How to learn jodo without an uke

Jodo has grown on me like a fungus. When I first tried it out I found it quite esoteric and unpleasant and non-fun. In college I played with it off and on - more off than on. I think most of the folks that were in the college club with me were of the same opinion, so my instructor, Usher-san, wound up without a consistent, reliable set of training partners for jodo.

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Usher-san kept up his own solo kihon and kata practice though, and practiced with real live people when he could. Some years later I had the pleasure of watching Usher-san demonstrate in Houston for his Sandan and he wowed the examiners and the observers. I overheard one very highly-ranked examiner say that Usher was one of the few jodo or aikido folks he'd ever seen who actually looked comfortable and competent holding a sword. Everyone was doubly amazed because Usher-san had, for the most part, taught himself when he was between partners. When folks would ask him how he did it he'd shrug and say, "solo kihon and kata practice in front of a mirror."

Well, now I'm in a similar situation with a lack of regular jo partners, and while I can't say I have excelled as Usher-san did, I do have a couple of pointers (in addition to Usher-san's mirror hint)that y'all might find helpful if you have to practice jodo without a partner.

• Build a pell. I bought an 8 foot long 4x4 and buried about 2.5 feet of it in hard packed ground. Because it still gave too much when I pushed on it, I took a 2x4 that was about 3 feet long, cut one end into a wedge, and drove it into the ground directly against the back of the pell. This firmed it up nicely. I wrapped the pell from the top down to about knee level with 5/8” sisal rope – two windings thick to keep the post from splintering and more importantly to keep the post from denting or cracking my jo. Eventually I painted a couple of targets on the post – one the height and size of the orbit of my eye and the other the same size but solar plexus level. I would NOT recommend building a makiwara for punching this way – you’ll tear up your hands and arms – but for stick practice it is invaluable if you don’t have a regular partner. I gave my pell a name – Woodreaux Roper so I could practice cursing my enemy.


• Re-think your techniques. Instead of basing your actions on the likely responses of a partner that you don’t have, concentrate on keeping yourself safe and moving. Anything that can be thought of as stabbing uke and pushing him back can also be thought of as pushing yourself backward off of uke and getting away from him (resulting in the same spacings as in kata). So, for instance, the second kata, suigetsu, becomes a sidestep, push yourself backward off of the sword guy, then strike down with honteuchi.

Cheat notes in jodo

Here's a hint that has helped me in my jodo a good bit. Mark up your practice jo and bokken with a black Sharpie so that you will have significant reference marks. I thought about using marking tape so that I'd have a tactile as well as visual reference, but I figured the tape would rapidly wear off, leaving the jo gummy. Here's how I marked mine:

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For the bokken, first find the center of mass of the weapon by balancing it on one finger. Place a mark on the flat back edge right at the center of mass. It doesn't have to be conspicuous to others, but it should be highly visible to the swordsman holding the bokken. Then hold the tip end of the bokken in one closed fist and make a second mark on the back edge that is one palm-width from the tip. This marks the cutting surface (the last 3 inches) as well as marking the point to cross sword and jo to measure ma-ai. The center-of mass mark serves mostly as a reference point for your subconscious to make note of relative positions every time the jo and sword meet during a technique.

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For the jo, make a mark at the center of mass just as above. Then hold the jo in a proper honte grip and make a mark at the point that your front index finger and thumb rest on the jo. Do this on both ends. Finally, make a mark one palm-width from the end of the jo on both ends.

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These marks will be valuable references during kihon in getting your grips precisely correct, they will help you develop a more precise understanding of ma-ai distance, and they will serve as positional references for all the techniques.

Fun with Whit and stick

Here's some more video I've been holding onto for a while and now have finally had time to get it processed and posted. Here Whit and I are playing with a sword-throwaway from jodo. Legend has it that Draeger could break sword blades with techniques like this - I guess by driving them into the ground. I'm a long way away from that sort of ability.

