Protective Arts

CIRCULAR DISSOLVES

Circular dissolves. Master Keating explains the concept.

What we explore here is a counter-clockwise dissolve but the concepts are applicable to clockwise dissolves.

For the last several classes we have been exploring circular dissolves though the simplified cross-hand encounter – aihanmi katate dori (R/R, L/L grasps).

Setting the encounter:

Nage presents hand thumb up – uke grasps to control the offered hand.

Nage uses rokyu-kokyu to initiate a release, then uses the shyuto to cut over uke’s hand in a counter clockwise (outward) rotation to complete the release. Nage’s hand is now on the outside line.

Explaining the encounter:

Aikido uses similies and metaphors to provide context: “Shomen is like a sword strike,” “Chudan tsuki represents a dagger thrust,” etc., forgetting the importance of the analogy. A mid-level thrust is a dagger, spear, or punch. A direct assault is not a metaphor. Put yourself in the proper mindset. These are real encounters and you cannot assume an unarmed opponent.

What then is aihanmi katate dori? It is a straight thrust encounter between two same-hand dominant players. Review the doce-pares map – aihanmi is a #5 line.

Keating Doce Pares — Master Keating’s diagram

Notice that an encounter on #5 represents any number of possible scenarios: Nage thrusts uke grasps the hand to stop the thrust. Uke thrusts, nage responds. Nage and uke start in a cross weapon encounter.

The secret is: the specifics of the encounter are irrelevant! It is very easy to get lost in the nuances and many instructors make a living off playing these specifics as if they were the primary focus of training.

Cross weapons. You have precisely one problem to solve: control the center.

Control the center.jpg — Center controlled!

From a single handed encounter there are three primary strategies: beat, circle over (counter clockwise), and circle under (clockwise).

As usually given, Aikido’s aihanmi katate dori presented palm up is the circle over and when presented palm down it becomes a circle under. Put a weapon in your hand and it becomes more obvious – the arc is shorter to gain the advantage.

With a katana, this is the opening move in san no tachi, where the cut over controls the opponent’s sword with an attempt to take the opponent’s thumb. With a knife it is a bait and the circle becomes an attack to the opponent’s flexor tendons. With the empty hand it becomes a release followed by a controlling pressure on the outside dominant line. In all these encounters, the counter clockwise dissolve allows nage to control the centerline.

Think on this: the release is not an extraction or escape, it is your ‘go to’ move. From aihanmi with the counter clockwise cut over, contact is maintained arm to arm but nage controls the center from the outside line. The targets change depending upon the level of the response – at the gedan level, nage targets the tendons in the back of uke’s lead leg behind the knee. At chudan level the target can be a thrust to the center line (abdominal aorta) or a draw cut to the underside to hit the flexor tendons. At jodan level the target is the soft palate or eyes.

All these show the power of the response on the direct line (irimi). The bunkai shows the ‘why’ of the initial encounter.

The aiki lesson is the subtle maintenance of pressure combined with the freedom of flow. The initial point of contact is the axis of the encounter. Nage must learn to extract from the grasp without unnecessarily providing more pressure (information) or attempting to move the point in three-dimensional space.

Once that skill is mastered, the next step is pressure replacement – i.e. the back hand must replace the initial grasped hand to maintain control over uke. This was discussed when exploring a punch to the face with the use of the checking hand. Replacement is similar – in a two-beat tempo, you extract one hand and then place your opposite hand on the same spot without disrupting uke.

Hence the importance of aihanmi-katate-dori irimi tenkan as a developmental exercise. Nage must learn to cut over, extract, replace with the upper body and simultaneously enter and turn parallel to uke. The number of discrete moves (beats) nage must execute relative to uke is dramatic.

Beat	Nage	Uke
0	present hand	grab hand
1	cut over
1.5	extract
2	replace

Study that imbalance and consider: are you that much faster? In general terms there is a 2 to 1 imbalance in action (and this is just the upper body action). Recognize that this is a simplified matrix that we must build from. But it points to the need to understand action sequences and beats.

Although the start of class was with irimi-tenkan to develop dexterity and sensitivity, the circular dissolve can be done without the tenkan. Review Kotegaeshi to Iriminage.

Furthermore consider: Irimi nage direct on a 5, 3, 1 beat tempo.

Kihon waza is a 3 beat sequence. From aihanmi katate dori, nage (1) cuts over with the front hand while entering irimi, (2) grasps uke’s neck with the back hand, (3) uses the now free front hand to throw.

