Vassar College Aikido Club

Within the last year or so, a new set of kata has been added to the Shodokan curriculum. It is called the Tanto Ura Waza and it is a set of 10 counter techniques (ura waza) that can be used during tanto randori.

As such, they must conform to the two basic rules regarding counter techniques during tournament matches:

1. The tanto (dagger wielding) player can only counter with the five atemi waza techniques.
2. The tanto player can only counter when the toshu (unarmed) player is grabbing one of tanto’s arms with both of his (toshu’s) own hands.

The 10 Tanto Ura Waza are described below. For each entry, I first give the name of the technique that toshu is attempting to execute against tanto. Then I give the name of the technique that tanto uses as a counter. In all cases, toshu grabs tanto’s knife holding arm with both of his own hands before being countered as described.

1. Oshi Taoshi countered by Ushiro Ate. Tanto uses his tanto holding arm to execute the throw. Tanto runs backwards circling around toshu. This is done one handed. Tanto uses his knife-holding hand to make a one-armed ushiro ate, with the stabbing arm being draped over toshu’s shoulder and down his chest. If tanto is stabbing right handed, then he ends up behind and to the left of toshu, with tanto’s right armpit resting over toshu’s left shoulder, and the rest of tanto’s right arm running vertically down the left hand side of toshu’s chest.
2. Hiki Taoshi countered by Shomen Ate. Tanto uses his tanto holding arm to execute the throw. It is shomen ate against the chest since you cannot legally shove the tanto towards toshu’s face in a match. Tanto first drops his weight and stiffens his stabbing arm to squelch the momentum of toshu’s attempt at hiki taoshi. They get to a moment of a tug of war and then tanto shoots forward to execute the shomen ate. This is very much like the 8th kyu shomen ate done against an aigamae katate dori grab.
3. Waki Gatame countered by Gyakugamae Ate. Tanto stiffens up, drops his weight, and keeps his elbow in (waki o shimeru) to stop the waki gatame before hitting toshu with an off-hand gyakugamae ate. That is, if tanto stabs with the right hand and toshu grabs that arm and tries to do waki gatame against that arm, tanto does gyakugamae ate with his left arm.
4. Kote Gaeshi into Ushiro Ate. Here, just after toshu has broken tanto’s balance forward along tanto’s weak line and just as toshu is begining to bend tanto’s elbow back to execute the kote gaeshi, tanto swings his knife holding arm down vertically past his hip, pulling toshu past his center, and twisting him around into position to do ushiro ate. This is the same as a technique seen in one of the Oyo Waza (application techniques) done from an Aigamae Katate Dori Jodan no Kuzushi.
5. Kote Gaeshi into Gedan Ate. Here, just after toshu has broken tanto’s balance forward along tanto’s weak line and just as toshu is begining to bend tanto’s elbow back to execute the kote gaeshi, tanto drops down and does gedan ate with his free (opposite) arm. That is, if tanto is stabbing right handed, he ends up doing gedan ate with his left side forward, attacking toshu’s right leg (toshu should be in a right foot forward posture at this moment after having broken tanto’s balance forward onto tanto’s weak line.)
6. Tenkai Kote Hineri into Ushiro Ate. Suppose that tanto stabs with his right hand. Toshu grabs that arm from the inside and tries to spin under that arm to execute the tenkai kote hineri technique. As toshu steps forward to move under tanto’s armpit, tanto slides forward and traps toshu against his chest. They are now both facing the same direction, with tanto behind toshu,with tanto essentially hugging toshu from behind, with tanto’s right (stabbing arm) over toshu’s right shoulder and down that side of toshu’s chest and the free (non-stabbing) arm over toshu’s left shoulder, with the shote of the left hand around the upper pectoral muscle area, just below the collar bone (as per usual). It is crucial that the hug be snug as it prevents toshu from continuing to spin and thereby stops him or her from executing the tenkai kote hineri. Tanto then does ushiro ate to throw toshu onto his back.
7. Tenkai Kote Gaeshi (Shiho Nage) into a Gyakugamae Ate done with the stabbing arm. Suppose that tanto stabs with his right hand. Toshu will move to the inside of that arm, grab it with both hands and try to swing it past tanto’s center. As toshu tries to swing the right arm past tanto’s center, tanto counters by doing gyakugamae ate with his stabbing arm. This should catch toshu in mid stride, as toshu must step forward with his left leg in order to prepare to turn around (the turning being necessary to complete the tenkai kote gaeshi that he is attempting.) When comparing this counter with the next, this one is executed a moment later than the next one, as this one assumes that uke has done more of the arm swing and has started to step forward with his left leg in preparation for turning around.
8. Tenkai Kote Gaeshi (Shiho Nage) into a Gyakugamae Ate done with the non-stabbing arm. Suppose that tanto stabs with his right hand. Toshu will move to the inside of that arm, grab it with both hands and try to swing it past tanto’s center. As toshu does this, he moves into a right foot forward stance. As toshu tries to swing the right arm past tanto’s center, tanto first prevents uke from being able to swing the right arm far enough by dropping his weight and pulling in his own stabbing arm elbow into his side (waki o shimete.) This should be done abruptly so as to bring everything to a (very short) momentary stillness. But since this stops toshu from completing the swing, toshu should still be in a right foot forward stance, so that the correct gyakugamate ate to do would be the one involving tanto’s left arm.
9. Mae Otoshi into Gedan Ate. Suppose that tanto stabs with his right hand. Toshu will move to the inside of that arm, grab it with both hands and try to swing it past tanto’s center. As toshu tries to swing the right arm past tanto’s center, tanto counters by dropping down and doing gedan ate with his stabbing arm. This should catch toshu in mid stride as toshu must step forward with his left leg in order to prepare to execute mae otoshi. As tanto drops down to do the gedan ate, his stabbing forearm should spin so that his own thumb goes from facing away from him to facing towards his own belly button. Doing this sharply will tend to break toshu’s grip.
10. Sumi Otoshi into Shomen Ate. Imagine that tanto stabs with his right arm. Toshu avoids to the outside (to the right from tanto’s perspective) and beings to attempt sumi otoshi by grabbing the stabbing arm and begining to lunge forward while holding it. Tanto counters by turning 90 degrees to his own right so as to face toshu while simultaneously switching his stance so that while turning tanto goes from right foot forward (which is how tanto stabbed) to left foot forward. At the same time, tanto’s free left hand comes up his center to uke’s neck/chin so as to be in position for a left foot forward shomen ate.

