Sensei Larry Wadahara Seidokan Aikido Seminar

Last week Larry Wadahara sensei held a seminar at our Jerusalem aikido dojo. Larry teaches along with Joe Crotti sensei at the main Seidokan dojo in L.A. I thought I would write a little about it, mainly for myself.

After this seminar, I feel that beforehand I did not really do Aikido. Larry stressed keeping the one-point, and a feeling of unification – with the attacker, or with other objects around us. As an attacker, once Nage connects with you, this feels as though you’re moving as one piece, without quite understanding why. The touch is very light – not relaxed-collapsed, but rather just ‘there’.

I notice this is very hard for me to do, as while blending with Uke I already lose my one-point by ‘trying’ to blend – pushing and leaning on Uke.

Something else to remember is the feeling of control from the first move – from the first touch and beforehand. In order to do this we need to keep the body’s structure – Larry used the analogy of holding a large (and later small) rock, and staying relaxed, holding the feeling of ‘one’ with Uke. Then when moving, again we need to move as one – not to start by moving the leg or hand, but rather moving it all as one piece, so that Uke does not feel separated from you.

This reminds me of something Haim once said Dan Kawakami said – when training, not to blend too quickly, not to ‘fool’ the Uke into not holding you. With good aikido, Uke can hold you as best he can, and you should still be able to blend without a feeling of effort (being felt by Uke OR Nage). Skipping this step is what I’ve done so far, which results in Aikido that may look alright, but misses the essence – truly accepting Uke, yet keeping your own and merging the two into harmonic motion.

A main difference between Seidokan and Aikikai aikido, is in talking about the principles and Ki. With Larry, one can feel the essence of it, with or without performing a technique. The Way – Do – continues..

Hitoashi Yokete – avoiding a strike

As I’m preparing for my Aikido Kyu-2 exam, I have some thoughts on some of the terminologies we use.

Hitoashi Yokete – literally, ‘take a step aside to avoid’ an attack. The terminologies on avoiding an attack have a lot of hidden meaning. Some say the basic human / animal instincts in case of conflict are Fight or Flight. Fight, in terms of ma-ai (range) in my opinion is ‘hold your ground’. Do not avoid the strike – block it, reject it, fight it – the defender’s Ki is projected towards the strongest point of the attack. Flight, on the other hand, means extending the space between you and the attacker as much as possible – with the Ki or intention focused away from the attacker. In both cases, we lose the possibility to have proper Ai – connection with the attacker.

In Aikido the options of flight and flight are not the preferred option. If we wish to have Ai with the attacker, we must meet him (not flight), but not to meet him at his strongest point (fight). We may want to meet him before the strike reached its full force, as in Irimi – as O Sensie once wrote, ‘do not try to avoid a strike when it comes – disarm it right at the source!’. Or, we might want to meet him just after the strike reached its full potential – with a Tai Sabaki. In either case, these strategies could be thought of as examples of Hitoashi Yokete – we strive to make a single step – a single movement, the purpose of which is to avoid the strike, but not to ‘lose’ it – to be in range to use the strike, merge with the strike, but not to be in its way.

Thus Hitoashi Yokete holds the meaning of all of Aikido – do not run from a strike, do not resist a strike. Find a way to avoid the strike, keep your Ki  – intention and options – close to the opponent, and stay in range to blend with what comes.

Kalaripayattu in Kochi

As I said, the state of Kerela has a lot of culture of its own.

Kalaripayattu is believed to be the oldest martial art, from which spawned both Chinese (Kong-fu) and Japanese martial arts. Its origins are from Kerela, and it’s almost the only place in the world where it is taught and practiced.

I went to see a show in the local Kalaripayattu school. I was the only audience member but they still put it on. Bare-hand fighting, sword and shield, two-edged sword and belt-sword techniques were demonstrated, as well and single and double long-stick, and short-stick techniques.

I asked to join one lesson and the teacher, which looks around 55 but turned out to be 76 years old, accepted…

The next day I joined the class and trained with the local students. They train every day, usually from an early age (they say 7 years old is the best age to start). They say the total training, if one trains hard, should take 12 years. I first had to present the teacher with a coconut and leaf for a short ceremony to be accepted as student…

We first did a ceremonious ‘kata’ which was hard on the legs, since in Kalaripayattu one stays very low, almost horizontal to the ground, to keep the vital parts safe. Then some kicking exercises which improve flexibility.

We mainly worked on bare-hands techniques. They have many interesting (and complicated) locks, I hope to remember at least a few of them. Much of the art also uses vital-point striking, of which there are around 108 along the body.

After a while they asked me, and I showed them some Aikido and Kong-fu techniques which they tried… It was really fun. I was invited to return today, but my legs really hurt and I didn’t feel I was up to it. Still, it was really nice; it’s too bad this is not taught much outside India, as it appears to be a very diverse and complete martial art, as well as healing and massage system.