1st Aikido Lesson with Sensei

Today I had my first Aikido lesson with Sensei Mike.  We worked on break falls, working on keeping the back leg straight, the front leg in and slapping the mat with the free arm before your legs hit the mat.  After a few practice falls we did a Kotagaeshi into a break fall.  The thing to keep in mind was that you are flipping yourself over the hand that Nage is controlling.  Lots of fun!!

After spending some time on break falls we moved on to weapon defense and technique.  We worked on some open hand technique defense against the Jo.  When Uke performs a Menutsuki strike with the Jo Nage can blend with the attack and Tenkan around the strike while keeping the outside forearm in contact with the Jo and allowing the strike and energy of the attack to flow past.  This can be done both on the left and right side depending on your stance when the attack comes.  We also applied this to Irimi and stepping past the strike and ending up on the blind side on Uke as their energy goes forward.  Next we worked on disarming a Shomen Jo strike.  Sensei pointed out how useful it can be to give a bit of a hop Irimi as the strike comes down by jumping around to their open side and having your arm nearest them blending with the strike as you sweep it upwards to let it pass.  As this is occurring you are turning your body to face them and should end up in the space near their open side.  As you turn your outer arm delivers an Atemi to their nose or face as a distraction.  The other arm should be in contact with the jo and grab onto it lower to the end. The striking hand should come down and grab the jo in between Uke's hands thus establishing a mirrored grasp on the Jo that resembles Uke's.  You grip will give you more leverage of the Jo and allow you to pull the Jo up into their center causing Uke's grip to break and opening up a strike to the groin.  The next strike is one to the side of the head/temple and going past their head to the backside.  At this point Nage switches his grasp of the Jo hand closest to Uke and then brings the Jo in to hook behind Uke's knee and draw them to the ground.A finishing strike from the butt of the Jo can then be delivered to the throat or face.  Its important when doing the Tenkan and Irimi to enter in and remember the strike to the face of the Uke to disrupt them and allow for the weapon steal.  Another variation from the Shomen strike was blending with the strike and performing a Tenkan to end in the same stance as Uke with a more controlled grasp of the Jo.  Then stepping through the Jo and pulling the top part of the Jo to the ground you can launch Uke into an Ukemi.

Next we did some more Jo work with a Yokomen strike.  By flowing with the rotation of their strike and drawing it in to the ground, the same technique can be applied to Uke once redirecting the energy of the strike into the ground and establishing the mirrored grab on the Jo.  The rest is the same as the Shomen defense.

Worked some Bokken defense similar to the Jo defense except instead of a groin strike it is a slash up their center then a step back with the final slice to the neck.  The beginning starts out the same as with the Jo, the side step to Uke's open side and the Atemi strike to their face.  Instead of grabbing onto the lower part of the Bokken, which would undoubtedly result in the loss of several fingers, you place your palm on the back end of the Bokken to keep the blade grounded until the next step.  After the strike to the nose/face this hand ends on the handle of the Bokken.  After these hand positions have been established the handle hand draws the sword up to their face, which bends their hands against the joints causing their grip to break, and the palm on the back side of the sword pushes the blade in towards their body as the handle hand draws the sword up across Uke's center.  You can either deliver a strike to Uke's chin with the butt end of the handle or deliver a more devastating counter by running the blade up Uke's body as your other hand draws the sword up and out of Uke's grasp.

After doing these and several other techniques with weapons, we did them open handed, showing how the weapon techniques can be applied to open-handed situations as well.  Overall, it was a great lesson and I have a few things to work on with break falls on my own time now.  Excited for the next lesson to continue working on more Aikido principles and techniques...

Yellow Belt Test

Today we tested for yellow belt.  There were two students going for their rank and two students who accompanied and assisted us in a great test!  Unfortunately Sensei Josh couldn't make it for a personal emergency which we all hope turned out alright.

We started out with the wrist stretches,  Nikyo, Sankyo, Kubitori, Kotagaeshi, and Gokyo.  Then we did Ukemi's forwards, backwards, over swinging blades (wooden of course :-D) and a drill of jumping, ducking and rolling.  Along with doing Ukemi rolls, Sensei added in two Tonto's (wooden knife) for us to grab by the handle as we did our rolls.

