Owner: Mokuren Dojo URL:http://www.mokurendojo.com Join Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2007 13:21:24 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Aikido and Judo in Southwest Mississippi Site statistics:Click here
Last night's aikido 2008-04-01 22:41:00 Aikido with Knox, Quin, Rick, and KelWarmed up with the kids with a contest to see who could runn across the mat in the silliest way. There was a lot of arm flailing and head wagging, hopping, and wiggling of butts. In short, food warmup.Ukemi with me throwing/spotting the kids into the crash pad for about 20 minutes before class started. Then the kids bailed and the grownups showed up and continued with the ukemi in the crash pad, emphasizing forward roll falling from a reflexed position.Tegatana emphasizing rapid recovery, bringing the back side of the body with you, and doing it as near-instantaneously as possible.hanasu #1-4 emphasizing tori staying centered on the power hand and uke flowing with tori.knife evasions, aiki brush-off, and stab-twice.The brush-off led into the tantodori s
No, MY kung fu is better than your puny technique! 2008-04-01 17:16:26 This is more on the viability of aikido for self-defense and for older adults. Perhaps this is more of a philosophical POV..Superiority, equality, or inferiority.What is self-defense? Defense of the self. Not necessarily offence against some other. Sure, sometimes there are people that “need killing,” but that is not self-defense. For example, if you know a given martial art so well, have trained it so long and so rigorously that you know, absolutely KNOW that you are completely superior to some particular enemy, is it self-defense to destroy that enemy? If you know that you absolutely outclass them then it’s not self-defense – it is retribution or punishment or murder or something like that..It is only self-defense when you are immediately afraid for your life or well-being..When Read more:better
My kung fu is more powerful than yours! 2008-04-01 12:44:34 This week I have thrown out some controversial claims in a couple of posts. In one, I suggested that aikido was probably more suitable for older adults than were other striking and grappling arts. In another, I stated that of all the arts I’d participated in, aikido seemed to be the best for self-defense. .I gave some vague support for my opinions in my posts, and sure enough, several of my buddies from other martial arts called for some more well-thought-out evidence. In my mind these two topics are related, so I'll work on supporting both in what is probably to be a short series of posts. Here I offer a video counter-example, a statistical hypothesis, and a little anecdotal evidence. .A video counter-example:Now this guy is not exactly mixing it up in the octagon, but he is displaying
Chad from Akari Judo 2008-03-31 22:35:15 Judo with Chad, Whit, Knox, and QuinUkemi for about 30 minutes before class with me throwing/spotting Whit, Knox, and Quin. then the kids bailed out and Chad showed up.We had Sensei Chad Morrison down from Akari Judo of Richmond VA, now teaching at McCoy MMA. Chad and I traded ancient oriental secrets, me showing him some of the kumikata material we've been working on lately, and him showing me several good groundwork tricks, including a cool sankaku entry from ukigatame. We spun off into several bouts of randori, spinning back into lessons every so often. Chad's positional control and ground mobility have improved a lot from rolling with the MMA dudes.The things that Chad seemed to enjoy and he'll want to remember include: 1) the sweep-prop combination that makes uke feel so stupid, 2) t
A helpful handful – Aikido for self-defense 2008-03-30 20:57:03 Over the past 23 or so years I have studied taekwando, karate, judo, aikido, hapkido, and jujitsu and I can honestly say that of the martial arts I have experienced, aikido appears to me to be the best self defense there is. The following are a handful of aspects of aikido that I think make it particularly suitable for self-protection purposes.Ukemi – the art of falling safely – particularly the simple side fall and the forward roll. Proper reflexive falling skills will likely save you from many more hazards during your lifetime than any other martial arts technique or skill. Check here for a collection of good articles on proper falling.Evasion and the aiki brush-off – the ability to efficiently get out of the way of an incoming force and push the opponent off of you or push yoursel Read more:helpful
Saccadic suppression in aikido 2008-04-02 22:23:05 A while back I had a very popular set of articles on eye contact in martial arts. You can find them here and here. Several of my readers gave points of view that differed somewhat. I think what is happening here is we are talking about part of the same phenomenon from different points of view (pun intended).My contention is that you want to point your field of vision at the centerline of the opponent and keep it there, unshifting. My commentators bring up the point that peripheral vision works better and that we process better unconsciously when we are de-focussed instead of locked on a focal point.We're talking about the same elephant here. You want to do both. you want to direct your field of vision on their centerline (perhaps nasion or suprasternal notch) and you also want to defocus i
Great beginners' class 2008-04-05 10:36:36 Aiki with Vincent and AmandaROM and ukemitegatana - the first half of the exercise with emphasis on evasionpartner evasion exercisewrist release #1 from the perspective of tori attempting to evade and brush off and uke being fast and accurate enough to grab and stop the evasion, causing relese #1.oshitaoshi (the arm push-down, A.K.A. ikkyo omote)stab-twice randori with emphasis on evasion and brush-off back to ma-ai
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Last mokuren blossom of the season 2008-04-04 22:58:12 A while back I posted a picture of the first mokuren blossom of the season to give y'all a glimpse of what a riot of beauty this area is in the spring. Here is the last, and best bloom of the season. A little hidden gem I found when all the other blooms were gone and the tree had leafed out.
