Yamashima sensei ikkyo study.

Todat I'd like to explore a video where Yamashima sensei uses ikkyo to illustrate some Aikido principles.

Here's the video:

 

 

What I take from studying this technique by Yamashima sensei:

 

"Attack" means to do a subtle attack with the free hand and use the hip joint to do so. He doesn't use muscle strength but rather his hips to control his hand movements.

"Relax" means to not use stiff force or push and pull when doing the movements. When relaxed a better connection is made between your hands and your hip joints. Also uke's movement is better felt.

"Slow" means to not rush the movements but to move and practice slowly because structure and technique are felt more easily.

 

A few things I see and try to work on myself.

 

- Yamashima use his hands, powered by his hip joints, while in front of his center. This way he's able to use his hips to full effect.

- Subtle use of balance points like mae and sumi otoshi.

- Free hand attacks from underneath towards hara and centerline uke.

- He uses soft touch with his fingers to control uke's center, not uke's arms.

- Many times, one hand is used as opposed to the common line of thinking when doing ikkyo.

Ikkyo is receiving force and redirecting it when center to center contact has been made. No forcing of arm movements but rather a subtle use of hips and hands. I believe the the main principle which can be studied when performing Yamashima sensei version of Aikido.

Enjoy practice.

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Bruce Lee quotes

Bruce Lee is a well known martial artist and actor. What a lot of people don't know he has written a lot of texts about fighting and movement based arts. I highly recommend a collection of these called " Tao of jeet kune do".

 

This book contains a lot of interesting quotes and philosophies concerning the martial arts. I'd like to dissect one of those today.

"Before I learned the art, a punch was just a punch, and a kick, just a kick. After I learned the art, a punch was no longer a punch, a kick, no longer a kick. Now that I understand the art, a punch is just a punch and a kick is just a kick."

-- Bruce Lee

 

Lately, I've come to a bit of an understanding concerning this quote. For me, it's explained like this in an Aikido context.

Let's say one starts in Aikido and irimi nage is being taught by your sensei. You try to imitate the movement to the best of your ability with a cooperative partner. You're doing irimi nage in your way. Later on you come to an understanding that in order to execute irimi nage there's alot more to it than just copying the movements, so you try to dissect the movements into the tiniest details. Feeling sensitivity, balance, intent, timing, positioning etc. are being studied. Usually this could be the moment in one's Aikido training where you could become discouraged. For irimi nage isn't irimi nage any more but a whole bunch of different principles which work, but only when done together will become irimi nage. At a later stage all these components are unconsciously put together and irimi nage once again becomes the movement which you "own".

This, of course, is a different version than your first attempts at irimi nage. An evolution of this theory would be the consideration of Morihei Ueshiba where he noticed a moment in his training where he had forgotten all "techniques" he'd ever learned but instead arrived at Takemusu Aiki. Spontaneous creation of technique.

 

 

In order to become free of technique, one has to learn the technique for an extended period of time. This is why my teacher will refer to irimi nage as the "twenty year technique".

Enjoy practice.

 

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A study of Yamada sensei part 4.

"New" techniques.

 

 

When studying the Aikido of Yamada sensei I encountered a lot of techniques which aren't part of the traditional Aikikai Aikido curriculum. At least in my country, the Netherlands, I haven't seen them much.

So a fresh look at Aikido is what you can take from this.

 

 

 

Next, 3 clips with nice techniques.

 

 

 

 

Enjoy practice.

 

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Remember three things.

The way I try to approach Aikido training could be summarized as follows: Feel the technique as well as understanding what's going on. The feeling part of training is best understood with your body during partner training. This is probably the largest part of Aikido training. Studying and understanding how the body works and techniques are built is the part I also try to include. So study, practice and contemplate.

In the years I've been doing this, a simple principle arose and while testing this approach I've come to believe it's a valid set of tips to be used in practice. The theory is like this: When confronted with resistance of your uke there are three things to do or a combination of those three components.

1. Make center to center contact and move as a single unit.

2. Use the on/off principle.

3. "Walk" around point of resistance or contact.

In every single technique of every martial art these 3 components are present. So Judo, BJJ, Wrestling etc. all include these principles. Therefore Aikido is no different. What sets Aikido apart from these practices would be the possibility of training these concepts in a joyful, relaxed and non competitive environment.

Three examples in Aikido would be:

1. Center to center contact and move as one unit.

- Fujita sensei

- Saito sensei

- Yamada sensei

- Ikeda sensei

2. Use the on/off principle.

- Endo sensei and his students

3. "Walk" around point of contact

- Tissier sensei

- Doshu Ueshiba

 

 

Of course the three parts have to be mixed and used effortlessly. When one studies closely most Aikidoka's will use these three components with good effect.

 

Enjoy practice.

