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Old 09-12-2006, 07:18 PM   #1
Upyu
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What is Weight Transfer(Taijuuidou)??

Someone posed this question earlier in one of the threads (after PMing me), and no one offered anything, so I thought I'd hopefully kickstart a discussion about this seemingly simple (but important) concept.

I'll outline some of my thoughts on the issue, and was hoping others could throw their thoughts in the basket as well.
(None of this is set in stone, simply comes from my experience as well as from what I've seen and felt from competent people in various arts.)

At first glance the word seems to explain itself. "Transfer" your weight.
Or simply throw your weight onto the person.
If you want to generate maximum force, simply use your weight.
MA=F right?

My personal thoughts are that it's not "that" simple.
Those that've already read my little speal on Training the Body for Martial Movement probably already know what I'm going to get into.
First in order to transfer M, you'll want to make sure that "M" is
100% of M.
For most people this is a "duh, I'm using my body, ergo I'm using a 100%."

The problem is that the human body is loaded with muscles which we've generally trained to act "individually".
The second stress comes locally to any given point, you start to take away the "effect" of "M".

This effect is pretty obvious in the "pushout" drill I posted before.
http://www.badongo.net/vid/197241

If you try and push the other person with localized strength, you'll end up pushing yourself back (assuming the other person is connected).
Most people "think" they relax the shoulders, but when they try this particular drill they'll find they tense up.

Some will try to use the Scaps, which isn't it either. (Try it, but don't use tricks, as in suddenly pushing the other person. The extension has to be slow and consistent)

Still others might try and use the "one" point, which is better, but if you come up against someone that understands "real" weight transfer, you'll probably get jammed.

So what is real weight transfer?
It means that at the point of contact, if you can spread the tension across your body equally, you can maintain perfect balance, maximizing "M".
This applies to whether you're throwing a strike, executing a joint lock or whatever.

For example, let's take kotegaeshi for example.
Most people can resist this technique after several years of MA training. The trick isn't in "how" you lock the wrist, or how you position yourself, but rather how you disperse your opponents resistant force "in you", while sending your own "M" into them.
IE, weight transfer. Which is probably why Gozo Shioda said that its a key principle in Aikido.

So how to train the skill?
Solo training.

Any other thoughts?

PS
I've recently had some thoughts on weight transfer and Aikido's knee walking but I'm hoping to weight until other people kick in with their opinoins.
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Old 09-12-2006, 08:04 PM   #2
Keith R Lee
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Re: What is Weight Transfer(Taijuuidou)??

Quote:
Robert John wrote:
For example, let's take kotegaeshi for example.
Most people can resist this technique after several years of MA training. The trick isn't in "how" you lock the wrist, or how you position yourself, but rather how you disperse your opponents resistant force "in you", while sending your own "M" into them.
IE, weight transfer. Which is probably why Gozo Shioda said that its a key principle in Aikido.
I'm not sure about all the rest of it, I need to give it some thought, but I definitely agree with this. Elbow power # 1 & 2 embody this type of training in my mind (as do all of the kihon dosa really), and are at the very core of Yoshinkan practice.

Keith Lee
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Old 09-12-2006, 08:40 PM   #3
Upyu
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Re: What is Weight Transfer(Taijuuidou)??

Hiriki is a part of it I'll agree, but I think that helps to "burn in" the lines of tension you need to perform efficient technique. The real hardpart is taking away the frame but still keeping those "lines" there.
Or in otherwords, I dont think a stance is necessary to do those techniques.
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Old 09-13-2006, 05:08 AM   #4
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Re: What is Weight Transfer(Taijuuidou)??

