gdp's Comments

Mokuren Dojo - Aikido, Judo, Karate : What is "classical judo" anyway?

Wed, 5 Sep 2012 22:06:02 +0000

No. I like your statements and restatements. Some of them i'll have to think about some... And a lot of your statements (and mine too) would be easy to pick hairs and argue over - as in two practitioners doing two obviously different practices but still claiming to adhere to these definitions of classical...

Mokuren Dojo - Aikido, Judo, Karate : Filling in the corners

Thu, 9 Aug 2012 03:17:46 +0000

Btw - i got that 'filling in the corners" name for this concept from LOTR :-)

Mokuren Dojo - Aikido, Judo, Karate : Filling in the corners

Thu, 9 Aug 2012 03:16:45 +0000

I think if i remember right, tomiki called it "painting the eyes of the tiger" and youre right - the first thing we do is all we ever do. We do this exercise called 'releases' atthe beginning of each aikido class - then years later it turns out all we ever do is releases!

Mokuren Dojo - Aikido, Judo, Karate : BOMP - Ch 6 - Efficiency

Mon, 30 Jul 2012 17:29:04 +0000

Well, then, sage, I think you should read it again because I don't make this stuff up and I don't have any ends to distort the message of that book toward.
�
Pat

�

Mokuren Dojo - Aikido, Judo, Karate : What Tomiki thought about weapons

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 01:02:43 +0000

Very good! Thank you for the helpful comment. I think i remember hearing one of my buddies say that he'd had parts of budoron translated - i'll have to ask around. I have also seen a film where i think i recall a short segment of tomiki and ohba demonstating aome of the sankata weapon stuff - but it was short and not spectacuar film. I also think ive seen one photo on the internet of tomiki holding a sword. But those are about the only tomiki original sources ive seen re. Weapons

Mokuren Dojo - Aikido, Judo, Karate : Aiki lives within movement

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 01:55:30 +0000

:-) thats right :-)

Mokuren Dojo - Aikido, Judo, Karate : Aiki lives within movement

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 21:41:30 +0000

Funny - kotegaeshi and shomenate are just about the only aikido that i can remember ever being used successfully in real fights. But it is the motion and positioning that makes them so effective! Glad youre back in circulation! Keep on coming back and discussing this stuff with me :-)

Mokuren Dojo - Aikido, Judo, Karate : Aiki lives within movement

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 21:38:08 +0000

I sorta agree... mostly... but sometimes i feel like we have our list of however-many techniques simply because the students have to have /something/ to do - some jumping-off point into the exploration of the art.

Mokuren Dojo - Aikido, Judo, Karate : Something special about ukiotoshi

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:46:04 +0000

also, interestingly, I got to work out a while back with a guy that has had an extensive amateur wresting and street-fighting background.� We got to playing around and I told him to \"come at me\" and he did this semi-crouch, semi-gripfighting entry and guess what technique happened? ukiotoshi - almost exactly like you see it in koshiki.� He couldn't believe that had worked so I did it 2-3 more times.� pretty cool.

On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 9:38 AM, Patrick Parker <mokurendojo@gmail.com> wrote:

Yeah, it's a bit of a stretch - that's why I said� that it sorta states the theme.� But, that being said...
�
you can definitely see this sort of theme-and-variation thing running through most of the kata.� In nagenokata it is easy to see in the koshiwaza section - first is ukigoshi, then that doesnt work, so tori changes the fulcrum and gets haraigoshi, then that is not working, so tori floats uke and lowers the fulcrum, resulting in TKgoshi.� theme and variations.
�
you also see a theme-and-variation thing going on even more extensively in pairs of techniques throughout the various kata.� In the first 2/3 of koshiki and here and there in the other kata, you see a technique thrown one direction, then thrown another direction with a variation in principle and given another name.� nagenokata comes to mind as an example - uranage, then in the next set, yokoguruma.
�
That trend is also identifiable throughout the Tomiki kata
�
So, it might not be _too much_ of a stretch to think that the kata creators would do a theme and variation thing on a kata-wide scale, with the first technique or the first set setting the theme for the remainder of the kata to vary upon.

