We got started about 9:00 am setting up
mats on the lawn between the tall pines.
The temperature was about 58 F, sunny and almost calm. Back in June I used the
blade on the tractor to create a flat spot for the mats and planted new grass.
Our training began with John Vetch,
godan (5th degree black belt) in Ao Denkou Jujutsu. Vetch sensei reviewed the material that we had
learned from Rick Clark sensei, the founder of Ao Denkou, in June at Dickinson. John is a
terrific teacher and everyone was enjoying the give and take of
practice.
About 11 am I started our study of the
throws of the Gokyo no Waza with deashi barai (advanced foot sweep). The Gokyo no Waza is the teaching syllabus of Kodokan Judo, an invention of Dr. Jigoro Kano.
We talked about the difference between a sweep (barai) and a reap
(gari). Then we practiced ko soto gari (minor outside reap), a reap. As everyone was
catching on quickly we moved on to ko soto gake (minor outside hook), a hooking motion. I
showed a nice counter to tai otoshi (body drop) with ko soto gake
that everyone thought was pretty cool.
We followed with o soto guruma (large
outside wheel). These 4 techniques are contained in the 1st
dan of the Gokyo no Waza. We followed that with hiza guruma (knee
wheel), ko uchi gari (small inside reap) from the 2nd dan;
sasae tsurikomi ashi (propping ankle lift-pull foot throw) from the
3rd dan; ashi guruma (leg wheel) from the 4th
dan; osoto gari (major outside reap) and okuri ashi barai (assisted
foot sweep) from the 5th dan.
Carol provided delicious hoagie sandwiches with potato chips. After lunch everyone went for a tour of the house as many had never been here, there were lots of ooohs and aaahs. The fish pond in the front entry was a special hit.
About 1:30 pm we resumed practice with
osoto guruma (major outside wheel) and harai tsurikomi ashi (sweeping
lift-pull foot throw) from the 6th dan, and ouchi gari
(major inside reap) from the 7th dan.
working on Modern Arnis, a Philippine martial art using sticks as
training tools, that was taught to me by Jose Bueno sensei, (Grand
Master Jose Bueno). It had been about 10 years since I had practiced
some of the drills so I was happy to discover that John Vetch had a
background in Modern Arnis through his study of Ao Denkou and a Kali
Club (another Philippine martial art that practices with sticks).
John's education was very similar to mine and so he was able to fill
in some blanks and we were able to push into the depths of my memory.
After practicing some stick drills we switched to a kansetsu waza
(joint lock) drill that was also taught to us by Grand Master Jose
Bueno. Stick training really messes with the brain and after about
an hour everyone was beginning to slow down so we switched back to
judo.
The last session of the day was an open
session, participants had an opportunity to ask questions. Jeff
Ficek asked about kata guruma (shoulder wheel – sometimes called a
fireman's carry) a difficult throw where tori (the thrower) picks up
uke (the person being thrown) on his shoulders. There are good
technicians that can pick up people in this manner, amazingly over
twice their weight but I am not one of these people, my body doesn't
bend in this fashion. A few of the attendees were able to
demonstrate a good kata guruma and we had a good discussion.
There were no further questions so we did one of my favorite drills, standing uki otoshi (floating
drop) into a crash pad, it is an
incredible looking throw using only the hands as connection to your
partner. I use a method that requires the incorporation the core
muscles and to a large extent this powers the throw. Each
participant throws everyone else for a total of 12 throws and then
the thrower changes. After everyone got in their dozen throws
including me, I switched to sumi otoshi (corner drop) a throw that is
more difficult to do than uki otoshi and also more difficult to fall
from as the fall
requires kind of a backward flip with a twist and is
more spectacular. Another dozen throws each involved a dozen falls
each also. Both throws are great drills for learning how to
incorporate hip muscles to generate power.
There were no further questions so we did one of my favorite drills, standing uki otoshi (floating
At the end of practice Sam Rudd, one of
the instructors from the Saint Cloud Judo Club gave a passionate
speech about the history of our judo organization. I was deeply
touched.
About 4:30 we pulled the plug, picked
up the mats and cleaned up the practice area. We retired to the
garage to drink beer and sing the praises of the day. After about 45
minutes Carol served a 14 pound lasagna, a delicious lasagna, 30
minutes later there was nothing left. A lot of people sampled my
home brew garage beer, some people even liked it.
The last of the crew left about 8 pm.
It was a very, very good day!
The picture at the top of the page is a graphic I created especially for this event, I printed them on t-shirts and presented them to the participants at the clinic. The graphic shows a boat and a crow with the Japanese kanji "Ichi Go Ichi E" which means "one lifetime on meeting", the idea that every moment is very special and will never come again. I have another translation that I have been using as a koan and more recently, 20 years anyway, as my e-mail address "Not Twice Today".
Warm regards to all,
Vern
The picture at the top of the page is a graphic I created especially for this event, I printed them on t-shirts and presented them to the participants at the clinic. The graphic shows a boat and a crow with the Japanese kanji "Ichi Go Ichi E" which means "one lifetime on meeting", the idea that every moment is very special and will never come again. I have another translation that I have been using as a koan and more recently, 20 years anyway, as my e-mail address "Not Twice Today".
Warm regards to all,
Vern
