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Old 06-27-2010, 04:56 AM   #26
Anita Dacanay
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Re: Does one's size or weight affect one's Aikido?

Generally speaking, I think that the majority of us agree that being overweight is not necessarily an advantage in life or in Aikido.

But I would think that it is very true indeed that one's size and weight affect his/her Aikido. Of course they do. Whether they affect it for good or ill is up to the individual.

If someone is good enough, he or she will know how to use his/her body, mind, energy - entire being - to his/her advantage.

A general response to this and the other conversation regarding "large" Sensei: I don't see the productivity of having discussions about who is fat and why and whether or not they should do something about it. What is the point of that, aside to make oneself feel superior?

If you yourself are concerned with maintaining good fitness, then do so! If you are concerned with promoting fitness, then do so. Running about pointing out other people's obesity and shaking your head about it will not promote fitness or improve your Aikido, in my opinion.
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Old 06-27-2010, 07:23 AM   #27
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Re: Does one's size or weight affect one's Aikido?

Quote:
Carsten Möllering wrote: View Post
In my experience larger persons have to learn everything the very same way as others.
If somebody suffers from overweight he or she even has more diffiuculties to learn and to advance.
Especially the ukemi we do is not easy to do then.
Actually its a lot easier to be a ball when you are shaped like a ball. And being "well padded" makes the landing much less damaging on the body. I feel more for all the people who are nothing but sharp angles hitting the mat. Looks like that would hurt. Quite honestly I really enjoy ukemi although, yes in the beginning, it was a challenge for me to learn it.

As for learning and advancing. Well I've caught up with and will likely overtake a few people in the dojo who started out well before I did.... if one has the dedication and the drive. Size is but a small issue in whether one progresses or not. And as one person in the dojo once said to me.... I have one heck of a killer drive.

Quote:
Carsten Möllering wrote: View Post
In my experiences there are no advantages if being overweight. It's the other way round.
Overweight hinders training the way we do aikido. And as I said above there are not much people in aikido here, which suffer from overweight. You see this very seldom.
Carsten
Agree being over weight is not an advantage at all. But it is also not really a disadvantage unless one allows it to be one. I would not say that the size of my body helps or hinders my aikido. Of course being more deeply centered and grounded than most, I do tend to have a bit of an effect on other peoples aikido. But I don't see that particular ability as coming from my size so much as just who I am and the background I have. I just don't loose my center all that easily.

I would hope that when I eventually shed this extra weight I'll still be just as difficult to move as I am now. And being stronger than most of my training partners, if anything, is a disadvantage as I have to remember not to muscle a technique even though I very easily can.

Being over weight is not a good or desirable thing. But for some it seems, myself included, that it will be a never ending battle. I for one am not going to allow my size to prevent me from doing the things I love to do, and doing them well.

Anita, thank you for your thoughtful post.
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Old 06-27-2010, 09:41 AM   #28
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Re: Does one's size or weight affect one's Aikido?

I have lost about 30 pounds over the last 6 months and it has definitely not had a negative impact on my training. It is kind of difficult to tell exacly if/how it has impacted my aikido in a postive way but I know my fitness level is much better so I don't get tired as easy.

Depending on how you train, I think your fitness level is more important than weight. Our dojo training is very physical so it takes a toll on people who are out of shape. From my observances, fitness level and weight are correlated but not always. We have had some pretty big guys in class who would really push themselves and would suprise you with your fitness level. And on the other had we have had guys that were like sticks but probably couldn't run a 100 meters without falling over.
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Old 06-27-2010, 05:46 PM   #29
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Re: Does one's size or weight affect one's Aikido?

I believe topic is not about being overweight.

WEIGHT:
As you can see i.e. in judo or Olympic wrestling, there are the weight categories. The reason is simple: more there is a body-to-body contact, more weight counts. In aikido we have far less contact, but still, some static techniques requires a lot of contact to unbalance attacker. Particularly we can see it in front or rear both hands grab attacks, or chokes. As not everyone is able to create a dynamism even from static attacks, as long you are not doing 'aikido before contact' (TM), you are in disadvantage compared to equally trained heavier attacker.

SIZE:
Shorter aikidoka has a big advantage compared to tall one - aikido was created by VERY short man. Usually, from technical point of view, to be able to take attacker center with ones own center require to enter under the level of his hips. And most of aikido techniques are based on this principle.Only for this reason, I believe it is a very big challenge to learn aikido for tall and very tall ppl.

