Aikido Journal

Joined: 17 Jan 2005 Posts: 261 Location: Durango, Colorado

Since Ushiro was one of the featured teachers at Ikeda Sensei's summer camp in Glenwood Springs, I fought my way through the Tourons, RV's, mountain passes (well, one dinky pass), etc., and went to see what and how he taught.

Based on the class I watched and from conversation with some Aikidoists who have done other classes, Ushiro seems to base his approach around "Sanchin", a primary kata for a number of karate styles.

Let me say a few words about Sanchin. I studied Sanchin as part of the Uechi Ryu karate that I learned on Okinawa long ago and frankly I didn't understand it at the time. In fact, I think most westerners haven't got a clue about what Sanchin is. I didn't really put it together until *after* I had a lot of experience in Chinese martial training exercises and until *after* (by accident) I happened to see an old video of the Uechi founder's son doing the kata.... he did it as a martial qigong, not as an extreme tension exercise.

The point is that Sanchin is a body conditioning exercise, not really a "here's a nifty set of martial moves" type kata. And Ushiro does Sancin as a conditioner, not as a martial set of moves. Let me caveat that I'm not going to proclaim Ushiro is greatly skilled or unskilled... my position would be more that he's adequately knowledgeable for what is needed in the general Aikido community at the much, so the pissing contests aren't an important tangent at all.

"Sanchin" comes from the Chinese term "San Zhan" meaning roughly "3 Conflicts", although sometimes you see western people talking about the "3 Battles", yada, yada, yada. The "Six Directions training" that I've mentioned before is actually 3 sets of "contradictory training" where 3 planes of antagonistic jin are set up. This "contradictory training" is found in all Asian martial arts at a certain level of training and ability. The strength coming from this sort of training is the "Hun Yuan Qi", which is the core strength of the martial arts. "Sanchin" is, at heart", a method of training the body around the 3 contradictions that are the famous six-directions of training. End of background note. Here's a good webpage showing some southern Chinese doing some reasonably good "San Zhan" (or "San Jan" they call it). This is probably pretty close to what the Okinawans, etc., learned and took back, later altering it because they didn't have, for example, a whole village to help maintain the original tradition. :::::

http://www.yongchunbaihechuen.com/videos.html

I guess my thoughts about what Ushiro was teaching were mainly positive, even though I don't think he explained *how* to do things as much as he showed what he could do. The main point is that this type of strength is shown by a Japanese (much more acceptable to most westerners who think there is some genetic component to martial arts) who stresses the importance of these things and definitively shows how some of the power is used. Secondly, because Ushiro is a karateka, it gives people an understanding of how the kokyu/ki things are not strictly the territory of Aikido, thus putting people on the road to understanding that this form of training is Asia-wide ("I'm BAD..... I'm Asia-wide").

I also met up briefly with George Ledyard and Richard Moore (from Tallahassee) and we had a good discussion and show-and-tell which helped clarify some of the terms we've been using in some of these internet discussions. I'm 225 pounds... George and Richard made me feel like a stripling. Wink

http://www.neijia.com/GeoRichMikeS.jpg

FWIW

Mike

Joined: 07 Aug 2001 Posts: 11 Location: Arlington, VA

Glad to here you made it to Camp. It sounds like Ushiro continued his focus on the Sanchin kata. I am curious to know your comments on the breathing method Ushiro used while performing the kata.

Also, nice picture of you with Rich and George. I have many a memory of either one just smiling at me while attempting to move them.

Tim Anderson

Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 10:05 am

I can't wait to hear the discussions now! Mike, I'm glad you made it to the seminar.

Best,
Ron

Joined: 17 Jan 2005 Posts: 261 Location: Durango, Colorado

Tim Anderson wrote:

Glad to here you made it to Camp. It sounds like Ushiro continued his focus on the Sanchin kata. I am curious to know your comments on the breathing method Ushiro used while performing the kata.

Hi Tim:

Well, let me just leave it more or less with the observation that Ushiro showed a number of things, but he wasn't very explicative about *how* to do things or exactly *why* some things were done. As I've noted before in various ways, I'm not real big on teaching the breathing, when to stop it, the pressures, etc., until someone at least has some functional development of the lower abdominal area from normal breathing exercises. First build up the lower abdomen (and to some extent the rest of the body) with normal breathing exercises for "ki"; then worry about how to use what you've conditioned in hitting, etc. I.e., my perspective is that the breathing is really secondary to a few things people should learn first.