And yes, I really do get a kick out of beating up on poor little kids - at least on this one. Whit would have probably kept coming back for more all evening long but I seem to remember it being about a million degrees outside that day.

Gasoline in your Vasoline

Arrows, grenades, and mines are different kinds of weapons. Each is a very good weapon but each has very different qualities that make it suited to its purpose. Arrows are about precision. It does no good to get them in the general vicinity of the target. They must hit exactly on a particular target to kill. Grenades, on the other hand, are area-effect weapons. A grenade can be very effective if you just get it in the general vicinity of the enemy. But grenades have their limitations. Hold it a couple of seconds too long and it kills you. Throw it a couple of seconds too early and the enemy dives for cover or throws it back. Grenades are about timing. Mines are also area-effect weapons, but they are all about proper positioning and concealment. An improperly placed or camoflaged mine will be swept prior to detonating on target.
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Similarly, different martial arts emphasize different qualities to the point that you might say each art has its own spirit. You can easily tell the difference between Shotokan karate, Isshinryu karate, and Taekwando (Korean karate) because they have different spiritual qualities. When martial arts masters talk about their arts developing the person spiritually, they are typically talking about developing these particular intangible qualities in the people.
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Because different martial arts have different emphases, or spirits, some will complement others. In my experience and opinion. Aikido, Judo, and Jodo go great together because they are mechanically similar but they develop different qualities in the practitioner.
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Aikido is often described as more cerebral. I like to think it is generally the most theoretically sound of these three martial arts. This does not make aikido impractical. Just the opposite. Aikidoka have, over the years, made probably the deepest study of using the principles of momentum and offbalance to survive striking attacks.
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Judo, while having part of the same theoretical basis as aikido, is extremely pragmatic. Everything is thrown in contest full force at speed against maximal resistance, so if it works, you know for certain it really works. I've heard street fighters say they'd rather have a judo guy on their side than any other martial artist because they are toughened and practical. I've also heard judo teachers say that anything that makes the opponent hit the ground hard, fast, and on his back is good technique.
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Jodo is the art of the stave. It is practiced against an opponent with a sword, which you might say detracts from its practicality. When will you ever fight a sword guy with a stick? But because of its extremely dangerous nature, jodo develops within the practitioner an awesome, careful precision and sense of distance and timing.
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Though, in my experience, judo, jodo, and aikido complement each other because they develop sound motion theory, reasoned pragmatism, and exacting precision, that does not mean that this is the only conceivable combination of arts to acheive this particular type of spiritual growth. For instance. I could see substituting Shotokan for jodo and still developing an awesome precision. Alternately you might substitute Isshinryu for judo and still develop pragmatism.
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Though I might not go so far as some of my fellow bloggers to say that eclectic or 'mixed martial arts' are not true martial arts, I will say that these gendai (new) martial arts each developed and purified its own training over time to perfectly facilitate development of their own specific spiritual traits. These systems are perfectly designed to cause the effect that they cause. So, while MMA practitioners might develop a healthy balance in their skills, they might not develop theoretically as well as (for instance) an aikidoka or they may not develop the precision and kime that the karateka develops.
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In his book, Twelve Winds, Karl Geis likens the modern 'pure' martial arts (i.e. judo, aikido, karate) to petroleum products. Kerosine, vasoline, and gasoline are all wonderful, useful products because of the purification processes they have been through, but you wouldn't want to mix gasoline into your vasoline, would you? You'd ruin both products

Stick with Whit

Last night I practiced jodo with Whit. I practiced honteuchi and gyakuteuchi and hikiotoshi solo forms and then got Whit to hold a sword so I could practice kuritsuke and makiotoshi. I had to coach Whit a good bit not to flinch away from the jo, but that is understandable. A jo is a scary thing to have flinging around your head. We emphasized stretching your arms out and keeping the sword between us. At the end I took the sword and Whit spontaneously translated the jodo kuritsuke into a quarterstave technique and did a really good job of it. At the end we worked aikido releases #1-4.