If I combine size and weight, the perfect combination is short, heavy aikidoka. Just like O sensei LOL

Nagababa

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Old 06-27-2010, 07:13 PM   #30
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Re: Does one's size or weight affect one's Aikido?

Quote:
I believe topic is not about being overweight.

WEIGHT:
As you can see i.e. in judo or Olympic wrestling, there are the weight categories. The reason is simple: more there is a body-to-body contact, more weight counts. In aikido we have far less contact, but still, some static techniques requires a lot of contact to unbalance attacker. Particularly we can see it in front or rear both hands grab attacks, or chokes. As not everyone is able to create a dynamism even from static attacks, as long you are not doing 'aikido before contact' (TM), you are in disadvantage compared to equally trained heavier attacker.
Good point but I think then it really does not matter. The point goes to the person with the most skill. And at least form what I have seen so far the person who can stay the most relaxed and centered and does the least seems to be the most effective. At least, I've noticed, that against someone of equal or greater training level using my weight and power becomes a big disadvantage most of the time. As uke he harder I come at them the farther I fly and as Nage if I try to muscle them I generally wind up giving them something to use against me. Sure sometimes I can force it with strength and weight, but then its not aikido anymore.
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Old 06-27-2010, 07:38 PM   #31
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Re: Does one's size or weight affect one's Aikido?

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aikido was created by VERY short man.
However Ueshiba Sensei was comparable in size to other Japanese in which he developed his aikido with.

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Old 06-27-2010, 07:50 PM   #32
Chris Li
 
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Re: Does one's size or weight affect one's Aikido?

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However Ueshiba Sensei was comparable in size to other Japanese in which he developed his aikido with.
Then why did he have to struggle to make the minimum height requirement for the army?

Best,

Chris

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Old 06-28-2010, 07:29 AM   #33
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Re: Does one's size or weight affect one's Aikido?

Quote:
Adam Huss wrote:
However Ueshiba Sensei was comparable in size to other Japanese in which he developed his aikido with.
Quote:
Christopher Li wrote: View Post
Then why did he have to struggle to make the minimum height requirement for the army?

Best,

Chris
And he was certainly more muscular than most in his younger days, looking at the old photos..

Ruth
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Old 06-28-2010, 09:23 AM   #34
David Orange
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Re: Does one's size or weight affect one's Aikido?

Quote:
Szczepan Janczuk wrote: View Post
As you can see i.e. in judo or Olympic wrestling, there are the weight categories. The reason is simple: more there is a body-to-body contact, more weight counts.
It was not always that way in judo, though. See Aikido Journal's articles on Yoshio Sugino. One of the tiniest men ever, he was incredibly formidable in judo and he strenuously opposed weight classes in judo because he (like Mifune) would take on anyone and usually won.

He quit judo when they instituted weight classes because he felt that took something important from the experience and thereby changed the basic nature of judo.

I think the same thing applies to aikido. Relying on extra weight to effect techniques or allowing an attacker's extra weight to limit your technique are both failures of understanding.

And as for "getting under" the attacker, that can, in fact, be done when your hips are higher than the opponent's. That's a lot of what the internal strength discussions are about and why modern technical aikido and judo fall far short of the arts of Takeda, Ueshiba, Mifune and Sugino.

David

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Old 06-28-2010, 09:26 AM   #35
David Orange
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Re: Does one's size or weight affect one's Aikido?

Quote:
Adam Huss wrote: View Post
However Ueshiba Sensei was comparable in size to other Japanese in which he developed his aikido with.
Actually, Ueshiba was rather smaller than average, even for Japan. But he was bigger than Sokaku Takeda, I believe.

So look at tiny men like Sokaku, Sugino and Kyoichi Murai and wonder how they could completely dominate much larger and already-well-trained men of considerably greater weight.

FWIW

David

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Old 06-28-2010, 11:59 AM   #36
Keith Larman
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Re: Does one's size or weight affect one's Aikido?

Quote:
David Orange wrote: View Post
So look at tiny men like Sokaku, Sugino and Kyoichi Murai and wonder how they could completely dominate much larger and already-well-trained men of considerably greater weight.

FWIW

David
Staying out of the argument overall, I would point out that saying this sort of thing does little to forward one's position. The retort would be "well, then, imagine how much *more* powerful they would have been had they been bigger!"

