Making Your Judo Work

The Magic of "Not Try - Do"

  

If you’d like to magically improve your judo faster, easier, and with lasting results, this is the blog for you.

     As a sensei, I've seen a zillion and a half people immediately fail at a judo task, get frustrated, get nowhere. The sensei says, "Fix this one thing." If it is done, there is success, and if not, more failure. Over time, a couple more "one things" have to be taken care of. Each requires making a single and concerted effort to fix it. Let’s consider the “One Thing”.

   I was telling a new student to do a simple head rotation when performing hane goshi. (For those who know my judo, it is "Sunrise - Sunset".) It requires zero special athletic ability. If you look up at the ceiling and then over toward your rear, as if watching a ball go up and over your head - that means up and around, not sideward and around, you'll have it. (This is the fix for just this example, not singularly the essence of this blog.)

     This is an action that can make a floundering hane goshi almost magically really good. It can be used for all front throws, but hane is the most glaring proof of its efficacy. That aside, it is as easy as wrinkling your nose. 

     The student was not being asked to perform anything that would muddle up the other things going on for the throw. In fact, the rest of the throw effort looked functionally okay. This student did it and the throw actually worked. Then, the student would do it once, maybe even twice, and then proceed to stop doing it. Over about thirty minutes of class practice time he was admonished to make it happen several more times, because he continually reverted to his old way. Perhaps you are thinking, "Well, there's always that student who just can't get it." Forget that. This happens over and again with student after student, and not just with this fix or this throw, and not with just throws.  Every judo technique can provide the opportunity to apply the advice given here. (Not the head rotation, the general advice.)

     We so often hear that the martial arts enhance that mystical ability called "focus". This is a big selling feature when parents are enrolling kids. There is no need to get mystical about it; it is simply very specifically paying attention, then doing.  Just for fun, let’s pretend you need to do something to improve any throw you'd like to name right now. My advice to create a major fix will be, "Wrinkle you nose as you do it." You do, and the throw is amazingly better. You do it again, and once more you get the reward. Will you always wrinkle your nose when trying this throw? Unless you are the exception to the overall world of judoka, you won't. The Gremlin that is you predominant action will override your newly achieved effort, because that is what happens to almost everybody almost all the time. 

    The frightening truth is that this “Gremlin”, this need to do the fix, can return way down the road. Only more and more practice can embed it. Practice makes permanent.

     It is human nature to revert to doing it incorrectly, because the original flaw is part of the student. It is what the individual's internal mechanism likes best, wrong or not. Fixing this requires that one do, not try. Okay, try to always do. 

 

·        Here's one way to make the fix permanent. One of the great values of uchi komi is that it provides opportunity to fix the little things repeatedly and with immediate focus.  Uchi komi, however, all too often is mindless repetition. While it provides a great place to drill the little things into shape, it can also drill the bad things into place.  

·        Another way is to do a mental command. If you need to do a special collar hand twist, mentally command “Twist collar hand”. If it’s a deeper foot placement, mentally command “Deeper step in”. Do this during uchi kkomi and in randori.

·        Try visualization (but not while driving J). Find a time when you can visualize and “feel” the action. Call it mental uchi komi.

• The "feel" here is a valuable ability. If you can feel yourself doing what you mentally imagine, you can train your mind / body reactions for actual applications. If you can't just do it, try to learn to do it. Sometimes, just one part of an action can be achieved as a starter.

·        Make a video of you doing the technique. See if you can do it with and without the “Gremlin”. Study it.

     Trying to always do does not require getting a mental or physical hernia. It means to do it, and do so because you tell yourself to do it. Then, always do it. 

     The irony is that this blog is a single suggestion which readers might apply once or twice, and then not apply the next time. Therefore, make a part of your judo and it will magically make your judo work faster, easier, and with lasting results.

