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In General
On Wanting Your Uke Hard-Boiled, Not Over-Easy
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#143
 07-14-2004 08:36 PM |
The Rant du Jour: Ukes who let you have it WAY too easy
The Test-Technique du Jour: Tsuki Kaitenage
First, the Rant:
You know those ukes whose centres are a real challenge to take --- either
1. unintentionally (as in the case of those new to ukemi, or someone whose physique simply is not conducive to moving and responding to technique as smoothly or quickly as someone lighter, more flexible or more agile), or
2. intentionally (they are either the kind that is being helpful in trying to resist technique to show you that you still need to do something more to take their centre, or the kind that resists technique because they are arrogant jerks)
--- well, whichever type they are, I just so happen to like that kind of uke!
Unfortunately, it does occasionally come to pass that you get an experienced uke who simply lets you take their balance regardless of whether or not you really earned it. Man, do I ever hate that! I happen to enjoy the challenge of trying to figure out what extra adaptation I need to make in order to suit this kind of physical response and resistance to my technique, whether intentional or not. Even if I look silly in the process, or like I don't know what the heck I'm doing (which isn't really that far from the truth), I greatly prefer being given this opportunity in order to better hone my skills. If I never get the experience working with someone trying to resist technique, in a real-life situation, how am I supposed to be able to respond to such (I might add: realistic) a reaction to it?
Not only does this experience have this very practical side to it, but I find that working through such resistance proves to be more rewarding in the long run when you finally have that "aha!" moment and realize what it was you were doing wrong (as I did tonight). Unless you're a fresh out-of-the-can beginner, just being given an uke's balance passively without their even having at least some kind of martial mindset simply cheapens the whole ordeal and feels like a waste of all the time and effort that I put into training, which is a fair amount.
Now, the Technique Notes (Tsuki Kaitenage):
- still getting used to the hand movement transistion that goes from hooking uke's arm at the elbow and then sliding down into a Sankyo-like grab --- the hand positioning still needs to get smoothed out, as I feel like I'm losing contact with uke (not good)
- I'm theorizing that I need to maintain a certain amount of tension in uke's hand and arm all the way through the turn under it in order for this to be most effective in terms of keeping control
- the "cut" downwards with uke's hand and arm not only needs to be done diagonally across my front (not on uke's side where he's more stable) but even lower --- even so far as to touch the mat with my hand as with bigger ukes; this also needs to be completed prior to the step back; it's also perfectly acceptible to use both hands for the "cut" for particularly resistant ukes
- if uke maintains a fist throughout, I would have to do Sankyo on it first before the "cut" downwards
- I'm only just now starting to realize that I need to grab control of uke's head (hold it down low) immediately, as soon as the "cut" downwards is complete, but BEFORE I turn my hand around to grab uke's wrist for the throw forward --- eek, this took forever to figure out --- heh
- one last reminder that I keep forgetting to step in really deep at the latter part of the throw and keep my arms extended throughout (essentially pushing with my whole body, not just my arms), and that it's a pushing-downward-on-the-head-while-pushing-both-up-and-forward- with-the-other-hand kind of movement
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