I have some sympathy for those trying to throw me at times. I'm about 240 pounds. 6 feet tall. Barrel chested Norwegian stock with no legs and all upper body. So a low center of gravity, lots of muscle, very dense (in many ways), but also with extra weight I would certain rather not have (another discussion). It is very hard to move me. And when i do certain throws where I'm dropping someone down... Well, me dropping my weight down into my hands vs. someone who weighs half of what I do dropping their weight down into their hands... Big difference.

The issue is however very complex which is why these discussions tend to go nowhere. We try to speak in generalities while simply picking and choosing those things that benefit our point of view. Confirmation bias. So what I wrote above as a response to some comments I think is perfectly valid point -- extra weight is great on anything you're doing that involved "weight underside". And then transmission of that weight into the attacker. I'm sorry, you can't make physics go away. Of course that same person may not be as mobile, as healthy, as fast, or whatever due to that extra weight which creates disadvantages as well.

In other words... The question is flawed because it is too general. And most are correct within their narrowly defined scenarios.

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Old 06-28-2010, 12:15 PM   #37
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Re: Does one's size or weight affect one's Aikido?

Quote:
Christopher Li wrote: View Post
Then why did he have to struggle to make the minimum height requirement for the army?

Best,

Chris
Hmmm,

now that sounds familiar. I guess a "my bad" is due.


Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is I don't think smaller people are necessarily better at aikido, like I don't think that fat people are necessarily better at aikido.

Ichi Go, Ichi Ei!
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Old 06-28-2010, 12:50 PM   #38
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Re: Does one's size or weight affect one's Aikido?

Quote:
David Orange wrote: View Post
It was not always that way in judo, though. See Aikido Journal's articles on Yoshio Sugino. One of the tiniest men ever, he was incredibly formidable in judo and he strenuously opposed weight classes in judo because he (like Mifune) would take on anyone and usually won.

He quit judo when they instituted weight classes because he felt that took something important from the experience and thereby changed the basic nature of judo.

I think the same thing applies to aikido. Relying on extra weight to effect techniques or allowing an attacker's extra weight to limit your technique are both failures of understanding.

And as for "getting under" the attacker, that can, in fact, be done when your hips are higher than the opponent's. That's a lot of what the internal strength discussions are about and why modern technical aikido and judo fall far short of the arts of Takeda, Ueshiba, Mifune and Sugino.

David
I'm well aware the weight categories are recent innovation. But they were introduced for important reasons. I agree also there are some very exceptional artists that are able to neutralize their own disadvantage when attacker is much heavier. However, in daily training, for us, mortals, as I already wrote "you are in disadvantage compared to equally trained heavier attacker".

I don't see it as "limiting my technique". On contrary, it forces me to enrich my technique every time I deal with somebody 100 pounds heavier than me(and that really happens regularly). But I have no illusions what can be done and what not in the dojo environment where you protect an attacker. I saw ppl who like you didn't respect that and got seriously injured by their own ego (not intentionally by attacker!!!). You can't cheat gravity.

I have average weight but as a uke I can be very heavy and redistribute a power of the aikido technique to degree zero. If you give me 100 pounds more it becomes scary to think how I can use this additional weight…

Also I tend to separate the legends from reality of training.

Nagababa

ask for divine protection Ame no Murakumo Kuki Samuhara no Ryuo
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Old 06-28-2010, 12:52 PM   #39
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Re: Does one's size or weight affect one's Aikido?

Quote:
Keith Larman wrote: View Post
Staying out of the argument overall, I would point out that saying this sort of thing does little to forward one's position. The retort would be "well, then, imagine how much *more* powerful they would have been had they been bigger!"

I have some sympathy for those trying to throw me at times. I'm about 240 pounds. 6 feet tall. Barrel chested Norwegian stock with no legs and all upper body. So a low center of gravity, lots of muscle, very dense (in many ways), but also with extra weight I would certain rather not have (another discussion). It is very hard to move me. And when i do certain throws where I'm dropping someone down... Well, me dropping my weight down into my hands vs. someone who weighs half of what I do dropping their weight down into their hands... Big difference.

The issue is however very complex which is why these discussions tend to go nowhere. We try to speak in generalities while simply picking and choosing those things that benefit our point of view. Confirmation bias. So what I wrote above as a response to some comments I think is perfectly valid point -- extra weight is great on anything you're doing that involved "weight underside". And then transmission of that weight into the attacker. I'm sorry, you can't make physics go away. Of course that same person may not be as mobile, as healthy, as fast, or whatever due to that extra weight which creates disadvantages as well.

