Insights Galore

Today was one of those days where I had some sort of insight on every technique I practiced. I had the pleasure of training with Masa, a nidan Japanese guy, who unfortunately doesn't train very often. I spent the whole class with him working on some of my test techniques.

I came in to the class itching to work on shomen uchi ikkajo osae II, so naturally that was the first technique we did. Masa hadn't trained in a while, so he seemed happy just doing whatever I wanted to work on. The reason I wanted to do this technique first was that I didn't feel like I was getting a good initial rotation of the shoulder when I did an ikkajo entry, especially on ichi (pulling) techniques. This is a ni (pushing) technique, however, so the pivot is key here. So today, after the block, I made sure to pivot a littler deeper than usual so I end up slightly behind the uke. This allowed me to start him turning without having to push him forward, something I had been struggling with on this technique. It worked out great and I was able to take uke to the mat with some authority. Hu-rah!!

The other things I was able to work on were katamochi hijishime I and shomen uchi yonkajo osae I, two techniques that will also be on my test. On the hijishime, Masa showed me that moving the uke's arm above the line of the shoulder makes the hijishime more effective. We also worked on having better contact on the yonkajo, keeping the entire palm in contact with the uke yet still focusing the energy of the technique into a small area (面積) of the hand.

All in all, it was a very productive class. We had lots of students on the mat today, 12 to be exact, with each group working on their own thing, and Stumpy walking around giving instruction where needed.

Osu!