Mokuren most amazing interviews 2008-04-04 20:02:01 During the past year, I have published a series of excellent interviews based on a quick question that I posed, "Who is the most amazing martial artist you've ever personally worked out with?" This led to my posting a light-hearted Mokuren Dojo Hall of Fame, and several of the inductees granted me interviews. Check it out:Mokuren Most AmazingDave Camarillo InterviewEd Saenz InterviewMike Martello Interview
8 most popular articles 2007-2008 2008-04-04 19:54:30 During the past year the following 8 articles were the most popular
ones (considering hits, comments, and links back) of anything I've written on this blog. If you are looking for a good sampling of what Mokuren Dojo is all about, check them out...Attack of the living deadAt risk of being called a heretic…Aikido vs. JudoThe best self-defense there isWho should thank whom?100 Terrific things to try in TegatanaDiscovery Channel’s Last One StandingDon’t look into the EyeEnjoy...
The 8 most popular topics 2007-2008 2008-04-04 19:45:38 During the past year, the following eight topics
(labels) received the most attention (hits, comments, links back, etc...) of anything I've written on this blog. If you are looking for a decent sample of what Mokuren Dojo is about, check out the following:How to fall properlyThe ‘Divine Nine’ core techniques of judo Proper postureAttacking and the role of the attackerKuzushi (offbalancing) in aikido and judoPosts on knives and knife defenseVocabulary in aikidoWarriors and the warrior ethosEnjoy...
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Knife teaches stick and hand 2008-04-08 09:03:50 Another concept, related to knife changes nothing, is an idea from the CSSD Modern Arnis guys, Blade teaches stick (and empty-hand) but stick does not teach blade. (I hope I quoted that right) Even though I was an utter rank beginner in the tiny little bit of experience I have with the CSSD guys, I especially liked this knife system because it was so much like the aiki ideas that we preach. I suspect that having this knife changes nothing basis to our aikido is part of what makes the two systems so comparable and so compatible.If you learn the knife aspect of the art first (like in CSSD) or if you manage to convince yourself that every opponent is as dangerous as a knife guy (like we try to do in aikido) then you don’t develop the laxness and complacency that comes with thinking that the Read more:Knife
Blending is not the most advanced skill 2008-04-07 10:59:53 Perfect evasion and blending (aiki) is an impossible ideal that only exists to give you something to strive toward. This has led some instructors and practitioners to label blending as 'the most advanced skill
in martial arts.' .I disagree. While perfect evasion and blending is a blue-sky ideal, adequate evasion and blending is not an advanced skill. Within just a few training hours (often less than 10 hours), I can teach most novices evasion and blending skills that are adequate to make it very hard to attack them successfully. Don't believe it? Give me 10-15 hours of decent effort and see can't I make you much, much harder to hit..That is one of the great secrets – you don’t have to teach perfect blending. Adequate blending is sufficient to make it much harder to successfully Read more:Blending
New blog tech 2008-04-06 23:02:30 Trying some new things here at Mokuren Dojo. You'll notice a (hopefully) little cleaner look, ads moved from the sidebar to between the posts, a cool little blogroll gadget that Google just released and I'm trying out....Let me know how you like or dislike the changes. If I've accidently un-blogrolled you in the switch, let me know.
