Thread: Aiki Expo
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Old 05-07-2002, 08:23 AM   #9
George S. Ledyard
 
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Dojo: Aikido Eastside
Location: Bellevue, WA
Join Date: Jun 2000
Posts: 2,670
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Re: Re: USHIRO KENJI SENSEI

Quote:
Originally posted by Kami


KAMI : Now, you got me curious, Ledyard Sama!
What can you tell us about Ushiro Sensei? What's his karate like? How do you think it may be useful for aikido training? what did he taught at the Aiki Expo?
From all I've read, it was a wonderful event. I wrote to Stanley Pranin giving him my congratulations. They're yours, too!
Best
Aside from the fact that the style is primarily a style of karate and is therefore primarliy devoted to impact techniques the principles are right out of the Aikido book. His whole emphasis was on kokyu. He demonstrated the difference between most people's striking and doing it with kokyu. One of my students is a 4th Dan in Karate and Ushiro Sensei used him to demonstrate quite a lot, also one of Imaizumi Sensei's students from NYC who is also a karateka. There was no comparison between what they did and what Ushiro Sensei was doing with his kokyu.

Where his teaching applied directly to Aikido was in his irimi training. His entry was designed to preclude any possibility of additional attack. In Aikido we call this katsu hayabi, instant victory. This man had it down. Most of the time, even with the fastest attackes my student could muster, Ushiro Sensei had hit him before he could complete the first punch and was inside his guard with kuzushi. He repeatedly demonstrated the difference of a conventional response and an entry with kokyu. He would suck the attacker in with his breath, neutralize his power while entering ini and either delivering what would be a finishing combination of blows at blurring speed or a takedown (all of which we would be familair with). He emphasised that once one has the ability to enter and take the opponent's center, he can choose whether or not to destroy him. Their style has an array of techniques that are designed to spare the life of the attacker ie. locking and pinning techniques. But it wasn't the techniques butthe principles behind them that make what he does os applicable to Aikido. Once you have the entry, you can choose to do any type of technique you wish.

That said, you couldn't have found a nicer man. Absolutely a gentleman!!! I tried to hold the elevator door for him at one point and he wouldn't go in, wanted me to precede him. At last he did go in but as he went through the door he grabbed my arm and pulled me through with him. At the end of the last class with him I had Clint George Sensei translate my thanks to him and I mentioned how helpful his two students had been (one was his daughter). Instead of the usual "big Sensei" kind of acknowledgement which would usually not have included any communication of the compliment to the students, he calle them over and told them waht I had said. They then both came over to me and thanked me. He seemed genuinely proud of them. Just about the nicest man you could hope for I would say. Which in my mind made him even more inpressive as a martial artist.

Last edited by George S. Ledyard : 05-07-2002 at 08:33 AM.

George S. Ledyard
Aikido Eastside
Bellevue, WA
Aikido Eastside
AikidoDvds.Com
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