I’m so proud of Whit’s progress. Last night he asked me, “How long ago did I learn this stuff?” It’s only been a few months but he’s doing it as if he was born to it.

Ninja Army

WhooHoo! My ninja booty has arrived! I recently won the Martial Development Haiku Contest, and Chris sent me my prize - a ninja playset! Three swords, a dagger, and a ninja claw! It arrived just in time for an epic ninja battle in the front yard this morning. Here are some pics of the newly equipped Parker Ninja Army. Thanks, Chris, for running the contest - that was fun. And thanks for the ninja booty.

Surprise Chop

Today we had a surprise chop. Chops is summering in Baton Rouge and plans to make the trip to Magnolia on Saturdays for a while. We just thought he'd heard about the blackberries and tomatoes starting to make and was showing up two weeks early to the Aiki Buddies Gathering.

Before class we worked some jodo because I rarely get to stick-whack real people. We worked on the sword traps and on hikiotoshi. Chops verified some of the direction I've been going with my jodo based on a recent trip he took to see Henry.

In aiki, we worked tegatana and hanasu with the brown belts (Andy and Chops) rotating between the white belts (mytchi and Richard). We chained our way through chain #5, working on kaiten nage, wakigatame, and hikitaoshi. At the end we worked shomenate as a form of aiki brush-off. Richard and Mytchi had to leave early, so the brown belts worked on some grab-and-go knife randori and some knife nijusan with uke specifically instructed to stay centered on tori and keep cutting no matter what. Shomenate, gyakugamaeate, and aigamaeate were the most effective things we saw today.

Take away points

A skill that I haven't developed, but that I need to work on is being able to condense a seminar into a handful of concrete pointers to apply to my practice. Jack Bieler of Denton Aikido is great at this. Usually I leave seminars and clinics physically and mentally wiped out and unable to tell you what I learned. Over the course of the weeks following a seminar I begin to sort through the material as I come back to it in my regular practice. I have instances of realization like, "Hey, that's like what Henry was talking about when he said..." If I were to try to make a list of takeaway points for this past Henry seminar, they'd be...

• jo man never stops moving long enough to effect a technique on the sword man.
• the kokyunage in gokata feel very aiki to me. These are worth some regular practice...
• on iriminage, get the offbalance and let uke fall into orbit instead of trying to pull him
• the gokata ryotedori techniques represent a chain of backup techniques for failed attempts

Magical kurihanashi

Today we worked on jodo, getting onto some great hints that Henry gave me last weekend. Henry said one of his Henryisms that I wish I'd written down verbatim, but the gist of it is that the jo-man never stops moving long enough to bust the sword-man. This is because if tori stands still long enough to do something to the sword-guy and anything goes wrong then tori is stuck within striking range. We worked on this idea last weekend and today in the context of kihon #7, 8, and 9 - kuritsuke, kurihanashi, and taiatari. Sure enough they worked much better when tori lost the idea of trying to stick uke at a certain point. The most amazing thing that Henry showed me was a variation (i guess it is a variation - it's different from what I've been doing for years) of kuritsuke. If I understand Henry right, then the difference between these techniques is how uke is trying to get off the stick after he's caught. If he picks up and retreats, he gets kurihanashi. If he leans on the stick, tori takes one step under he sword to uke's other side, turns, and whips the sword into uke's groin. If uke tries to come off the end of the stick then tori controls the sword with the upper hand while pushing/striking uke with the butt of the stick. I'll have to get some video of this to post. Today we worked on how these relate to aikido ideas. these three traps are basically variants of oshitaoshi. We got a ton of practice on these in both nijusan and chain#1 forms.