 

 

     

    Einstein plus Musashi = the One Thing = Good Throws 

    Einstein's theory of general relativity and Musashi's wisdom in The Book of Five Rings -The Ground Book have something universally in common. Einstein provided us with the an understanding of  what we use to make GPS work, why gold is yellow, and what's going on with the cathode ray tube that was the first television. Other uses of atomic energy go on and on. 

    Musashi would have told us to look at the giant boards of equations that made up Einstein's formula and then see them all in one simple truth. That truth, "as a straight line in the dirt", explains all things on that line. 

Here is Einstein's One Thing. 

E=MC2

A Small Part of Einstein's big formula

    This is true in judo throwing. Like Musashi's simple advice and Einstein's "simple" theory, a judo throw works because it is simple. Einstein also quipped, "Make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler." Although this seems to be a humorous comment, it could also mean that any further simplification would also mean elimination of something that is crucial, hence making the thing useless. 

    In judo nage waza, Uki Goshi, the floating hip throw, gives us a very simple and complete example of the implementation of a throw, all its essentials. It is as simple as possible. 

     Here is the throwing formula.

    Let's look at Uki Goshi. 

 

 Here is the throw as kuzushi is about to become tsukuri and the action moves on to kake. 

• Pink Triangle shows kuzushi has occurred, due to an initial, gentle  downward then upward motion of the sleeve hand (tsurite).
• Middle pink arrows show the connection of the fulcrum point, a rendezvous, below uke's center of mass, as well as the tori's body angle that complements directional application.
• Lower orange arrows: As the left foot comes down and the leg then applies upward pressure, it then combines with the rendezvous to then go to the upper orange arrows.
• Upper orange arrows: These blend with the other actions to continue the throw to completion. 
• Missing: An arrow at the tsurite elbow is need to show the ongoing pull of the kake, which is often not performed and the tsurite fails as it comes to rest at the current point. 
• The right foot position is only a step in for positioning and the left foot and leg will bring the physical power to the throw. 

Let's make it simple and not anywhere near as complicated as Einstein's blackboard or my throwing formula. Here's the "E=MC2" of judo.      

∈ - means combined

pK ∈ K ∈ Ts ∈ K = T

    Pre kuzushi combined with kuzushi combined with tsukuri combined with kake equals any and all judo throws. Combined is the operative word. It can also be emphasized that any throws not containing this full formula are not judo throws. They are only "throws", or "tosses" or "flips" and so on. The formula represents the physical equivalent of maximum efficiency via optimum use of energy. 

 Combined

          “Combined” is the secret beneath the otherwise familiar triad of what a judo throw is. This applies very much to how you practice a throw. Although we are considering all upright front throws, the principle applies. That principle is, “Don’t stop.”  “Combined” does not mean “in addition to…”. Think of it as “blended”, “integrated, “incorporated”, “unified”, “cohesive”, “amalgamated”, and such.

          In learning a throw, it is normal to step in and check to see if everything is in the right place. Often, this is the result of having been instructed to do a certain corrective thing; put the collar hand here, get your hip across more, get lower, etc. We step in and check to see if we’ve done it, or we step in to check how it “feels”. To do this, we stop. Then, we try to continue the throw. At this point, it has ceased to be a judo throw. I see this over and over again, and the students who do it have a difficult time not doing it; or, if you will, undoing the tendency. It then carries over to randori. That is because practice makes permanent.

Of course, at first one needs to check the parts, with the rare exception of those who can just watch and then do immediately. There comes a time, though, when the practice must be of the combined actions. You might be thinking, “Sure. That’s when we do nage komi, the throwing practice. Sadly, the tendency can carry over into this, too.

          Done correctly - If the kuzushi is correctly applied, the moment of blending in the tsukuri will create enough of a throw so that you will apply the kake in an almost “catch up” manner.

     This is the "one thing" of which Musashi spoke.

    Neither philosophies nor cosmic theories are of any value unless they are usefully applied.  It is easy to say, "I get it." It is not easy to say "I do it." Well then, what is it we must do? 

