"I would never punch that way"

One of the most common arguments against the viability of aikido training methods has got to be, “But I would never punch that way.” Folks want to know how aikido deals with short, efficient lead jabs and jab-cross combinations and why we don’t train against quick jab or jab-cross attacks.
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In order to make any attack, the attacker has to step to within arm’s reach. Saying, “I’d never punch that way,” assumes that the attacker is in good control of his momentum and balance and movement at the end of that step. When you are practicing kihon in karate, or shadow boxing, or some other solo striking form, that’s pretty easy to assume. There’s really no reason to expect that you shouldn’t be able to control your own body at the end of the attack step. But when your target moves during the middle of your step, when someone bumps into you during that step, when there is the possibility that the target might hurt you back, all your body dynamics change. You are not in complete control at the end of the attacking step.
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As an experiment, try stepping two feet forward and hitting a moving speed bag – hard – however you like – lunge punch, lead jab, hook, whatever. You just have to hit hard. Try this several times and unless you are really masterful, you’ll miss or hit improperly pretty often. Can you control your body just like you’d like when that happens or is your balance and momentum and timing at least a little off?
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A funny thing happens when something interrupts an attack step. The attacker seizes up for just a moment while he regains his balance and figures out a good appropriate next move. In this situation, the defender has caused the attacker to reset to the beginning of his OODA loop and now he has to observe his situation, orient to what is going on, and decide on an action, before he can act. The funny thing is, people tend to become cataleptic to some degree when they are reset to the beginning of the loop. They literally freeze in place almost catatonic for an instant.
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An instant is a long time to someone who expects it and knows when it is going to happen…

Attacking in aikido

A few days ago an anonymous commentator left me a question:

… In both Aikido and Judo I've been a little confused by the punching expected from uke. Coming from a Kenpo/Kung Fu/Karate background, I'm used to a variety of punches, like the jab, cross, etc. I don't hold them out there and I don't expect to follow through with my body weight unless I've got a good combo. I'd expect this is a pretty common question, but how do you train in Aikido or Judo's Goshin Jutsu for those kind of punches? As tori, I would be tempted to fake my own high straight blast in response and rush in low, or just fake high, roundhouse kick low, then grab high for grappling. However, if I'm gonna hold my punches out there long enough for somebody to train with it, I want to know how to apply that against what I know *I* would use in actual confrontation. Thoughts? I'm sure you've heard this one hundreds of times...hope I didn't make you roll your eyes. :)

I answered with the quick, short answer that the straight-arm zombie attack is for the most part a beginner’s training tool and the training should advance to a greater variety of attacks, though it sometimes doesn't. I promised Anonymous dude a more comprehensive answer in a future post, but then, beginning to write it I realize I’d written most all of it before and didn’t feel like I could re-word it better right now. So, here are links to seven of what I consider my best discussions of proper attacking in aikido. Let me know if this helps or if you need more clarification.

• http://mokurendojo.blogspot.com/2007/05/please-stab-me-twice.html
• http://mokurendojo.blogspot.com/2007/04/attack-of-living-dead.html
• http://mokurendojo.blogspot.com/2007/02/sneaking-three-inches.html
• http://mokurendojo.blogspot.com/2006/10/ballistic-ukemi.html
• http://mokurendojo.blogspot.com/2006/10/more-uchikomi-and-smart-ukes.html
• http://mokurendojo.blogspot.com/2006/07/uke-is-not-wimp.html
• http://mokurendojo.blogspot.com/2006/07/resistant-uke.html
  

Ukemi - attacking and falling

Over the course of the last year or so, I've written 22 posts that I'd labeled ukemi. Well, slow me! That actually encompasses two different kinds of articles - some on how to fall down safely and some others on how to give your partner a better attack. Well, now I've removed the ukemi label and have labeled those articles more appropriately falling/rolling or attacking. Hope y'all can find stuff better around here now.

Please stab me... twice

Today it was Patrick M, Kel and myself. We worked on rolling and falling and tegatana getting Kel up to speed on how we do class. We worked a lot on the aiki basic instinct and used it to build up hanasu 1-4. Then we chained through chain#1 for a while.

