Tomiki Aikido Practitioners

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[JamesC]

I am a new student to Aikido (About four lessons) and I am wondering if the videos offered on the JAA website are a good supplement to my practice. Any info would be appreciated. :D

[Yann Golanski]

Depends. What do you think you will get out of them? Nariyama shihan has a book out which is well worth it. Probably more so than the videos, at least in my oppinion.

Were I you, I would concentrate on basics (kihon dosa, unsoku and tegatana). The better you are at it, the better your Aikido will be. Oddly enough, it's what I concentrate the most now a days.

[PeterR]

One very good thing about the Shodokan syllabus which the JAA (USA) follows is that it allows a very rapid initial developement. I personally would just go with the flow and stay away from videos. I know when one starts that you want to know everything all at once but too much too fast can be self defeating.

I do recomend the Shishida/Nariyama text that Yann mentioned - reviews are given in the books section of Aikiweb.

[Fausto]

Maybe it is out of topic but..... since Nariyama Shihan trained with Kobayashi H. Shihan, do the Shodokan aikidoists do Meguri???, I have been told that Kobayashi H. Shihan did not do a lot of Meguri in Japan, that the way he thought there was different and I saw some Japanese students of him and they use no Meguri at all while his European students use Meguri in every technique.

Just curious.

[marcus_vinicius]

Sorry for going a bit of topic, but I was wondering if anyone knows if there is a Tomiki Dojo in the San Jose Area (California).

Thanks!

[JamesC]

You can check at tomiki.org

Go to the About the JAA link and then the Member/Dojo list.

[PeterR]

Maybe it is out of topic but..... since Nariyama Shihan trained with Kobayashi H. Shihan, do the Shodokan aikidoists do Meguri???, I have been told that Kobayashi H. Shihan did not do a lot of Meguri in Japan, that the way he thought there was different and I saw some Japanese students of him and they use no Meguri at all while his European students use Meguri in every technique.

Just curious.
Hi Fausto

The short answer is no - based only on the fact that I have no idea what meguri is. Maybe we call it something else - could you describe it to us.

[Fausto]

Hi Peter....

Meguri is the change from Nikkyo to Kote gaeshi and viceversa.

For example.... in katate tori gyaku hanmi you offer your hand in nikkyo and then you change to kote gaeshi to applay "x" technique.

I hope it's understandable.

[marcus_vinicius]

You can check at tomiki.org

Go to the About the JAA link and then the Member/Dojo list.


Got it. Thanks!

[Ron Tisdale]

From sometime ago on AJ...

http://www.aikidojournal.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3358&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

interesting thread, but I'm still not sure how I would explain 'meguri'...

Ron

[L. Camejo]

Interesting.

From Ron's AJ link, I get the feeling that this meguri thing is what we practice in Shodokan as part of the nage no kata, nanahon no kuzushi or nigiri gaeshi (changing of grip) exercises.

What makes it even more interesting is that when I recently trained with Shishida Shihan he showed me what appeared to be the similar movements to those of the nanahon no kuzushi, but in a way that to me resembled something I learnt from Tai Chi about coiling energy and manipulating your partner's body by "becoming one with it" and turning him as you move your arms from your dantien (tanden).

These movements were everywhere in Shishida's technique, I remember it made his Tenchi Nage scarily powerful (I was levitated off the ground every time he threw). Every time he moved he would engage Uke's wrist in such a way that there was no choice but to maintain the grip. I remember hearing about this concept from Daito Ryu folks who trained with K. Kondo, where when engaged by this means they were consciously and physically unable to disengage their grips, even though they knew maintaining it would get them thrown.

When I asked Shihan about where the exercise came from (as it was not exactly nigiri gaeshi or nanahon no kuzushi) he said "What I teach you comes directly from Professor Tomiki." At that point I did not need to ask anything else for some reason.:)

Just thought I'd share. Interesting concept this meguri thing.

LC:ai::ki:

[mj]

Sorry I am still a bit lost.

Is meguri the tactic where you turn your wrist just before someone grabs it?

If not could someone post a link to an mpeg, or perhaps some sequenced stills?

[Fausto]

Hi all

Mark..... that would be a more advanced use of meguri.

Meguri is the rotation of TORI'S wrist from Nikkyo to kote gaeshi or viceversa (it's the same thing I wrote in AJ hehe).

[PeterR]

Changing of grips is common in Shodokan - not specific to what Kobayashi taught.

[Fausto]

So maybe you Shodokan guys do Meguri or something similar.