Knife changes nothing 2008-04-06 20:36:45 I've mentioned this before in passing, but I wanted to bring some attention to it in today's post. In aikido (or judo or karate or etc...) we mostly practice empty-handed, but occasionally put a simulated knife in the hand of the attacker. It it not that we want to emphasize those ridiculous "knife defenses" that are the bread and butter of so many martial arts classes - so why do we even mess with a knife?.Simply put, the addition of a knife highlights a particular weakness in the defender's mindset. That is, if the defender suddenly becomes sharper, more alert, quicker, and more precise when a knife is thrown into the mix, then he was under-estimating the potential of the unarmed attacker..As you practice aikido, you absolutely have to treat every single uke as if they are the most da Read more:Knife
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Great intro to randori 2008-04-09 16:14:34 Very interesting lesson follows. For a good intro
duction to aikido randori as we practice it, watch the video and substitute the word, "randori" whenever this instructor says, "push hands."
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Stick & rope 2008-04-08 20:49:21 Aiki with Kel and RickROM and ukemiTegatana with emphasis on relaxing the shoulders down and back throughout the exerciseHanasu with emphasis on the stick and rope model - that is, releases #1 and #3, the connection is like a stick - you can only effectively push forward along the length of the stick, lining the stick up between your center of mass and the point of contact. Releases #2 and #4 work like a rope - you can't push a rope, only pull it with both centers of mass lined up with the rope. What this does is minimizes all moments of torque around the shoulder joint.nijusan #1 - shomenateSankata tantodori #2 and #3, Sakate yokomen gyakugamaeate and sakate hidari wakigatame - both of these with emphasis on evading and brushing off - minimizing the amount of time you are in the meatgrind Read more:Stick
A helpful handful: gyakugamaeate 2008-04-10 21:58:54 Called sokumen irimi in aikikai, or perhaps parting wild horse’s mane or slanted flying or single whip in Chinese (i.e. taichi) terminology, gyakugamae is one of the three fundamental forms of atemi taught early in Tomiki aikido. Here are a handful of hints I try to keep in mind in my practice. If you do this technique as a strike, you may or may not do enough damage to end the fight but your hand will recoil off his face and you’ll have to find him again to push him down. This is what you see in the stick version of gyakugamaeate in goshinjitsu in judo – a strike, then reacquire the face, lay the hand on, and throw. Instead of striking and recoiling, lay your hand on him and push instead of hitting. Drape a bent wrist around the bridge of his nose like a pair of sunglasses and push. Read more:helpful
Busy, busy day 2008-04-10 21:17:49 5:00 am aiki with Rob.we worked on the Sankata knife stuff. I enjoy getting his CSSD Modern Arnis ideas at work on the aiki knife stuff.5:30 PM Kid's judo with Gavin, Mason, and EmmaLaps of the mat with silly walks for warmups.ukemi, including the demonstration forms and the crash pad formsosotogariosotogari→kesagatameosotogari→kesagatame→uphill escapetaiotoshi6:30 aiki with Kel and RickROM & ukemitegatana with emphasis on using some ideokinesis ideas to improve posture and relaxation of the shoulders.hanasu with emphasis on loose, relaxed shouldershand randoriaigamaeate2-3 of the Rokukata knife-taking and knife-retention techniques
More on aiki strategy 2008-04-12 12:38:26 Aikido with Amanda, Robbie B, and KelROM, ukemitegatana emphasizing balls of feet, tsugiashi, recovery stepshanasu #1-2 emphasizing getting out of the way, turning to face the attacker, putting your hands up, and getting behind himChain #2, including kotetaoshi, maeotoshi, and gyakugamaeate or gedanate.Today I really tried to emphasize the stuff I've been trying to explain here on the blog for a couple of weeks here and here and here and again, here - the difference between the aikido and jujitsu and karate strategies..While a practitioner of any of these arts may certainly choose to use any of these strategies, the three arts characteristically make use of common techniques in different ways. They don't necessarily have to - but they usually do things this way. Karate sets up a strong pos
Congrats to Argo 2008-04-12 08:37:33 Congrats to Jason Couch, A.K.A. Argonautica, on the best sort of news...March was very frustrating ... Not much fun ... April is looking up: my son was born April 1st and the wife and kid are both doing well. I hope to get back in the swing of things in a week or two, but sleep is short right now, so bear with me.
