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Unless otherwise stated, the author’s views, musings, and opinions do not necessarily reflect the attitude of leadership within any of the various Nihon Goshin Aikido associations, or unaffiliated Nihon Goshin Aikido dojos.
5 February 2017
Inside This Edition:
- Maximizing Practice ~ With Focused Repetition
- Aikido Applications with the Karimbit Knife!
- Real Fight Breakdowns: Pipe-Maggedon ~ Closing the Distance Against a Ranged Weapon
Greetings Nihon Goshin Aikidokai:
So we have an Indian Summer going on in South Carolina at the moment. Twice in the past week, the temperature has gotten over 75 degrees. Once it crested 80 degrees. The summer can not get here soon enough.
People ask me why I live in South Carolina ~ there’s an easy answer. If your favorite seasons are spring, summer, and fall, then SC is the place for you (as this is what you get 11 months out of the year).
Had the 1970s Global Cooling scare actually taken root, I’d probably live in Florida. Wait you don’t remember the “Man Made Global Cooling Scare?” ~ Google it! All the chaos was triggered by Right Guard Aerosol Antiperspirant cans, knocking a big hole in the Ozone layer ~ which allowed all the warm air to escape out of the hole in the atmosphere. No joke. The Carter administration was seriously considering dumping tons of Coal Ash on the North and South Poles to melt the ice and warm the planet. This was the first argument ever made for man made global warming.
Thankfully before any of that could happen, Americans got busy “heating” the planet instead of “cooling” it by exhaling ~ (something “new”) which puts excess carbon dioxide in the air. I say Great! I didn’t like the thought of everything north of New York’s southern border to be a glacier ~ and think of those poor Canadians.
You know the funny thing about all of the man made climate change science is that their “models” all assume that the sun burns at a constant temperature. Of course that is a faulty notion. The sun generally cycles in temperature (typically 11 years of hotter than normal temperature followed by 11 years of cooler burning temperature). So what I’m trying to say is, “What we should really be worried about is “solar climate change!” (Note heavy sarcasm). Call me a skeptic. I just don’t think man is altogether that significant to “cause the earth to die.” If the meteor that landed in the Gulf of Mexico all those years ago didn’t kill the earth, what can? But go ahead hold your breath if you feel like what you are exhaling is killing the planet. It’ll make you feel better, probably.
Training Patterns ~ Focused Repetitions for Accelerating Competency?
It’s all about how you practice. Some time ago I was serious about my music. I wrote a lot of music, recorded original songs, etc. My limitation was always my ability to play my instrument ~ so I practiced my instrument a lot.
The thing I noted after awhile was that if I just picked up the guitar and began to play, I’d naturally move to the things I did best, and neglect the things that might be more difficult (or boring). Unfortunately, the things that I was neglecting were pretty important, and my musical abilities came to a stand still. I was good enough to create and play my own stuff, but not good enough to bridge into other styles or play other people’s stuff. Also, my ear was terrible ~ especially as it related to chord identification. Do you know what A minor sounds like? It sounds the same on every instrument, so if you hear and A minor on keyboard, you should be able to recognize it on guitar ~ and join in. This is of prime importance to jam sessions and improvisation, and I struggled to do it. I never got better at it, because I never practiced it much.
When I train in aikido, I like the notion of following a pattern and working on my weaknesses. Give me the same attack, and let me explore all of the applications of a particular technique which I can muster. I like to cycle through these over and over again. When I work with new students, I see my inner white belt reflected in them many times. Did you race to get through all your techniques (one on the right, and one on the left, and then move on to the next technique)?. No desire for feedback? No desire for integration? No desire to understand or internalize? Did this describe you ~ as it described me?
