Thread: Defining Kokyu
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Old 07-18-2005, 12:17 PM   #75
Mike Sigman
Location: Durango, CO
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 4,123
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Re: Defining Kokyu

Quote:
David Valadez wrote:
In my opinion, a weight lifter lifting weights and airplanes flying are both things of the natural world. The jo trick is more akin to holding that the Earth is flat when it is not: It is based in the natural world but it is so unfounded that it proves to be false. In lifting weights, the force of gravity is overcome when the engine being used can generate more energy than the weight involved. An over-exaggeration of this principle, and something very akin to the jo trick, would be to suggest that a two year old could lift a car. Such a position violates the known ratios concerning mass and energy. In that, such a position violates nature and proves to be false.

It is true that at some level Osensei is attempting to demonstrate his capacity to generate remarkable levels of mechanical advantage. In doing so, as you say Mike, he is attempting to use the same principles relevant to all mechanical advantages. However, he is also going beyond that (i.e. over-exaggerating -- now entering falsehood). He is not just saying that with kokyu-ryoku one can offer more resistance to horizontal energy than without kokyu-ryoku (which would be true). He is saying that with "kokyu-ryoku" one can overcome the horizontal energy put out by three extremely fit and strong young men. In saying this, he is also saying that not only can he overcome the horizontal energy output of three fit and strong young men BUT that he can also give them the long end of a lever and still offer more resistance. If he was not already in the land of "fake" before, he certainly is now when he offers them the longer lever.

Moreover, (and this seems to be the point I am not explaining too well) in saying that he can give three young men the longer lever and still overcome their horizontal energy output, he is asking us to believe that said three young men cannot break a jo when the shorter lever proves to be stronger than the longer lever. What is an over-exaggeration here -- what is a departure from the Truth here? Two things: That three strong fit young men cannot generate more horizontal energy using a longer lever and all of their body than a frail old man can using a shorter lever and his one hand; and that three strong fit young men cannot break a jo by pushing on the longer end when the shorter end of the lever proves to be (for some reason) the more powerful end. Though this latter point is proving difficult to explain, one can simply experience it by sticking their jo in a vice and getting two friends (no training is necessary -- believe me) to help you push on it latterly. SNAP!
David it's like watching the strongman at a circus. He is certainly strong, but he since he adds a little bogosity to his act by inflating the numbers on the weights, you're discounting the act. I see that he's strong. You see that he's faking a part of the act. Yes, O-Sensei had overly-cooperative uke's.... but most Aikido dojo's would be hypercritical to complain about that, I think. What I see, through a number of demonstrations, is that O-Sensei could indeed demonstrate that he had the traditional power and skills from trained ki and kokyu practices.
Quote:
Thus, in our dojo if the geometry and the physics is not present, and we are not addressing the learning curves of a beginner, if Uke "takes a fall," that uke did something wrong. He or she was not being cooperative, not blending, not protecting themselves, not in harmony with Nage, he or she was not following Nage's lead, he or she was not being affected by Ki, etc., - they were just plain ol' faking it.
What if they do everything right but they run into someone who understands body mechanics they're not familiar with? That's the essence of kokyu things and why they're not openly taught, BTW.

Mike
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