Sword sweeps

Tonight Rob helped me with the kid's judo class, which was very small - so each of the big boys got a small boy to wrestle with. We did mostly the usual suspects, motion drills across the mat to teach coordination and make them expend energy. Kneeling knockdown moving into kneeling kubinge into kesagatame escaped by a situp escape. kneeling arm snapdown and cross-face turnover. Standing toestomp randori. At the end we worked the kids back up into a lather having them run laps with one dropping out each lap to do a breakfall (teguruma or deashibarai)spotted by me. Lotsa fun and we had a new friend in class tonight.

Afterward I got to work my way through the Seitei jodo kihon and kata #1-6. The things that interested me most were the various sword-sweeping techniques (makiotoshi, kurihanashi, dobarai). I want to see how Henry does these three at the Starkville Henry clinic here in a few weeks. He showed me a sword sweep from Sankata last time that was beyond belief and beyond imitation. And speaking of an unbelievable sword sweep, check this out!!! I'm sure that poor guy had to go home and commit seppuku to try to cleanse himself of the shame (not that it wouldn't have happened to me...)

Samurai Whit

Short and sweet - that's the best way it seems to get some practice with Whit and maintain his interest and not frustrate him. Today we worked on menuchi suburi for a few minutes, by the end of which he was able to get the tsugiashi steps right and get the up-down of the sword synched with the up-down of the body. Pretty cool. Then we worked on men-kote-do-tsuke cuts and I worked on migimaki harai and hidarimaki harai. We may not be getting hours worth of sword bashing but we are getting a few minutes each night and he is getting some exposure to how to move in a way that will translate well to aikido later on.

Sword kata

Sword work with Whit today. Whit worked on kata #1 - men-kote-do-tsuke with me as uke and I worked on kata #3 migimaki harai and kata #6 hidarimaki harai with Whit as uke. No comments. not because we are the ultimate masters or anything - I just have nothing to say about that one right now.

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.

Hikiotoshi uchi

Today, Whit and I played some Jodo. First I practiced Kihon #1-4 solo form, loosening up the stiffness from the judo abuse I took 2 days ago. Then Whit held a sword for me while I practiced the jo side of hikiotoshi uchi (kihon #3 - sweeping the sword aside). It was a good day - nobody got a broken hand. After I did hikiotoshi a while, Whit wanted to try and I held the sword while he did the move. He held the stave in a quarterstave-type posture with one hand at the center of mass and the other hand halfway to the end. He couldn't lift the stick in the typical honteuchi posture so he derived the quarterstave grip spontaneously and you know what? Hikiotoshi worked GREAT for him! It was pretty cool. After Jodo we had a footrace up the hill to the stop sign and even that was fun (even though Whit won). Then we planted an oak tree at Nanna's house.

Men - kote - do - tsuki

Last night, Whit, Knox, and I worked on the first sword kihon – men kote do tsuki – basic strikes. This exercise basically consists of setting up cues so that when tori sees an opening he strikes it. When I’d drop my sword to the right, Whit would take one big step in and gently touch me on the top of the head with his sword. When I would drop my sword to the left he’d step in and do kote to the lead wrist. When I’d pick up the sword he’d alternately step in and touch my right abdomen or he’d twist the sword slightly and thrust into the center. Whit got the hang of all four basic strikes and got pretty good at responding to random cues from me. Knox got the menuchi (head cut) and the kote (wrist cut). It was a lot of fun.

Seitei Jodo at Mokuren

Of all the experts in the world at Jodo - I'm not one of them. But I want to write about Jodo today, and, as Dorothy Sayers put it so aptly,

That I, whose experience of teaching is extremely limited, should presume to discuss education is a matter, surely, that calls for no apology ... Bishops air their opinions about economics; biologists, about metaphysics; inorganic chemists, about theology; the most irrelevant people are appointed to highly technical ministries; and plain, blunt men write to the papers to say that Epstein and Picasso do not know how to draw. Up to a certain point, and provided the the criticisms are made with a reasonable modesty, these activities are commendable. Too much specialization is not a good thing. There is also one excellent reason why the veriest amateur may feel entitled to have an opinion about education. For if we are not all professional teachers, we have all, at some time or another, been taught. Even if we learnt nothing--perhaps in particular if we learnt nothing--our contribution to the discussion may have a potential value. (Sayers, The Lost Tools of Learning, Oxford, 1947)

Anyway, I'm not an expert at Jodo, but I have practiced it for the most part continuously for the past 12-15 years, so I have thoughts that I'd like to express not so much to enlighten others, but so that perhaps someone who is more expert could educate me further.

