2002 Jujutsu Class Diary
2 December 2002
The diary has been a little erratic again recently. I'm failing to write the class up promptly because things are a little bit busy, and once it recedes into the past, it's hard to get round to it. Normal service will be resumed in the new year. After a lot of ups and downs I've actually managed to complete my house purchase. A combination of the amount of decorating I have to do in the next few weeks and holidays means that tonights class was the last for a while. The next class will be on Monday 20 Jan 2003.
18 November 2002
Another esoteric evening. Started off with a bit of basic bokken work - yokomen and shomen cuts, followed by a pair exercise. Then on to the meat of the evening. We were looking at nidan wrist bend (nikkyo for aikido readers). But rather than the whole technique, we just concentrated on aligning the wrist and the rotation. Hard work, quite subtle, but a good exercise.
Towards the end of class, with high frustration levels and low sweat levels we abandoned subtlety for a bout of newaza: groundwork randori.
11 November 2002
I decided to indulge myself this evening: we worked on a couple of principles that I particularly wanted to play with. First off was kime, focus, particularly as applied to nidan. The exercise was one taken from Daiwa Ryu. The technique is normally to take uke's hand in both of yours apply nidan. Instead of that, move both of your hands up to uke's forearm and apply from there. It is a lot harder. To get anywhere you have to try to use your body and focus, not just heave with the hands. After a few repetitions of this, move back to nidan on the hand. A lot easier now.
Once every one was sufficiently frustrated, we changed the problem. This time it was to concentrate on the "third point of the triangle", taking ukes balance behind them in gyaku hanmi tenchinage. Then to ai hanmi and taking the balance in front, taking sokumen irimi nage. This eventually merged into taking irimi nage - the short form for those readers who were at the Euroseminar. Attack then changed to a punch, same defence, getting shorter all the time.
4 November 2002
Started off with some more knife work - initially nice large stabs, taking into classical tekagami or shodan (kotegaeshi and ikkyo for the aikido folk reading this. I must get a glossary together some day!). Then the attacks got shorter, and so did the responses. Weapons away, we then examined the same range of techniques trying to concentrate on body positioning and body weight.
Having got fairly subtle during some of the previous hour, a look at a Kamishin Ryu style ude osae dori was next. This was prompted in part by an email I've recently received from Rob Rivers who is trying to get various Kamishin Ryu practicioners back in contact with each other.
Finished off on with more of a mental than a physical challenge: running through the first three Toyama sword kata after a lapse of several months.
28 October 2002
I really should write classes up more promptly: we did meet, we did play but there's a fairly large blank in my mind trying to recall what we did! In part due to the fact that I'm incredibly distracted at the moment trying to buy a house. Good news is that there's a garden with room for a reasonablehome dojo. Bad news is that there is a lot of stuff to do before I'm allowed to start working on that luxury.
21 October 2002
Karl has made available some of the pictures from the Euroseminar.
We were a small class this week: holidays and (non-martial arts) injuries conspiring to keep numbers down. Started off the evening with some knife work - firstly knife on knife to make people realise how frightening weapons are, then some "how to take a knife off the bad guy" which was as challenging as ever. We then split into two groups with Frances taking Bali through the shodangi tachi waza, whilst I put Graham and Jim through their grading. Congratulations to both on passing, and to Frances on what looked like a very professional tuition session.
14 October 2002
Congratulations to Alan, Bali and Frances. All three graded successfully tonight. I was particularly impressed with how well they managed to relax during the techniques. The only real problem was the fault of the instructor: it became apparent that, whilst we've spent a lot of time on some of the detail of the kata, I've been getting lazy on emphasising the bigger movements - step forward here, pivot there sort of thing.
After the grading, as some light recreation, we did a little bit of weapon work: happo giri exercise at first. This was then followed by some sword taking techniques. Whilst fun, I must admit to serious concern over the validity of these. The idea of trying to take 3 feet of sharp steel off a determined attacker does not fill me with confidence. Still, if there is no alternative I suppose...
7 October 2002
Went over Chuck's two person sword kata again. After a while with bokkens (wooden swords) we shifted over to using iaito (blunt Japanese swords). A definite difference in feel. We seem to have got the gross mechanics sorted out now, so it is just a question of getting the intent and spirit of the kata. That may take a little longer
Putting weapons to one side,we then worked on a couple of techniques from nidangi: niho nage and tekagami. Both were new to most of the people there, so it was mostly a "left hand goes here" run through. Working on the Hakko Ryu style niho nage makes me realise how much I prefer the Daiwa Ryu version (same one we did at the Berlin Euroseminar). So it looks as if I'd better spend more time on the Hakko Ryu one again, see if I can get it back into my affections.
