Arlington Class - Sat. 4/1/2006

The weather was perfect for my first Saturday class with the DC Bujinkan group. I had a really good time training outdoors with new and old training partners. We covered alot of different material and we'll see if I can recall it all.

When I arrived training had already begun. We worked on the beginning stages of ganseki nage taking the uke's balance and moving the arms. From the first step we worked on taking the balance by using yoko aruki moving behind the uke. From here you could probably move into musha dori. We didn't try that but I'd like to. I need to create a 'To Do' list of henka. :-)

Then we moved into applying a counter to the initial movement. The uke now becoming the tori by moving into musha dori. Depending on how you initiate ganseki nage this counter may or may not work. An important point to remember about musha dori is to bring your hip to the arm. We moved into another counter after that. This time when the opponent attempts musha dori you can rotate into them and effectively do a hip throw. You may be able to get musha dori on them at this point after/during the throw. We didn't do that but I'll add it to my list.

Then it was time for something completely different. From a punch you kept your ground but from twisting at the torso you shifted off the line of attack and immediately came back up with an uke nagashi in jumonji no kamae. The timing on this was important. You wanted to move immediately to get under the attack quickly and stop it by deflecting it upward. This should also take the uke's balance. From here moving into hira no kamae should be enough to put the uke on the ground. This is jumonji no kamae, so it should be practiced with an aggressive feeling.

The next thing was a variation on the previous exercise and it reminded me of the jumonji no kamae portion of muto dori and this is how I practiced it even though I think it was shown alittle differently. I need to ask exactly how this one went. As I practiced though it went like this: uke throws a punch to the face, tori steps off the line to the inside, then steps in with an omote shuto or fudo ken. You can bend the uke over your forward knee if you want.

Again, something completely different. You are in shizen no kamae and the uke does a "sucka punch" to your gut. You absorb the blow by bending over and catching the arm with your hands. It's important to have one of your forearms on top of your uke's forearm. This becomes an attack when you sink your weight. The feeling behind this exercise was to appear like you were attacked, which you were, but in the end to be the "winner." So, sinking your weight into the attack go down to the ground on one knee, or both, driving the uke's elbow into the ground. Depending on how you go down the uke's head may crash into your knee. There are a lot of variations for this movement. The main point is to absorb the punch. One thing that is fun is to jump alittle when you're hit and immediately to down to the ground all the while driving your forearm into theirs. Use gravity. It's also very easy to head butt the uke as you're doing down. The head butt is really you pulling the uke into your head with your dropping motion. So again, they're crashing into your attack. Omote gyaku and taki ori are two good moves to perform once on the ground depending on how your hands are positioned when the attack is received. Knees on the uke are always good. Aim for soft tissue and areas not supported by the skeleton.

That was about it. After class we walked over to Chipotle, had some burritos, thanked everyone, then parted ways. I'm looking forward to the next class which unfortunately won't be for a couple of weeks.