Going to our Roots

So I mentioned training the fire within our spirits. Obviously, its not just an imaginary fire that we're talking about here. Training the physical harder aspect is integral to our learning of Aiki. Which is akin to the fire visualisation.

The last 2 training sessions we explored a bit about some jujitsu techniques. We started of with a left kick, left jab entering and followed by a technique.

1st. Enter, Right palm strike to uke's elbow, left palm strike to uke's face, right shuto into kaiten. Left knee to face so that proper posture to uke is maintained. Right hand goes behind uke's waist, nage enters in front of uke and position to do koshinage. variation includes, right leg up to uke's waist, or inside reap.
As uke flips over, left hand grabs uke's left upper arm. Uke falls below nage's feet. Right leg position close to uke's body, grab uke's hands with both hands. Left leg kicks face and steps over the neck. Fall down into arm bar.

2nd. Instead of going for kaiten, after the jab, enter from inside and grab behind uke's neck. Rotate so that nage has a firm grip on uke's neck. Drop down and position all body weight on uke's body. Transition right leg forward, left leg back for balance. Bend uke's right hand then bring right foot on his palm, cross leg to break elbow.

3rd. Uke now does jab and cross. Nage controls center line by pivoting and projecting lead hands towards uke's face. Enter deep and under on the right side. Right leg falls behind both uke's legs. Right hand infront of uke's body. Left palm collapse uke's left knee. As uke falls under, cross left leg over uke's leg and wrap on right leg. Stretch uke's knee. Right hand control uke's body, left hand control groin area. Variation, instead of falling down, Grab both knees from outside, lock, lift and throw.

4th. At the cross, counter with right elbow, then go for guillotine choke. Left hand controls uke's right arm pit. Now right hand controls uke's left arm pit and rotate downwards. Extend hand so both palm touches the floor. Maintain posture. Stretch uke's neck upwards.

5th. At the cross, go deep under for head butt at side chin. Right hand goes under uke's right arm pit and grab his upper hand. Left hand grabs his forearm. Lift and throw. Variation, drop to knee. Variation, fall flat and throw over. Pin with ude-gerami. If uke spins out, go to rear choke hold.

We also played with arm bar transitions.

Everyone was asked to look at how the jujitsu techniques apply in our daily training. One example I showed was in the typical ikkyo position. If done wrongly (but widely accepted), uke's center is not controlled, but nage relies on pressure on the elbow to keep uke down. If uke resist upwards, nage presses to apply pain on the joint. If uke doesn't resist upwards and instead lifts nage's knees, he can apply technique number 3.

So even though the drills we did are pretty basic jujitsu, we need to understand their functions and how it relate to our practice. Concentrating too much on Aikido waza and Aiki principles makes us myopic in our understanding.

Ironically, it was Osensei who said Aikido is like Fire and Water meeting and creating Steam.