Thread: Staying soft.
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Old 05-18-2005, 08:10 AM   #17
eyrie
 
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Re: Staying soft.

Quote:
Chris Hein wrote:
Well, Actually where I was going was to get rid of the roles of uke and nage all together. Not always, but in some occasional sparring. Sparring dose not in any way refer only to trading kicks and Punch's (a game of tag is a great way to put it by the way!!). Google defined sparring as: "A form of martial arts training in which two opponents face one another and simulate actual combat." I mean that you get rid of the basic roles we always play, and you attempt to gain martial advantage over your partner. You resists and do what ever you like to attempt to control the other. This dose not have to be competitive, it's a mutual exercise to help each other gain in ability! Ego tends to get in the way, but ego is something we should be working on anyways, so it's yet another exercise in development. Instead of hiding behind our ideals, we should be trying to grow by what ever means possible!

-Chris Hein
Ah... what you are alluding to is kaeshi-waza, where roles of uke and nage are reversed and interchangeable, and henka-waza, chaining techniques.

Well, since attack and defense are 2 sides of the same coin, all moves can be countered and reversed - if you know how. But what you are suggesting by "resisting" and "attempting to control" is an incorrect analogy - certainly not in the ideal sense of "aiki".

In [the] jujitsu [I do], there is no such thing as "resistance". If nage botches the technique (or attempts to use force), uke can reverse the technique by "flowing" into a reversal technique. Likewise, if uke "resists" by standing there or attempting to prevent nage from applying the technique, we let them do so, and flow into the next technique.

Why should aiki be any different? One can get the same quality of practice by working on [the true meaning of] ukemi rather than actively "resisting" nage's technique.

Ignatius
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