In other words... The question is flawed because it is too general. And most are correct within their narrowly defined scenarios.
Good post Keith. It concords well with my experiences.

Nagababa

ask for divine protection Ame no Murakumo Kuki Samuhara no Ryuo
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Old 06-28-2010, 01:10 PM   #40
DH
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Re: Does one's size or weight affect one's Aikido?

Quote:
Keith Larman wrote: View Post
Staying out of the argument overall, I would point out that saying this sort of thing does little to forward one's position. The retort would be "well, then, imagine how much *more* powerful they would have been had they been bigger!"

I have some sympathy for those trying to throw me at times. I'm about 240 pounds. 6 feet tall. Barrel chested Norwegian stock with no legs and all upper body. So a low center of gravity, lots of muscle, very dense (in many ways), but also with extra weight I would certain rather not have (another discussion). It is very hard to move me. And when i do certain throws where I'm dropping someone down... Well, me dropping my weight down into my hands vs. someone who weighs half of what I do dropping their weight down into their hands... Big difference.

The issue is however very complex which is why these discussions tend to go nowhere. We try to speak in generalities while simply picking and choosing those things that benefit our point of view. Confirmation bias. So what I wrote above as a response to some comments I think is perfectly valid point -- extra weight is great on anything you're doing that involved "weight underside". And then transmission of that weight into the attacker. I'm sorry, you can't make physics go away. Of course that same person may not be as mobile, as healthy, as fast, or whatever due to that extra weight which creates disadvantages as well.

In other words... The question is flawed because it is too general. And most are correct within their narrowly defined scenarios.
Staying out of the argument overall
I would point out- that pointing out just HOW powerful they actually were while clearly having the weight disadvantage is a very good point.
Discounting "this sort of thing does little to forward one's position."
The retort would be "well, then, imagine how much *more* powerful they would have been had they been bigger!"....is no logic I can fathom. The larger people were not powerful enough to handle the little guys...Most smart people would want to know how the little guys did it.

If you want to talk about big; I'd rather imagine being a big guy and knowing what the little guys knew!
Cheers
Dan
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Old 06-28-2010, 01:17 PM   #41
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Re: Does one's size or weight affect one's Aikido?

Technique can help make up the difference between strength, speed, and size.

Strength, speed, and size can help make up the difference in technique.

I see this often in bjj. New big guys are easy to handle. Give them a few months and they quickly become challenging with just a little bit of technique because that little bit of technique is multiplied by their size and strength. Same with little fast guys.

Now what is really scary is the big, fast, strong guys with awesome technique! Sometimes it's not a either/or situation.

- Don
"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough" - Albert Einstein
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Old 06-28-2010, 01:22 PM   #42
DH
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Re: Does one's size or weight affect one's Aikido?

Well since we are making extreme arguments without much balance.....

Quote:
Szczepan Janczuk wrote: View Post
I have average weight but as a uke I can be very heavy and redistribute a power of the aikido technique to degree zero. If you give me 100 pounds more it becomes scary to think how I can use this additional weight…
Well, are you making the statement that using weight is always the same thing?
I have had men who outweight me by 60 pounds or so, stare at me like a deer in headlights when their familiar gambit of dropping their weight in to the opponent proved meaningless! Thankfully I've gotten better over the years as I lost more of the muscle mass I used to have.
Perhaps there is more to using it, more to knowing how to cancel it out then a discussion of mere weight would imply?
Perhaps there was more to it than just "technique" as well!
Quote:
Also I tend to separate the legends from reality of training.
I did the opposite. Thankfully for me I separated the "reality of training" of the majority of all of the martial artists I have met in their respective arts...for the brilliance of the legends.
Someone knew exactly what they were talking about...it wasn't us!
Dan
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Old 06-28-2010, 01:43 PM   #43
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Re: Does one's size or weight affect one's Aikido?

If the issue is not about being over weight, then maybe there is something to be said about where one carries weight, not necessarily how much weight.

MM
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Old 06-28-2010, 02:14 PM   #44
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Re: Does one's size or weight affect one's Aikido?

"It's in the way that you use it" - Eric Clapton
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Old 06-28-2010, 02:28 PM   #45
DH
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Re: Does one's size or weight affect one's Aikido?

Quote:
Maggie Schill wrote: View Post
If the issue is not about being over weight, then maybe there is something to be said about where one carries weight, not necessarily how much weight.
Nope
Quote:
"It's in the way that you use it" - Eric Clapton
Yup

Last edited by DH : 06-28-2010 at 02:33 PM.
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Old 06-28-2010, 02:36 PM   #46
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Re: Does one's size or weight affect one's Aikido?

