YouTube: "Aikido - Okamoto Yoko Shihan - 55th All Japan Aikido Demonstration (2017)"
Here is a short Aikido demonstration by Yoko Okamoto (6th dan, Aikido Kyoto) at the 55th All Japan Aikido Demonstration in May, 2017, in Tokyo. What are your thoughts on this demonstration? -- Jun |
Re: YouTube: "Aikido - Okamoto Yoko Shihan - 55th All Japan Aikido Demonstration (2017)"
This demo really didn't show Okamoto Sensei at her very best. I've seen numbers of her videos in the past and she is simply amazing to me. This was good and clean, but not at the level when she is rolling hard and beautifully. It seemed that the demo was shortened for some reason.
|
Re: YouTube: "Aikido - Okamoto Yoko Shihan - 55th All Japan Aikido Demonstration (2017)"
I always enjoy watching her aikido.
|
Re: YouTube: "Aikido - Okamoto Yoko Shihan - 55th All Japan Aikido Demonstration (2017)"
Small woman doing big man aikido. I've trained with her a few times and she was far more concerned that I didn't respond correctly in my ukemi than my waza. At lunch she leaned across to the dojo-cho where I was training as if I wasn't even there, pointed at me and said, "fix his ukemi before I see him again." 20 years later I still hold that my ukemi was safer and better than anyone training at that dojo, although had several of the seniors try to *show* me why what I was doing wasn't safe. Never went well for them. Not a fan.
|
Re: YouTube: "Aikido - Okamoto Yoko Shihan - 55th All Japan Aikido Demonstration (2017)"
"Putting the ME in MEdiocre!"
You are my new hero. |
Re: YouTube: "Aikido - Okamoto Yoko Shihan - 55th All Japan Aikido Demonstration (2017)"
Quote:
|
Re: YouTube: "Aikido - Okamoto Yoko Shihan - 55th All Japan Aikido Demonstration (2017)"
Quote:
|
Re: YouTube: "Aikido - Okamoto Yoko Shihan - 55th All Japan Aikido Demonstration (2017)"
Quote:
|
Re: YouTube: "Aikido - Okamoto Yoko Shihan - 55th All Japan Aikido Demonstration (2017)"
Quote:
|
Re: YouTube: "Aikido - Okamoto Yoko Shihan - 55th All Japan Aikido Demonstration (2017)"
Quote:
Ron |
Re: YouTube: "Aikido - Okamoto Yoko Shihan - 55th All Japan Aikido Demonstration (2017)"
Quote:
However, I think there is a point to be made here. Many years ago, I took part in a seminar given by Morihiro Saito Sensei and he was teaching 2-kyo. He came over and took ukemi – and gave me some personal advice. I think this is called kuden and I have never forgotten it. The advice was to keep my feet firmly on the ground and my legs / knees flexible, so that I could more easily execute a kaeshi-waza. The point was to receive the 2-kyo, but then be able to do something else. With someone like Chiba S, you had to keep your knees flexible and your knees firmly planted on the ground in any case, but I have found by experience that this is not always the case. Best wishes, |
Re: YouTube: "Aikido - Okamoto Yoko Shihan - 55th All Japan Aikido Demonstration (2017)"
A high class aikido expert or shihan should deal with any given ukemi done by any uke. Adapting to the ukemi is a sign high level to me.
|
Re: YouTube: "Aikido - Okamoto Yoko Shihan - 55th All Japan Aikido Demonstration (2017)"
Quote:
|
Re: YouTube: "Aikido - Okamoto Yoko Shihan - 55th All Japan Aikido Demonstration (2017)"
Quote:
|
Re: YouTube: "Aikido - Okamoto Yoko Shihan - 55th All Japan Aikido Demonstration (2017)"
Quote:
|
Re: YouTube: "Aikido - Okamoto Yoko Shihan - 55th All Japan Aikido Demonstration (2017)"
Quote:
|
Re: YouTube: "Aikido - Okamoto Yoko Shihan - 55th All Japan Aikido Demonstration (2017)"
Thanks for explaining, Chris.
|
Re: YouTube: "Aikido - Okamoto Yoko Shihan - 55th All Japan Aikido Demonstration (2017)"
Quote:
|
Re: YouTube: "Aikido - Okamoto Yoko Shihan - 55th All Japan Aikido Demonstration (2017)"
Quote:
"Tissier-style" Ikkyo ukemi is received in the legs and hips. The back foot draws closer to tori and is pivoted around as the front leg lifts, making uke face tori with a pendulous balancing motion, which slows the fall. The leg that remains on the ground absorbs the impact by bending the knee. The foot in the air will also find the ground quickly after the swinging motion is finished, and behind tori if possible. The free-arm is not "landed on" at all - it merely "finds" the ground (with the same absorbing/dissipating idea that we all do when slapping the ground after taking a mae-ukemi) and the occupied-arm relaxes to receive the technique in the body as much as possible. The idea is that the movement leads to aiki-otoshi as a kaishi-waza if Ikkyo is not performed well. |
Re: YouTube: "Aikido - Okamoto Yoko Shihan - 55th All Japan Aikido Demonstration (2017)"
The downside is toris who cannot adapt to ukemi they are not used to, and surprisingly often get irritated when confronted with that, just as in the story above. Imho it becomes over-stylized neo-orthodoxy a little too often.
|
Re: YouTube: "Aikido - Okamoto Yoko Shihan - 55th All Japan Aikido Demonstration (2017)"
Putting a structure around ukemi tuition doesn't diminish our practice anymore than putting a structure around techniques (which most of us readily accept as necessary to learning aikido.)
Learning the form to forget the form applies to uke as well as tori, as both roles are based on the same essential principles. |
Re: YouTube: "Aikido - Okamoto Yoko Shihan - 55th All Japan Aikido Demonstration (2017)"
I genuinely don't care how other groups take ukemi. I dislike ukemi that presumed that Tori will not hurt you. We've had a few people come through who do "soft ukemi" and they're welcome to try. Most of the time we warm them that we strongly discourage this kind of ukemi because it's inherently unsafe, they assure is that they use it all the time and it's fine, then we never ever see them fall that way. After a few weeks we ask why, "Oh, you can't fall like that here, you'd break your neck..." Yup. Don't let people hurt you.
|
Re: YouTube: "Aikido - Okamoto Yoko Shihan - 55th All Japan Aikido Demonstration (2017)"
I completely agree with that, and it is indeed an essential ingredient of ukemi training as I understand it.
Ukemi is not just about taking uke's balance -- uke needs to know when it's unwise to wait for their balance to be taken. However, I do concede that for some students it can be easy to be drawn into the whole "refusing to move if it's not correct form" training pathology, but I don't think this is limited to any one lineage. |
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 01:39 PM. |
Powered by: vBulletin
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.