Quote:
Robert John wrote:
For example, let's take kotegaeshi for example.
Most people can resist this technique after several years of MA training. The trick isn't in "how" you lock the wrist, or how you position yourself, but rather how you disperse your opponents resistant force "in you", while sending your own "M" into them.
IE, weight transfer.
In kotegaeshi by the time you get to to the "wrist turn out" ( actually should be a wrist curled into the forearm) the timing of the technique should be that the uke is already going in the direction of the throw. Your uke should be unbalanced and you should feel no resistance. Thus the amount of force required to execute the technique should be mininal.

http://www.polyamory.org/~howard/Aikido/kotegaeshi.html

"Then nage will turn back (and step back) in front of uke, applying the technique by turning uke's hand directly back onto the forearm and pulling it down and into their center.


2. turning the hand back against the wrist (with or without torquing) in the direction it normally bends."

Last edited by dps : 09-13-2006 at 05:23 AM.

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Old 09-13-2006, 09:23 AM   #5
Gernot Hassenpflug
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Re: What is Weight Transfer(Taijuuidou)??

Rob, keeping in mind that I don't really have any practical knoweldge of this stuff yet, here's my take. The quality of weight transfer depends basically on how well one can apply 6-direction tension (used here for lack of a better word) in the lower body. I say this because it is much harder for me to feel it there, compared to the arms. Thus, my thinking is that misdirected tensions in the lower body will do the most to change the weight transfer into a small fall instead of an incrementally changing static stable position.
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Old 09-13-2006, 01:06 PM   #6
A Reed
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Re: What is Weight Transfer(Taijuuidou)??

Thanks for that Rob, really interesting.

So how does Shiko train this weight transfer skill ? What connections/movements etc are being focused on while doing the exercise in order to increase someones ability to do this ?
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Old 09-13-2006, 03:45 PM   #7
Upyu
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Re: What is Weight Transfer(Taijuuidou)??

Quote:
David Skaggs wrote:
Your uke should be unbalanced and you should feel no resistance. Thus the amount of force required to execute the technique should be mininal.

http://www.polyamory.org/~howard/Aikido/kotegaeshi.html

"Then nage will turn back (and step back) in front of uke, applying the technique by turning uke's hand directly back onto the forearm and pulling it down and into their center.
Hey David,
You bring up a good point.
The example you pointed out is the "technical" or "physical" (External) way to do the move.

Consider if your uke is unbalanced when you flip his wrist over.
There's plenty of big guys that can do this, and I've recently discovered Rugby will give you a solid base for keeping your "center."
So how do you still do Kotegaeshi on someone that it seems like you haven't got kuzushi on?

My guess (and from practical experience) is that you need to use that very weight transfer that Shioda was talking about.
If you do it right, it should even look minimal. A slight movement will take your uke down, no matter how hard he resists. (Since to them it feels like you're sending your "weight" inside them).

FWIW
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Old 09-13-2006, 03:53 PM   #8
Upyu
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Re: What is Weight Transfer(Taijuuidou)??

Quote:
Gernot Hassenpflug wrote:
Rob, keeping in mind that I don't really have any practical knoweldge of this stuff yet, here's my take. The quality of weight transfer depends basically on how well one can apply 6-direction tension (used here for lack of a better word) in the lower body. I say this because it is much harder for me to feel it there, compared to the arms. Thus, my thinking is that misdirected tensions in the lower body will do the most to change the weight transfer into a small fall instead of an incrementally changing static stable position.
Gernot,

Think of it this way.
6 directions will become "atarimae" or a "given."
The tensions are only there so you can learn the lines. Then it becomes a game of how well you can "relax" those lines "into" the other person.

Annecdote:
We recently had a 240lb Australian dude that's about 40 now, but has been boxing since he was 8. On top of that he's had 20 years of Rugby.
When I had him hold the airshield, I had a little of that adrenline rush that was putting a little more tension into my body (in order to keep the connections) than usual.
Result?
My side kick, which normally floors a lot of people (based on shikko movement) rebounded into me.
Surprise surprise, the guy had a fairly stable lower body from all those years of Rugby. Which meant that on the second go, I had to "relax" the lines of tension, which caused kuzushi on him at impact. He was just as surprised as I was, especially considering the non existent windup on my part.

