Thread: Ukemi and Kokyu
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Old 02-14-2007, 10:15 PM   #18
David Orange
Dojo: Aozora Dojo
Location: Birmingham, AL
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,511
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Re: Ukemi and Kokyu

Quote:
Dan Harden wrote:
...the end result of all the training being your body feels heavy as hell, you can feel very soft and ghosty while moving and rolling or fast and hard-and rather like hard rubber coated steel... all the while you're relaxed and feeling, listening and moving.
Learning this by falling down? Baloney.
Of course, there are some aspects that you can't learn by falling down. My point is that kokyu is an integral aspect of a good roll. Without using kokyu in the roll, the roll is not a self-defense method. If a roll is to save your life in an emergency, it has to employ kokyu.

As to the other skills you're discussing, again, I think that goes back to the sliding scale idea. Every person has a limit and there's always some guy whose limit is a little bit further out. The great masters specialize in getting people off their feet and throwing them. So if the guy whose limit is a couple of hairs further out than your own, he will be able to throw you.

Or go to an extreme: I don't see you as the type who would say Mifune could not have thrown you. Maybe I'm wrong. But I think you would admit that Kyuzo Mifune could probably throw you.

And if that is the case, then you will need falling and rolling techniques and they should be done with kokyu ryoku.

And don't forget that sutemi waza were one of Mifune's specialties. He often threw people by falling--sometime out of their throw, sometimes out of when they thought they were throwing him. So maybe the skills you describe actually can be learned and executed by falling down and rolling.

Just a thought.

Best to you.

David

"That which has no substance can enter where there is no room."
Lao Tzu

"Eternity forever!"

www.esotericorange.com
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