Protective Arts

CHRIS MULLIGAN – FEBRUARY 2020

Chris Mulligan Sensei returned to Portland for his annual February workshop.

Friday night was body arts and the guiding principle was to gather power at the center. Simple phraseology; how does one achieve it? The closer one’s hands are to our own body’s center, the more structural and muscular advantage we have.

Therefore, Mulligan sensei demonstrated closing the armpits at the first moment of contact by the opponent. This adamantly does not mean pulling uke towards you! The shoulders must remain relaxed, so nage may have to first approach uke to gather the center and thereby define the initial axis of the encounter.

The basis for all these movements is a weapon, which Mulligan sensei illustrated, to train the line of motion. Two exercises:

Irimi – as an entry, nage holds the tanto, uke grabs to stop the weapon hand creating a gyaku-hanmi relationship. Nage gathers the center by moving the back foot first as a redirect of the line (an acute angle to the inside, i.e, cross body) while leaving uke’s hand in place as the point of rotation. Nage moves toward the grasped hand, bridge the gap, then drives with the back foot (which is now the same as the weapon wielding hand) and as uke’s weight is felt (transferred through the grabbed hand), nage raises the weapon up their own center line to bring the tanto to the top of their head.

Irimi as a cross-body entry should redirect uke to the flank. This is a set-up for shihonage and kokyunage which were two techniques we practiced as a culmination of the theme.

Tenkan – gathering whilst rotating. There is a stylistic difference to note between Mulligan and Okamoto sensei, but the principle is identical. In order to rotate around a fixed point (uke’s grasp), nage must gather the center by first bridging the gap. Hence close the armpits which will require nage advancing (a slide toward uke) which simultaneously brings nage closer to their gabbed hand. Only then, when nage’s navel is close to the axis of rotation can nage then rotate around the fixed point. Mulligan sensei will more closely present this action as a closing of the arms to nage’s side, whereas Okamoto sensei will often demonstrate this principle by ‘passing’ her hand with the advancing shoulder. Don’t let your eyes create a difference without a distinction.

The pragmatic representation of this action is when uke attempts to stop nage from drawing a sword. Nage responds by closing his armpits, bringing both hands to the navel (the hilt) closing to bring his body to the point of the encounter, then moving the entire lower half around the fixed point to then advance the sword by drawing properly: This action ‘opens’ nage’s chest whereby the hand drawing the sword extends away from the center whilst the sheath (saya) hand draws back. At the terminal position, nage’s shoulders are at a diagonal to the initial line of the encounter. Nage is not parallel to uke as is often demonstrated to beginners as a developmental stage in teaching tenkan. (Do note that in the sword presentation the palm is down.)

Ryotedori

Saturday focused on ryotedori but the principles remained the same – to bring the hands to the center line and collect the forces. To provide a tactical advantage the nage presents the hands in so that they are pre-cammed: rotated as if holding a ball, so that uke grabs but is not able to direct all the energy through nage’s arms and back into nage’s body. The positional redirection happens upon contact because nage has set up the encounter. Dictate uke’s reaction from the moment of touch.

The techniques used to illustrate the principles were ryotedori irimi, ryotedori ura, ryotedori ushiro tenkan. Each exercise then lead to shihonage as the culminating throw.

Kashima Shin Ryu

The weapon focus this weekend were bokken forms from Kashima Shin Ryu Kenjutsu. This expansion of curriculum is influenced by Tissier Sensei and one that has been percolating in the background for many years.

As a direct student of Yamaguchi Sensei, Tissier has a strong weapon-based approach to his Aikido as exemplified in its line precision and hand details. That precision comes from sword. Tissier Sensei practiced Kashima with Minoru Inaba Sensei while Inaba was still a student of the art. Tissier Sensei adapted the kenjutsu techniques of Kashima for Aiki-ken.

The approach of Kashima is very direct cutting on the entries with quick capturing counter cuts. There is little gap for a beat, riposte, rather the art focuses on a continued direct entry.

The syllabus of Kashima-Shinryû kenjutsu training includes 52 techniques arranged in seven series:

Kihon Dachi (基本太刀): 5 techniques
Ura Dachi (裏太刀): 10 techniques
Aishin Kumi Tachi (相心組太刀): 5 techniques
Jissen Kumi Tachi (実戦組太刀): 10 techniques
Kassen Dachi (合戦太刀): 10 techniques
Tsuba Zeri (鍔競り): 6 techniques
Taoshi Uchi (倒打): 6 techniques

Demography is Destiny

When quarantine was still early, there were thoughts that because couples would be trapped inside with nothing else to do, a Covid baby-boom would result. With the lock downs starting around March 2020, the results should have been evident in December.