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A study of Yamada sensei part 3.

 

 

Yamada sensei uses hand and wrist movements known as te-sabaki. These movements are not only done in isolation but rather powered and connected to the hara. Hip rotation and hand movements are an expression of whole body power and connection to the hip joints, and when standing, the feet are essential. In the next clip Yamada sensei can be seen to use te-sabaki skills to perform nikkyo. From 03:15 ...

 

 

 

In Daito ryu aikijitsu hand and wrist movements are frequently used and called aiki age and aiki sage. A good time to study these often forgotten hand movements.

 

 

 

Enjoy practice.

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A study of Yamada sensei part 2.

Yamada sensei nikkyo.

 

Yamada sensei has a great sense of unbalancing uke through the use of his kokyu power. Kuzushi points like sumi and mae otoshi are used to excellent effect. When uke is on one foot he uses the direction where uke has no balance with an up down movement of his arms. Kuzushi is obvious one of the basics of Judo as shown in the next photo.

 

The use of kuzushi points is best seen in his nikkyo ura techniques.

 

 

 

Enjoy practice.

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A study of Yamada sensei part 1.

Yamada sensei using "Zhan Zhuang" arms.

 

When searching for Youtube video's concerning Aikido one will see a lot of high ranked Aikido practitioners from the Aikikai Aikido system. One sensei who I think has a lot in common with my previous study object, Fujita sensei, is Yoshimitsu Yamada sensei. Based in New York, his style of Aikido can be intensively studied on Youtube. Although I've never studied with this sensei a lot of information can be obtained through video study.

 

Fujita and Yamada sensei both have a style of Aikido which emphasizes the round structure of the arms and back. I refer to this style as the "Zhan Zhuang style" of Aikido. Of course this isn't an official kind of Aikido but rather a description of the focus on postural alignment of primarily the arms. They are frequently held in the posture resembling the Zhan Zhuang Chi Kung excercise.

 

They can both be seen to use the arms and round the back in the most structural sound position, the circle.

Their legs are in a triangular stance derived from the sword arts. The hip joints are square to focus their power. This combination allows them to use kokyu power with an emphasis on structure and movement.

 

Next clip will serve as an introduction to the Aikido of Yamada sensei. Notice the round arms and advanced use of kokyu nage.

 

Enjoy practice.

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Connection.

Connection.

During a seminar from Mori sensei from Aikikai Hombu Dojo he would stress this point continuously. A connection has to arise during the contact of tori and uke. This connection will allow both body structures to become one. Also referred to as " One body". Ikeda sensei explains this phenomenon by saying unity and unity become one unity. Also a book from his lessons has been created about this center to center contact. Once this connection is recognized by feeling sensitivity the appropriate techniques will become available.

My Aikido training at this moment is mainly about creating this connection, maintaining it and use it to execute the movements which are most natural and effortless. I guess a lot of Aikidoka will make a lot of progress once they will shift their attention to connection instead of forcing techniques. Connection is a feeling which every newcomer to an Aikido class will recognize instantly and can be "learned" within 5 minutes. In the Aikido community it is seen as an advanced skill, but I think the usage of connection under stress is advanced, the recognition and feeling of connection isn't. It's a human skill which is a natural feeling and therefore available to every living human being.

In my view the most appropriate training method would be Suwariwaza Kokyu Ho. Once accustomed to this feeling all Aikido techniques will be filled with energy, ki, aliveness or whatever word is used to describe this feeling.

Following a clip which contains the ingredients for connection work in kokyu dosa.

Yoshi Shibata sensei in action.

Enjoy practice.

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Focused power.

Shuchu ryoku.

This principle is known as the focusing of whole body power and movement into a single point. This can be a strike, a throw, a projection into a kuzushi point or an immobilization technique. I have come to know this principle by studying Yoshinkan Aikido. This would be one of their main characteristics.

Following a clip of Gozo shioda sensei. Try to identify the principle at work.

 

 

How to develop this kind of "power". Practice your posture and bacic techniques while giving attention to the focusing of body, breath power and mind into a single point. With time you will develop focused power.

"There are no advanced techniques, just the basics applied well"

 

Enjoy practice.

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Shadowboxing?

Mike Tyson shadowboxing.

Solo practice in Aikido usually consists of weapons training in kata forms. This is an excellent method to ingrain the body movements used in Aikido unarmed practices. I think there could be an additional component added to solo training, namely unarmed form training. Most martial arts have solo drills or form training. Karate has kata, taiji chuan has forms and most notable western boxing has shadowboxing. Kata and form practice in taiji are "fixed", whereas shadowboxing is free flowing.

 

In your own Aikido solo training I would suggest the following: Create your own free flowing and unique form but with the basic principles intact. This would mean no rigid form is to be remembered but instead a spontaneous moving of the body in an Aikido manner. Feeling the movements as they are being performed is the biggest part of this training.

