今日は、スタンピードのパレードで、ベン先生の力強い太鼓の演奏を間近で見る事が出来ました。

先生はあの熱い中で太鼓をたたき続けたのにも関わらず、夜も熱心に稽古を付けてくれました。

今日は、”呼吸なげの練習。

外回り転換の弱点：入り身が浅い（相手に入り込む事を恐れない事）＞よって、力任せに相手を引き回してしまう。

：受けに腕を示す際に、きちんと”片手”を差し出す＞でないと、受けが混乱する

：腕は柔らかく、丸く保つ。つっぱらないように。

：転換を急ぎすぎない、特に体の重い相手の場合、勢いと力で回そうとしてもダメ。

内回り転換の弱点：最初の挙動が遅すぎる。＞受けに踏み込まれて、間合いが詰まるので、外転換するしかなくなる。

: 転換で、というより、やはり腕で引っ張っている。

外回りから隅落とし：相手にエネルギーを返す様な感じで、落とすと楽に落とせる。　外側でなく受け側に落とし込む。

内回りの回転の流れをそのまま、床に導くのも上手く始めの転換が出来ていれば、楽に落ちる（ちょっと弱ければ、逆の手で補助してもいい）

Many weeks ago something subtle caught my attention. We did katatedori sumi-otoshi as a simple class demonstration and all went well, except when I drew the perpendicular line very slowly behind his legs to show someone, my aite stepped back a little – just a little.

It makes sense that the perpendicular line drawn between Uke’s feet (from his heels) towards his rear must be precisely 90 degrees to prevent either leg from stepping back (it is kinda funny to watch Uke fall over backwards while being unable to step at all, and land on his seat.)

However, you can’t just draw a line straight back because Uke’s body is in the way. You need to draw a curve around Uke to reach his rear perpendicular line to trace it. Because of this, it is natural to draw a line straight back, but not at 90 degrees. If Uke blends, he will allow himself to fall. If it is a person unfamiliar with the art, he may step back with his rear leg to adjust his balance. This is what I noticed.

New intermediary goal

The extension of Uke’s arm should instead have a new intermediary goal: to shift balance to Uke’s back leg – the leg Uke likes to step back with. This prevents Uke from kicking you with his back leg which is a danger otherwise. This angle should be drawn along the imaginary line connecting Uke’s feet. Sometimes Uke’s front leg will come off the ground like a tembin.

Once his balance has been shifted safely, Nage’s extension of Uke’s arm can then go behind Uke to the perpendicular line. Extending and sinking should then cause Uke to fall right back on his seat, not giving him the chance to roll away. Uke might open his eyes wide on the fall and curse so be prepared to grin. :)

If Uke is in motion and is rotating towards you for a strike, for example, then keep in mind the changing perpendicular line between his feet on the extension.

When doing the initial slide to the side and slightly behind Uke, have both hands extended already: the outer hand takes Uke’s balance and the inner tegatana is on the inside of his elbow. If the inner arm is bent and then tries to extend on the step-behind, it will be pure arm power that does the throw; if that arm is extended and straight from the initial slide, then the whole body is behind the throw on the step-behind.

Ben Sensei goes through tanninzugake-geiko with katatedori sumi-otoshi (corner drop or dead-angle drop).

Assuming hidari-ai-hanmi.  Tsuki comes in and with left tegatana (yes, outside hand) block at the elbow of uke as you slide out towards your 10 o’clock (you are beside uke now).  At the same time, from under the tsuki arm your right tegatana makes contact with uke’s inner elbow and you draw a large, off-axis circle like slicing an attacker with a bokutou.  This circular cut looks like a cut made from wakigamae, slicing overhead and then on the down slice it cuts off the legs of uke in one motion.  By the time your ‘cut’ reaches uke’s legs, he should already be on the way down to the mats in the opposite direction he was attacking from, spun back by your slice.

When I was practicing with Andrew Barron tonight, he suggested that instead of *blocking* with the left hand, instead cut down with it to send uke down and use his energy as he recovers to throw him.  It looked good for a while, but I was always tempted to crash into nage’s legs like the start of an MMA take-down.  Sometimes teachers say the uke has no motivation to spring up again.  So, we tried both and I felt more comfortable keeping the momentum of the attack and waza in the same plane: forward and reverse.

Also, when doing the slicing motion stay close to the uke because you must transfer energy to his whole body, not just flail his arm backwards.