Finding the Center

My class last night went very well. The problems that plagued my taijutsu last Saturday at Dale's seminar seemed to all but disappear and I felt strong in my movements. *sigh of relief*

We started class with our usual ukemi rolling to warm up the spine and body. Then, I had everybody practice Bofuri gata with their rokushakubo or jo. I walked around the room and did some fine tuning of each person's technique, mostly with footwork and letting the staff move with it's own energy. I also revisited the aruki cross stepping movements with them and eventually they were all moving about the room fairly freely, spinning their staves with greater ease.

From there, I showed a variation of a Bojutsu kata (can't recall the name at the moment). It starts with the attacker doing a mid-level draw and cut with the sword (iaijutsu). You move outside the attack to the forward left and into a posture called Jodan no Kamae, where the forward tip of the staff goes in the space between the attacker's sword wrist and handle. The rear of the bo (right side) is held horizontally up over the top of the head. Then, you step with the right foot, parrying their sword hand to the outside left, sliding your left hand up to their wrist and using your left forearm in a kind of 'lock' or leverage to control the sword. From there, you step with your right foot behind their forward right foot and drive your right hand and staff into their neck to topple them down. You end by stepping forward with your right leg to break or pin their extended sword arm.

This went fairly well. They quickly figured out the kata isn't so much about the technical movements as it is about controlling the space and the spine of the attacker, so that they become unable to withdraw their sword arm and/or step away to regain their posture. If done correctly, it doesn't require a 'grabbing' of the sword arm, but rather the control happens from the proper use of the Jodan no Kamae and keeping the space (also known as 'kukan') open.

I showed a more nasty variation. Instead of driving your right hand and staff into their upper body and head, you take it over the top of their head to place the rigid staff behind their neck. As they fall backwards, you follow their descent to drive your right forearm against their head. This forces the neck to break against the haft of the staff, which braces into the ground to create a kind of anvil effect on the attacker's neck. It's a very dangerous technique, so please don't try to do this without proper instruction and careful practice.

From there, I showed a small counter to this technique, just to make them aware of the holes that exist in it and how moving properly using the kukan space and kamae posture correctly prevents or reduces the counter.

Next, we looked at a counter against a grab and punch attack. You stand there, casually holding your staff in the right hand in a 'guard post' position (staff pointing upwards like a palace guard). The attacker approaches, grabs the staff with their left hand and does a right cross punch to your face. Without moving the staff, you step back 45 degrees to the right, blocking the punch with the left forearm and fist. From their, you shift into a neck strike with your extended left hand, then reach up to the tip of the staff. By using the attacker's own grabbing hand as the axis, you pull back with your left hand and push forward with your right, bringing the bottom of the staff up to strike the attacker in the groin. Then, you slide your left hand forward to grab their right hand, which is still on the staff, and step forward with your right leg in front of their extended left leg. This puts your body behind the elbow of their extended left arm, so that you can do an arm bar throw by simply twisting your body sharply or drop them with an arm bar leverage by kneeling down. Finish by bringing the staff back to center.

From there, we went into unarmed taijutsu against a two hand combination attack. This started with a taking of the first punching arm to the outside, then taking the center space when the attacker attempts the second cross punch. This taking of the center space was the key to the rest of the evening. As the space was taken, the technique called for a pulling down of the lead punch and lifting of the second punch (with the right forearm) so that the attacker's shoulders cross the line of the hips in a cross pattern. This made toppling the attacker backwards very simple, since the line of the shoulders pointed to the third point of their "Balance Triangle", or that point which is between the feet. When done in the right timing, the attacker is literally thrown by their own inertia and their center space taken.

This led to other techniques which involved very close fighting scenarios, where striking turns to grappling. We looked at how controlling the center space of the attacker nullifies much of their technique and how the timing of when to move out of that space creates the finish. The techniques themselves became less important than the space at the center of them. By taking and controlling this center space, dominance was achieved and the attacker easily defeated.

Lastly, we spent time looking at Sankakujime, the infamous "Triangle Choke" commonly known as the "Rear Naked Choke" in modern sport grappling. After some practice applying it from various approaches around our partner, I started showing defenses against this form of attack. The classic defenses show trying to defeat it after it is put on, but this is dangerous. If the attack is done correctly, the odds are with the person doing the choke. Stopping the blood flow to the brain only takes less than a minute to render someone unconscious. So, the defense needs to start happening as the technique is being applied. We looked at ways of using natural ukemi to feel and move with the intial actions of the setting of the choke and how getting out of the attacker's center space makes application of the choke difficult. We tried this while closing the eyes, so that the sensory skills could be used. Eventually, they were doing pretty well at moving out of the effective center space required for the attacker to get the choke hold on securely, even when done at more of a randori or realistic speed. This was a good exercise and it went very well.

This was a good class and I was complimented by the group as we bowed out for the evening. I like it when they compliment me, not to feed my own ego, but that I walk away really feeling as if I sparked a growth curve in each of them. Their growth is very important to me and knowing that the teaching I give them could mean the difference between life and death if any of them ever happen to end up in a violent situation gives me a real sense of responsibility. I am fortunate to have such quality people who look to me for that guidance. They are not looking to be entertained, so I know that compliments I receive from them are genuinely because they found something valuable from a real budo sense.

I needed to feel that again after my feelings of disappointment and frustration with my taijutsu at Dale's seminar. I needed to return and take possession of my own 'center', to regain control of myself and my budo.

I feel great now!