There was a time in Chinese history, around the Tang dynasty, but also later than that, when martial arts were at their apex and where the current discussions of "internal" and "external" would have been a complete waste of time because the full complement of so-called "internal skills" were in use. Part of those skills were/are the full-body winding. For instance, if someone winds/twists my arm, that twist should go instantly through the entire skin/shell of me to my feet. That's what is behind the power of winding or "spiralling". Ushiro, to my eye, uses a lot of circular motions in his Sanchin that are not supported fully by what's going on in the rest of his body. What I'm trying to get around to saying is that Sanchin can be very complex and sophisticated, yet someone who shows elements of Sanchin to a group of Aikidoists, etc., is not necessarily doing what I would consider the penultimate version of Sanchin. I.e., take what Ushiro shows practically yet with a grain of salt; do the same thing about anything I say, too.

Quote:

Also, nice picture of you with Rich and George. I have many a memory of either one just smiling at me while attempting to move them.

Drive a car into them and see if you can move them. Wink

Of course, they can't stop a car, can they? So there are limits to anyone being "immoveable".... all you have to do is find out how to generate the correct force in the correct direction and anyone can be moved. Granted, a large-mass individual can be harder to move simply because of inertia and some ability to root... but anyone can be moved.

Regards,

Mike

Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 10:29 am

Does that apply to big Tony Alvarez? That guy IS the car...

B,
R (and yes, I know, he can be moved too...but not by me...)

Joined: 07 Aug 2001 Posts: 11 Location: Arlington, VA

Mike,

I believe I understand what you’re talking about in regards to Ushiro’s circular motion as opposed to a spiral motion that travels a path to the knees or perhaps ground. So with that preface let me step out on a ledge. As with a coiled spring, this incoming force (energy, whatever) would be spiraled down through the body structure to be stored as, for lack of a better phrase, potential energy. Then in turn, the coil could be relaxed (released) and a wave of fascia activation occurs from the storage point until released from a body structure (hands, head, shoulder, etc.). So you could have power releases within the sanchin kata, correct? If correct, to me this would paint a good picture of the ebb and flow of kokyu musubi.

On another note, fortunately I have had some success with moving Rich around but George is another story. It’s funny though, Rich actually has been run over by an SUV (I happened to be in the passenger seat at the time). He got up, walked it off, and was on the mat the next day to train…. Seriously. Rich–1, SUV-0.

Tim Anderson

Joined: 17 Jan 2005 Posts: 261 Location: Durango, Colorado

Tim Anderson wrote:

I believe I understand what you’re talking about in regards to Ushiro’s circular motion as opposed to a spiral motion that travels a path to the knees or perhaps ground. So with that preface let me step out on a ledge. As with a coiled spring, this incoming force (energy, whatever) would be spiraled down through the body structure to be stored as, for lack of a better phrase, potential energy. Then in turn, the coil could be relaxed (released) and a wave of fascia activation occurs from the storage point until released from a body structure (hands, head, shoulder, etc.). So you could have power releases within the sanchin kata, correct? If correct, to me this would paint a good picture of the ebb and flow of kokyu musubi.

Well, it's sort of complicated if you look at it in terms of "what's in the Sanchin Kata?", which is why I see pro's and con's to trying to explain "kokyu" and "ki" using the Sanchin kata.

Basically, in my opinion, you want to get people in Aikido started off with basic kokyu power, then moving with and while using kokyu power full time, etc. Sanchin simply has too many elements in it which use different aspects of ki/kokyu-related skills and therefore it can get overly-complicated. Besides, the whole concept of "karate" is alien to too many Aikidoists and that new element adds to the general confusion of kokyu in Aikido.

Another thing I noted of interest was that when Ushiro led everyone into the first start of the winding-closed stance of Sanchin, every guy/gal there who had ever done "karoddy" dropped into their old well-remembered stance with the "aha, I know how this goes" look on their face. I.e., most of what everyone was doing was just rote and ritual. They were thinking that somehow if they learned the ritual movements (like some sort of moving incantation), all they had to do was practice it some and over time they would magically be infused with "kokyu power". That's the other reason I wasn't highly in favor of the Sanchin approach with few explanations.

Back to the storing and releasing... yes, that's there and the spiralling plays a part, but I think you only need to work with *basic* storing and releasing along jin paths and then slowly add all the complexities of a Sanchin kata in as you're ready for them. I discussed some of my approach/view of basics with George and with Rich and I think they would offer some support that even the strict basics were complex enough without adding confusing layers of sophistication. Wink

Quote:

On another note, fortunately I have had some success with moving Rich around but George is another story.

