Thread: Ukemi waza
View Single Post
Old 02-03-2004, 09:35 AM   #16
akiy
 
akiy's Avatar
Join Date: Jun 2000
Posts: 6,049
Offline
Hi folks,

So I contacted Kim and he took a look at this thread. He wanted me to relay that
Quote:
Kim Taylor wrote:
before I was a lowly, ignorant and misguided sword guy I spent 13 years (from 1980 to 1993) as an aikido guy and I'm aware of the various meanings of the word ukemi. Here's the rational for the article and for the title. The article is an excerpt of that book I told you about [editor's note: a book that he's had "on the shelf" for the past nine years or so] that I never got around to doing anything with, it includes falling down but also all the other stuff I figured was necessary for a good attacker. It was intended to be an examination of the "other half" of aikido, the half most folks ignore. I needed a name for that half which includes how to fall down obviously, but also how to stand up, how to keep attacking beyond clomping up and slapping your hand on his wrist or pushing your fist somewhere around where his face is, how to use the weapons usually associated with aikido, and how to keep yourself alive, involved and protected all the time of your attack up to and including when you roll and afterward.



I needed a name for that part of aikido that wasn't the chucking down part, so I called it the "getting chucked down part", Ukemiwaza. The book contains ukemi advice, the article, which is an excerpt doesn't so I suppose I could have called it uke waza, or atemi waza, or bokuto waza, or shidachi waza, or up-to-getting-chucked-down waza...



But I didn't.



Consider the use of the term to be a koan which is now causing everyone examine ukemi... which is what I intended to book to do in the first place. ;-)



Kim "who will happily sit still for all sorts of abuse for linguistic crimes if people are bored and it makes them happy"
Just as a side note, I've met and taken a class with Kim who is, aside from his past experience in aikido, a 6th dan in iaido these days. I believe he is the only person qualified to officially instruct Niten Ichi-ryu kenjutsu (the two sword style developed by Miyamoto Musashi) in North America.

-- Jun

Please help support AikiWeb -- become an AikiWeb Contributing Member!
  Reply With Quote