Well said up there, Keith, nice post.

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Old 06-28-2010, 11:14 PM   #47
Keith Larman
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Re: Does one's size or weight affect one's Aikido?

Quote:
Dan Harden wrote: View Post
If you want to talk about big; I'd rather imagine being a big guy and knowing what the little guys knew!
Cheers
Dan
Oh, absolutely. Tis my personal quest... No doubt about it.

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Old 06-29-2010, 12:29 AM   #48
Lorien Lowe
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Re: Does one's size or weight affect one's Aikido?

In the course of my aikido career, I have gained a lot of weight and then lost it again. I think it was harder for others to move me when I weighed more, but also harder for me to move myself. My ukemi especially suffered with the extra weight - it just seemed like I was hitting the mat a lot harder, and I wasn't as flexible.

If the extra weight is muscle (without being so bulky that it limits flexibility), then the advantage gained in power might offset the disadvantage of innertia. I can't speak to that point, though.
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Old 06-30-2010, 01:07 PM   #49
David Orange
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Re: Does one's size or weight affect one's Aikido?

Quote:
Szczepan Janczuk wrote: View Post
I'm well aware the weight categories are recent innovation. But they were introduced for important reasons. I agree also there are some very exceptional artists that are able to neutralize their own disadvantage when attacker is much heavier.
That was original judo. The weight classes contributed greatly to erasing important knowledge from modern judo.

Quote:
Szczepan Janczuk wrote: View Post
...I have no illusions what can be done and what not in the dojo environment where you protect an attacker. I saw ppl who like you didn't respect that and got seriously injured by their own ego (not intentionally by attacker!!!). You can't cheat gravity.
Not sure what you mean by "ppl like" me. My teacher was uchi deshi to Mifune and Yoshio Sugino was one of his best friends. The only judo I know is from that original line--not the modern sport. My teacher said "Nowadays, judo has become a dumping ground for overweight children" and that the modern sport relies on weight and force, which is why Sugino left judo for good.

Of course, size influences everything, but few people found bigger size to be an advantage against Mifune, Sugino or Mochizuki because they trained in complete judo.

Quote:
Szczepan Janczuk wrote: View Post
Also I tend to separate the legends from reality of training.
Of course, when you don't know the people in question, how can you determine what is legend and what is real? And thinking these real people only legends, how could you begin to consider what gave them their truly fantastic abilities? (Hint:: it wasn't weight.)

http://www.aikidojournal.com/article?articleID=3

Although he tried practically every sport available, Sugino's real love was for budo, particularly judo and kendo. While at Keio, he began studying judo under Kunisaburo Iizuka, an 8th dan judoist who also taught at the Kodokan. Iizuka was even shorter than Sugino but he made up for his lack of height in his girth and exceptional skill. It was he who forged the young Sugino into a strong judo man. At first, Sugino was unable to win against any of his opponents because of his small size. "That was truly a difficult time for me," he recalls. Sugino studied kendo for a time under a man named Tadatsu Shingai, who was employed in the Imperial Household Agency and was ranked "upper second kyu." The dan system was not used at that time and practitioners were ranked instead from tenth kyu to first kyu, which ranks were further divided into upper, middle and lower levels. Given that a third kyu was roughly equivalent to a modern 4th dan, Shingai's upper second kyu rank suggests he had considerable skill. Although Shingai urged Sugino to train seriously, Sugino seemed to show little aptitude for kendo (perhaps it did not quite fit his nature then) and he made little progress. After a while he decided to give it up.

Sugino's real talent at the time was for judo. He trained every morning and evening, his desire to strengthen himself leading him to spend more time on the mat than anyone else. Iizuka's training was strict and under him the Keio judo club (which had generally been considered too weak to amount to much) and Sugino grew steadily stronger. Sugino sometimes relates a story he once heard about his judo teacher: "Years ago in Kyushu, Iizuka defeated a certain classical jujutsu man using his judo. As he returned to his lodgings that evening, his opponent ambushed him, this time brandishing a blade and hurling abuse, but Iizuka took him down and pinned him beautifully."

