Secret weapons of the yudansha
 

I have a theory...

How do they manage to so easily evade the rest of us? :confused: Its a long kept secret, handed down with the awarding of a black belt.... the slimy wrist. :eek:

That's right. They must learn to exude a specially slimy sweat on their wrists :crazy:

I mean, think about it... Have you ever met anyone off the mat with sweaty WRISTS ? :straightf No, lots of other commonly sweaty areas (no, I will NOT elaborate :rolleyes: ). No one has sweaty wrists.

EXCEPT the Yudansha.

Slimy wrist-waza. Yup.

:D

Re: Secret weapons of the yudansha
 

The youngsters in my classes inevitably remind me of this.
"Eeew, your sweaty!" Some even pull away in revulsion with a distorted, twisted look of disgust. Sorry, I say. Now, grab my wrist.:D

Re: Secret weapons of the yudansha
 

Sweet, I am one step closer to yudansha then, since I already have the sweaty wrist!

:)

Re: Secret weapons of the yudansha
 

In a word...GAS...

:D

Re: Secret weapons of the yudansha
 

"Our weapon is fear, surprise... Oooh!"

"Our TWO .. weapons.. are.. fear, surprise, a ruthless efficiency, and ... Aaagh! ... I'll come in again."
....
"Amongst ... our... weaponry, .. are ... fear, surprise, a ruthless efficiency, and an almost fanatical devotion to the P ... "

Oh. AIKIDO? Never mind.

Re: Secret weapons of the yudansha
 

We refer to this technique as "slime-waza."

Re: Secret weapons of the yudansha
 

I once made this same comment to a yudansha (with whom I have a fairly awesome rapport with, somewhat similar to Curly's relationship with Larry from the three stooges) I was practicing with, noting how easy it was for him to break my grip because of his sweaty wrist and how all the yudansha seemed to have sweaty wrists while the mudansha didn't. I called it "gurossu waza."

Without missing a beat, he said "thats because we [yudansha] are actually training hard. If you train hard you work up a sweat."

I responded "Maybe. It could also be because we [mudansha] are so much younger and just have more stamina, we don't sweat as easily."

My yudansha buddy didn't have a response to that. Sensei had overheard this exchange and commented "Verbal aikido. Good flow. Nice kaeshi waza." Then he walked away. We both bowed.

Then my friend flipped me with an effortless koshinage and pinned me, and said "Sure went flying there. Did you slip on my sweat? Sorry I'm so out of shape."

I just grinned, and we went back to training.

Re: Secret weapons of the yudansha
 

It is easy to explain why yudansha have sweaty wrists.

They have an extra layer of fur on their wrists:
http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13060.
That produces extra heat locally.
Which needs to be cooled down.
By sweating.

Mystery solved.

Re: Secret weapons of the yudansha
 

Ultra-sharp pleats on our hakamas, all the better to slice & dice unsuspecting ukes.

Re: Secret weapons of the yudansha
 

It's the arm-pit gi-stink that can only be developed after years of training. No touch throws work like magic!

Re: Secret weapons of the yudansha
 

<sigh.>
Despite having gained my hakama, I have yet to master both this talent and the amazing change-in-less-than-five-minutes talent that the other yudansha at my dojo have.

Is there some secret transmission-of-wisdom that my sempai have overlooked?

Re: Secret weapons of the yudansha
 

Don't forget that 8-year old gi...doesn't matter how well its been washed, you don't want to get your face buried in the armpits.

Edit: Damn, Ann Marie beat me too it....that's what I get for skim-reading.

Re: Secret weapons of the yudansha
 

I always thought the hakama was a secret weapon, the number of times I've tripped on someone else's... I'm gonna be a nightmare when I get a hakama of my own.

Re: Secret weapons of the yudansha
 

The hardest part is to learn how to position your hakama in such a way that your partner trips on it.