tedehara

The first time I heard about this was when I asked my sensei a question. I was having trouble with the uke attacking quickly. I knew if he attacked quickly and I moved quickly, I would lose him because he would spin-out from the throw as a result of the total force.

My sensei suggested I think of the situation as a 10. If the uke moves quickly at 7, I move slower at 3. However I needed to move earlier because I'm moving slower. That's where the skill comes in. If the uke attacks slower than normal at 4 then I need to move faster than normal at 6.

As Talib mentioned, the numbers don't really mean anything in a mathematical sense. What it does do is assume a relationship between uke and nage. They are not considered separately, but thought of as one unit.

This reminds me of a story I heard about O Sensei teaching in Hawaii. The uke attacked him six different times and he threw him using six different techniques. After the last throw, O Sensei said "Do that" and walked away.

The confused students found a spokesman who approached O Sensei and asked him, "Did you want us to do all six throws or just the last one?"

"Oh," replied O Sensei, "Just do the last throw. I had to do the others because his (uke) ki changed."