30 September 2002
Still feeling somewhat groggy from the cold, but managed to make it to class this week. We started off running over the two person sword form that Chuck Gordon had taught at the Euroseminar in Berlin. I seemed to remember it OK but will repeat it again next week to force it further into my mind.
At the end of the class we were working on nidan gi suwari waza. This brought up an interesting exercise. Right hand takes uke's right hand, left hand gently on uke's elbow. Apply nidan. But the difference is that you are only gripping uke's hand with your little finger and thumb. The other fingers should be relaxed. The idea was to develop the finesse of control of uke's hand - the same idea I was trying to get across in Berlin. I'll see if I can develop this further - I enjoyed it at least.
23 September 2002
I was laid low with a cold so didn't turn up. Those who did make it worked through some more kata and variations.
16 September 2002
Started off with a little knife work, substituting foam tubes for anything sharp and scary. We were working on defences against nice big, slow cuts: left to right, right to left, up and down. Predictably, things got a little faster, and a little faster and I ended up rolling around on the ground with Graham, trying to pursuade him to let go of the knife substitute. As ever, the main lesson from all this was that there is a reason people use wepaons: it gives you an advantage over the guy without the weapon!
To let adrenaline levels return to normal, we then moved back to looking at shodangi kata again. Managed to work through both suwari and tachi waza, and have threatened every one with a grading in the next few weeks. Techniques are certainly good enough, though some have a little bit of homework to do on the names. Then there's the eternal problem of flow. The difference between say 3rd kyu and 5th kyu is not one of mechanical correctness, putting your hands in the right place, but of flow, moving with uke. Hard to teach and hard to assess: you know when it's right but just how right is it? Made particularly difficult because most of the class have trained in other styles, so have picked the techniques up very quickly and it's that flow which is what's different between what we do and what their previous style did.
9 September 2002
The first hour was based around a nihonage style entry. Initially from gyaku hanmi we worked on the daiwa ryu style nihonage, with lots of work to make sure that people were gripping correctly, with an emphasis on the little finger. Hand position was important as well as that allows uke's wrist to buckle naturally and means that you don't need to struggle to maintain control of uke.
Using the same entry, but moving the attack to yokomen uchi, we carried on with nihonage for a while, then - same entry still - moved to irimi nage and finally sokumen irimi nage.
A change of pace to work on kata in the final hour. First a little shodan gi suwari waza, then I got a little impatient. So we covered some of the mochi mawari techniques from sandan gi tachiwaza. We haven't done much of this before as a class, so managed to get people a little confused, but it seemed to be coming together by the end.
2 September 2002
Back on the mat after what seems like a very long break. Started off working on avoidance, deflection and taking the balance. Punch to the face, pivot outside whilst deflecting above the elbow. Then pivot in towards uke to take the balance and arm in to tekagamei, aikinage or osotogari.
True to my word fro a few weeks ago, we then spent the second hour of class working on kata: shodangi in this case. Ulterior motive as ever: it gave me the opportunity to work on a couple of things that I want to try to do at the Euroseminar in a couple of weeks time.
26 August 2002
Final Bank Holiday of the summer. The sports centre is closed so no class this week.
19 August 2002
It was time to unleash the terrible tubes of foam. Pipe insulation cut in to 40 cm lengths makes a very satisfying club. Uke can attack at full speed and with no need to fear for tori's safety. And it makes a very satisfying “thwack” when you catch some one square on the head. So we spent a while making sure that every one was actually moving off line. Main emphasis was on a shome uchi attack, move outside and take either tekagami (better known as kotegaeshi) or nidan (nikkyo).
I seem to have been jumping around between techniques over the last few weeks, and it turned out that in my absence last week, they'd gone back to kata - plain, simple and unadorned. So it looks as if I'd better spend more time on kata in the next few weeks. It's an interesting problem: I sometimes feel obliged to show lots of “new and interesting” techniques. But the end result of that can be confusing. So, more time on the basics. After all, that's how I was taught and enjoyed it. Now if only I can continue to remember that. But the foam tubes are fun - give them a go.
12 August 2002
Slight change this week. I didn't turn up. Today was the second anniversary of my marriage to Sue, so I left the class in Alan's capable hands looking at overlaps between the bunkai of his karate style and our jujutsu. Not sure how they got on, but Sue and I had a great day!
29 July 2002
Guess what - hot and humid again.