Today we worked on uke's attack. I've talked and written a lot about attacking lately but this was a different way of thinking about it. One of the big recurring problems with a lot of aikido is poor attacks. Ukes lurch forward like the living dead, hanging an arm out for tori to break. Well, today we specified that uke's attack had to be one balistic motion through ma-ai just like always, but then uke has to retract his arm and center on tori in order to bring his other arm into play. Basically this turns all of our aikido attacks into either 1-2-type jab-cross or grab-cross combinations. This simple rule adds a lot of reality back into the training and gives tori a motivation (the second arm) to shape up. We've played this way some before but I really think I'm going to specify that pretty much all attacks in my class from now on are this type of simulation of jab-cross or grab-cross.

We worked shomenate this way and then added a knife, but with a twist. Uke's job was to stab tori twice no matter what else happened. This is another excellent way to put an end to the attack of the living dead. You'd be surprised how much of what passes for 'knife defense techniques' on YouTube goes totally down the toilet when uke starts with the express intent of at least stabbing twice. (Or maybe you wouldn't be surprised.)

And guess what - shomenate still worked like a charm! Sure we all got cut up some on each attack, and we each got totally evicerated once or twice, but we did pretty good against a decent simulation of a relentless knifer - which is about as out-classed as we can get ourselves without dealing with ninja or snipers.

Attack of the living dead

One common complaint about aikido as a system of self-defense is that it looks like the uke attacks like an idiot and then jumps onto the ground to make tori look good. Sure enough, if you check out aikido demos on Google or Youtube, uke is often either running blindly at tori or is lurching slowly forward like a monster in a 1950’s movie, giving an extended arm to tori to do with as he pleases. You even occasionally see videos of Doshu or of the various “old school” “hard style” aikido folks in which ukes attack like brainless zombies. Honestly, Doesn't it look like Frank is about to execute kotegaeshi in the picture?

What’s going on here? Surely this isn’t what the founder or his prewar disciples (i.e. Tomiki, Shioda, etc…) intended aikido to become. Well, there are several things going on here…

• These are just demonstrations and the ukes are understandably reluctant to ruin the demo or make the instructor look like a fool. (Not a very satisfying answer to the question or solution to the problem)


• To artistically represent anything there has to be some degree of abstraction from reality. The same is true in the abstraction of combat into martial art. There will necessarily be distortion. (Still not a really satisfying answer.) The trick is managing that distortion such that the martial art is still artistic but also still functional and practical.


• People who are attacked violently and randomly fail to learn. They refuse to learn. In fact, unless you see the same type of situation several times in a format you can handle, it is nearly impossible to learn from it.


• If you look at the act of striking in general (disregarding the use of weapons for right now) there are at least three requirements for any striking attack. First, the attacker has to approach to within touching distance. Second, the attacker has to extend a natural weapon (arm, leg, etc…) and has to put strength in it. Third, the target for the most part has to be the victim’s center of mass. Otherwise the attack stands a greater chance of glancing off or missing.The basic attacks of aikido (shomenate, shomenuchi, yokomenuchi) are the most abstracted things that still follow these principles.
  

So, the attack of the living dead that you often see is intended to be a somewhat abstract attack that fulfils the above three requirements but is still orderly enough for tori to deal with and learn from. Where aikidoka get in trouble is when uke forgets his role as THE BAD GUY and gives the appearance of fulfiling the above requirements without ever really posing any potential threat to tori. That is what uke's role is - present a potential threat for tori to deal with. So, how can uke improve his potential threat while still using the ordely attacks that tori can deal with?

• Maintain eye contact as much as possible. If uke can look tori in the eye than tori is making it too easy for uke.


• Uke should not wallow around in a state of offbalance. If tori gets an offbalance, uke responds to regain his balance then regain a position from which to attack.


• Uke's attack should take place in one efficient, ballistic motion from outside ma-ai. If uke gets closer than ma-ai without attacking tori should already be smiting him.

It is really sort of a strategy game between uke and tori. Tori is always trying to get into strategically stronger positions and uke is always trying to regain the strategic advantage.