If there are any serious problems with Seitei jodo as a system, they are two:

First there is no system of randori that allows experimentation against resistance while maintaining safety for the participants. I have some ideas on how to correct this, but perhaps I'll mull it over a few years before I try to get a partner and put that into effect at Mokuren.

The other potential flaw in the system is relatively minimal education for the sword-wielding partner. We are currently working on this at Mokuren. We basically have an informal study group playing with with various sword exercises in an attempt to get at least a little more comfortable with the sword half of the equation. The exercises we are playing with include the kendo kihon (basics) and kata set as well as the tachiwaza (sword-using) and tachidori (sword-taking) techniques from Aikido's Koryunokata. I figure we certainly won't become swordmasters working on this, but if the sword man becomes even a little more comfortable then his jo-wielding partner will have to become sharper too.

So, If there is anyone around Southwest Mississippi who would like to play (safely and reasonably) with sticks and (wooden) swords with me, drop me a line.

I'm looking forward to naptime!

Aiki class this morning had a good attendance. Myself, Bryce, Andy, Patrick M., Mytchi, and Kristof. Whit and Knox helped us warm up then mstly did their own thing in the corner. We worked tagatana as a group, then Andy helped Mytchi individually with it. We worked hanasu then chain #3, delving into the transitions between kotemawashi (nikyo), wakigatame (gokyo), kotegaeshi, and gyakugamaeate (maybe called sokumen irimi nage??). After this, everyone watched as Patrick M. did his sankyo deomnstration with Bryce as his uke. He'd practiced with Andy as uke but by this time, Andy was not feeling well, so Bryce filled in. It was an interesting experience for both partners because Bryce got to experience some interesting one-armed variations of nijusan - particularly #6 and #8. Also, Patrick got to experience a really excellent uke that he was not used to (not to knock Andy - he's a great uke too). It was a good demo and we have another new sankyu.

We broke for breakfast for a while and then Bryce and I did some jo and sword work. We worked the first three techniques of jodo (honteuchi, gyakuteuchi, and hikiotoshi) in solo and paired forms. Then we did some of the basic kendo forms, including men-kote-do-tsuki (basic cuts), harai men (the clockwise deflection), and kote suriage men (the counterclockwise deflection). We finished up with suburi men (repeated cuts).

Thanks to Bryce for coming to play with me this weekend - and extra special thanks to his wife, Mary, for letting him come play. I look forward to seeing y'all again in three or four months during your spring break.

Menuchi and seated shooting

One of the presents I got for the kids was a set of youth bokken (29" wooden swords styled after the regular 40-something inch tachi). They came in the mail today, and although the cheap plastic tsuba do not fit exceptionally well, I would highly recommend the red oak bokkens from karatedepot.com as good quality, highly affordable (<$10), and well-made with easy ordering and good shipping speed.

This afternoon Whit and I went and shot some coke cans with the new BB gun. I was shooting from standing and from seated cross-legged today. Whit was doing the watching and gun-carrying as he learns about gun safety. Afterwards we practiced drawing the bokken and stepping forward with a menuchi (downward head cut). I showed him how to rep the men cut in suburi fashion (synching the up and down of the sword with the up and down of the body as he steps forward and backward). It was fun and cool for him but we didn't overdo it because I don't want to wear out his almost-six-year-old attention and desire.