We moved onto the Tenkan and Irimi kata's, which i have gone over in-depth in previous posts.  Tenkan kata consists of doing 5 Tenkans down the length of the man and then 5 back.  The Irimi kata involves doing 5 Irimi's down the length of the mat and the na Tenkan which sets up Aikidoka in left hanmi (stance) and ready to do 5 Irimi's down the mat.

Next, we moved on to "Hamihandashi" (8-directions) which I have gone a bit in depth with earlier.  Its a sequence of strikes in each of 8 directions, forwards, backwards, left (from original direction) and then right. The second half is to the diagonal corners.

Lastly in the warm-up was the Ukemi kata.  This consisted of laying on your back and doing 3 break-fall slaps whilst laying on our back.  Then we repeat the same whilst sitting up and rolling back doing 3 slap outs to the back, right and left side.  Next we repeat from a crouching position, three back left and right.  Then the same from standing.  Finally, we do front break falls, where you kick your feet back and land on the forearms and turn the head to the side.

We moved on to the four techniques we were supposed to know for the yellow belt test:

Shomenuchi Sankyo - When working on Shomenuchi Sankyo I was alright on slipping past the attack and remembering the strike to the ribs as you slip under their arm.  Grabbing onto the muscle of the thumb of the hand was a point I forgot to do the first few times.  It's important to slide the hand down and begin the Sankyo hold before going under Uke's arm.  Keeping the arm elevated and turned in towards their center is key to locking in the Sankyo and keeping Uke on their toes, literally!!

Yokomenuchi Kokyuho - Performing this technique I think I did decent on drawing the attack from Uke down and I Tenkan with them, but was not direct enough when moving the arm through their head to stretch them out.  When doing the Tenkan with Uke it's key to draw their attack out and not turn into them so that they can just wrap you up with a grab.  

Katate-dori Shihonage - Which this technique I tried applying the technique Josh went over with us by rotating my hands and wrists in to my center and breaking the grip enough to allow me to get the lock on them.  Again, it's important when rotating with the arm, either in omote or ura, to keep the elbow propped out and to run the arm along your back.  When finishing the lock I was keeping Uke's palm facing upwards and this didn't completed the lock and gave me trouble finishing the technique.  Once this was pointed out I corrected it and kept Uke's palm facing down and across their back which allowed me to take them down more effectively.

Menutsuki Kotogaeshi - This technique is one of my favorites.  We did a lot of work on this at my old dojo with keeping a big circle and even applying an elbow to their kidney as you spin with their energy around them.  One thing Sensei Mike pointed out to me was that I wasn't holding onto Uke's hand properly and thus was having a hard time bringing them down.  It's important to keep their energy low to the ground and when doing a Tenkan around to finish the lock you must, again, remember not to step to shallow otherwise Uke will whip around and smack you one in the jaw.  Following around that "Aikido circle" will allow you to wring out Uke and apply the lock directed at their center and bringing them down.

After the four techniques we practiced weapons defense:

We had Sensei strike at us with a Bokken and Jo whilst we evaded and countered his strikes to the best of our abilities.  This was very exciting as a few exclamations were added with the strikes for intensity!!  We did  our best to counter the Shomen, Yokomen and Ski strikes and evade them with Tenkans or Irimi's.  This was more spur of the moment self defense training so there isn't much to go over other than keep an open mind, stay relaxed and let Uke do the work whilst you redirect their energy and break their center.

Next we did unarmed self-defense where we had Sensei Mike call out an attack for Uke to execute and Nage had to evade or perform a defense technique if possible.  Again, this was a spur of the moment deal so other than trying to remain calm, relaxed and focused there's not much to say.  We had Shomen strikes, grabs from behind, shirt grabs and an some attacks from Sensei as well.  

Finally we moved on to Randori.....  Usually we take only several minutes to defend ourselves from multiple attackers but this was not a regular Randori.  We went on for at least 5 minutes each where we had one or two strikers coming at us and constantly attacking whilst we evaded and countered them.  I myself was quite exhausted from this but tried to remain as calm as I could, remember to breath in and out and take big steps when moving around the mat, and not taking many small staggered steps.  I learned this stepping pattern from a seminar in Panama City a year ago with a Sensei from Kansas.

