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aikido log
Mar. 26th, 2007 11:44 pmI need an icon for aikido stuff. OTOH, groovin' with the dog is fairly aiki.
A couple hours before tonight's class (about half an hour before leaving work to go to class), I got a call from Jay, our usual Monday instructor, saying his kids were sick, and he was sick, and would I mind teaching tonight? Okay, what's the worst that can happen? Two weeks ago, the very day after my black belt test, I taught a class that included our senior instructor. But tonight, it was a 4th kyu (we start at 6th kyu, work up to 1st kyu, then start counting up dan levels) and a newcomer; eventually two other black belts straggled in, making it a little more balanced.
We don't really have "beginner" techniques and "advanced" techniques, but we have techniques that are good for showing some of the key elements of the style, and/or are easier to catch the feeling of, and/or are fun to show your friends. So I try to teach the beginners a certain amount of "aikido to show your friends", because even if you never come back, you should learn at least one cool thing for your trouble.
First technique was katatetori shihonage. This is a wrist grab-and-hold, to show that only your wrist is constrained, and only in one dimension. The technique involves curling your wrist in towards yourself (a more powerful element than it sounds, and key to a number of techniques), counter-grabbing the attacker's wrist, and using his arm to turn him around.
Then a technique that I've seen taught exactly once, years ago, but it's fun and fairly applied. Uke is standing in front of you with his fists up in a boxer's pose. He hasn't attacked yet, but he clearly intends to, and when he does, it's a short distance from his fist to your face. The technique involves feinting a punch to *his* face, which he instinctively counters. As soon as his arm is extended, you can get a nice ikkyo tenkan on it. It's a variant of a technique we sometimes do, but the thing that makes it non-canon is that aikido is all about neutralizing the unprovoked attack, and this involves actually provoking an attack. But if he's going to attack anyway, I'd prefer to have it be on my terms.
Next up ryotemochi tenchinage - uke grabs both wrists, and you move one inside and up to wrap around the head if necessary, and other hand down and out. It's called the heaven-and-earth throw, but like most throws, it ends up with uke on the earth. Did that one in both static irimi version and motion tenkan (big throw) version. Finally tsuki kaitenage - a stomach-punch big-throw technique.
I went in there with a couple things I'd wanted to show and talk about (including the notion of removing degrees of freedom from uke's arm, until you can move his whole body with it), but I largely picked the techniques as I went along, and it was fine. We don't have a formal curriculum, we have new people starting at irregular intervals, and as I said, we teach the same techniques to everyone who's there. The more advanced students are just supposed to do it better, that's all. :)
A couple hours before tonight's class (about half an hour before leaving work to go to class), I got a call from Jay, our usual Monday instructor, saying his kids were sick, and he was sick, and would I mind teaching tonight? Okay, what's the worst that can happen? Two weeks ago, the very day after my black belt test, I taught a class that included our senior instructor. But tonight, it was a 4th kyu (we start at 6th kyu, work up to 1st kyu, then start counting up dan levels) and a newcomer; eventually two other black belts straggled in, making it a little more balanced.
We don't really have "beginner" techniques and "advanced" techniques, but we have techniques that are good for showing some of the key elements of the style, and/or are easier to catch the feeling of, and/or are fun to show your friends. So I try to teach the beginners a certain amount of "aikido to show your friends", because even if you never come back, you should learn at least one cool thing for your trouble.
First technique was katatetori shihonage. This is a wrist grab-and-hold, to show that only your wrist is constrained, and only in one dimension. The technique involves curling your wrist in towards yourself (a more powerful element than it sounds, and key to a number of techniques), counter-grabbing the attacker's wrist, and using his arm to turn him around.
Then a technique that I've seen taught exactly once, years ago, but it's fun and fairly applied. Uke is standing in front of you with his fists up in a boxer's pose. He hasn't attacked yet, but he clearly intends to, and when he does, it's a short distance from his fist to your face. The technique involves feinting a punch to *his* face, which he instinctively counters. As soon as his arm is extended, you can get a nice ikkyo tenkan on it. It's a variant of a technique we sometimes do, but the thing that makes it non-canon is that aikido is all about neutralizing the unprovoked attack, and this involves actually provoking an attack. But if he's going to attack anyway, I'd prefer to have it be on my terms.
Next up ryotemochi tenchinage - uke grabs both wrists, and you move one inside and up to wrap around the head if necessary, and other hand down and out. It's called the heaven-and-earth throw, but like most throws, it ends up with uke on the earth. Did that one in both static irimi version and motion tenkan (big throw) version. Finally tsuki kaitenage - a stomach-punch big-throw technique.
I went in there with a couple things I'd wanted to show and talk about (including the notion of removing degrees of freedom from uke's arm, until you can move his whole body with it), but I largely picked the techniques as I went along, and it was fine. We don't have a formal curriculum, we have new people starting at irregular intervals, and as I said, we teach the same techniques to everyone who's there. The more advanced students are just supposed to do it better, that's all. :)