Suigetsu

Suigetsu (#2 Seiteikata in Jodo) is a funny thing. The basis of the technique is supposed to be "seeking the weakness" i.e. a chink in the bad guy's armor. This technique is usually interpreted as stabbing the guy in the solar plexus with the stick.

When I was at the Starkville Fall clinic with Henry Copeland a few weeks back I was working on Suigetsu with P3. I was doing my standard form. I typically conceive of this as allowing uke to commit to his downward stroke, slipping aside, and lunging into the solarplexus - almost like setting a spear for a charge. Henry chimed in and showed a Suigetsu with a wholly different feel. The best I can describe it is, slipping to the side and reaching out with the stick as a feeler or separator. There is no impact - just a touch. It's not even in uke's solar plexus - just somewhere on uke's chest. Then Henry screws the stick (painfully) into uke's ribs with a turn of the wrist which causes the separation for the next part of the technique.

In my typical ignorance I could have easily dismissed this as a simple variation or option. A preference that Henry has for how to do the thing. But then Henry explained, "See, the guy is swinging a sword at me and I can't afford to put that much force into him." Henry just wants to get a little bit of control long enough to get clear from the sword without being cut.

Now that's a wholly different attitude about the technique than I had. I see the sword guy coming down on me and a primitive part of me thinks, "Aha, I can stab this stick through his chest!" Which seems pretty effective when everything goes kata-wise, but there is no margin for error there. I stand a chance of not killing the guy and at the same time giving him enough of my energy to regain some balance and flail at me with the sword. Henry's option takes uke's balance for a moment and then backs off to a safe place without making the assumption that tori can kill uke with that one lunge to the solar plexus.

I can hear it...

I can hear y'all salivating all the way from the frozen tundra of Alaska to the boggy Everglades and all the way from the ivory towers of Starkville to Oklahoma's amber waves of grain. Salivating for more of the martial arts thoughts of some obscure guy in the piney woods of southwest Mississippi. And who am I to deny you. So, what have I been thinking on so hard for the past few days? Here's a couple of things...

There's this Canadian aiki dude who has a better-than-average blog and who occasionally comes up with some really profound gems of thought like this and this. I have been pondering his thoughts on our desire for feedback in aikido. I've had similar ideas before but his explanation of the idea is more concise than I have been able to bludgeon out of my keyboard with the dull sword of my brain. The "lack of feedback" that he mentions here is much the same as the "feeling of release" i've been talking about in several posts lately. Check it out.

And speaking of that "feeling of release," there's this article by Beth Shibata on throwing vs. releasing in aikido. I mentioned it in an earlier post on shihonage, but a while back I found this thread of commentary on the article. The reviewers basically blast her as being a silly little pacifist who can't write complete sentences and probably a commie feminist too! Damn her! Well, here's my two cents: I think she's right on target with her core premise, which is that the way we think about what we are trying to do affects our performance. When we try to create performance goals for ourselves so that we can try to learn a new technique, the name that the instructor gives it influences our thinking process. Now, I'm not talking about absolute linguistic determinism, but rather an influence similar to that demonstrated by the ideokinesis guys. So, when we tell a student "here's how we do this throw..." they hear the word "throw" and begin to think about how they would throw anything else in the world, like a baseball or a stick - namely, with sharp acceleration, sudden stopping, and ballistic motion. I defy anyone in the world to throw another adult person using the same type of ballistic motion used when we commonly think of the word "throw." So Shibata suggests perhaps it would be better to call these things "releases." Now that's not a big leap for me because we are used to doing an exercise caled "hanasu" or "releases" in every class since day one. And since Karl has come out with the Kihara methodology, I have really been getting the feeling that "releasing" is such a HUGE part of aikido that it might even be the one central principle - almost a Grand Unification Theory for aiki. We really might just be "releasing" uke instead of "throwing" him!

But anyway, that's what I've been thinking about lately...