The test was a lot of fun and a great learning session.

Last Review Before Yellow Belt (6th Kyu) Exam

Today we had class with Josh Sensei, who helped us to go over our Aikido belt yellow exam.

We went over the Tenkan kata which starts in right Hanmi.  You perform a Tenkan and then rotate your stance to be facing forwards, now standing in left Hanmi.  Repeat until you've done 6 Tenkans.  Turn around and then 6 more Tenkans the other way.

Then we went over the Irimi kata starting in right Hanmi.  You perform an Irimi switching which side you start on, doing 6 in one direction then 6 in the other.

Next we went over the Ukemi kata.  You start on your back and do three basic breakfalls while slapping the mat.  The next step is to perform the breakfall roll while sitting up.  The third part is performed from a crouching position standing on your toes.  The last is done from standing.  Each of these is done going backwards, to your left and to your right.  The left and right is done kicking out the leg tha tyou will be rolling back onto.

Next was the 8-direction technique which is done with any strike in the North Direction, turning around and striking with the left arm South, switch to right and strike yo your open side and then rotate and attack behind you with the right arm.  Then you go to the diagonal directions.  All of this is done alternating the striking hand, right ,left, right, left, etc.

Then we went over the four techniques that we will be doing on the test.

When going over Shomenuchi Sankyo we went over how important it is to blend their arm with Uke's attack and as they slide down Uke's arm it is key to grab onto the thumb muscle when applying the Sankyo lock.

Yokomenuchi Kokyuho is a "breath throw" where the strike is blended by Nage who steps out and away from Uke's strike which is drawn into Nage.  When Nage has drawn in Uke's strike the captured arm is stretched down against Nage's center and the other arm goes through their face and forces then off balance.

Third was Katate-dori Shihonage.  The key thing to remember is to maintain that closeness when twisting the arm along the back. Josh showed us a trick when practicing statically that the hands and arms are bent in towards ones center as if holding a large balloon, as well as rotating the wrists with the Kokyo motion.  This draws in Uke and causes movement which can then be used to execute the Shihonage lock.  Another pointer to remember was when twisting the arm and wrist their hand should be palm down when it reaches their shoulder to aid in drawing them down.  If their hand is palm up when you finish the rotation there will not be enough leverage to bring them down.

Lastly was Menutsuki Kotogaeshi, which again involves a mid section straight punch.  As the punch is delivered from Uke, which should be going through Nage, not stopping right at their stomach.  This would be a bad attack from Uke and doesn't help Nage learn the technique correctly.  Nage blends with a Tenkan with their strike and draws their past with the adjacent arm and brings their arm downwards a bit to extend their shoulder and draw them off balance.  As the Uke swings around Nage then apply's the lock and then Tenkan around the other way, making sure not to line themselves up with Uke's other arm as they whip them around.  This lock needs to be applied with the intent of going through their center and not out and away from Uke's body.  If done improperly like this Nage will just be setting themselves up for the punch coming from Uke's other hand.  If the lock IS applied to their center it will finish them off and drop their center to the ground.

Aikido Testing Recap

The last two classes we spent reviewing for the Yellow Belt test coming up at the end of September.  Last class we went over Shomenuchi Sankyo, Menutsuki Shihonage and Kotagaeish.  Before that we reviewed the Irimi and tenkan kata's which incolved doing several (5 in this case) irimi's to one side and several back to the starting position.  The same applies for the tenkan kata with doing tenkan's one way and back.  Afterwards we applied these principles to the "8-ways" form technique where you do several strikes in one of the 8 cardinal directions, until you have attacked in all 8.  It's hard to explain in words, you just have to experience it.

Next we practiced the ukemi kata, which involved breakfall forms.  Straigh backwards breakfalls, from standing and kneeling, then to the left and right side.  Finally we did forward breakfalls which somewhat resemble a pushup and somewhat of a wave with the body.  I really enjoy the breakfall practice as we did not go over breakfalls too much at the last two schools I attended (NFA was still missing some of their practice materials for breakfall training that was lost in the old dojo incident).