Pentathlon 2008-04-11 14:38:06 ...if, nine days hence, the rosy mornShall with unclouded light the skies adorn,That day with solemn sports I mean to grace:Light galleys on the seas shall run a wat'ry race;Some shall in swiftness for the goal contend,And others try the twanging bow to bend;The strong, with iron gauntlets arm'd, shall standOppos'd in combat on the yellow sand.In the Aeneid, the hero, Aeneas sponsors a festival of games in honor of his father, Anchises on the anniversary of Anchises’ death. There were four events; sailing, a footrace, boxing, and archery. Then there was a fifth event, a mock battle on horseback. Thus was described the earliest (that I have read) account of one of the coolest events in the history of Olympic-style games – Pentathlon..The ancient pentathlon consisted of five games tha
Ask humbly for a structured lesson 2008-04-11 07:55:29 More on taichi (substitute 'aiki' whenever you want a good aikido lesson
) from Roberto Sharpe. The first part of this series is here.
Josh Waitzkin on chess and taichi 2008-04-13 21:52:27 Wow, this is a fascinating interview with the guy who was the factual basis for the movie, Searching for Bobby Fisher. Josh Waitzkin fell somewhat out of love with chess
and got into taichi. Eventually reconciling his problems with chess, he came to equate the two arts as the same thing. In the end of this interview he talks about a fascinating perceptual thing that goes on in the martial arts - time dilation. I'm ordering the book he's hyping in this video because it sounds super interesting and right up my alley.
Wonderful jodo and aikido sessions 2008-04-15 20:33:00 Jodo with MytchiKoReviewed moving from pencil grip, which is her normal mode of holding the cane, into honte, gyakute, and sakate postures and measuring the distance to the opponent. She is improving on the measuring stick idea.Worked some strikes - pencil→sakate→ushirotsuke, pencil→gyakute→gyakuteuchi (to shin or knee or extended wrist)Worked on moving from pencil to sakate and using the structure of the forearms and stick like a cowcatcher to brush off and roll the ball.Showed her a cool addition to the stab-the-foot move that she has been working on - if you miss, use the stick as a reference and step forward onto their foot, then use their reaction to roll the ball and brush them off.I took out a quarterstave and worked some of the same concepts against Woodreaux.Aiki with Ric Read more:Wonderful
Judo bruisers 2008-04-15 10:05:13 Somebody hit upon my blog the other day with the search term, “bruising in judo.” That certainly brings back un-fond memories. Back in the day when I was first learning to fall, I would have these huge bruises on the sides of my hips and thighs from falling and I would have hand-shaped bruises on my upper arms and chest from people grabbing for sleeve and pinching flesh. Abrasions (mat-burn or gi-burn) on the knuckles and feet and forehead and neck were common too. This abrasion and bruising was a perpetual thing. It lasted for years. I would often have overlapping areas of purple, blue-green, and yellow bruises all in different stages of recovery..So far as I know, this bruising was common to most everyone who did judo and it was benign, though I’ve wondered about the possibility of
Woodreaux got scrubbed today 2008-04-17 17:32:39 Jodo with MytchiKoPracticed grips and measuring: pencil→gyakute, pencil→sakate, pencil→gyakute→hontePracticed upward and downward scrubbing strikes using Woodreaux to simulate an aggressor to the rear. The idea was to step away into gyakute, scrub the jo up either leg, separate, then scrub the jo downward onto any advanced target. Worked like a charm.Praticed an upward scrubbing buttstroke from pencil through sakate into the centerline of an aggressor (Woodreaux) close in front.
Graduation day 2008-04-16 22:15:27 Today was the graduation day and judo demo and family night for the end of our first season of Kid's judo here at Mokuren. If you're coming into this story late, we decided to run kids' judo on a seasonal sports model, like teeball or soccer, since so many of the parents around here understand that sports model better than the usual 2-3 classes/week all the time model. We ran the season from last September till today and will take off during the busy baseball season and the intolerable heat of summer, to begin again this coming September. We practiced once per week and had club judo tournaments each month. It was a lot of fun and the kids learned a lot and we all had a lot of fun. Following is the text of the program for tonight's judo demo for those interested:Judo Embu (Demonstration)Int
Class cancellation 2008-04-18 08:06:49 There will be no class at Mokuren Dojo tonight or tomorrow (Friday, April 18 and Saturday April 19). I am headed to an aiki seminar in Starkville with Henry Copeland teaching Rokukata (I think). I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of the aiki buddies there. I'll be trying to get some good pictures and maybe some video clips to post in a few days..Classes will resume at Mokuren Dojo as usual next Tuesday and following.
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