He was a big m"#$""#$er though

Anyways, point being, if you can't use the "paths" in a relaxed manner, it'll still rebound back into you.

"Butukari no nai karada wo tukuru" -> "Create a body that does not impede any force" is what Sagawa said. I'm starting to get an inkling as to what he was hinting at.

By the by,
Six directional force in the upper and lower parts of the body are equally important if you ask me, its the harmonization of those paths on the front side and back side, upper and lower, that're most important at the first stage. Chouwa suru koto ga ichiban taisetu kamosirenai.

Last edited by Upyu : 09-13-2006 at 04:00 PM.
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Old 09-13-2006, 03:59 PM   #9
Upyu
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Re: What is Weight Transfer(Taijuuidou)??

Quote:
Andrew Reed wrote:
Thanks for that Rob, really interesting.

So how does Shiko train this weight transfer skill ? What connections/movements etc are being focused on while doing the exercise in order to increase someones ability to do this ?
Well...it'll get long and convoluted in words I think.

Basically in the beginning you train

a) to lead the entire body with the arm (I know that sounds contradictory to whole body power, but its a training tool)

b) It builds and seperates your body into roughly three different axis. Basically its an indepth study into how the human body transfers weight.

c) At the same time you build up a connection between both arms as one connection. That is to say, something happening in one arm should directly affect the other arm.

What you'll want to focus on:
*Keeping the knees slightly pushed out as the leg is raised
*The leg is raised as a result of the tension being led by the HAND. I.E. the leg does not move seperatly, it needs to move as a result of the tensions pulling it.
*Keeping the cross in the chest.
*Keeping an up/down tension (fat golden buddhas with silken threads )
*Keeping a front-back tension

Let me stress here that all the qualities you learn in the TenChiJin exercise mentioned in the Training Article are present in Shiko.
So part of the puzzle is figuring out how to keep those qualities intact as you shift from side to side going through the movements.
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Old 09-13-2006, 05:35 PM   #10
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Re: What is Weight Transfer(Taijuuidou)??

Quote:
Robert John wrote:
So how do you still do Kotegaeshi on someone that it seems like you haven't got kuzushi on?

My guess (and from practical experience) is that you need to use that very weight transfer that Shioda was talking about.
If you do it right, it should even look minimal. A slight movement will take your uke down, no matter how hard he resists. (Since to them it feels like you're sending your "weight" inside them).
I think you have to!

Externally and physically speaking, fune-kogi undo is one way of accomplishing the weight transfer...

Internally... the best analogy I can come up with is like a taut elastic cord running through your skeleton, from the rear foot to the hands. As you stretch the cord from the middle (however you want to stretch it - by breath or winding), because the foot end is anchored, the tension has to be released out the "free" end.

My description probably sux, since I failed high school physics... but my guess is that depending on the strength of that "cord", and one's abillity to release the elastic energy through the hands into the other person is probably the key - effectively transferring the weight of your body through the hands into the other person - usually towards the "open gate" in order to effect kuzushi.

I've been experimenting with the idea lately... just from a same side wrist grab and throwing the person without moving my feet, and with the barest minimum movement, just by sending my weight through the empty spot(s).

One of my students is 126kg (big Maori dude built like a brick sh!thouse!), and when I get this curious look on his face when he falls over, I know I've done it right. The trick is getting him to use his 126kg frame to do the same to me without him using arm power.

However, at this stage, I'm not certain if it's exactly "weight", or conversion of "weight" or energy potential to force that's involved. What are your thoughts?

Ignatius
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Old 09-14-2006, 09:07 AM   #11
Mike Sigman
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Re: What is Weight Transfer(Taijuuidou)??

Quote:
Ignatius Teo wrote:
My description probably sux, since I failed high school physics... but my guess is that depending on the strength of that "cord", and one's abillity to release the elastic energy through the hands into the other person is probably the key - effectively transferring the weight of your body through the hands into the other person - usually towards the "open gate" in order to effect kuzushi.