Lastly, we went over two the above mentioned techniques.  With Shomenuchi Sankyo, Nage blends with Uke's Shomenuchi.  As they allow Uke's energy to pass by them, remaining in constant contact with the arm, Nage slides his hands down to Uke's hand and grasps it like one would a sword hilt.  This form allows for applying the Sankyo grip to Uke's captured hand and immobilize them.

The other was Menutsuki (straight punch) Shihonage where Nage allows Uke's strike to pass by them whilst delivering a distracting blow to the nose before performing a Tenkan on Uke's open side and capturing their striking hand.  Again, the hands are placed on Uke's hand as if holding a sword hilt and when performing the turning motion that completes the 4 point lock that is Shihonage it is important to remember that and they turn around Uke to keep in constant contact with their arm.  There should be a sliding/dragging feeling with their arm as it goes across your back when performing the Tenkan.  This keeps them from regaining control and balance of their arm and center and allows for you to lock up and capture their center and immobilize them.

Another variation on the Menusuki was applying Kotagaeish.  The same blending is done as in the Shihonage technique but once their strike is captured with one hand it is redirected towards their backside as Nage then steps across and performs another Tenkan whilst placing the other hand on their captured hand to apply the Kotagaeish.  Uke must be careful to not step to close to Uke and allow them to whip around and roundhouse punch Nage in the face.  This is why the second Tenkan is applied along the outer curve of their circle and then draws them down to their back side weakness and places them in the hole created by their instability.

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In today's class we worked on Yokomenuchi Shihonage with an emphasis on the way in which Nage captures Uke's strike.  Being mindful of not letting their hand collide with Nage's leg, which could result in deep wounds if they were striking with a knife or other weapon.  Similar to the Menutsuki defense, Nage delivers a disrupting blow to the nose or face to stun Uke whilst performing a Tenkan to go with the motion of Uke's Yoko strike.  Rather than hindering the strike Nage should turn to allow the strike to continue and flow into their grasp whilst moving along the "circle" that they have created with one another.  Staying on the circle allows the hand to be redirected down and away from Nage's body.  Then the arm is locked into the Shihonage which Nage, again, being mindful of keeping their arm connected to theirs and slides it along their back as the lock is applied.

The other technique worked on today was Katate-dori (one handed same side grab) Shihonage.  When Uke goes to grab Nage's arm there is a slight drawing motion to cause Uke to follow and as they grab on Nage rotates his arm and, as if holding a short sword, rotates their arm on top of Uke's and cuts down on their wrist whilst capturing its energy and grasping it like a sword hilt.  The rest follows as was explained for the other Shihonage techniques, keeping constant contact and sliding their arm along the back as your turn it into the lock.

The last thing worked on was a free formed single attack defense.  Sensei calls out an attack for Uke to perform against Nage and they defend or evade as best they can.  Attacks such as "front kick", "straight punch", "grab and strike to face" were called and Nage would defend or apply a lock to the attack as best fit the situation.

Red Phoenix Continued, Blending Attacks

Since the last time I posted I have learned a few new insights into my Aikido.  We worked on training exercises where the attacker, from a shomen strike, has their attack blended by nage where the arm is extended to meet the inside of their attack as once a connection is made the other arm enters and redirects their attack past you whilst the initial contacted arm withdraws to allow safe passing of the attack.  This was also applied to kick defense where the kick is deflected by bringing the arm down to brush against the kick and allow it to slide past you.  This is difficult at first as you may tried to block the kick rather than blend with it.  It is important to remember to keep your hands up and sweep down a full motion to brush the leg and not just hit it and take the force of the attack.

We also worked on some aiki-jujitsu techniques with a bit more "grappling" involved in the defense.  One involved having been pushed and taking a back roll as the attacker approaches.  When they go to kick you lean back with your foot going into their groin or knee which brings them down and you wrap their legs up with your before twisting up and effectively incapacitating their leg.

Another technique involved being grabbed by the shoulder and being pulled into a punch.  To avoid this as you are pulled your arms go up and the one near their punch begins to blend it away and you bring them through the rest of the technique.  The main skill here is reacting and bringing up your arms to protect your head and allow you to carry-over their punch.