 

A few principles I try to incorporate are the following:

 

- Keep eyesight horizontal at all times.

- Hanmi posture should be the result of every movement.

- Try slow even movements like taiji, alternate with faster movement.

- Connect hip to hands in every movement.

- Hands move first followed by the waist and completed by hips and feet.

- Hips square as part of hanmi.

- Both hands move in relation to 1 hip joint.

- Use natural movement like arm swing.

- Relax shoulders at all times.

- Identify open and close in every movement.

- Be creative and use a 360 degrees attitude, you can move everywhere.

- Use three pins on the foot.

- Use basic Aikido techniques to experiment.

- Add the principles you want to focus on in your solo training.

Aikido in a taiji format has been suggested by sensei Sugawara in the past and looked like this.

 

 

Every practitioner of Aikido can create spontaneous movement according to principles and will learn a lot concerning his own body structure in motion. Partner training can be used to experiment with forces acting upon this structure.

 

Enjoy practice.

 

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Just sit, a few tips on Zazen.

Zazen.

A typical Aikido lesson will start and end in a meditative posture called zazen. Sitting in a seiza position one holds this posture for the time which is determined by your sensei. What to do or think during this awkward ritual?

 

Zazen is a meditative practice done in Zen Buddhism. The physical posture can be that of seiza, lotus and a few other positions. In Aikido usually seiza is used to investigate this interesting moment. What I have experienced and used while sitting in zazen I will share with you. It's meant to be a mini guide and to be used in the following order.

1. Sit in seiza.

2. Calm the thinking mind.

3. Relax upper body into the lower.

4. Feel your center.

5. Release all tension into the ground.

6. Feel the whole body as a whole unit.

 

Once this is achieved do the following:

 

 

 

7. All thinking is dropped.

8. All emotions are dropped.

9. All the above are dissolved into your hara region like the flushing of a toilet.

10. Just sit. Experience nothingness.

 

 

 

 

The Soto school of Zen calls this practice shikantaza. Just sit.

A nice book about Zazen and a classic would be " The three pillars of Zen" by Philip Kapleau.

 

In essence one has to do nothing but sit. This will prove more difficult than it sounds and is therefore the heart of zazen practice. Aikido practice will be enhanced by "real" zazen instead of the formal and often obligatory seiza excercise done during start and ending of Aikido lessons.

 

Enjoy practice.

 

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Aiki do or don't

Aikido.
An art of harmonizing energies and powers into a peaceful resolution. A nice description of a way that cannot be understood unless practiced extensively. The problem I observe with practicing this method could be in it's didactic structure.
The sensei is "doing" a technique, the students give an imitation of this example. In my view Aikido should be about receiving forces and energies and guiding them in the appropriate manner. The so called spontaneous creation of technique or takemusu aiki. This would mean that you don't Do Aikido. Rather you don't Do. Don't force your technique upon a willing or unwilling partner, but rather play with the given forces and direct them in a natural and effortless manner. It should be more about receiving and releasing rather than forcing the techniques. One's body could be likened to a conductor of forces to the earth with no thought of it's own.

Ikkyo, first teaching, is receiving.

Of course one has to experience a certain amount of copying and a set guide of techniques. Basic practice is the most important practice in every martial art. But don't limit yourself to only following the road laid ahead of you. Experiment with your body and feel the connection made.

Aiki is the harmonizing of energies but don't Do. The Chinese martial arts and Taoism would call this Wu wei. Act according to natural principles and don't force your actions.


Enjoy Aiki don't do. :)

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The three nails.

 

I have a large collection of martial arts books which I often use as a reference for my Aikido journey. Sometimes one sentence catches ones attention. In a book from this collection a suggestion was made as to Aikido and Tai chi would be wonderful to complement each other. This caused me to try to study the theory of Tai chi and Taoism alongside my Aikido practice. This way one's perception of the martial arts changes and becomes more full.

 

A few of my books

William C.C. Chen

 

A concept which is easily transferred to Aikido, walking and many other movement based activities is " The three nails". A tai chi master called William C.C. Chen introduced me to this idea and I've been studying and using this concept a lot. Master Chen is a student of the famous Tai chi master Cheng Man Ching. Well known in American history of Tai chi.

 

Cheng Man Ching.

 

In short it can be said that when walking or producing force through contact with the ground the human body uses the foot to do so. The three nails are three points on the foot which interact with each other through a virtual line between them. When one uses this line consciously more natural force can be produced. In Aikido one can practice this line while doing projections with breath power, kokyu nage. Also this line can be well understood when doing torifune or rowing excercise.

 

 

Enjoy practice.

 

Original article can be found here:

http://www.williamccchen.com/DOC5.htm

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