National Interest

Slate

There may be a chance that January and February see a rise, but the data thus far is not promising. Familiarity breeds contempt? Other reasons?

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UPDATE MAY 2022

The number of US births rose for the first time in seven years in 2021 to nearly 3.7 million, up ~1% from 2020; the projected total fertility rate rose to just over 1.66 per woman, still below the 2.1 replacement level.

UPDATE OCTOBER 2022

We also find that the COVID pandemic resulted in a small “baby bump” among U.S.-born mothers. The 2021 baby bump is the first major reversal in declining U.S. fertility rates since 2007 and was most pronounced for first births and women under age 25, which suggests the pandemic led some women to start their families earlier. Above age 25, the baby bump was also pronounced for women ages 30-34 and women with a college education, who were more likely to benefit from working from home. The data for California track the U.S. data closely and suggest that U.S. births remained elevated through the third quarter of 2022.

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Matthew Yglesias points to the need for population to maintain American hegemony in One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Bigger (2020). Scale is required to compete with China geopolitically. He proposes population growth via immigration, pro-family policy, and denser, better-connected cities. [1]

Yglesias is technocratic in his approach – focusing on transportation logistics and per acre density comparisons to argue that America can support density (if we were to triple the population, the USA would still be less than half as dense as Germany). To achieve growth, Yglesias argues we would need massive increases in immigration and aggressive housing and urbanization. And while Trump gravely tarnished the moral standing of the United States, America remains the destination of choice for migrants across the globe. Germany is a distant second choice.

Immigration is necessary because fertility rates continue to decline. Although American families claim to want (on average) 2.7 children, the trending number of children per household is 1.8 – and the replacement rate (to maintain a stable population) is 2.1 children. America is not unique: The global trend is a shrinking population.

The negative consequences to population growth are manifest – resource extraction, energy use, congestion, etc. – but the alternative, as Yglesias notes, is “a shrinking, aging, inward-looking America.” America fades, following Italy and Japan into senescence.

In The Western Canon, I point to the deep ideological divide that separates Asiatic despotism from Western individualism. This post makes the normative assertion that action is required. The simple fact is we have always been at war with Eurasia.

I am not sure Orwell would subscribe seriously to his assertion, but I do. There is an insurmountable ideological gulf between the East and West that will be resolved only through assertive defiance. Witness, the conflict between Greece and Turkey, the capitulation of Taiwan, the expansion of Russian influence, and China’s dream of dominance.

Simplify the choice: would you rather be under the surveillance-capitalistic state in America, or the direct control of authoritarian China? Neither choice is ideal but China as the world hegemonic power would be disaster for individual liberty.

It is all-too-easy for the West to be critical of its accomplishments.

Through all the thankless years,
Cold-edged with dear-bought wisdom,
The judgment of your peers!

Kipling wrote to inspire America to take responsibility for the Philippines, but the burden is greater than any given territory. We have the moral obligation to prevail. Kipling can be derided for political incorrectness, insensitivity, and abject racism only by moderns living under the protection of the West. The vacuous arguments of cancel culture is only possible in the West. In the West we look critically and discuss openly differences and dissenting opinions. In China, one is re-educated. For all the cultural insensitivity and horrible actions of the British and then the Americans who inherited the global empire, we can rest assured it was the best possible world. (Has history ever seen a mass exodus from West to East?) But the West is losing its confidence, it started in Europe and is spreading to America. The hand-wringing over wealth-disparity and internal political divisions has distracted us from the Great Game.

Birth Rate in Every Country since 1950 (steep decline)
Axios

https://www.axios.com/2019/05/09/birth-rate-every-country-population-demographics

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/animated-map-the-comparative-might-of-continents/

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/the-yuxi-circle-the-worlds-most-densely-populated-area/

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[1] China is Not Ten Feet Tall, as covered in Foreign Affairs, March 3, 2021 – and largely because of pending demographic challenges:

China is at risk of growing old before it grows rich, becoming a graying society with degrading economic fundamentals that impede growth. The working-age population is already shrinking; by 2050, China will go from having eight workers per retiree now to two workers per retiree.

Thank you despotic one-child policies!

The overall global fertility rates are falling and projected to drop precipitously:

BBC coverage, the Atlantic presents a less dire prediction for the United States, and this overview from the Institute for Family Studies.

India has fallen below the replacement rate in most provinces

ZANSHIN AS THE PRESENTATION OF SELF

Zanshin 残心 is the relaxed state of awareness visibly displayed by the practitioner’s posture at the end of the technique.

Often instructors hide behind foreign lexicon to slather a mystic veneer on the martial arts. I am a pragmatic American and for me the terms need a better explanation and translation.