Mokuren Dojo - Aikido, Judo, Karate : Something special about ukiotoshi

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:39:04 +0000

Yeah, it's a bit of a stretch - that's why I said� that it sorta states the theme.� But, that being said...
�
you can definitely see this sort of theme-and-variation thing running through most of the kata.� In nagenokata it is easy to see in the koshiwaza section - first is ukigoshi, then that doesnt work, so tori changes the fulcrum and gets haraigoshi, then that is not working, so tori floats uke and lowers the fulcrum, resulting in TKgoshi.� theme and variations.
�
you also see a theme-and-variation thing going on even more extensively in pairs of techniques throughout the various kata.� In the first 2/3 of koshiki and here and there in the other kata, you see a technique thrown one direction, then thrown another direction with a variation in principle and given another name.� nagenokata comes to mind as an example - uranage, then in the next set, yokoguruma.
�
That trend is also identifiable throughout the Tomiki kata
�
So, it might not be _too much_ of a stretch to think that the kata creators would do a theme and variation thing on a kata-wide scale, with the first technique or the first set setting the theme for the remainder of the kata to vary upon.

Mokuren Dojo - Aikido, Judo, Karate : Has aikido ever NOT worked?

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 00:03:05 +0000

I already addressed the aikido in mma thing in this article - remember i said i didnt want to hear nonsense based on your theories or fantasies about combat :-) maybe there are other forms of fighting that are better, but you still havent answered the question - have you ever seen an aikidoka get beat up, and if so under what conditions?

Mokuren Dojo - Aikido, Judo, Karate : The engine of judo and combatives

Thu, 10 May 2012 17:52:59 +0000

they say your memory is the second thing to go... I don't remember the first :-)

Mokuren Dojo - Aikido, Judo, Karate : The engine of judo and combatives

Thu, 10 May 2012 17:49:53 +0000

Ha. I like your version of the story and my version too :-)

Mokuren Dojo - Aikido, Judo, Karate : Legendary heart yankers!

Thu, 10 May 2012 14:51:01 +0000

only the greatest of my students get admitted to the inner circle so that they can learn The Neck Method and the Horific Heart Yank technique. You can tell those students by their bandaged hands!

Mokuren Dojo - Aikido, Judo, Karate : Legendary heart yankers!

Wed, 9 May 2012 15:29:22 +0000

or, if they were that awesome a weapon, why not just stab a hand thru an eye socket into the brain for an instant kill?

Mokuren Dojo - Aikido, Judo, Karate : Legendary heart yankers!

Wed, 9 May 2012 15:28:27 +0000

yeah, we both know that the only folks that can yank hearts out are isshinryu guys that do sanchin a lot! :-)

Mokuren Dojo - Aikido, Judo, Karate : Kuzushi in kata

Fri, 4 May 2012 22:03:13 +0000

Interesting. I don't necessarily disagree, but is it crumbling of posture or crumbling of structure or maybe even crumbling of one's potential. If it is crumbling of potential, as in a chink in one's armor thats about the same thing as I'm talking about. I've seen your excellent post re. The meaning of the kanji - you ought to post that link here for reference. Also, if you crumble a structure or a mountainside, does that mean you tumble the whole thing down into the valley, or maybe you remove the one pebble that is holding the whole thing up, so that it eventually falls?

Mokuren Dojo - Aikido, Judo, Karate : Kids falling exercise

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 16:59:27 +0000

Glad you like that. It isasically a very controlled teguruma. Lately several of these kids have gotten too darn big for me to lift like this:-) but it is a great drill for younger/smaller kids

Mokuren Dojo - Aikido, Judo, Karate : Tsugiashi - kuzushi - ayumiashi

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:49:03 +0000

Thanks, Sensei!

Mokuren Dojo - Aikido, Judo, Karate : Attention to details

Tue, 3 Apr 2012 17:17:05 +0000

ha! pshaw!
�
no need for you to apologize - and certainly not to me.� I wasnt the knucklehead that got broken and you weren't the one advising him to ditch your own seminar ;-) But you're welcome to show up on my doorstep and do some aikido anytime! ;-)