Well, it was interesting watching what the two of them did for stance. Interestingly, George uses what seems to be the standard stance tricks that most heavy men use and it was interesting to watch a non-CMA guy use the usual things. However, other than a few quick comments about stances and not moving the hips to compensate or "fight" any loss of balance (both Rich and George use the hips like that without thinking about it consciously, as do many people), I didn't say a lot about stances, etc., because we were just working to get a consensus of understanding on various terms by doing a quick thumbnail sketch of kokyu, ki, etc., things. In my mind, the idea was that our communications over the internet would be far quicker in the future. Also, I was experimentally showing my take on some of the basics Ushiro was showing, just in case it was helpful for the rest of the summer camp and if it added anything to what was being taught/discussed at the camp. The goal is for the most people to learn the most amount of useable and correct information for Aikido. Everything else is just mouth-noises. Wink

Good comments, Tim. If I'm ever down in Tallahassee I'll show you what bits I know about using Sanchin for power, etc., and let you see my thesis about Sanchin perhaps being a bit complex to use as a short-term focus (i.e., how many Aikido people are really going to go home and practice a superficially learned kata?).

All the Best.

Mike

Joined: 17 Jan 2005 Posts: 261 Location: Durango, Colorado

Oh, speaking of someone being "hard to move", I meant to add:

I can be fairly difficult to move for a variety of reasons (mostly having to do with force manipulation skills), but one time when Chen Xiao Wang was visiting my house we were watching a video of a famous Taiji teacher and CXW sort of offhand mentioned, "He uses double-weight so his movement is not good". I thought I sort of academically understood the term "double-weight", but maybe not, so I asked him to show me what "doubleweight" meant. He told me to get into my best, most-stable stance, which I promptly did. Then he took one finger and pushed it against me in a certain direction and I was immediately unbalanced. Yet I could not do the same thing to him (naturally, his skill levels are way above mine and he's been doing these things since he was 8 years old).

Most people can be moved pretty easily in some direction(s) with little effort. Wink

Regards,

Mike

Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2006 11:39 am

yep, I've seen a variety of people do things like that to what I had previously thought of as stable people. Perhaps I should clarify...

Big Tony makes you and George look like peanuts. And he is highly trained. Under Angier Sensei in Ca. I would sincerely LOVE to see someone move him with a finger. Especially if they could teach me how to do it!

Best,
Ron

Joined: 17 Jan 2005 Posts: 261 Location: Durango, Colorado

Next time you see him, get him to get into his most stable stance while he's facing you (face to face). Then tell him to hold it while you walk around and check him out from all directions. Most people set up to be "stable" to a person facing them. There's lots of things to look for, but see what you can spot yourself.

Regards,

Mike

Joined: 07 Aug 2001 Posts: 11 Location: Arlington, VA

I believe the caveat to stability is that it should not sacrifice movement. I am right there with Ron with how many people I have seen whom I previously thought to be very stable only to be uncentered by someone else. Everyone is moveable all that is needed is the proper motivation so to speak.

As far as storing and releasing goes... Currently I have been focused on two exercises. One involves the simple use of hip rotation powering the arm through the scapula while attempting to bypass top shoulder movement and deltoid activation. While visually simple looking it is difficult especially when coupled with keeping ones slightly bent knees from floating in front of the feet. The second focuses on eliminating the hips and just utilizing spine roll and whip to transmit power. Both of these exercises have kept me quite busy.

Tim Anderson

Joined: 17 Jan 2005 Posts: 261 Location: Durango, Colorado

Tim Anderson wrote:

I believe the caveat to stability is that it should not sacrifice movement. I am right there with Ron with how many people I have seen whom I previously thought to be very stable only to be uncentered by someone else. Everyone is moveable all that is needed is the proper motivation so to speak.

Generally, IMO, the physical factors that are common are someone loading their weight onto the front leg and allowing the back leg to be a "brace" so that they have power *toward* the person they're facing, but not to the "gates" facing to the rear and front angles between their feet. People will also shift the hips from side to side as a fine-tune compensator.

Someone who can "root" will take the force responsibilty to one of the feet, usually the one that is the rear "brace" (not really good technique, BTW).

Someone who can manipulate forces will do a vector addition that sends the incoming force to an empty-spot.... but hey... isn't that the general idea of an "aiki"??? Wink

No one, though, is perfect in all respects and there are always weaknesses to be exploited.

Regards,

Mike

Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2006 7:10 pm

Mike –

I noticed you were discussing Sanchin Kata with respect to Uechi Ryu, which appears to be more complex than Ushiro’s Shindo Ryu version. Uechi Ryu contains a set of basic exercises referred to as Hojo Undo. Do you see one aspect of the Hojo Undo of Uechi Ryu to be a simpler approach, complimenting Sanchin, for learning to generate and control fajin? From my limited knowledge of Hojo Undo, based largely on observation, the set of exercises employ combinations of techniques that move from relatively simple to complex movements combined with breathing. If so, would it make more sense for someone studying Aikido to work with basic exercises such as funekogi undo and ikkyo undo combined with similar breathing?