I crib the title from Erving Goffman’s The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1956). Goffman explains our face to face interactions are a bit of theater, a performance.[1] (Clifford Geertz later expanded the concept to entire cultures.)

Zanshin is an active state and we need to cultivate the theatrical components that reflect active awareness.

Active awareness is a two-part state. First and foremost, it means situational awareness. Constantly be aware of your surroundings: head on a swivel son! Earlier posts address Cooper’s Color Codes and situational awareness. Once active awareness is part of your habit, next deepen its internalization so that it becomes hidden. We do not want to be skittish coneys and do not always want to show others that we are aware of their hostile intentions (keep your skills secret and surprise your foe).

The second part of active awareness is being aware of your internal state, both emotionally (how are you reacting to the stimulus?) and physically (are your mechanics correct?). And here we have to incorporate an actor’s awareness. Understand that conveying zanshin is an act of display.

What are the key characteristics of that display?

Calm, sangfroid, aristocratic disdain: I group these as an aspirational attitude.

Explicating that thought. During his Silat Suffian workshops, Brian Pike shares that Maul Mornie is from an aristocratic family and that hierarchical position in society informs the body mechanics of the art. The motions are short and controlled, not exaggerated, to visibly demonstrate the higher skill. The very mechanics emphasize the superiority: I am above you socially, morally, and physically.

The postural set is vertical, spine erect, the footwork precisely controlling the distance of the encounter.

In Aikido, Yamaguchi sensei emphasized the same postural set and aristocratic poise in demonstrating his Aikido. His best exemplar, Tissier sensei also shows the same haughty equilibrium.

How do we cultivate that presentation of self?

The simple answer is train constantly so that your body contains the skills necessary to merit that level of aristocratic distance: a high level of competency. But specifically, the postures will best be inculcated through weapon work. There is a beauty in precision and that precision comes from weapons. The angles of approach are specific because the edge must hit just so and just there. Aim small miss small is a maxim from the firearms community.

Specifically what are the key characteristics?

Calm. Clarity of focus and concentrating on the basics results in what others will perceive as a calm demeanor. The best summation is:

Slow is smooth, smooth is fast

Reacting quickly and snappily to any stimulus might be effective, but indicates you were behind on your reactionary curve (OODA loop). If you are attentive and ahead on the initiative, or playing mental chess well, then your movements will be smooth and your body will display a calm assurance.

I cannot find the original source, but an often reproduced interview with Wyatt Earp highlights the lesson that the calm execution of technique during the frenetic energy of the fight is key to prevailing. “Take your time in a hurry” is a quip that is attributed to both Wyatt and Doc Holliday depending on what source you search. This is the calm, cool and collected attitude in the midst of frenetic fire.

Sangfroid. French for “cold blood” and often with a negative connotation (a ‘cold blooded killer’) but the positive sense is being self-possessed, displaying imperturbability especially under strain.

From the exterior, both sangfroid and calm may appear the same, but the nuance is that we can calm ourselves but sangfroid is a constant state. In Frank Herbert’s Dune, the Bene Gesserit litany against fear is used to create internal calm:

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”

Contrast being calm (learning to calm oneself, settle your nerves, etc.) as a reactionary state with a more constant disengagement from external stimulus even while being aware of it. In Le Samourai (1967) the simple act of stealing a car shows a methodical precision that is beyond calm. Okamoto sensei introduced me to this film and I hope the connection is self-evident.

There is a detachment from the material flotsam and noise of the daily mundane – being in the world but not of the world. This does not necessarily indicate enlightenment (although the more zen influenced will point to martial training as a means to this end). Rather, it can also result from the deep internalization of confidence in superior skill: the lion does not concern itself with the bleating of sheep.

Aristocratic disdain. The internalization of confidence and resulting detachment can culminate in that aristocratic disdain. A scornful pride that barely acknowledges the presence of the opponent. Others are beneath your level of concern because they are insignificant.

Formalism and ritual rigorously circumscribe behavior – “Manners maketh man,” as re-popularized in the Kingsman (2015)

Indeed they do

Why this focus on haughty negativity?

I use these examples as descriptive references to provide examples of the external show and the internal attitudes that one may need to adopt to bolster the act. I am not dilating on the prescriptive or normative behavior one should be cultivating when learning the martial arts. I am coaching the presentation.

Is it all an act then?

Emphatically, no! But acting is a component. How you comport yourself should be a question you reflect upon and refine continuously. Acting will always be a consideration: do you hide your skill to actively deceive (ninjutsu) or do you parade it with Spartan pride and thumos – testicular fortitude incarnate?

Either presentations of self may be necessary as dictated by the situation.

But ultimately true skill will be required to back your presentation.

Virtūs et Honos