Aikido Kokikai of Rochester

The art of falling gracefully...

Falling is a fact of life whether you are doing a martial art or not. Ice, rain, snow, exuberant puppies, kids toys. The universe will get you sooner or later. When the universe comes calling, be prepared.

In Aikido we practice falling. A lot. We train repeatedly to ensure that our muscle memory will take over without us having to think. Whether pushed, thrown, tripped, or just being clumsy, our bodies will take over an help minimize the impact.

Oh, and it's really fun to be your own personal roller coaster!

In video games, opponents blink a few times in disappear. In Star Trek, they cleanly and efficiently vaporize.

In real life they become obstacles for both the defender and other attackers.

Awareness and calm can make obstacles useful.

Practice Tip:

Here is a trick to practice tenkan at the point of connection near the end of the bokken. The rope is tied to bokken, as we move to either side we try to keep the rope vertical, indicating proper tenkan movement.

This offline motion and maintaining unbendable frame from sword practice provides foundation for the initial movements in open hand technique, such as yokomen uchi shiho nage.

Jo Kata 1, Steps 21 – 22

We left off in the last episode with the final attacker’s terms being accepted. After the strike of 20, we step far offline to our right, drawing the jo back in our hands before swinging the jo sharply up into the attacker’s left kidney (21). The jo is flipped over and driven tsuki into the solar plexus (22), ending if not resolving the conflict.

Practicing with a story creates depth. Driving spatial awareness, sight-lines, and motivations for defenses and strikes. Without these kata is reduced to a dance; fun, pretty, good exercise, but hollow in a martial sense. Story details can vary. That is inconsequential. What is important is the story enhances your open-hand practice.

Jo Kata 1, Steps 17 – 20
The attacker is relentless, again we offer a final opportunity for them to opt for life (17). They again choose violence, stepping forward and strike shomen, we move slightly offline to our left, sweeping the jo, taking their knee (18). We again strike and cripple the knee destroying their foundation (19), we flip the jo over and drive through their center with tsuki towards ending the conflict on their chosen terms (20).

Jo Kata 1, Steps 13 – 16

The attacker is weakened but presses on, we are at the ready but offering an opportunity for them to opt for peace (13). They choose to strike, we move slightly offline to our left, sweeping the jo as they close distance, deflecting the blade (14). We strike the mind that commands the blade (15), we flip the jo over and drive them back again with tsuki (16).

Jo Kata 1, Steps 8-11

The offline and hantai strike in movement (8) created a new sight-line to see a fresh attacker approaching, step offline and slap down on the attacker’s weapon (9). Play with the direction, try this moving to the inside or outside of uke (inside shown). See which feels more natural to you. Continue with a tsuki to their mid section (10). Using the twisting strike (practicing your kote gaeshi movement) strike down on the attacker’s right wrist to weaken their sword grip (11).

Jo Kata 1, Steps 2,3,4,5

(3) Move offline to your right, Striking Yokomen, the attacker parries to their left, invite commitment with tenkan around the point of the parry connection over the attacker’s “third” foot, holding the attacker’s ki as long as possible while moving well offline to your left, rotating the jo using your left hand to strike yokomen hantai (4). The offline movement opens a sightline behind you allowing you to see the new attacker approach. Transition to a simple driving strike towards the attacker face to drive them back while moving further offline (5).

Bokken

The Bokken is a wooden sword made to mimic the iconic blade of the Samurai, the Katana. It is often considered a practice weapon or a sword substitute. Being made from hardwoods that are specially selected for their strength, crush resistance, and impact strength, these objects are weapons in their own right. When practicing, subtle differences in how the bokken is used to parry and strike are determined by whether one is using it in place of a shinken (live blade) or as a bokken. Primarily this difference comes into play with the orientation of the edge. When mimicking a real sword edge, one uses the sides of the bokken for any weapon to weapon contact as one would not practice endangering the sharp but brittle cutting edge of a shinken. When using as a bokken, the structure and strength of the bokken invites using the edge for contact.

In our context, we generally treat the bokken as sword. When handling the bokken the edge is treated as if it were live, only touching it when first picking it up to examine for any structural flaws that may have developed from use. The sword is carried pointed down safely between techniques. Though movies and TV have indelibly marked our consciousness, flailing the bokken about in swashbuckling type movements is never appropriate. The bokken should be treated with a degree of seriousness as unsheathing a sword is no different in gravity than un-holstering a firearm.

The movements in kata reinforce the fundamental building blocks of our techniques. Open hand techniques are further enhanced by studying their roots in open-hand defenses against the sword. Balance, focus, extension, and what we call ki are all sharpened by the proper use of a simple but elegant piece of wood.