The 1 beat sequence is often shown as an ‘advanced’ technique because it is a continuous-connection throw. Nage executes the cut-over dissolve while driving forward low-to high with uke’s arm now trapped. A one-breath throw.

But neither of these beats anticipates a potential thrust, retract, thrust response from uke. The kihon presentation presumes that uke does not react to the initial cut over. Therefore, we must add beats to break facile model of the encounter. Nage may have to add checking moves (additional beats) to follow uke’s retracting move (a set up to a second thrust) and this is where a 5-beat pattern comes into play. From aihanmi katate dori, nage (1) cuts over the front hand while entering irimi. Uke counters by retracting for a second thrust, thus nage (2) checks uke’s arm with the back hand, (3) replaces the control with the front hand, allowing the back hand to climb up the limb and (4) grasp uke’s neck with the back hand, (5) to use the now free front hand for the throw.

Circular dissolves on the vertical plane are done primarily with the upper body. Horizontal dissolves are executed primarily with the lower body. Ushiro-tenkan is a tool to explore that aspect of the art.

USHIRO TENKAN

Gyaku hanmi katate dori ashi sabaki. I use the static encounter as a starting point because it safely teaches powerful concepts.

Shibata — The purpose of Aikido is to kill

Aikido’s focus on connection is important to feel as a bodily (somatic) connection with your partner. From the moment uke grasps nage’s hand, nage must sink (break plane, dropping the center) in order to capture the encounter. Nage then shifts off line (to uke’s flank) to enter with a circular hip motion that drives the hand forward. The hand looks like it is a driving force, but the elbow must be soft and the shoulders relaxed so that nage can drive from the low to high-line. Entering to control the center line nage’s elbow will be up and the shyuto edge toward uke’s center. I have covered this in earlier posts in more detail so I cover it in only a cursory manner here. Connection is key (hara to hara engagement). Uke must continue to face nage as long as possible through the action.

The power of the exercise is the principles of motion it unlocks. Tighten the lines, increase the tempo and add broken timing and the combative possibilities manifest: With a weapon, this is an inside parry-riposte. In boxing it is a block-(counter) punch. In Aikido it is a key to better understanding the direct response to yokomen.

This morning we added ushiro-tenkan as a lower body complication to the movement.

From gyaku hanmi, the wrist grab establishes a ‘ball joint’ connection that both players need to respect- this is the axis of the encounter. [1]

Ushiro-tenkan is an absorbing act – uke approaches nage with advancing energy to grasp nage’s wrist. At the moment of contact, nage keeps an equal forward engagement while breaking plane using the same ashi-sabaki upper body mechanics, but with the lower body doing a circular dissolve. (Reflect on this: dissolves can be done with both the upper body [mechanical redirects] and with the lower body [positional disengagement].)

As a tanren-geiko (body development) this is an aerobic burn. Nage is in the center of the circle and must execute a rotation of greater than 180-degrees (I prefer to hit at least a 270-degree arc). For nage it is a grounding exercise – learning how to keep a stable center whilst rotating and keeping connected to uke. Uke is racing to keep up because of simple geometry. Nage’s arc forces uke to race the circumference of the circle, ultimately flying away once the connection breaks due to momentum. For this first stage, the exercise is developmental: learning mutual timing to keep connection, finding when the connection breaks based on angle and momentum, playing with changes in elevation, and most importantly learning to feel more than just the arm contact.

Once both nage and uke can maintain connection by learning the basic mechanics of motion, the focus should come back to the ball-joint created with (uke’s) hand grasping (nage’s) wrist. Nage’s lower-body ushiro-tenkan action will take uke’s balance (through a continued ‘invitation’ to move continuously forward). At the point where uke is at the apex of their movement, nage should then be driving the grasped hand from low to high up uke’s center line to traverse uke’s chin and neck (while still inviting the advance) to execute irimi-nage (direct) as either a stretch or throw. Both players should feel how the connection rolls – I described the hand-to-wrist connection as a ball joint very purposefully. That rolling mechanical connection between the players is critical. There will be similar feelings of capture and tensioned rolling in weapon play. Add the weapon into nage’s hand and the implications of this are grave in extreme. [2]