1.     Understand each part as it applies to the throw. 

2.     Include every part of the throw.

3.      Combine each part correctly.

`Thereby, if you put the methodology and genius of Einstein together with the super warrior wisdom of Musashi’s one simple truth, it will make your judo better.

True Tipping Point

            So, you'd like to throw like legendary Kyuzo Mifune.            

            Don’t mistake the following for theory. It is something that you need to apply to your randori, and that you perpetually practice.

If you want to throw somebody with a really great throw, the best option is a judo throw. Because, to just do a “throw” you could simply pick somebody up and throw them across the room. Or, you could heft the victim onto your side, then fall on them, dragging them down under you. Those aren’t judo throws. They are just throwing. 

A judo throw requires a tipping point, plus a fulcrum, over which the uke’s body rotates and causes uke to land on the back.  Shiai points can be gained by throws that aren’t technically judo throws, and far too often are. In fact, many pictures are taken of these as examples of “dynamic” judo. These are not the goals of a true judoka.

Watching judoka practice a throw and not have success often shows the major issue involving tipping points. A successful judo throw is an uninterrupted single action that contains three essential elements. What we see instead is tori stopping at the moment between what should be the tsukuri and the kake. Then, often, without any kuzushi in the action, some lifting power is brought into play, and in spite of the results, we no longer technically have a judo throw.

This tells us the throw attempt’s failure is due to either missing kuzushi or improper fulcrum point placement, often both.

If at this point you might be thinking, “Duh! Everybody knows this.” If so, then let’s ask why these things are a perpetual cause of throw attempt failures.

     Let’s digress. Take a glass and set it on a table. Nudge it closer and closer to the edge, until it is almost ready to fall off the table. There is a position at which the glass is on the table. If nothing changes, it will stay there forever. There is an almost immeasurable point where if the base of the glass is moved farther off the edge, or if the top of the glass is leaned over the abyss, the glass will fall. It won’t stay suspended in space. This is when the throw should happen, as irrevocably and instantly as the glass tumbling off the table. It should take place at the tipping point.

The continuous and contiguous action of the three elements has stopped at the moment when the third element should have begun. Often, at this point, the tori will make an extra physical effort to complete the throw. It could be bending forward at a ninety degree angle. It could be trying to lift the uke up off the mat. In randori or shiai, it could be head diving. It is no longer a judo throw, but just a throw done during a judo activity.

            When kuzushi meets tsukuri, the tipping point has happened and kake is in progress. There should be no discernable time between that moment of connection and the accomplished throw. It should be like stepping off a cliff.

All too often, this is where we see physical strength and / or added body bending happen.  Once into the actual kake, it can have its own problems, chief among them the discontinuation of the pulling hand. This all for later.

When doesn’t a tipping point tip? When the fulcrum point is not harmoniously conjoined with the movement of the off balanced object.

When watching a throw, we see the big action, the kake. When learning a throw, we get involved with the new architecture of it, the form. Kuzushi is mostly just pointed out and then demonstrated as a pull or a push in a certain direction. What we don’t see is that when kuzushi and tsukuri have a rendezvous, the throw is happening at that instant. The amount of time involved is zero. It is like stepping off that cliff. The tipping point has arrived and the result is kake. There are no pauses, no action breaks, no grunts, bends, butt thumps or face plantings. Uke is airborne. 

Kyuzo Mifune is considered the epitome of judo technique. There used to be a quip that if you blinked one eye while doing randori with him, you were off balance to that side. It is important to be familiar with the Mifune videos of his randori action and with his instructional videos.

At the risk of blasphemy, I am going to say that some of Mifune's throwing examples show bad form. If you try to copy his techniques and do the throw forms and the kake as he does them, you won't in these cases get good results. In spite of this, his throws are still amazing.

That is because his  judo throws are based upon his super mastery of kuzushi. He owns the tipping point.  The tipping point isn't wimpy. What is the ultimate tipping point? It is when the aforementioned glass on the table's edge is at the critical moment of tipping over, is going to go, unless something intercedes. In a judo throw, it does go, because a fulcrum point is what shows up to create the rotation.