Omote and ura hikitaoshi

Today at aikido we are going to work on tegatana a couple of times slowly emphasizing how we move about on the balls of our feet and what the muscles are doing in our hips as we move. The chain of the night is going to be #7 (kaitennage, hikitaoshi, oshitaoshi) and the technique of the night is going to be hikitaoshi. I want to work on hikitaoshi using both the junana and the nijusan forms (omote and ura). Since most of us have been over all this material a good bit, I want that part of the class to take no more than half of our time, during which I want everyone in attendance falling between three and six times per minute - that's falling, getting up, and doing it again without really hurrying but without talking or screwing around either. The second half of the class will be devoted to randori - three minute bouts with me providing short hints as we trade partners between bouts.

More on releases vs. throws

Tonight's aiki class included Patrick M., Kristof, and myself. We did some rolling, emphasizing the concept of the point of no return and looking at what happens around that point. Until uke reaches that point of no return, he still has options. Uke's not dead until he's dead.

We repped tegatana, looking at the 'pulling forward' step that the aiki buddies have been tossing around in our email discussions lately. Works nicely. Certainly interesting feel. It's cool how a kata that youve done many times per week for nearly fifteen years goes completely apart when you add a new concept. Yes, Andy, that still happens to me, so get used to it.

Moved into hanasu for a rep or two of kata mode followed by an emphasis on #8. It is important to turn the hips completely inward during the two turns in this thing. We also looked at this technique as a true release. It's easy to get partway through the release motion and get in your mind that you have to get into a strong position to do a thing to uke, but this spoils the release. If you think that release #8 is basically shihonage then this screws the whole thing. It changes from a release to a throw. We finished up hanasu by looking at chain#8, which includes tenkai kote gaeshi, ushiroate, and all the release #3 motions, such as kaitennage and wakigatame.Cool set of techniques to practice and this chain has the extra advantage of being short and sweet. The chains really give me the feel that all techniques are releases instead of throws.

We ended class focussing on shomenate from two situations - one the more flowing, following shomen found in nijusan and the other the more angular, direct shomenate found in junana or when uke settles down to be strong.

Sneaking three inches

In some of the ancient sword manuals there was a cool idea referred to as “sneaking three inches.” The main idea was to stay far enough away from the other guy to not be cut but still being able to sneak in just barely close enough to put your blade three inches into him. The first man able to “sneak three inches” without being cut was the winner. The other man died.

We use this idea of sneaking three inches in aikido – we call it ma-ai. We usually think of ma-ai as a safety margin for tori, but this is really both an uke and a tori thing. It helps to examine ma-ai from both perspectives and for both partners to keep ma-ai in the forefront of their minds.

Look at this from tori’s perspective – the one we usually think of. Imagine a circle drawn in the sand around tori with a radius of about two arm lengths. So long as uke is outside tori’s circle, tori is relatively safe. Uke cannot attack without first moving forward to a position within the circle. Uke must be able to “sneak three inches,” so to speak. As long as tori begins moving as uke crosses the line there will be ample time for an evasion and response.

Tori’s internal sense of ma-ai must be pretty precise. If tori draws the circle too big in his mind (ma-ai inflation) then tori will begin to evade too early and uke can steer to track him. On the other hand, if tori draws the circle too small then uke will be able to more easily sneak three inches.

Ma-ai is just as important for uke’s success. If uke moves into tori’s circle without immediately attacking then he is at greater danger of counterattack. He has, in effect, allowed tori to “sneak three inches.” So uke must make sure to stay outside ma-ai until he is ready to attack, then attack through ma-ai in one motion. If uke’s sense of ma-ai is inflated then he doesn’t understand his own reach. His attack will die short of striking, leaving him within ma-ai and in range for a counterattack. If uke’s sense of ma-ai is too short then uke will tend to stand in range for tori’s attack before uke is prepared to step in and attack.

So, the bottom line: Tori must have a precise sense of ma-ai and must start evasions right as uke passes ma-ai. Uke must also have a good internal understanding of ma-ai or he will not be able to attack effectively and he will leave himself open to attacks from tori.

The art of being uke

Ukes of the world, take note: It is imperative that you learn to attack correctly! Otherwise, you could make me look bad -and we can't have that!

