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Old 01-28-2009, 11:53 AM   #14
dalen7
 
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Re: Yokomenuchi Tenchinage

Quote:
Jeremy Morrison wrote: View Post
I think I know which tenchinage you're describing, Dalen7 - does this sound like it?:

Uke attacks yokomen with his right hand. I enter with my right foot and engage uke's attacking arm with my left hand while my right gives an atemi to uke's face, drawing his left, usually, in defence (the standard 5th kyu yokomenuchi engagement). My left hand comes to my waist as I tenkan around beside uke on my left foot. My left "earth" hand sweeps downbehind uke's right leg as I step forward with my right leg, switch my hips, and throw uke. Uke's trailing hand may or may not keep kokyu, but the feeling of "heaven" is still there.

If this is the one you're having trouble with, I think the key points are:
a) the initial irimi and atemi to take uke's balance. The irimi is necessary to invade uke's sphere and the atemi is necessary to break their posture. Once you get really comfortable, the irimi itself can be almost an atemi, but it's always best to learn techniques using broad atemi as training wheels (because they're still there even when you don't see them!)
b) keeping a strong magnetic-feeling kokyu with your drawing "earth" hand - I think of it like leading a partner when you're waltzing
c) the "earth" hand should never come up. You are turning the initial yokomenuchi into the top of a lazy "S". The weight of the "earth" hand and their attention to the "heaven" hand keep uke unbalanced through the whole technique.

The throw itself is a lot like iriminage, in that one hand goes up while one goes down, there is some centripetal aspect to the throwing force, and uke falls the same way. Indeed, like in iriminage, your "heaven" arm should not clothesline uke, nor are you stepping all the way through to trip uke.

I hope this helps at all,
voitokas
Thanks for your time and reply.
For the most part it does sound very similar - and the part about not stepping all the way through to trip uke holds here, which is kind of the part that threw me at first.

Just got finished practicing the version in the video linked toward the beginning of this thread...but definitely want to get a better flow with the other one.

In a way, the hard part simply is this:
After the atemi, and as your turning to switch directions, the hand is actually on the Ukes waist and 'pushing' to toss/throw - vs. being in heaven position. (This is what confused me, as any resemblance to heaven and earth was kind of gone...no stepping behind uke with earth hand, and no hand up by the neck...instead by the waist and pushing as you turn to the opposite direction.)

An interesting note to add:
I just went back through my training video I made with my instructor a couple weeks ago. We did not have the time to go into detail through all the techniques for my kyu levels as I would have liked, and toward the end some were rushed.

I bring that up because Yokomenuchi was one of the techniques in the rush pile. We didnt go through the full technique.
Instead he showed that the entering was the same for all of them.
(A direct entry) and from there you executed the techniques as you would in any other position.

And in that, the direction for Tenchinage was the same as listed here by other members, and what you would expect.

However, in our last training class, when trying to prep for our test, he showed this other way to me and my uke - and that is where the confusion came in... (seeing I dont speak Hungarian, it was hard for me to clarify what was going on - and it confused my uke as he cant pull the technique off that way either.)

Anyway - I chalk it up to just one of those things.
Funky things happen when your not able to clearly communicate because of language.

Suppose a lot of this could have been averted, if we had practiced more of the requirements the past months. There are some techniques in our test that were barely touched upon at all. (Have to admit, I have been quite disappointed with this.)
It could be because at a certain lvl you can easily apply the base knowledge between techniques and forget its not quite the same way in the beginning stages.

Either way, I have enjoyed and appreciated the responses, and learned from them.

Peace

dAlen

Last edited by dalen7 : 01-28-2009 at 12:07 PM.

dAlen [day•lynn]
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