I've been experimenting with the idea lately... just from a same side wrist grab and throwing the person without moving my feet, and with the barest minimum movement, just by sending my weight through the empty spot(s).

One of my students is 126kg (big Maori dude built like a brick sh!thouse!), and when I get this curious look on his face when he falls over, I know I've done it right. The trick is getting him to use his 126kg frame to do the same to me without him using arm power.

However, at this stage, I'm not certain if it's exactly "weight", or conversion of "weight" or energy potential to force that's involved. What are your thoughts?
Hi Ignatius:

I don't totally agree with what you're saying or with your analogy/visualization, but I pretty much understand what you're trying to say and I agree/understand with those general principles.

The point I'd make is that you're having to use a lot of self-discovery (as does Rob, as do I, etc.) and you're both finding your way AND trying to describe something publicly in a satisfactory way, so the upshot is that your description will be different from Rob's will be different from mine and we all 3 (there are other people also, but I'm just making a point using 3 examples) will have varying degrees of skills and varying emphases in what we do exactly... so some terminology and description differences are to be expected. This question of "why there are differences in descriptive terminology throughout Asia" is probably being answered, as we speak, in this thread.

Regards,

Mike
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Old 09-14-2006, 09:15 AM   #12
Michael McCaslin
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Re: What is Weight Transfer(Taijuuidou)??

Rob,

Could you elaborate on what the mechanism is for the "front-back tension" and how to effect it. I'm pretty sure I'm missing that piece of the puzzle. If there is a movement I can practice that will point to it maybe that will help me sort it out.

Thanks,

Michael
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Old 09-14-2006, 04:17 PM   #13
Alfonso
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Re: What is Weight Transfer(Taijuuidou)??

just your regular reminder that

shiko <> shikko
(sumo exercise) (knee walking)

Alfonso Adriasola
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Old 09-14-2006, 05:18 PM   #14
Upyu
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Re: What is Weight Transfer(Taijuuidou)??

Michael:
The part you'll want to refer to is
Quote:
Now, extend the arms out.
Elbows straight.
Hands in fists. Put some power into your fists.
Elbows over Knees. This is extremely important. Elbows over KNEES.

Drop the shoulders, but at the same time do NOT let the small of your back unstick from the wall.

Now, slowly lower your spine straight down, still pressing the small of the back to the wall.
It should feel like someone's pulling you forward, but at the same time you're pulling yourself back. This is the foward/backward contradictory force part of the excercise
in the "Training the Body. Part 2: Exercesis" thread.
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Old 09-14-2006, 05:20 PM   #15
Upyu
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Re: What is Weight Transfer(Taijuuidou)??

Quote:
Ignatius Teo wrote:
One of my students is 126kg (big Maori dude built like a brick sh!thouse!)
Dammit...why can't we import those over here...
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Old 09-15-2006, 08:56 AM   #16
Erick Mead
 
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Re: What is Weight Transfer(Taijuuidou)??

Quote:
Robert John wrote:
For example, let's take kotegaeshi for example.Most people can resist this technique after several years of MA training. The trick isn't in "how" you lock the wrist, or how you position yourself, but rather how you disperse your opponents resistant force "in you", while sending your own "M" into them.
IE, weight transfer. Which is probably why Gozo Shioda said that its a key principle in Aikido.
Gotte disagree here on the "resist" issue. If by "resist" you mean to absorb the Big Strong Guy's (tm) application of the Wicked Wrist Crank (tm) as a shugyo exercise in ukemi, maybe But as nage waza, no thanks. I am not dispersing his resistant force, because I do not apply the cranking force for him to resist. My kotegaeshi has nothing to do with wrist cranking, and everything to do with tai-sabaki and kokyu tanden, as I was taught. The wrist just provide positive connection to tie his movement to mine. Nor is the wrist the the only connection.

