has been argued) leads to the commitment of the polis to destruction of the enemy (q.v. Thucydides, the Roman total commitment to warfare during the Republic, Sherman’s March, the Allied bombing of Dresden, etc.). [See also Better Angels.] A contest of individuals (and kings and tyrants are the state embodied as individuals) allows for a dueling mentality where first blood rather than total exsanguination can satisfy.