The topic of this post has been on my mind for 20+ years. One of my juniors came to me recently saying that they had a horrid time in the dojo. It prompted me to write this. I’ve been thinking long and hard about this topic for, as I just said, more than 20 years.
You hear this a lot:
He/she couldn’t move me!
or even worse, someone saying it to you directly
You can’t move me!
Hold on tight for dear life, and only move as uke if you feel like it.
There were a few people who used to do this to me back in the day when I was a young dan grade at Hombu Dojo, and also quite a few who tried it when I was a white belt in Australia. I’ve never forgot who either haha.
When two people meet on a dance floor, it takes two to tango. If one person is dancing, and the other one decides not to move their feet at all, there will not be any dancing going on. Salsa is a very common example. It’s a dance where two strangers meet and dance and when the song finishes, they move onto the next partner. You better bring the goods on the salsa dance floor or you can bet your ass that you won’t be getting invited to dance again by that person. Rionne’s note: I’m not a dancer, so I just sit and watch at those events
Much like in Aikido, if two people are not working together, nothing is going to happen.
Why have I likened Aikido to dance? Because in Aikido, our training is called katageiko which is a predetermined set of moves where both people have to be on the same page. And just like in dance, in Aikido (as well as all martial arts), you need good footwork.
In other martial arts, katageiko is the first step. In Aikido, it’s the only step. This breeds cheating and inflated egos.
In other martial arts, the next step after katageiko is resistance training whilst on the move, and then shiai, a match/bout.
We don’t have shiai (Tomiki do), but we do have some weird kind of resistance training. I hate it. You cannot do resistance training static.
I think resistance training is great and extremely vital for one’s progression, but only if uke is giving you a 100% pure attack to begin with. Pure means, with all their heart, to attack you with intent. Aikido works when uke is either overextended or beaten to the punch (no pun intended). Your waza (technique) is born from the spontaneous reactions of both nage and uke. You pull out what’s in your toolbox and whoever has the better tools, takes the checkered flag.
People say Aikido is not about winning and losing. Try telling that to the “Aikido blackbelt blockers”, a worldwide squad of yudansha who try to boost their ego by stopping people doing techniques. Of course there are some who want to teach, but I feel half of those “teachers” are just being lazy and don’t want to train hard.
Let’s look at the most common example of these “Aikido blackbelt blockers”, the guys and gals who love to bully people by holding on hard and giving you nothing to play with. I’ve had my fair share of being on the end of their magic, until the penny dropped many years ago and I worked out their tricks.
So, let’s imagine morotedori, two hands onto one grab.
The person grabbing, uke, knows what technique is coming from nage
They set their feet and their center heavy, in a safe environment
What happens next depends entirely on the person grabbing. If the technique is to be a success, it’s because in this turtle speed environment, uke goes when he/she wants to go. It may also work if nage is a lot bigger than uke. There’s a reason we have weight divisions in combat sports.
So how can we flip the script so that uke won’t stand around looking silly, holding on strong? How can we make it so that uke won’t cheat? Because let’ be honest, almost EVERYONE in Aikido is cheating in their training, where you’ll be hard pressed to find someone who can attack you with intent and purpose, martially, and with NO ego.
The answer is, you ask them to do more than just grab. It’s that simple. Ask them to grab you with intent!
Morotedori is a very common hand/wrist grab in catch wrestling. But why would I do that in wrestling? Because I’m looking to follow up. I will not succeed in anything in wrestling if I just hold on for dear life and do nothing. Some of the things that would be going through my mind as I grab my opponent’s wrist in catch wrestling would be:
Let’s see how he reacts to this. This is my mindset for EVERYTHING I do on any form of martial arts mats.
If I can pull him to the ground, I still need to be careful that he doesn’t attack me in some way.
Can I switch from the wrist grab to something else and execute a technique? For example, to an arm drag where I might take his back, take him down, or throw him etc.
If he pulls his arm back because he senses danger having me holding onto his wrist, that gives me the opening to attack. Again, looking for his reaction.
I am reacting to his/her reactions. Aikido should be the same.
When you attack as uke, you should NOT be attacking like a ZOMBIE.
I don’t mean everything should be a million miles an hour, that every attack should be hard and fast, although if you’re a male under 45 years old, it probably should be. The ladies too, if you’re young and fit enough, you should be putting your foot to the floor every time you step on the tatami. No excuses. Everyone’s stamina is different but if you can go, just go.
When I say don’t be a zombie, what I mean is, there should be martial intent when you attack someone. If you want to slow down a little, no problem go ahead and take it down a gear or two but at least have that martial intent. You don’t grab and stand there like an idiot and say “oh hey you can’t move me”.
No! It’s just not martial arts. When you attack, you should always have these basics built into you:
Metsuke - I don’t like this translated as eye contact, I prefer it to be “alert eyes” meaning, your eyes should be seeing everything. I don’t want to be looking into my opponent/partner’s eyes.
Shisei - good posture
Kamae - good stance
Maai - distance from opponent
Zanshin - relaxed alertness and martial mindset
There are more, but these are the basic martial arts principles that we should be programmed to not even think about. How many Aikido teachers are teaching their students these principles? I’ll wait for you to count.
People also love to talk about kuzushi but that happens when uke attacks you properly. It’s not something you need to think about, or go out and look for. I do hear often:
I just want to take kuzushi
or
You need to find kuzushi
Ok, and then what?
Kuzushi will come if your stuff is solid and if uke attacks properly.
When someone’s balance or equilibrium is disrupted, their brain should go into a “re-balancing” mode but in Aikido we are not taught this way. We need to be training like this. Uke should not be a dead fish. After he/she attacks with pure intent, they should try to recover. This is the only way to know if your technique is good.
So, what should you do when come up against a “oh you can’t move me” Aikido blackbelt blocker? In an ideal world you’d say these any of these things:
You know this is katageiko right? Why don’t you try taking some ukemi and working on your body movements/body strengthening?
Do you mind if I take ukemi just like you are? (and then proceed to Aikido blackbelt block them back!)… yet nobody wins here and it just becomes shitty training.
If you are going to try and stop me, is it ok if I change up the technique? Put them on alert. This only works if you know you’ve got the goods though!
If you want to block me, could you at least attack me hard and properly to begin with? After that, yes it’s ok to try to stop me. Again, this only works if you know you’ve got the goods!
Of course, this is in an ideal world. I’ve only recently learnt to say it myself, and it came after years of adding tools to my toolbox.
So what’s the lesson to be learnt here? You’ve got to have the goods to deal with the Aikido blackbelt blocker brigade, and that’s why cross training should be promoted, and why training NEVER stops. I will never be satisfied with the contents of my toolbox because there will ALWAYS be someone better than me.
Have no ego, and always work to fill that toolbox. It’s not all love, peace, and harmony amigo.
Keep Aikido Martial.
Thanks Tim, will check it out!
Ah, we might have some common ground here.
Check out my Substack area; budojourneyman.substack.com
Maybe a little collaborative exercise?