REFERENCE DRILLS

Class outline

Present from shomenuchi because it is more familiar to Aikidoists, but the class is just as easily presented from jodan tsuki (the line vs the point – all points are lines and lines are points).

When uke strikes, nage has precisely four means to address it:

  1. Outside line forehand
  2. Outside line backhand
  3. Inside line forehand
  4. Inside line backhand

Because I presented ude kimi nage as the responding technique, the required ashi-sabaki was irmi-tenkan for the outside line and ushiro-tenkan for the inside line.

Each presentation also required specific beats to effect the technique.

  1. Outside line forehand (Shibata sensei) is a pak sao catch that feeds the backhand as the irimi-tenkan moves nage behind uke’s hip and shoulder – trapping uke’s elbow against nage’s torso which allows nage to do a forceful (fajin) hit to the elbow with the intercepting hand. (This is RvL, LvR)
  2. Outside line backhand is the kihon presentation – cross arm intercept with a rolling cam to feed uke’s striking arm to nage’s waiting back hand which is already below uke’s elbow. (This is RvR, LvL)
  3. Inside line forehand (modified biu sao) is more familiar as a yokomen interior blend. From shomen, nage will receive the R attack with L (or the L with the R) and use the back hand to immediately attack uke’s center (eye spear). Nage deploys the hands in unison – prayer entry – and then completes ushiro tenkan to redirect uke’s motion 90-degrees. (This is RvL, LvR)
  4. Inside line backhand requires nage to torque his hips into the strike to get the backhand catch, feeding the waiting low line front hand for the fajin hit to the elbow when the uke’s body is 90 degrees to the original line of attack. (This is RvR, LvL)

All these responses are predicated on a mid-arm meet (at the elbow and humerus) – move the distance closer and nage should move up one body joint: elbow becomes neck (kubi shimi)- and move the distance farther and nage should take the more distal joint, uke’s hand (kote gaeshi).

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Photos by Russ Gorman

DISPLAYS OF POWER

“Son, there are assholes everywhere” was my father‘s pithy rejoinder when I complained about some idiot or another – something I did frequently as a teenager. That reminder didn’t mean that assholes are the most common form of people, but that everyone had the capacity to be one. Hence my axiomatic approach – “trust but verify.” I assume people are self-interested but benign and largely unaware, so I am always pleasantly surprised when they prove me wrong. Fortunately, that happens frequently.

Nevertheless, I am warry of intent – hence situational awareness. A recent vignette:

Heidi ordered some replacement panels for our new refrigerator which were being shipped to the house. Freight is usually delivered by the lowest-cost independent carrier and the quality of the workforce is always a question. As the team hefted the panels inside, one of them said “nice house.” A potentially innocent compliment, but something about his tone gave me pause. His colleague was trying to scan the labels as proof of delivery, but his cell service wasn’t working so he needed to remove them for his records. He didn’t have a knife, so I offered mine – my Cold Steel Frenzy, “Wow, big knife,” he exclaimed with genuine surprise.

I wanted to send the message – this nice house is well-defended. Psychological warfare. Psyops. I am willing to give you my knife to use because I know I don’t need it – I have plenty more and better than what I gave you. My trust results from greater skill. Skill banishes fear.

Did I really believe that these delivery men were using their day job to case potential victims? No, but a flicker in my gut said it was a potential. They knew my address, my wife’s cell number and saw the general layout of the first level. So I listened to that flicker and acted upon it by producing a ferocious and effective weapon from my pocket and handing it to them.

My inspiration was Commodore Perry when he gave cannon to Japan to force a trade agreement. The gift was a naked display of power: here, you can have these cannon because we have plenty and we can return with more at any time. Gunboat diplomacy.

However, in trying to find that reference (trust but verify), I cannot corroborate my memory. The Brief Summary of the Perry Expedition to Japan, 1853, doesn’t list “cannon” in the official list of gifts. So perhaps my memory fails me, or that story I recalled from high school was apocryphal. Regardless, the story imparts the lesson: displays of power coerce compliance and act as deterrents.

Raw displays message at a biological level and thus are vulgar in polite society. Too many folks believe displays are no longer necessary because violence is not necessary – believing in our Better Angels. Nietzsche saw to the truth of the matter:

“Of all evil I deem you capable: Therefore I want good from you. Verily, I have often laughed at the weaklings who thought themselves good because they had no claws.

Friedrich Nietzsche: Thus Spake Zarathustra
Second Part 35, The Sublime Ones

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The Substitute (1996) Tom Berenger sizing up Richard Brooks – both looking over the clues that signal each of them are capable predators. Richard Brooks makes the first overt display, “Power perceived is power achieved.” Yes indeed! Just know there is always a more deadly predator than you.

YOKOMEN AS DOUBLE DAGGER

Class Outline

Establish familiarity with takemusu Aikido exercises:

Gyakyu hanmi tenkan – soft committed elbow, move from shoulder (learn to move self)

Ashi-sabaki – same arm shape, driven by hips (learn to move uke)

Ashi-sabaki ushiro tenkan – same arm shape – learn to lead uke : uke learns to commit to movement

Yokomen uchi – uke must learn to attack with commitment : magic wall : cast hand from shoulder : acute angle

Yokomen direct – kihon : nage moves in (superior time) and towards uke’s flank with two hand response (intercept attack and atemi uke’s face) this is body displacement whereby nage takes uke’s position with tanren advance. The advanced counter : nage uses one-hand parry-riposte (cam the arm) : eye spear – but the arm is same shape [from here in basic class, move to beginning of hubud-lubud* to effect ikkyo – rokkyo]

* the tie-up in the FMA is a blend in Aikido to keep uke in motion (thus requiring the ikkyo – rokkyo immobilizations)

Yokomen ushiro-tenkan (blend) – arm is in same shape, just low line – timing is nage must intercept, like direct just yield to uke pressure, then double dagger

Both direct and ushiro-tenkan are inside line plays where nage stays inside the tight arc of uke’s strike

Then there are the outside plays:

First a slip – where nage uses the intercepting hand, but folds at the elbow to pass uke’s strike – use a feint then fade to make the slip to the flank (Mulligan sensei special)

Second avoids by entering in for a direct elbow strike (Shibata sensei special) – sidestep while advancing under uke’s strike (but it is not a ducking action!)

Hubud interpretation to irmi-nage is a four-beat entry. Yokomen to (1) direct parry, fade to slip, then (2) nage passes the yokomen with back hand to achieve the outside line, then (3) replace back hand with intercepting hand to control uke’s elbow (contact forward pressure trap) then (4) original backhand becomes straight thrust (irimi nage) throw.

Passing the attacking hand. Nage uses the outside hand to catch/pass the yokomen (rather than intercept on the inside) – chasing timing – to feed to the low-line where nage’s back hand can replace with a pressure-trap. From there, an Aikido irimi to the flank – using the control hand as a fixed point to move away from! Don’t disturb uke’s hand while moving to shikaku. From that position, nage can execute irimi nage omote or ura.

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The banner image is Kyrian doing sticky hands exercise with Master Keating who is the inspiration for the interpretation – sensitivity drills are critical for knife work and are an under appreciated basis for informing Aikido’s movements