In kotegaeshi ura-waza soto mawari, I was taught to initially connect from the ankle, knee, hips shoulder, elbow and wrist. There is no point of articulation where he can move separately from me, and when that movement is begun I turn and remove myself from the hole he is about to fall into. Uke falls because he simply has nothing (other than me) holding him up any more when I and he move together, and when I extend our connection then his structure collapse of its own accord. Omote waza essentially uses the same principle in reverse, beginning with a typically extended connection and then progressively connecting at the points of articulation while turning in an entering -- drawing him more and more firmly out of his center in kokyu tanden, until he has no further support and again collapses.

If he is capable of entering in return for the kaeshi in the omote waza you simply continue the entry and turn carrying his center out and around in kokyu tanden and it becomes kokyunage or koshi nage. If he does the same in ura waza typical henka are iriminage or some species of otoshi.

If by "weight transfer" you mean this application of kokyu tanden, then maybe its a matter of appples -- Granny Smith versus Macintosh but apples all the same. "Weight transfer" has a linear force-couple/plane rotation feel to it , which is a good principle or image for judo, but is not complete image for how aikido functions. Kokyu tanden is more gyroscopic in its application -- the resultant is not easily correlated with the input vectors.

Prompting connection is aiki -- but provoking resistance is not aiki. The difference is in the application of juji +. A fine line perhaps, but a definite line nevertheless.

Cordially,

Erick Mead
一隻狗可久里馬房但他也不是馬的.
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Old 09-15-2006, 09:35 AM   #17
Michael McCaslin
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Re: What is Weight Transfer(Taijuuidou)??

Rob,

Thanks for the reply. I read and printed the exercesis thread. I don't know how I managed to overlook it-- hiding in plain sight, I suppose. There are a lot of details to track with this stuff-- thanks again for your help and for sharing what you are learning with us.

Michael
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Old 09-15-2006, 09:38 AM   #18
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Re: What is Weight Transfer(Taijuuidou)??

Hi Erick,
Quote:
Erick Mead wrote:
<snip lots of stuff>Prompting connection is aiki -- but provoking resistance is not aiki.
I guess its how you define "connection" and "resistance" and how the skills of controlling someone are cultivated.

IMHO, culitvating resistance in the beginning can be a good thing, as most people aren't sensitive right off the bat to really know where their uke's force and intent is _really_ going.

I've found that if connection is trained with _a_lot_ of resistance in the beginning (with the caveat that it is understood that it is only a stepping stone to higher skill), then the ability to actually learn to connect to someone is greatly improved. In this model as the feeling for real connection improves then the resistance in an exercise is reduced.

Plus, typically, once uke resists (especially if they don't realise they are), connection to uke should be easier and hence also the ensuing application.

Obviously - this approach can have its own pitfalls, but I reckon it can highlight a lot of gaps in basic movement that would otherwise have tori's application go to custard.
Quote:
The difference is in the application of juji +. A fine line perhaps, but a definite line nevertheless.
Perhaps I've missed that fine line... Can you define "juji" and its application?

Cheers,
Dave.

Last edited by davidafindlay : 09-15-2006 at 09:46 AM.

Dave Findlay
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Old 09-15-2006, 03:35 PM   #19
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Re: What is Weight Transfer(Taijuuidou)??

Quote:
Robert John wrote:
So how do you still do Kotegaeshi on someone that it seems like you haven't got kuzushi on?
If you don't have kuzushi you don't continue with the Kotegaeshi, you do a different technique. That technique is dependent on the direction uke is exerting the force of the resistance. Aikido is not a battle of your force against uke's force. You blend in with the direction that uke's mass and acceleration is already taking him/her.

Which is where I see more value to what you and Mike and others are talking about internal strength. I think that what you are saying is more applicable to uke's attack and what is going on with uke's body. If you understand where uke's balance and power is, then you can match your Aikido technique to it, not confront it with your own power.

This is not to say that your ideas are not effective in an striking, kicking art, but my understanding about Aikido is more to do with knowing how to use uke's balance and power against him and not nage's power.

David

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Old 09-15-2006, 03:49 PM   #20
Mike Sigman
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Re: What is Weight Transfer(Taijuuidou)??