Spent the first hour or so working on kata - shodan gi suwari waza for the most part. Then as it was nice and hot we decided we may as well play a bit. I've been doing some thinking on tomoenage recently so we had a go at that: classical tomoenage then tori continues to roll over and ends up in tate shiho gatame - perhaps better known as the playground pin where you sit astride uke.
From there we worked on some groundwork for a while: tori is on his back, uke between his legs trying for a strangle or similar. Experimented with various ways of moving into armlocks, stangles and hold downs. After all that what was there left to do but a few minutes of newaza randori. Then down to the Kingfisher for a very welcome, very cold, beer.
22 July 2002
Another very hot evening - heavy canvas gi and hakama sometimes don't seem the most appropriate clothing for physical exertion. Oh well.
Concentrated on nidan gi this week, breaking kata down into bits to look at. First off was the block/deflection to an uchi komi dori style attack, making sure that the hand near the able is correctly placed - striking with the palm knuckle of the index finger (there must be a better description of that - we do it a lot.)Then the take down and ensuring that control is maintained all the way up to establishing the wrist lock.
For a bit of variety, we ended on a Kamishin Ryu pin from sandan waza. Having taken sandan (in our case from ushiro ryote dori), uke is taken over backwards. The pin is then applied by: turning uke onto their side, held hand uppermost, tori kneeling behind uke. Tori then places a foot (left if uke's right hand is taken) over ukes neck and bring the heel and ankle back into ukes throat from a strangle - this flexes uke's back. At the same time raise uke's hand to apply the sandan lock. Hard to describe!
15 July 2002
Started off this week split into two groups - the beginners working on shodan suwari waza, whilst Alan and Frances started looking at sandan suwari waza. Had some fun working with Alan on sandan gi tekagami - having closed him down and tried to apply pressure onto his back, there was still too much room around his arm to allow a lock. Cheating slightly, I found that putting my other hand on his elbow to pin the arm in place allowed the wrist lock to go on.
On joining the group together again we worked through a series of techniques from a punch to the face - all using the same basic entry.: Irimi nage, osoto gari, ushiro goshinage from entering to the outside - harai goshi and ogoshi from entering to the inside. All of which was enough to get a fine sweat up on a very warm evening.
8 July 2002
Tried to remember and reproduce some more of the techniques we covered on the Ipswich course. In particular we went over some of the hanbo and kata against a front kick from Tony Carrick's sessions. This led on to a number of other responses to kicking attacks, during which I managed to get elegantly nailed by Simon, a Tang Soo Do practicioner. OK, so I need to spend more time sparring with punch/kickers again.
Spent a little time at the end of the class looking at groundwork and transitioning between techniques: kesagatame, ude garami, tate shiho gatame and jujigatame.
1 July 2002
A good week for visitors: we had two new starters in the club as well as a visit from Arne Oster on his way back to Sweden from the course in Ipswich.
Course, what course? Organised by the Suffolk Dentokan clubs, Roy Jerry Hobbs was teaching Kamishin Ryu and Tony Carrick was teaching Hontai Takagi Yoshin Ryu. Coordinated by Brian, with the catering by Barbara, this was the usual Rogers family triumph. Thanks for a great weekend.
There was a good turnout, predominantly yudansha, with the usual crowd from the Birmingham based Aikido Research Federation, local jujutsuka from Ryoi Shinto Ryu, Kamsihin Ryu and Hakko Ryu backgrounds as well as stray judoka and, on the Sunday, half a dozen from Stephen Chan's London based karate club. It also became apparent over the weekend that a number of people on the course look at this web site occasionally. Should any of them want to contribute a review of the course it would be most welcome! Chris? Simon? Frances?
The Monday class, out of respect for aching joints, sort a fairly slow pace. Initially we split into two groups, the new comers working on breakfalls and then an osoto gari like technique whilst the rest worked on nidan gi tachi waza. The second half of the class joined the two groups up and worked mostly on slipping punches and then taking irimi nage and kaiten nage. There was some shodan suwari waza in the mix as well, but just where current eludes me.
A thoroughly enjoyable evening, and in particular I would like to thank Ärne for the effort he made in coming to join us for the evening: Berinsfield is not the easiest place to get to by public transport.
24 June 2002
Larger class tonight, with a newcomer: welcome to our dojo Simon!
Started off looking at techniques from yokomen: entering as if for nihonage, but then taking first sokumen irimi nage then irimi nage. From there it seemed obvious to move on to nihonage from the saem attack, so we did.
The last half of the class shifted across to ude osae dori nidan. For Bali and Simon this was the kata version, whilst the others looked at tighter versions, emphasing control of a possibly non-compliant uke.