Knife evasion and wakigatame

Today the dojo was very cold but warmed up nicely. We worked on ukemi as an emphasis, getting into the idea of making one's landing mechanism habitual and reflexive. There are two common landing mechanisms. In the first, the legs land separated with the top leg behind the bottom leg and knee pointed upward. In the second, the top leg lands crossed in front of the bottom leg. Each has plusses and minuses. We use the first exclusively. The point is, it is vital to make one or the other so habitual that it is reflex because if you indiscriminately land at random then your body will eventually sort of "average" these two positions and you will end up hammering your legs together and injuring yourself. Everybody's forward rolls were looking better today.

In tegatana we worked on making absolutely sure that we're doing tsugiashi with only the two innermost balls of each foot bearing weight. The outside of the foot is simply not made to bear weight.

In hanasu we worked on release #1 making sure that we were getting on the offbalance line right as the foot touched and then pushing forward until uke starts to recover upwards. Tori is then able to follow that upwards, pushing through the whole motion. The consequence of this idea: we're always talking aboutfinding an initial reaction that is halfway between hanasu#1 and hanasu#5. Well, it appears that it is a little bit farther forward and up along that path than we have mostly been doing.

We repped nijusan in kata mode 1-2 times, looking for fine tuning points for kata demonstration. Andy made the comment about his brain that "all these moves are in there, just not in the right order." Andy really looked pretty good. It's mostly just a matter of not freaking himself out about being perfect.

One thing that showed up that needs to be adjusted for kata mode is the fact that most of our practice of 6, 7, 8, and 9 have been in the form of a chain, where one does 6 then 7 then 8 then 9 in one flowing sequence. Well, in kata they are not demonstrated as one long chain. Everyone wants to demonstrate 6, then 6+7, then 6+7+8, then 6+7+8+9. Instead, demonstrate 6, then 6 flowing into 7, then 8, then 8 flowing into 9.

We worked on the two wakigatame variants today - one inside and one outside. These worked well and led us into some knife evasion practice and some pinning practice. We got to play with several interesting pins.

They ere all screaming for a "cool ninja killer technique" of the day, so we repeated the toe-stomp taoshi from last time. It occurred to me that this is really a pretty good way to teach this variant of ikkyo because of the extra brain input we get from the foot as a feeler. This should help us to learn more about the timing and placement of uke's front foot. It's also very cool as a pragmatic thing. Holding someone in that front offbalance with your weight on their foot while youre in their dead angle is a pretty good place from which to talk sense to someone.

Chain #2 and toe-stomp taoshi

Tonight was a very cool class with Andy, Kristof, and myself. We started with an extended ukemi session, working on playing with the point of no return during a fall. We have several exercises that allow us to approach that point of no return and explore it in different ways (i.e. kneeling, standing, forward, backward, etc...) I think that everybody got some good reps on their forward rolls and got closer to that reflexive roll that we have to train into ourselves.

Then we moved into tegatana. Tegatana is a playground or a laboratory in which we can play with our understanding of balance and motion without an uke trying to beat us up. It is our only solo kata. We worked on figuring out how the front leg gets free from the ground during arm motions that should be loading that foot.

In hanasu we delved into #2, exploring the otoshi offbalance, pushing throughout the down and into the up, getting directly behind uke by moving through him. This is a prototype for an iriminage. This technique is often conceived as a clothesline, but we worked on getting it as an aigamaeate or a hadakajime with a spinelock. From here we looked at two standard counters for #2 - uke either turns outward and releases tori or turns inward and gets a kotehineri (sankyo). This is the beginning of chain#2, so we worked our way through that, exploring shomenate, wakigatame, and gedanate (I told ya' we'd get to gedan.) Got into the Junana version of gedanate and everyone was having good success.

Our cool technique of the night was the toe-stomp taoshi. From the Junana offbalance, tori has an easy opportunity to step on uke's near foot in order to hold it still. Then oshitaoshi becomes a trivial matter of breaking down a table by pushing on the weak line. Everybody had good success with that technique and had a lot of fun doing it.

Ballistic ukemi

Click here for details about the Aiki Buddies Gathering at the end of the month.

