Entering and taking control...

Well, it was another Black Belt Club class again! Training was great! I started off class with a little drill where I did a controlled stomp kick to their chest while they stood, eyes closed, directly in front of me. Upon taking the hit, they were supposed to release their breath and shift back into a Koho Kaiten, or backwards roll. This loosened up their bodies well!

Next, we did some pivot and roll away drills as a response to a Jodan Tsuki, or punch to the head. They would simply pivot away and do a forward shoulder roll, then come up facing me in kamae (fighting posture). Part of the drill was to find points in the roll where they could see me and it was great to watch them find the point when they were upside down in their roll, but could still look up at me. If they made eye contact with me, then they got it. Next time, I might test them to tell me how many fingers I'm holding up!

The theme of the night was still revolving around Kumi Uchi. In my last blog entry, I described this as being the typical starting point for judo/jujutsu, where you have your left hand on their right elbow and your right hand grabbing their left upper lapel at the shoulder. This tends to be glossed over alot, so I wanted to really focus on the importance of Kumi Uchi as a technique, just like any other technique. I explained how clothing is unreliable for grabbing and, in the event of the opponent having a light shirt or no shirt, you could slide your right hand up into their arm pit and grab the outside of their pectoral (breast) muscle, just as you would grab the lapel. The same emphasis was applied, where exact positioning of the grabbing hand on the shoulder would put leverage against any punching actions the opponent may take with that arm.

With the left hand grabbing the elbow, the direction was important. In the context we were exploring, the angle needed to be an inward, trapping motion of the opponent's elbow. They needed to pull the elbow directly into the center mass of their body to lock it in place. When done in time with the control and leverage with the right hand, they could really gain control and dominance of their opponent.

And, the theme of the night was about entering and taking control with authority.

We explored entering the center space as a response against a right punch and many times they kept leaving their trail leg outside the center space. I pointed out how this is like busting in with your entry team but leaving some of your guys outside - it creates a liability and you aren't using all your resources. They started getting it and moving both legs into the opponent's center space, taking the space well and finding it enabled them to establish the Kumi Uchi relatively easily without putting themselves in danger from subsequent attacks.

Once entry and control was obtained, they took the balance to the outside rear and finished with an outside leg leverage in following with the Kukishinden Ryu kata of Seion.

I showed a variation involving the situation where the opponent, in feeling their balance being pulled over to one side, tries to upright himself. The uprighting action is the timing for the tori (person grabbing) to simply let go of the shoulder and drive his hand up, slapping the uke's (the one grabbed) face. This causes the uke to jerk back and off their balance again. The tori then moves his slapping hand across and to the right shoulder of the uke, while still pulling in their right elbow. The tori then turns his body counter clockwise into the center of the uke, then uses his right leg to kick out the uke's left leg. The subsequent loss of balance by the uke is enough for them to simply drop to the ground.

We then explored this Kumi Uchi against a knife wielding attacker, where the uke stabs at the tori's neck with their knife and the tori responds by slipping past the thrust and moving into the center space, taking up the Kumi Uchi. What was important was how they controlled the elbow in their center body so that the uke couldn't pull back their knife wielding hand and cut the tori. In addition, proper control of the uke's right shoulder meant they couldn't strike the tori to open up space for another stab. Then, they could perform either takedown from the variations above.

We then looked at a "what if" scenario from a punch defense, where the Tori applied the Kumi Uchi. In this scenario, the uke responded by trying to force their right hand in an attempted grab to the tori's face and the tori would have trouble leveraging the forward motion of the uke's shoulder and arm. At that moment, the tori was instructed to let go of the shoulder and use their forearm to raise and parry the grabbing arm as they pivoted to the outside. The sudden lunge of the uke's arm allowed for the tori to not only parry it, but extend it to their outside. This set up an extended arm bar across the tori's body, held by the tori's left hand, and the tori used a right fist to smash the uke in the side of the head. Then, the takedown was a simple extension and leverage of the outstretched and locked arm.

This was a valuable lesson in being able to evacuate from the Kumi Uchi, like evacuating your entry team when resistance is overwhelming. But, more than just evacuating, this tactic causes the uke to pursue and expose themselves to a counter attack (i.e. the arm bar). They loved this variation and spent alot of time playing in an "aliveness" feeling, really trying to 'get' each other. From there, we looked at the counter to the counter, where the uke dips their shoulder under the pressure of the arm bar to be able to slip out and into a fighting posture (kamae). If done right, they actually become the tori, finding their opponent's arm/wrist easily caught in their forward hand. Then, they could do a simple takedown.

We played with similar techniques, but while wearing bokken (wooden training swords). This provided valuable lessons in controlling necessary space to allow for the handles and scabbards to move freely to avoid snagging. Also, protecting both weapons from being deployed by the uke added to the increased awareness during the technique.

We finished the night looking at the concept of dipping the shoulder to take the leverage out of arm locks. We played with this as a response to Hon Gyaku, which is a technique involving a straight arm, bent wrist, pain control. We also looked at this as a response to Han Gyaku, which is similar to Hon Gyaku, but you bend or put pressure on the elbow in a bent and downward angle to create instant pain compliance. Getting under such leverage using the shoulder in time with proper use of the legs allowed for many throws and such. It was a fun way to end the night.

We were all sweaty and satisfied in another successful night of training.