In the pub afterwards, Graham and Jim seemed to be doing a roaring trade selling gis. Looks like they are working on Fudoshin, their attempt to fill the hole in online UK based equipment suppliers. And no, I'm not getting paid for this plug, beyond the pint of beer I got on Monday.
17 June 2002
It was a small class this evening, so we took the opportunity to examine the nidan suwari waza kata which neither Alan nor Frances had been through before in its' entirety.
After a suitable period of concentration, trying to digest new kata it was time to stop concentrating and just flow. The exercise was to counter one technique with another, the counter in turn being countered...With just three of us on the mat we managed to get a good rhythm going which occasionaly degenerated into groundwork when everything just crumpled.
All in all, a very good work out for what had been a very hot and humid evening! And to cap it all, Chas (he of the injured back) turned up to join us for a pint. Even if he hadn't earnt it that night.
10 June 2002
With the forthcoming Roy Jerry Hobbs course in Ipswich focusing on Kamishin Ryu, it seemed like a good idea to compare some of that kata with the way we're used to doing things. Mostly worked through the Otosu Odori's, Taki Nage and Te Hana. I'm typing up my old kata notes for these and hope to put them up on the web site soon so that you know what I'm talking about.
The main difference when moving to Kamishin Ryu is the greater emphasis on atemi together with a more "robust" approach to the techniques.
The diary has lapsed a little, but classes have been carrying on as normal.
13 May 2002
Began the evening looking at the details of the nidan wrist bend. Starting off we concentrated on the arms length versions: matsuba dori and uchi komi dori as, if you can make those work properly, the "close to the body" versions: ude osae dori and mune osae dori are easy in comparison.
Not sure how the links evolved, but we moved on to looking at sandan gi mochi mawari to give the wrists a break, then reversed the turn of the nidan wrist lock to get some break fall practice in with niho nage, Daiwa Ryu style. I particular like this version as there is no effort in the throw: everything just locks up mechanically and it is time for uke to get airborne.
29 April 2002
Warm up was a bit different this week as Jim and Graham had come along in hakama for the first time. They wear them for formal wear at their other club, but haven't ventured on the mat hear so clad before. So we did shikko (knee walking), lots of ukemi, ogoshis, a little bit of newaza and anything else which might get them tangled into knots. They survived remarkably well.
Spent a while concentrating on using body weight to effect uke when deflecting straight punch and shomen uchi style attacks. Then, when the noise from the aerobics class dropped away, I decided it was time to spring a grading on Jim, Graham, Frances and Chas. Shodan gi: suwari, hantachi and tachi waza followed by demonstrations of the principles of hakko dori, shodan, nidan and sandan wrist bends, atemi, ogoshi, hiji. The whole thing took just on an hour and all acquitted themselves excellently. Congratulations to all four on their new grades.
No class next week as it is another bank holiday in the UK.
22 April 2002
With a threat of a grading hanging over people, it was another week on the basics. But we got to experiment with them a lot and pick up on some fun details.
The majority of the class was running through shodangi again, this week assuming that every one should be getting hands and feet in the right places, so that we could concentrate on a few of the details that had got overlooked over the past few months. Favourites to have trouble with were: hand rotation in tekagami. trying to just force things through.Controlling uke in yoko katate osae dori. It's all in the angle of the hands, wrists, everything else! Good looking techniques though - we seem to have come a long way in the 15 months the class has been running now.
The last 40 minutes or so was spent on variations on niho nage, as invented by the class. Some of which proved more "unusual" than others!
15 April 2002
Back to fundamentals this week. The first hour was spent on a run through of shodangi. For a change, the emphasis was on getting the form right, rather than getting the principle right. This was to make sure that we're all doing the same kata when we get together with the Suffolk guys later in the summer.
Next we moved back to principles: itten no hi as applied to shodan, nidan and sandan wrist locks. An aside into countering a sandan lock with another sandan seemed to lead naturally into a spate of counters. We ended the session with reversing tekagami into waki gatame.
8 April 2002
Despite being a father of some three days standing, Chas made it to class tonight. Impressive as that feat was, it would have been still more impressive if he'd managed to bring any semblance of cognitive ability with him. As it was he seemed to pass through the class in another world. Under the circumstances I think we can forgive him. Congratulations to Chas and Kat from all of us.
Having missed a week due to the bank holiday, we took up where we'd left off - hip throws and their relatives. Ogoshi and drop seio nage got us started, then a osoto gari into uchimata combination which seemed to cause a few problems - mostly due to trying to short cut the osoto gari. Once that was mostly working, we added a tobi goshi counter to the end of the uchimata.