Iizuka was as strict when it came to etiquette as he was tough. Once Sugino was ordered by one of his seniors to referee a judo match, since there happened to be no one else in the dojo to do it just then. Hearing this, Iizuka roared, "Absolutely not! You don't even have a hakama to wear today. We certainly can't have someone with no hakama referee a judo match!" "Ordinarily Iizuka was a very gentle, very nice man," says Sugino, "but in the dojo he was a tiger of a teacher. Even now I feel the highest respect and gratitude toward him."

Undefeated in Judo
Once there was a judo tournament between Keio University and the four-school alliance comprised of Kuramae Engineering University, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Rissho University and Tokyo University of Fisheries. The Keio team being short on members, Iizuka arranged for Sugino to participate despite the fact that he was still only a first kyu. His opponents were all huge black-belts. But Sugino stepped onto the mat wearing his brown belt and threw his way through six of them, with the seventh match ending in a draw. Afterward his teammates crowded around him congratulating him: "You're so small, but you fought so well in there! Even Iizuka Sensei thought so." He came away from the tournament with unprecedented new confidence.

At the end of that same year Sugino took his shodan exam at the Kodokan on Iizuka's recommendation. This time he defeated six opponents in a row, earning for himself the rank of "shodan with honors", a rank which existed at that time and indicated performance above and beyond that required for an ordinary shodan. From then until earning his 4th dan, Sugino remained undefeated. Even in elimination-type series he would inevitably wind up first or at least in a draw with the last opponent.

His friend Minoru Mochizuki (present head of the Yoseikan) once commented about his judo skills: "Sugino? That guy has the kami [divine] in him!" One of Sugino's favorite judo techniques was utsurigoshi (hip shift), a somewhat acrobatic technique in which the opponent's throwing power is taken advantage of to throw him instead. He was also fond of urawaza (rear techniques) and kaeshiwaza (reversals) and always exploited openings left by opponents who carelessly underestimated him because of his small size. But more than anything he had the confidence that his teacher Iizuka had planted in him.

Sugino continued training in judo rigorously, day after day, constantly thinking of ways to strengthen himself and his technique. Being of a highly assertive disposition to begin with, he never hesitated to express his own opinions, even to his superiors. He once even argued with Jigoro Kano regarding a point of judo technique. Kano said that koshiguruma (hip wheel) and ogoshi (large hip throw) were the same technique. Sugino insisted they were different; for koshiguruma, he said, you load your opponent on your hips, whereas for ogoshi you do not. It was practically unheard of and highly irregular for a judo practitioner to argue about such things with the very founder of the art! But Sugino was of a strongly progressive spirit and never allowed himself to be bound by tradition or authority. Even then, though still relatively young, he was already searching for an answer to the question, "What should modern judo really be like?"

In May 1923 Sugino entered a judo competition in Taipei. He was selected as the first of five opponents to go against a third-dan judoka in a five-player elimination match. Judoka capable of making it through this sort of elimination competition are generally viewed as among the most skilled, with impressive strength and the ability to down at least five opponents in a match without too much difficulty. Perhaps deceived by Sugino's small stature, the third-dan moved in to execute what he probably thought would be an easy inner-thigh reap, but at the last instant Sugino caught him with a lightning-fast utsurigoshi (hip shift), one of his favorite techniques. The throw had been nearly perfect, but it so surprised the referee that he became confused as to how to call it. He hesitated to stop the match since the player still had four opponents to go. Wondering why the referee had said nothing, Sugino continued the match and brought the third-dan to the mat in a strangle hold. Eventually his opponent tapped out in submission, but the referee ignored this as well. Having no other choice, Sugino continued to apply the technique until the poor fellow lost consciousness.

"That which has no substance can enter where there is no room."
Lao Tzu

"Eternity forever!"

www.esotericorange.com
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Old 06-30-2010, 01:48 PM   #50
Basia Halliop
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 711
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Re: Does one's size or weight affect one's Aikido?

It sounds like Sugino was originally at a disadvantage
"At first, Sugino was unable to win against any of his opponents because of his small size. "That was truly a difficult time for me," he recalls."

but trained and eventually developed sufficiently good technique to defeat larger opponents by being _more skilled_ than them...

Makes sense... what would be a disadvantage against someone _equally_ skilled can be a very good motivator and tool to help a person to become _more_ skilled....

I remember being told something similar the first time I went rock climbing... those with a lot of upper body strength sometimes get by at the beginning by dragging themselves up on their arms, then eventually find when they encounter more challenging routes that that isn't enough... those who are less strong are often forced out of necessity to develop balance and skill earlier in the learning process. I don't think it _always_ works that way in Aikido, but as someone smaller I like to hope so .
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