Consider the Arm Bar Applications from a straight punch. It is a simple techniqie, but there is so much to explore and internalize. You could do a version of the Classical Technique. You could parry the strike down and then back up into a “Breaking the Arm Over the Shoulder.” You could parry and enter, and do a Wrap Around Arm Bar. You could slip the punch and do a Rollover Arm Bar. But that’s not all. You could also change the direction of your intention. Instead of turning and continuing or extending his momentum (Ura) as in the Classical Technique, you could force uke back the way he came (Omote) ~ which really opens up your list of potential applications. This expands your Applications set exponentially, but “which ones” do you work on? I’d say the ones that cause you the most trouble.
Aikido With A Karimbit
Sensei Carter is conducting a seminar on February 4th from 4:30-6:00pm. Essentially the idea is that the Karimbit (pronounced “Ka-ROM-bit”). spices up everything you do in aikido. It makes joint locks more effective, it makes pressure points lethal, and you can slash, stab, and cut. In a side conversation we were having on the topic, the idea was floated that using a trainer (and not an actual sharp knife) would be exceptionally powerful (and non lethal) in a real fight as well.
Real Fight Breakdowns ~ Pipe-Mageddon
How many times can you get hit with a pipe before you get knocked out? Is that the game they were playing?
My gosh! There is a ton going on here.
After you watch the clip to the left a few times, you might note that the lady in the purple shirt is in a left Hamni stance, making it hard for her to blend away from the attack ~ and reducing the time she has to control the weapon or the attacker’s hands. Her only choice is to enter ~ which she does, but she can not enter fast enough to jam the attacker’s hands. She stays in no man’s land for far too long, and gets pummeled as a result. Had her attacker’s strikes been more accurate or more powerful, she might not have lived through the experience.
Because she could not readily close the distance, she might have benefited from backing up to perhaps bait her attacker into a more deliberate attack that would take more time to develop allowing her more time to control the strike.
I keyed in on all these observations first, but perhaps the better lesson is the actual movement of the pipe swinging attacker. Notice how well she manages her distance ~ backing up as her opponent advances, and striking her opponent at every possible opportunity. This looks almost straight out of a Kendo/ Fencing class. Apparently she has trained with the iron pipe for some time because she is able to get 6 hits in before losing her weapon. She might have been able to get more hits in had she circled as she moved back rather than simply retreated in a linear fashion. The linear retreat is always a dead end, and she eventually gets overwhelmed as a result.
Notice how many observers are content to let it unfold ~~~~ crazy.
Alright, well, I think that does it for the February edition of the newsletter. Keep in mind that we website is choking with material in addition to the archived newsletters.
I have included a few links to get you going.
Principles of Movement ~ The Yang Blend: Effortless Aikido
Testing for Rank: Sho-Dan Attack Line Examples
Real Fight Breakdowns: Randori In Turkey!
Let’s meet together on the mat, and soon!
All the best,
Jonathan Wilson
Ngexperience.com
Inside Nihon Goshin Aikido ~ #47
The Classic Lines of the Nihon Goshin Aikido training gi are unmistakable.
- White Gi
- “Ai” patch on the right breast
- “Ki” patch on the left breast
- Association patch on the right shoulder.
- Applicable belt (white, yellow, blue, green, purple, brown, black),
- Black hakama (worn only by those who have achieved a black belt in Nihon Goshin Aikido)
Some things simply never change. The student/ instructor uniform should be one of those things. This uniform marks a connection all the way back to the Chitose dojo, and should be preserved.
This Baby’s Kung Fu is Strong. He fears No Dragon.
Interesting Irimi Tenkan Movement (with shinais) from Sensei Jim Giorgi (RIP)
What potential Nihon Goshin Aikido Applications Do You See with the Karimbit?
Classic Example of “punching through the target.” The target is not the solar plexus, but a spot maybe 12 inches behind the solar plexus. Lol Note how balanced Seagal is when he strikes.
Here’s a link to my Old Band’s Website, and it has all the songs I wrote and recorded.
I have no idea what this man is saying, but he says it with such passion. Great Arm Bar and Leg Sweep Applications.