Alan is in the process of setting up a karate club, specialising in bunkai the style name escapes me at the moment - more later. So, to get him broken in for his first teaching experience, he took the class for a while. Starting with "typical" karate kata, he demonstrated a number of, usually painful, applications of the technique. Looks like his class should be worth going to.
To finish off with, we descended to a brief period of judo newaza. I've got to get out of the habit of always going for jujigatame - I am getting distinctly predictable.
25 Mar 2002
Tonight's theme was hip throws. Started with a basic ogoshi, and had great fun trying to pursuade people to bend their knees and keep their feet on the inside of uke's. Too much background with a tai-otoshi style foot work and just heaving uke over. Then moved on to harai goshi and uchimata.
Second half of the class concentrated on looking for techniques demonstrating the principles of nihonage and kotegaeshi. This was greeted with the traditional paralysis of all cognitive centres, but gradually things started to happen.
No class next week as the sports centre is closed for the bank holiday.
18 Mar 2002
Trying to keep things in mind from last week, we started with sandan gi suwari waza. Continuing the sandan theme, but changing style we then spent a while playing with some of the sandan techniques from kamishin ryu. Working just from ude osae dori, we played with the short version (throw in front of you, then kneel on the bicep whilst goose necking the wrist), the long projection version and a "throw the hand to the face and take osoto gari". I really must go and look up the names of these techniques
Spent a while working on principles: "show me three techniques demonstrating shodan, nidan, atemi". Judging by the stalled expressions, we'll be doing a bit more of this in the coming weeks. Then, to relieve the pain of aching brains, we finished with a circle - strong grabbing attacks, no atemi allowed (allegedly).
In the pub afterwards, there was a request for some more work on ogoshi type techniques, so that will probably be coming up next week. Should be an interesting challenge as there are some fairly large individuals in class, and others significantly smaller. Just have to get it right!
11 Mar 2002
Started off looking at blending techniques together, working from uke's response. Initial attack was ude osae dori. Respond with uraken with the held arm. Assuming that uke blocks the strike, take the blocking arm down in an ikkyo style technique. Once every one had got the hang of that, we added to it. Uraken to ikkyo, abandon that and take irimi nage. Adding to that, uke brings their free (non ikkyo-ed) hand to protect their face during the irimi nage (thanks Jim!), so take that in nidan. And then reverse that to kotegaeshi for the fun of it.
Having got every one thoroughly tied up in knots, we moved over to formal kata. Worked through sandan gi, suwari waza and hantachi waza. Again this was the first time any of the class had seen this, so it was mostly a question of sorting out which hand goes where, though some of the techniques were coming on nicely at the end.
The hantachi waza showed some problems with breaking uke's balance, so we moved on to tai no henko from ryote dori, standing to great relief from some.
4 Mar 2002
Chas took the warm up and seemed to thrive on being back in front of a class again. The sooner he can get his aikido class back up and runing the better. Following on from last week's concentration on sandan kata, we started with hantachi waza, ushiro gyaku kubi shime dori. An elaborate technique - possibly not the most modern of attacks! Moving to standing, we concentrated on the mochi mawari (lead around) that's common to much of the sandan kata. Done properly, it takes the posture a treat. Done badly, it's just asking for an arm lock on tori.
As the next chapter in "a rapid overview of Dentokan" we then worked on yondan kata tachi waza: mune dori, oikake dori and yokomen uchi dori. This last, with a compliant uke, can lead to dramatic breakfalls, so we used this as an opportunity to encourage flight amongst the larger members of the class.
To catch breath, ran through shodan kata, suwari waza, then with everyone's pulse back down, looked at nidan from ude osae dori: first from Hakko Ryu, then Daiwa Ryu and finally from Kamishin Ryu. As all this was done in suwari waza, a couple of people were getting a little stiff. Note to self: more suwari waza next week
25 Feb 2002
Started off with hakko dori from standing, the emphasis being on taking uke's posture rather than on freeing the hand. Moved on to a two hands onto one grip with the same technique, then ryo ude dori, ryo mune dori concentrating in each case on breaking uke's posture.
Having got every one warmed up, and the aerobics music from next door coming to an end, we moved on to the sandan kata. Graham's done his knee in, so we concentrated on tachi waza and ran, sketchily, through the lot. This was the first time we'd covered this in class, so the idea was to give an outline. We'll go through in more detail over the next few weeks.
As wrists started to get too sore, we spent 10 minutes or so in judo style newaza before finishing with a yoga stretch shamelessly stolen from Danielle. Then, unsurprisingly, repaired to the pub.
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