Ushiro-tenkan irimi nage direct then readily flows to the first variant. Assume uke is still too solidly balanced to move through at the apex of their movement. Nage must then adjust to throw with movement – not arm power. As an indexing exercise, nage should bring uke to the point where irmi-nage direct is possible – but rather than stepping forward and closing the arm to throw uke – nage continues to rest the throwing arm across uke’s neck, but then moves behind uke to collapse the structure. For nage this should be a smooth and powerless throw – meaning that rather than stepping through uke’s center, nage now steps behind it. The footwork drives the throw, but there is a hidden arm movement that solidifies the action. As nage moves behind uke, nage should be in the position to execute an elegant rear-naked choke. I also showed the implications of the Bagua Teacup exercise. The simple act of stepping behind uke amplifies its martial effectiveness when nage has proper integration of the upper body arm mechanics. We will reserve a deeper explanation as kuden for the classroom.

As a progression exercise we then moved to uchi-kaiten nage. The flow progression results from the “what if” questioning (which I encourage all students to do – always question!). If nage attempts irimi nage direct and uke is able to block the entry, they will only be able to do so by creating an opening (tsuki) on the low gate. Which is to say, nage has advanced in and up with the fingers toward uke. Uke has maintained connection and stopped nage’s advance. There is now an arc created by both player’s arms and nage must step through that opening and snappily turn their hips while simultaneously cutting the grasped hand down. (From a pedagogical progression, the step before uchi-kaiten- nage, is kokyu-nage.) If uke breaks connection as nage cuts precipitously down, then the throw is called kokyu-nage. If uke maintains connection, then nage must pick up control of uke’s lowered head, keep it down and lever the arm across uke’s back for kaiten-nage. Think on this progression and feel the rolling action of that ball-joint connection. That ball joint must flow – your goal is to have it feel well-greased and not forcibly move it through space. Play with a gyroscope. Get it spinning and then roll it in your hand as you move through space. It wants to resist your motion. With a similar idea, you want to transmit as little force/information through that connection with your partner lest they resist you.

This is the higher art: manipulation through connection.

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[1] Respect: to quote Robert Heinlein, “An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when on may have to back up his acts with his life” (Beyond This Horizon, 1942). Humility should result from two deep lessons: there is always someone better than you and you will never know who that person is. Therefore treat everyone with respect (circumspect). Less cynically: the encounters we set up in Aikido are derivative from weapon based engagements. Treat all encounters as if they were armed engagements.

[2] There are any number of deadly variants, some of which are contingent on the weapon used. In class I showed some basic concepts that are not paramount to Aikido’s focus on connection but should inform your understanding of the movement. When the blade is held fore-grip, start by (1) breaking plane – when uke grasps the weapon hand to control, immediately flick the blade off-line (to the outside) then snap your elbow down and immediately bring the point back to center. This will cause uke to pitch themselves onto the point (usually with their soft palate); (2) the move up the centerline from low to high could be a stab (a #5 at any level) or can skid up the sternum to the neck then over to hook behind uke’s head. If done with the blade in reverse-grip (or with a karambit), (1) breaking plane is an immediate attack to the flexor-tendons (uke’s forearm interior), and (2) the rising line to the neck for a traditional irimi-nage is a continuous contouring cut. I also showed that the knife in reverse-grip could just as easily be elbow strikes (we are just moving up one joint as the impact point: from hand/wrist with a weapon to the elbow without). Panatukan concepts should inform the close quarter interpretation of these movement patterns.

BONE LOCKING

Aihanmi katate dori irimi tenkan is generalized to the R/R, L/L relationship: a cross hand grab. The grab starts from the premise of an opponent approaching with the same dominate hand. Think weapons – this is a quick flow entry, with a cut over lead then passing to the outside line (kiri kaeshi).

The kihon exercise is your key to understanding the concept.

From the cross-hand index – the grasped hand cuts over uke’s grabbing hand with a circular dissolve that targets uke’s forward leg. Put a weapon in your grasped hand to understand the budo. Freeing your grasped hand will simultaneously put uke’s forward hand back toward their center line. You have passed to the outside line. This is the higher concept – see the lines of entry. The irimi entry gains position and the snap turn of the feet allows the replacement of nage’s back hand to control uke. With the tenkan, nage now controls uke in a gyaku hanmi relationship (R/L, L/R indexing).

Understand this as a concept and its potential expands.