Yesterday’s class we worked through tegatana and hanasu then moved into an emphasis on ukemi and evasion. We practiced the evasions from tegatana with a partner attacking as in nijusan to get a feel for uke dropping through maai and tori dropping out of the way. We added in a practice knife and continued the drill and all of a sudden things were different – but not. In theory, all that the addition of a knife should change is the initial length of maai, but somehow, the knife changes both uke and tori somehow. Uke seems more aggressive, more dangerous, while tori’s interest in the importance of evasion becomes sharper (pun intended).
Then something occurred to me. On the Fugakukai forum there is an ongoing discussion about not underestimating people’s potential. This principle takes many forms, but commonly we talk about not underestimating uke’s potential to be dangerous. It occurred to me that if addition of a knife sharpens tori’s mindset then tori is underestimating the empty handed uke. We can’t assume that the empty handed guy is necessarily less of a threat than the knife-wielding man. So we worked back and forth between knife and no-knife practice trying to bring the sharpness of the knife practice into our empty hand practice.
This led us into some more talk about ukemi. There is a part of the attack that must be ballistic motion. That doesn’t mean crazy or super fast. In fact, ballistic means that uke is not in control of the speed of the attack. If uke starts at ma-ai then his attack step must be a single down-step that is large enough to reach uke’s face/center. During this step, uke is under the influence of gravity. He is literally falling upon his victim. If the attack is slower than falling then uke is stepping/wobbling toward tori with half-hearted intent. The attack cannot really be faster than falling, but it can appear that way, so if it looks faster than falling then uke is telegraphing his intent. All uke has to do to become an ultimate threat to tori is take one ballistic step through maai to touching distance. At this point tori must assume that the empty handed guy has the same potential for mayhem as the knife guy.
This also led us to work on tori’s evasion movement. It too, has to be ballistic. If it is half-hearted or slower than falling then tori is likely crossing the attack line multiple times. If it seems to be a “fast” evasion then tori is likely crouching to spring offline, which will get him hit during the preparation phase.
So, uke must make one falling motion through maai to touching distance with evil intent and tori must make one falling motion off that attack line. Any more from either partner is a less beneficial learning situation for both.
With all that in mind, we worked on aigamaeate, gyakugamaeate, and gedanate from nijusan. Kristof was getting an excellent offbalance and blending well into his tenkan motion. Vincent was punishing me with great offbalances between my feet to the point of busting me before he could practice the moves we were working on. Patrick M. was doing excellent work, emphasizing getting completely offline and moving into the techniques. After working on a #7 chaining motion we played with a randori motion exercise that is equivalent to the kokyu-ho or kokyu-dosa exercises played in some other aiki classes. More on kokyudosa later…

More uchikomi and smart ukes

Click here for details about the Aiki Buddies Gathering at the end of the month.

Tonight was another uchikomi night with Vincent and I didn't hurl. Perhaps I could get used to doing them. I actually learnt a cool thing - because Vincent makes me do uchikomi on both sides, i got to experiment some with a wrong-sided arm-twisting kosotogari that I don't often practice. I think that particular technique could fit well with some ofthe randori stuff I do. I'll have to see can I work it into my repertoire.

Then we worked on the 1-2-3touch drill, focussing on getting the standing foot turned outward and the hands gripping and curling correctly. This was an entry into deashi, which was our entry into kosotogari for the night.

I got onto Kristof a little bit for wondering off again during ukemi. Uke's role is to make a situation in which the technique can be practiced. If uke lets his mind drift or loses the conection with tori then the technique is not really appropriate. uke has lost his evil intent. When uke retains his evil intent then tori can concentrate on feeling the physical results of that evil. Sometimes people will choreograph "uke does this then tori does this then uke does this then..." but that is bogus. All uke has to do is retain a connection and make himself a threat. Typically this involves trying to regain balance after kuzushi and turning to center on tori. It's hard to threaten tori if uke can't stand up and cant face him.

Aikido and Judo ukes have to be smart ukes. It is dumb and useless to try to learn to defend against dumb ukes. A smart uke makes a smarter tori!

Uke is not a wimp

This past Wednesday (July 5, 2006) I blogged here about resistant ukes. The other extreme is a compliant, flaccid, wimpy uke. One without intent who goes wherever tori wants and jumps when he thinks tori wants him to. This is not proper ukemi. Uke's job is to supply an honest initial attack then react naturally. The concept of naturally can be difficult to explain without choreographing uke.

