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Old 06-24-2004, 05:10 AM   #19
drDalek
 
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Join Date: Jun 2002
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Re: Kuzushi against resistance

Quote:
Laurent Tambayong wrote:
My question is, how do you apply the "kuzushi" for people that resist or people that are more experienced?
Hi, I am quite inexperienced myself compared to some who post here, I have about 2 and a half years experience with this fascinating art, which does not translate to a very strong voice on these forums but I want to offer some personal insight.

I can list the principles of Aikido for you as I understand them, posture, breathing, tai-sabaki, timing, awareness. The goal of Aikido practice is to drill these principles into you until you manifest them spontaneously whenever the situation presents itself. The other thing is that these principles dont stand on their own, you cant just have good tai-sabaki and make your opponent fall, good tai-sabaki as opposed to mechanically shuffling your feet across the mat is dependant on good awareness (of the situation), timing (in relation to your opponent), breathing (to energise your movements and relax yourself), posture (to bring your center power into your movements).

Whenever I struggle with something, either a specific technique or an entire concept like kuzushi I step back and examine which of those principles are lacking or out of synch with others. If you struggle with an uke who can use strength to resist your technique then you need to do something which eliminates their strength, a well timed atemi, a bigger more positive inital movement or even breathing in or out at the right moment can all affect your ability to break balance.

It often helps me to find a senior student to either explain the technique to me or allow me to experiment on them. I also believe that the "fighting strategy" or "delivery system" of Aikido techniques deals with this kind of stiff-arm strength based resistance very differently than other grappling arts like Judo or BJJ. In Judo and BJJ a stiff resisting opponant is easy to deal with because they provide you with a more substantial structure to lift, lever or somehow manipulate. Aikido technique is not the manipulation of an opponent except for some peripheral joint techniques, Aikido is moving the target until the arrow has tied itself into a knot, slammed into a tree or has fallen to the ground. No movement from your opponent means no imminent danger means no more need for technique, this does not mean that you can shrug and walk away, it means that you can reinitialise your opponent's movement via some means to deal with him until he relents and goes away or until he is no longer an immediate threat to you.

In another year of training my viewpoint would have either shifted or deepened so take all of this with a pinch of salt.
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