Got into Osaka two days ago. First practice last night at the expanded Shodokan dojo. Very nice. Sakai Sensei led. Lots of high ranking gaijin including Cameron and Higgs. It is good to be back. I`ll be posting about what I pick up during the next two weeks.

I`m staying at Orange House, which is 5 minutes walking to Shodokan and isn`t half as bad as some said. But other gaijin are at the Chu-o Hotel near Tennoji Station. It is apparently nicer, and runs about 2,500 yen per night. The place I`m at runs half that, though. Very cheap. But toilets and showers down the hall. Some people can`t deal with that. I`m fine with it. But squat toilets only—that`s annoying.

UPDATE: I was wrong. There is a western style (sit down) toilet on the third floor. It is popular.

I was in Imabari, Japan, for the Equinox (the Shunbun no Hi holiday in Japan). Imabari is my mom’s home town. And just by coincidence, it happens to be where Sensei Kenshi Uno resides and teaches aikido. He is a 7th dan and the third highest ranking active teacher in the Japan Aikido Association. Plus, since he runs a chain of English language cram schools, I never have to worry about my poor Japanese. He is quite happy to teach me in English.

He took me and the other yudansha aside for a bit to teach me (specifically me, since he talked in English) why oshi-taoshi is the embodiment of aikido. It was a very rewarding 20 minutes.

He began by explaining that Sokaku Takeda (the Daitoryu Aiki-jujutsu master who taught Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of modern Aikido) taught this technique first for a reason. And he numbered it first. It was his Technique #1 because he thought it so important. In turn, Ueshiba also though it most important and labeled it Ikkyo, which means First Technique.

The reason they thought it so important was that if you learn to do both the omote and ura versions of it (in Aikikai terminology, the irimi and tenkan versions) then you grasp how to both trick your opponent into moving in ways that you want, as well as how to not fight your opponent and always move with his motion.

It also teaches you both up-and-down kuzushi (breaking of balance) as well as backward-and-forward breaking of balance. And it shows you the importance of not mentally or physically fixating on any given technique or movement. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Up and down

Uno Sensei explained how Tomiki Sensei used a rowing motion to explain in the most basic way how you are supposed to raise an attacker’s arm and get under it to do oshi-taoshi. That’s the way the current kata is practiced. But there is a more direct method that involves exploiting the attacker’s natural tendencies to regain balance when it is broken.

Suppose that the attacker comes at you with an open handed tegatana strike (what we call a tsuki, or stab). He is right foot and right arm forward as he does so, trusting his right shote (heel of the hand) at you. You move forward to your left and pivot to avoid the strike. You end up standing with your left foot forward. Your upper body is more or less square with his arm, which is trust out, quite stiff (since he was trying to stab you), parallel to the floor at his shoulder level.

