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Old 10-31-2013, 04:50 AM   #10
sakumeikan
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Re: YouTube: Christian Tissier at 2013 World Combat Games

Quote:
Carsten Möllering wrote: View Post
Bruno Gonzales, godan, is a longterm student of Christian Tissier. He is one of the assistant teachers in his dôjô. So be it considered bad or good by us onlookers it is at least exactly the way his ukemi is expected to be by his teacher.
If you check out the Demonstrations of Christian Tissier at Paris Bercy you will see Gonzales giving ukemi in a different way.

Do you see a difference between the first part (osae waza) and the second part (nage waza), well, and also part three and four? Or do you see this stop-motion throughout the whole demonstration?

Tissier is showing what can be called "didactical forms" in allmost every demonstration.
Having studied his style for some yeas the structure of his demo is familiar to me. It's not random but shows how he is teaching aikidô. The stops at certain (not random) points in the technique are a tool, that is used by tori to controll position, posture, connection ... by himself. To do the transitions in katamae waza very precise is considered to be crucial in this way of aikidô.

This describes very nice what Tissier is trying to do. And not only in the first part. He often states that what he shows and teaches openly should allways considered to be didactical forms.
He explicetly doesn't show "free movement" or "applied technique".

1. As I said those hold-on-positions are not random, but clearly defined positions. When you execute the waza in one flow there will be a transition of hands, controll by tori etc. but there will (should) be no "freedom" for uke. Uke will (should) be controlled the whole way through. The stops are made to work on those transitions.
So for the purpose of working on those key positions uke is required to not do "non-kata-moves". So tori has not to react to whatever behaviour, but can work the form. Obiously this requiremt is usually needed only during the first stages of learning. (see point 3.)

2. You may notice that there is a difference between the omote waza and the ura waza. In ura waza, when uke is expected to come to tori, the halts are far less extreme - if they exis at all (watch out ikkyo and nikyo ura) then for omote waza where tori is expected to work towards uke.

3. Having said all that: I recommend to try out an advanced student of this way of practice. It is the aim of this stop-motion-tool to control uke clearly even during the halt of the technique. For to learn to be able to do the trasitions of the katama waza not only because of speed and movement, but technically. So, if this method works out fine uke will finally not be able to "turn towards nage to at least try to continue to attack" because tori is able to controll him even during those halts of technique and doing the transitions needed for the katame waza.

Well, Tissier often speaks about the "agreements" we make for being able to learn aikidô. Endô simply calls it "kata". ;-)

Tissier's knee was injured some years ago. Someone was thrown full force into his 's knee from the side. He managed to get back on the tatami, but never recoverd from that incident.
Watching him, you may sometimes recognize that his steps are not allways so precise like they used to be. And sometimes he is equilibrium is not as good as it could or should be.
But this is not the reason for the way he shows aikidô that is discussed here. It's a problem apart from his teaching method or understanding of demonstration.

As I said above: Tissier often states that he does not show what he understands as "martial applications" openly. So one can like this attitude or not, but to look for martial application in demonstrations (or the theaching) of Tissier means to put wrong expections on his demos.
His more dynamic demonstrations in former times are often misunderstood to show martial effectiveness. As far as I understand him that's not true. It is just his way of ki no nagare.

You sometimes can get a glimps of what Tissier understands (and practices) concerning martial spirit and effectiveness, when you see him doing the swordwork he adapted from Inaba sensei. Above all when he corrects and teaches his near students to become more "sharp". When he underlines this using body movemen, aikidô movement. Very interesting!

This made me grin: This can be a sign of uncommitted practice, but can also be a sign of very advanced practice.

Quite a number of students who follow Tissier where led to Argentine tango via aikidô ...
Dear Carsten,
You mention swordwork, pray may I ask, wherein the vid is there any swordwork?You make a good case for Mr Tissier's demo , are you by chance in the legal profession?Maybe next demo Tissier Sensei will get his Aikido Argentine Tango exponents do assist him?Myself, I like this dance.Maybe if I was at the demo[should there be one ] I would probably like the tango section much better than his demo.Glad my whimsical comment about Tissier Sensei not breaking sweat /or his coiffure remaining perfectly in place,made you smile.I must however state that Tissier Sensei should qualify for the best dressed man in aikido 2013.He does cut a dashing figure.Wish I knew his tailor.My own style of dress is quite dowdy/shabby in comparison.Must ask if he puts his old gear in a charity box[might pick up a bargain]??Cheers, Joe
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