Quote:
David Skaggs wrote:
If you don't have kuzushi you don't continue with the Kotegaeshi, you do a different technique.
Hmmmmmm..... I can think of a number of times where I haven't had kuzushi, but I had the kotegaeshi and then pretty quick I had kuzushi. Remember that all general statements of fact are subject to error except this one.
Quote:
That technique is dependent on the direction uke is exerting the force of the resistance. Aikido is not a battle of your force against uke's force. You blend in with the direction that uke's mass and acceleration is already taking him/her.
So think about the examples on film of where O-Sensei or Shioda, etc., respond to uke's attack with a shoulder strike or push uke back up into the air after grabs or use their back straight against uke pushing into their back. How does your statement "blend in with the direction that uke's mass and acceleration is already taking him/her" work? Unless, of course, you're positing that they had it wrong?
Quote:
Which is where I see more value to what you and Mike and others are talking about internal strength. I think that what you are saying is more applicable to uke's attack and what is going on with uke's body. If you understand where uke's balance and power is, then you can match your Aikido technique to it, not confront it with your own power.

This is not to say that your ideas are not effective in an striking, kicking art, but my understanding about Aikido is more to do with knowing how to use uke's balance and power against him and not nage's power.
Well wait a minute... Aikido uses those nasty ole atemi/strikes.... would you say those should be left for the martially inferior "striking, kicking arts"? Personally, I don't know anything about how Rob fights so I won't speak for him, but as amateurish as I admittedly am, I can still usually "blend with" and snatch a fair number of people around using their own forces. I.e., let's not get the impression that Aikido has a monopoly on anything. I don't know of any art that does.

Regards,

Mike Sigman
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Old 09-15-2006, 07:13 PM   #21
eyrie
 
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Re: What is Weight Transfer(Taijuuidou)??

I have to agree with Mike... the issue is not whether you have kuzushi or not before you can effect the technique, but rather HOW to effect kuzushi in order to complete the technique. Usually, if you can effect kuzushi on contact, often uke will already start to collapse their structure even before the technique is completed.... unless they are extremely well-connected.... in which case something else possibly needs to happen and then it depends on relative ability and skill.

I think (on a basic level) the thing to look at is how to transfer your "weight" to the weak points in uke's structure so as to render them incapable of supporting the "combined" weight - usually at the outer limits of where the body can maintain its own structural integrity.

Let's use our big Maori dude as an example... he has huge hands and wrists, and not a lot of joint flexibility. Often it is quite difficult to "twist" (or bend or fold if you prefer?) his wrist into kote-gaeshi, even (especially!!) if some external force is applied. However, knowing where the outer limit of his structural integrity lies, I can quite easily drop him instantly, without getting the actual "kote-gaeshi". Or, have him drop himself by simply getting him to resist the technique. The more he resists, the quicker he drops.

This has to do with my adding weight through the weak points and outer limits of his structural integrity whilst maintaining my own structural integrity, so much so that his structure can no longer support the additional weight. Of course, there are other body tricks that can be used to augment the technique...but that's another story.

The point is, it doesn't take much physical force or weight to effect this... it's as delicate and subtle as 2 forks and a needle stuck in a cork balancing on a string. If one fork is heavier or denser than the other, the CG is off and the whole contraption is unbalanced.

As for striking/kicking... well, these are part and parcel of aikido waza. That they are not openly or overtly practiced doesn't mean they don't exist or are not part of the paradigm. If the opening presents itself for atemi or if atemi is necessary to create the opening, then I see no reason why one should limit one's technical repertoire. After all, what good is learning sword and staff within an aikido context if one does not learn how to use one's body as an extension of the sword or jo (or vice versa)?

Ignatius
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Old 09-15-2006, 08:30 PM   #22
Gernot Hassenpflug
Dojo: Aunkai, Tokyo
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Re: What is Weight Transfer(Taijuuidou)??