Kihon level – as typically taught, from contact, one learns the escape from a grasp. Nage learns the bio-mechanics of the release: present the palm angled up – providing uke the thicker part of the wrist to grasp. Then employ rokyu-kokyu action to begin the cut-over: Pull your thumb toward your center which pushes the base of your palm forward, allowing the shyuto (lead by the little finger) to lift vertical, then over and down to execute the cut-over. The action is limited to the hand at this level with the elbow and shoulder relaxed to avoid the temptation to use strength or greater range of motion to effect the release.

Circular dissolve – from motion, the action of the release must still happen but the conical action that starts at your fingers now continues to articulate the forearm. In a sword action this is a dissolve into a thrust. With this understanding uke is advancing with a mid-level (chudan) attack – not simply trying to grab your wrist. This is now a dynamic rather than static encounter. Uke attacks and nage executes a circular parry-riposte and then a passing turn. Find the cognates in Maistre Selberg’s fencing as well as Master Keating’s djurus.

Replacement – after effecting the escape, dissolve, to then make the turning pass (tenkan) a controlling contact, then nage must change hands at the point of contact – changing the relationship from ai-hanmi to gyaku-hanmi. To make this change deftly nage needs have a clear point of contact (the axis of the encounter) and must know how to break plane to transfer weight down without using shoulder strength. Tanren geiko – train to deploy weight, breath and balance: keep yours to disrupt your opponent’s. Hand replacement is a two-beat entry and therefore requires greater skill than our opponent: nage must execute two moves in a given time span to uke’s one action. This can only be accomplished by (1) being faster – i.e., executing moves quicker (2) using atemi – a hit that effectively buys you time (3) having a superior understanding of time and tempo: in short being more skilled because nage is either ahead of or breaks uke’s OODA loop.

While in this development sequence hand replacement is used to keep contact and gain positional advantage (nage has moved parallel to but slightly behind uke’s flank), a direct entry will use hand replacement to climb to uke’s line. Think chain boxing or limb destruction to reach uke’s highline. Techniques that could employ this direct replacement – aihanmi irimi nage (direct) and kokyuho (direct).

Belaboring the basic exercise is important because all subsequent actions are predicated on nage having achieved the entry. By being parallel and outside uke’s original line, nage now has two hand available to uke’s one. Therefore, exploit the advantage through bone-locking.

Bone-locking is intentionally dramatic label for the joint control that must happen once nage achieves position at uke’s flank. Given an original RvR contact, nage extracts, dissolves, enters and passes to achieve a RvL replacement at the axis. At a very high level, controlling the axis (the point connection) is the goal. For this lesson, we are focused on the bio-mechanics of control. By momentarily controlling the axis with the left hand, nage uses his right hand to regain control of uke’s right hand. Grasping uke’s hand from the top, nage envelopes uke’s thumb and with rotational force starts a twisting lock that should compress the small bones of the hand, then the wrist which will compel uke’s elbow to rotate parallel to the ground pointing toward uke’s centerline. This will cause uke’s hip to cant toward nage. Small bones leading to large bones in sequential locking control. At the higher levels of blending, nage achieves this enhanced positional advantage through ‘invitation’ which is a leading action that causes uke to move past their intended position: truly superior time.

From the lock any number of techniques or options present themselves. With nage in the R/R or L/L position, the opposite hand is free to execute kokyu-ho. The geometry of the entry is a strike – the free hand executes a punch to the jaw to snap uke’s head to the side (along the opposite vector of uke’s locked arm). Nage then enters for the throw by following the strike which is delivered along the tangent of the circle. Furthermore, as a breath-throw, kokyu-ho requires that the breath be pressed low into the abdomen so that the abdominals are muscularly engaged during the throw. Nage remains on the exterior line for this option.

Decrease the levers and locks by making this a sword technique and the blade capture, passing raise to a flowing jodan cut and the power of kokyu-ho becomes dramatic.

But the compelling action to focus on for this investigation is the bone-lock where uke’s arm is at chudan level. Kokyu-ho is outside line, high gate (nage’s arm goes over the trapped arm). Udekimi-nage is outside line, low gate (nage’s arm goes under the trapped arm). Shihonage is outside line to inside line, low gate. Irimi-nage can be done on either the outside line or as a split entry. Moving both hands under the low gate, one can slip to grasp the back of uke’s head (kubishimi) for a gravity throw – this can be done as a split entry or a double inside. Another alternate is to slide the lower body in simultaneously as koshinage. Many possible responses from a simple entry.

From one thing, know ten thousand things, M.M.