At this point, you trick him into raising his arm. All you have to do is very lightly grab his arm from above with both your hands, and slightly push down and squeeze—but just for a moment. Your hands almost immediately loosen. If you do this just right, it will sort of whack his arm down a bit, and his natural reaction will be to push up with his arm. (You have to do this just as he is at the most stretched out position as he is stabbing at you—right before his right foot hits the ground.) Since you, by that time, are not continuing to push down, when he pushes up, he meets no resistance and his arm will move up quite a bit—probably six inches to a foot at the hand end.

Since your hands are relaxed and light, they move up with that rising action, and if you are cupping your hands lightly around the arm, you will find that they naturally end up on the underside of uke’s arm. That is, uke has raised his arm up exactly where you want it to be so that you can do oshi taoshi.

This version of setting up the technique could hardly be simpler and gets at the idea of tricking your opponent into defeating himself.

Backwards and Forward

The point here is what to do if you attempt to do the technique and get stuck half way because uke resists. The thing to notice if you get to such an impasse is that you are stuck in a position where you are, essentially, failing to break uke’s balance forward. If the technique were working (which it ain’t), then you would complete the oshi-taoshi and push uke down to the floor.

What you have to realize is that a person’s balance is just as easily broken backwards as forwards, and that you should take advantage of that fact when you get to this sort of an impasse.

There are, of course, several things you could do. One would be to switch directly into ude gaeshi. That of course sends uke backwards. But the technique that Uno Sensei wanted to emphasize was the tenkan version of oshi-taoshi. (In aiki-kai terminology, this would be the tenkan version of ikkyo.)

In the impasse, you will be standing right foot forward, failing to push uke over. What you need to do is pivot backwards on your left foot. That is, the left foot stays where it is, and the right leg spins behind you. As it does, you push uke’s arm down into your center. As you finish the spin, uke is down on both knees and his free hand is on the ground. The elbow of the arm you are holding should be right up against your pelvic bones. It is covered by your left palm. Meanwhile your right hand is by your right hip bone, clutching uke’s right wrist.

From here, you’d pin uke in the normal fashion.

Backward into Ushiro Ate

Another thing you can do if you get to a point where uke is resisting your attempt at the normal, forward version of oshi taoshi is to slip behind uke and do ushiro ate (for those of you not familiar with this technique, it basically involves going behind uke, draping both of your hands over his shoulders, and pulling him down backward.)

The key point, though, that Uno Sensei emphasized was that this transition from a failed oshi taoshi into a successful ushiro ate only works if you are obeying Tomiki Sensei’s injunction to practice Mushin Mugamae, or “No Heart, No Stance.” By this slogan Tomiki Sensei meant that you should not be fixated on the success of any particular technique (your heart shouldn’t be set on forcing a given technique that you have decided to attempt), and that you should also not be wedded to any particular method of achieving your goal (that is the no stance part, because, as we say in English, you will “stand your ground” if you are defiant or stubborn or proud. The blending of aikido is inconsistent with defiance, stubbornness, and pride.)

If you get to the point in the failed oshi taoshi where you and uke are both pressing at each other hard, you should not keep trying to maintain the stance you are in. That would be the total opposite of Mugamae (no stance). If you keep trying to maintain your stance, your feet will be welded to the floor and you’ll be stuck.

Instead, you should be very relaxed as you are pushing at uke. Sure, you are pushing with enough force so that his force does not knock you over, but you are not welded to the floor, and you are not attached to your current stance. If you have that sort of relaxedness, you will find that it is very, very easy to disengage suddenly and smoothly and move behind uke to throw him with ushiro ate. If, however, you are committed—even temporarily—to holding your current impasse with uke, you are not going to be able to move instantaneously and smoothly behind uke. Instead, if you attempt it, you will feel like a bike chain suddenly slipping a few notches on the gears. It won’t work well.

The key to Mugamae in this case, however, is Mushin (no metal fixation). If you get to the moment of impasse where you are pushing at uke and he at you and the net force is zero and there is no movement, then you have a mental problem. You are not using mushin. Rather, you are trying to force the technique, and then trying to force the continuance of the impasse.

If you get to the impasse and your first though is that you can’t stop pushing because to do so would be worse than not pushing, then you are not using Mushin. You may get to the impasse, but you if you are using Mushin, you should be fully aware of all the possibilities that are brought up by the impasse and you should naturally, without fixating on any one of them, move on to one of them. And, in this case, one of them is to move on to ushiro ate. But, as you are doing so, you should keep on using Mushin so that you are not committed to attempting ushro ate, either. For instance, if uke whips around to face you as you are going for usiro ate, your fixation on attempting usiro ate will be comically futile as it will only slow you down as you attempt to respond to the changed circumstance.