A second question has to do with breathing. Is “stomach breathing” the preferred method in working with energy development in the context of a martial art? In exhaling, one is driving the air out by “contracting the diaphragm and abdominal muscles.” At the point of kime (focus), should one tense the agonist muscles and the abdominal muscles, resulting in the sudden constriction of the abdomen and lower back muscles, and a feeling the abdominal viscera is being driven downward and forward?

I would appreciate any suggestions and insight you could provide as to how to work with fundamental Aikido movements, or other of basic exercises, that would help individuals trying to develop explosive power. Thanks in advance. Regards, JED.

Joined: 17 Jan 2005 Posts: 261 Location: Durango, Colorado

John Driscoll wrote:

I noticed you were discussing Sanchin Kata with respect to Uechi Ryu, which appears to be more complex than Ushiro’s Shindo Ryu version. Uechi Ryu contains a set of basic exercises referred to as Hojo Undo. Do you see one aspect of the Hojo Undo of Uechi Ryu to be a simpler approach, complimenting Sanchin, for learning to generate and control fajin? From my limited knowledge of Hojo Undo, based largely on observation, the set of exercises employ combinations of techniques that move from relatively simple to complex movements combined with breathing. If so, would it make more sense for someone studying Aikido to work with basic exercises such as funekogi undo and ikkyo undo combined with similar breathing?

Good comment, John. Essentially, Ushiro Sensei is trying to teach "kokyu" and some ki-related things; he's using Sanchin as his preferred format to do it because Sanchin contains the "basic martial qigong practice" that covers the kokyu and ki practices in Uechi and other karates. You can do basic practice with just about anything, but the Aiki-taiso that you mention are perfect for this kind of practice... and it's pretty certain that this is what they were meant to do originally, anyway.

Quote:

A second question has to do with breathing. Is “stomach breathing” the preferred method in working with energy development in the context of a martial art?

I think "reverse breathing" is the preferred method; "stomach breathing" and "natural breathing" are usually what you find a beginner doing, because the breathing is not the first priority... learning to manipulate the kokyu force is.

Quote:

In exhaling, one is driving the air out by “contracting the diaphragm and abdominal muscles.” At the point of kime (focus), should one tense the agonist muscles and the abdominal muscles, resulting in the sudden constriction of the abdomen and lower back muscles, and a feeling the abdominal viscera is being driven downward and forward?

I wouldn't want to get into this discussion at the moment, John. It's too soon.

Quote:

I would appreciate any suggestions and insight you could provide as to how to work with fundamental Aikido movements, or other of basic exercises, that would help individuals trying to develop explosive power. Thanks in advance. Regards, JED.

I spoke with George Ledyard and Richard Moore about what would be a good start. Essentially, my preliminary suggestion was to teach people how to manipulate jin/kokyu in a standing two-hand, *static* (uke shouldn't be making a contest of it) grab and getting nage to understand how to use a jin/kokyu vector combined into uke's holding force. I.e., learn how to manipulate jin first. Then learn how to move with it. Oops.... actually that's all that Kokyu-ho-undo is.

Of course, George and Rich may have different suggestions; I just suggested that one off the top of my head while we were talking.

BTW.... just for the people who don't already know it, "Hojo Undo" are basic practices that are more or less taken out of some of the kata and worked separately. They are not the practices done after workout at the local Howard Johnson restaurant. Wink

Regards,

Mike

Joined: 07 Aug 2001 Posts: 11 Location: Arlington, VA

John I think you have a great point that the necessary exercises are already available in Aikido (that is if I got your point correctly Smile

). It is only in the last few years that I have seen what I would consider a more accurate version of funekogi undo. It came from Saotome Sensei who provided more explanation than I have ever heard from him (I am sure others may have known this but I sure didn't). The aspects that he added that I had not seen before was treating the row more as a whipping strike from the center and (now what I see as very important) feed the rowing arm extension not only by low center shift from rear position to forward position but also a slight central axis turn during the center shift. Otherwise the usual suspects were there such as kotodama usage for the kiai, sword stance, and posture.

One problem I have had with the Aikido exercises was the stance. Without the proper explanation there is a huge reliance on pushing off the back foot during the exercises for generating power. I know I was left with that assumption for both funekogi undo and ikkyo undo when I started first started Aikido.

Tim Anderson