If you will stand on the very top of your tippy-toes of your right foot, I will throw you with any front right throw I want, and you won't be able to stop me. If you can step forward, I haven't shown up in time. If you can plant your foot back down, I didn't perpetuate the pull. Here is Mifune showing the kuzushi for ashi guruma. He isn't exaggerating. This is what he actually does.

    Uke is one straight line, from big toe to top of the head. Look at uke's left foot and leg. They no longer can play any part in uke's defense. Uke is like a pencil balanced on its point.

    Here, Kosei Inoue is teaching his famous uchi mata. This is his idea of how the kuzushi should look, and what he does to make his work. You can watch it all at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu9hhbuOb-U

 

    This throw is over. Your kuzushi must be this blatant. You will have to be able to show up with the speed and timing such that uke cannot recover. However, if you only show up with speed and power, it is likely you will not get a throw.

To Practice:

• Select your throw and know what direction is its off-balancing goal.

• Create a major tipping point and maintain it.

• Step in and do the throw, without losing the tipping point.

• Walk around and try to figure out how to create that tipping point.

    If you watch Mifune, Inoue or other great throwers in action, you'll see that they use a pre-established pattern of set-up steps prior to application of kuzushi.

If you don't establish kuzushi, don't do the rest of it. Not to be too blunt, but if you don't establish kuzushi, there isn't any "the rest of it". 

Here is a bonus tip. The battle for gaining and maintaining kuzushi is what nage no kata is very much about. If you can find a sensei who teaches it that way, it could be a worthwhile endeavor.

Add the endeavor for better and better kuzushi and it will make your judo work.

 

Tai Otoshi Inner Secrets 1 & 2

If you love tai, I'm hoping to add to the romance. If you don't feel you quite "get" tai, I'm betting you will feel much stronger about it after trying the first "Inner secret".

Sometimes, actually quite often, inner secrets are things we don’t even know that we know. During the last few years, I’d realized my old tai-otoshi was somehow gone. Something was missing. I could do a respectable tai-otoshi, and what I taught to my students worked well for them. There was no glaring problem, except that I knew something was missing. Then, I discovered an inner secret about my tai-otoshi after a sixty - plus year acquaintance with it.

After about three or so months into my beginning judo, I’d discovered my tokui waza. Or, as is truly the usual case, it discovered me. I nowadays communicate with three of my former Mankato State College Judo Club teammates and it has been remarked, from time to time, that they recall my tai-otoshi as a formidable throw. This, however, aroused my curiosity as to why it had worked so well. When a photo from long ago was recently sent to me, I was immediately awakened by something obvious.

This is the B&W photo of me at Mankato State Judo Club sometime around 1961 throwing my sensei, Paul Sheehan, with tai-otoshi. Below that is Kazuo Ito demonstrating his tai-otoshi. Ito became 9th dan and was the favorite student of legend Kyuzo Mifune. People used to say, when asked how Mifune did something, "Ask Ito. He will show you." If at this point you don't yet know who Mifune was, your most immediate next judo activity could be to check him out. It turns out that I was doing my tai just like Ito did it. (I love it when that happens.) Nice to know I'm in good company, tai-otoshi-wise.

            As you've possibly figured out, the lift of my collar hand is the secret. Not only is it in this position, it got there as the predominant "power" driving force throughout. It is the tsurite, the "lifting hand".

Quite often, the emphasis is put on the sleeve hand’s lift-and-pull. Perhaps that's because it is more noticeable when watching the throw. Additionally, the sleeve hand pulls in the direction of the kuzushi, so it is obviously very important. That is when the collar hand, the tsurite, gets overlooked, is given less emphasis, becomes a secondary consideration.

Thus, many new tai-otoshi learners allow the collar hand to lag behind, getting it behind their own shoulder. It’s a very common mistake. It can lead to shoulder damage, too. It also robs the throw of a huge amount of the correct use of force. Worse, a weak collar hand allows the force of the throw to come around and back into tori, moving it out of the zone of force that goes in the direction of the initial kuzushi. Go beyond the admonishment to not leave it behind; start with it.