First, uke is not supposed to jump for throws. NEVER jump for a throw just to allow tori to feel like the technique works. If the technique is not there then jumping is both dishonest and dangerous. Now, in limited circumstances, like kata embu (demonstration) it is sometimes customary for a larger uke to react in a choreographed manner and help tori make a good presentation, but in normal practice choreography and jumping are contrary to learning.

Another phenomenon that is important for uke to understand in order to create an honest attack is that attackers in the "real world" often try to disguise their intent until too late for the victim to react . However, it is not possible to move casually and "normally"while attacking with intent (see this excellent discussion on this). What this means is that aikido attacks tend to have two phases, a casual moving together (ayumiashi) to near ma-ai, at which point uke's motion changes (tsugiashi) such that he has the potential to put energy into tori. This change is typical, natural, and something that tori needs to learn to see in uke.

Another very interesting phenomenon is that kuzushi tends to reset uke momentarily. So, during a committed attack with intent, if tori gets kuzushi then uke is forced to stop the attack, gather his balance (and wits) and begin to attack again. Almost universally, kuzushi causes uke to shift from tsugiashi back to ayumiashi (natural movement) in order to try to regain balance. Thus it is much easier for tori to "do" aikido to an uke that is doing ayumiashi. Ukes that are unaware of this take the opportunity during slow, controlled practice to ignore kuzushi and try to continue with short, quick tsugiashi even though this is an unnatural motion. So, as an example, in hanasu#1, uke takes one casual step in, switches to tsugiashi for the attack, is offbalanced and returns to ayumiashi while tori finishes the release.

Today during Aikido practice we played with uke's attack during hanasu until uke was giving honest attacks with intent and tori was able to evade offline and release. Then we practiced building the atemiwaza from nijusan off these same principles. The cool technique of the day was the ushiroate from sankata tantodori (brush off and run).

The resistant uke

Tonight a student asked one of the most common questions, "Does this work with a resistant uke?" A resistant uke is basically one that is trying to prevent whatever tori is trying to do at the moment. When we are practicing in class then the resistant uke is just a jerk because he is trying to prevent tori from learning the technique that the teacher is trying to teach at the time. If he succeeds then the rest of the class fails. That is why we practice with partners instead of enemies. In a "real world" fight resistance has some potential consequences, the most dramatic being that 90% of the time resistance may succeed adequately, but occasionally it will fail. When resistance fails it is just extra energy that the loser has to eat. Since you can never predict when that 10% chance will hit you, so you can make the general rule that resistance is dangerous to uke.

This issue of the resistant uke, like so many other issues in aikido, seems to pop up because neither uke nor tori is able to keep in mind what effect should ensue from properly applied aiki principles. It is important - no, vital, to keep in the forefront of your mind what we are practicing and why. Aikido is self-defense. This means staying alive and intact, not beating the other guy up or forcing him to do something or taking revenge on him or showing him up as a weakling or a fool. Sensei Mike Denton of the Wind of Change Aikido Dojo phrases it very well in his description of aikido: "Aikido is not about 'winning' or finishing your opponent off, but rather about being able to disengage from a chaotic and violent situation as quickly and safely as possible." Mark "Animal" MacYoung expands this idea in his excellent no-nonsense-self-defense website:

The goal of self-defense is not to win; winning is the realm of fighting and is concerned with ego, pride, gain, coercion and the countless other motivations for fighting. Nor is it to kick the @%!! out anybody who dares to attack you. It is not an excuse to "unload" on someone and physically harm them for dissin' your precious self. And it especially is NOT a chance to vent a lifetime spleen of anger, frustration and bile on someone who you think has given you a perfect excuse to engage in violence. The goal of self-defense is [to not] be physically injured by an unprovoked or unwarranted attack by using a reasonable amount of force. If you are engaged in physical conflict for any other reason or using excessive force, it is not self-defense. It is something else.

So, with tori's goal to survive instead of to execute technique, it isn't even possible for uke to resist because there is nothing resist against. How do you resist someone who doesn't want to do anything to you? If you are having trouble working your aiki on a resistant uke then first reconsider your goal as tori. Then perhaps your uke should reconsider the consequences of resistance.