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Old 11-03-2011, 07:26 PM   #93
raul rodrigo
Location: Quezon City
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 777
Philippines
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Re: Being overly complacent as Uke

As tori, I am always concerned about how uke is doing—if he is moving late, behind the technique, or ahead of the technique, or just on his own without reference to my movement. It's our continuing responsiveness to each other that makes what we doing waza, not just kata (to use a distinction that Endo likes to make). It's this continuing connection that makes it aikido. As tori, I adjust to what I am given and try not to correct ukemi unless a safety issue is involved. In that same class of Miyamoto I referred to above, he also took pains not to correct an uke when he was doing jiyuwaza in front of the entire class with non-deshi; he would work with whatever he is given. (The deshi are his responsibility and their mistakes reflect on him.) His waza then came out of the moment. He once did a technique with a partner at least 14 inches taller; he made a slight miscalculation on the distance which in turn made the technique lift him slightly off his center. He laughed and said to the class: "Too big."
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