In the pictures, it might also seem my left hand has lapsed downward, but it is actually completing a circle that was initially upward and outward toward uke's right front corner. Via the arrows, you can see that it and the right hand are making a large, congruous circle.

To help get the collar hand working right, It is a clever trick to think of the collar hand beginning the throw. Use it as an initiating action. Give it as much of a role in creating kuzushi as the sleeve hand gets. Do that, and it won't lag behind. Actually try it several times, until it feels like a powerful part of the throw.

I can even now recall what the correct use of the collar hand felt like when a sandan from Japan, Ken Ichiyama, threw me with his monster tai-otoshi. Back then, there were often Grand Champion divisions added to our local shiai, Ken would win the division above me and we’d be paired to compete. We bowed, took grips, and I think it took him about thirty seconds to nail me with a lightening tai otoshi.

After my loss to his devastating tai-otoshi, I went back to my dojo and tried to devise a way to combat this. My sensei suggested I could jump over Ken’s blocking leg. So, I practiced this many, many times. The next time we met. I was ready. This time I had the answer! Ichiyama came snapping in for his tai, I was ready. I jumped over his leg. He threw me faster and harder than the last time. As I was getting up, I heard him say, “Thanks for jumping.” I can viscerally recall the feeling of that collar hand owning me every millisecond of the way. I know it now, but didn’t sort it out back then. Ironically, I was using my hand the same way in my own tai-otoshi throws, as the picture shows. That experience also brought home to me why tai is considered a hand technique.

In order to accomplish this and be sure of its efficacy, the collar hand must be part of the very beginning of the throw. It isn't a high collar grip, just standard. Tori should feel as if it begins early, almost triggers the throw. It must get above tori, while tori simultaneously gets below it (otoshi). When you try starting by using the sleeve hand for your primary lift and pull, and it seems physically challenging, it is because the collar hand isn’t right there in the action at the start. 

If you go watch tai otoshi expert Neil Adams teach "Korean" style tai otoshi, you'll see what I'm talking about.

Here is something you might try in practice. Do the throw without the sleeve hand and make the collar hand do it all, being sure to keep uke's body from touching yours. This will give you a feel for how the collar hand works, and it will assure that you continue the throw in its intended front corner kuzushi direction. Of course, the sleeve hand can add to the rotation near the end, but you can start with it not holding on at all; or, if your partner is so inclined, uke can finish it with a front roll fall and no sleeve grip is necessary.

Another idea for you. Think of the hand moving the same way it would if you were going to do a front roll fall, the hand starting at your shoulder. In the picture, you can see that if I just let go of my right hand I could go into one. (The picture feet are, of course, reversed from the basic zempo kaiten ukemi)

Tai is a te-waza, a hand technique. It is said that Kano used to do it without the blocking leg. As is often the case, students look at the big picture and miss the underlying details. We see the leg blocking and creating the completion of the throw, and focus on that aspect. This distracts from looking more closely on the "te" part, studying it as the primary ingredient, then seeing the leg action as secondary. We tend to do this isolation of the obvious with almost all throws, and it is a natural thing to do. We see the "big" action, and the smaller yet critical action escapes us.

There is the second secret that this tai otoshi analysis offers, as it informs us regarding all wazas. Look for the fundamentals; see the devils in the details. For example, think of all the throws where the leg sweeps; o-soto, uchi mata, harai goshi, o-uchi gari, and so on. We are totally absorbed in the big sweeping leg action; however, there is detail action before those sweeps and reaps, and without it, they don't do anything.

For tai, focus on the te-waza part and get the kuzushi and the blend of that into movement which takes uke beyond the point of recovery. Then show up with the leg.

Among the many things that can be done to assure a good tai-otoshi, I’m hoping the added "inner secrets", this discovery of my own early days unconscious competence, and now conscious competence, will be of value to you.

Remember to always ask, "What is making the judo work here?"