In agreement with Mike's comment: Abe sensei often shows the blending part of a movement in large form, before making it a smaller almost-invisible movement. He then goes on state that although this is hard to learn to do, the hardest thing is doing a technique where the uke's energy is bounced straight back into him, with no giving way and blending on the part of tori.
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Old 09-15-2006, 09:21 PM   #23
Mike Sigman
Location: Durango, CO
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Re: What is Weight Transfer(Taijuuidou)??

Quote:
Gernot Hassenpflug wrote:
In agreement with Mike's comment: Abe sensei often shows the blending part of a movement in large form, before making it a smaller almost-invisible movement. He then goes on state that although this is hard to learn to do, the hardest thing is doing a technique where the uke's energy is bounced straight back into him, with no giving way and blending on the part of tori.
Eek. I think it's the easiest thing to do. It's what Rob and Ignatius are using in their BJJ encounters, as I understand their descriptions. To me, it is the "place to start looking and understanding" when you can do that.

FWIW

Mike
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Old 09-15-2006, 09:25 PM   #24
Mike Sigman
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Re: What is Weight Transfer(Taijuuidou)??

Quote:
Ignatius Teo wrote:
The point is, it doesn't take much physical force or weight to effect this... it's as delicate and subtle as 2 forks and a needle stuck in a cork balancing on a string. If one fork is heavier or denser than the other, the CG is off and the whole contraption is unbalanced.

As for striking/kicking... well, these are part and parcel of aikido waza. That they are not openly or overtly practiced doesn't mean they don't exist or are not part of the paradigm. If the opening presents itself for atemi or if atemi is necessary to create the opening, then I see no reason why one should limit one's technical repertoire. After all, what good is learning sword and staff within an aikido context if one does not learn how to use one's body as an extension of the sword or jo (or vice versa)?
It's weird. I know exactly what you're saying and I agree with you, but reading it through the eyes of someone who doesn't know, it doesn't tell anyone anything. Strange.

I tend to think of an opponent as a 4-legged stool that has the 2 diagonal legs missing. He may have a number of ways to weight-shift and keep his balance (including putting some of his weight on me, thereby giving him 3 legs total), but understanding his balance and "hearing" his forces, he's almost always moveable (i.e., "double-weighted") when I use my middle to do it.

FWIW

Mike
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Old 09-15-2006, 10:34 PM   #25
clwk
Join Date: Sep 2005
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Re: What is Weight Transfer(Taijuuidou)??

Quote:
Mike Sigman wrote:
I tend to think of an opponent as a 4-legged stool that has the 2 diagonal legs missing. He may have a number of ways to weight-shift and keep his balance (including putting some of his weight on me, thereby giving him 3 legs total), but understanding his balance and "hearing" his forces, he's almost always moveable (i.e., "double-weighted") when I use my middle to do it.
Here's a variation on the theme - i.e., the same principle put into a more concrete situation. You have posted before about using the ground to nullify kote mawashi (nikajo). That obviously works well, but I find that sometimes, if I let nage get my wrist into the least advantageous possible position (for the sake of training) where they have maximum compression of the wrist to the forearm and have their full body weight to bring the fingers up and over (in other words, it's becoming a pure attack on the joint) that this can surpass what I can take 'into my body'.

At this point though, or even if you *could* just use the ground to hold nage statically, it's an interesting exercise to move him by either sending his crank back into him so that he pushes himself into the hole to his rear, or redirect it so that he pulls himself into the hole to the front (there are other directions, but these are the most obvious and easiest ones to get started with). It's frustrating for nage (so, somewhat anti-social I'll admit) because even though he knows you're not letting him have the technique, it's hard to understand what you're doing, and he feels like he's robbing himself of his own power.

I just thought I'd throw that out there in case someone else wanted to play with it. The good thing about being uke for joint locks is that it's the one time you're guaranteed to get that 'committed attack' we're always whining about not getting. Nage always 'commits' to putting the lock on uke, and . . . viola!

-ck
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