[bamboo]

I thought with Bushi and TTT's new excellent threads, I would write a little something from my forte.


Setting Up A Throw


A throw in the martial arts sense should be at its highest levels almost effortless in that its simply guiding the body or rather ukeÂ’s center of balance in a new direction thanks to the initial off balancing. If you are lifting or powering through a throw using brute strength, you have missed the entire setup.

The person being thrown (known here after as uke) must first be forced into an unstable position or have his or her balance taken. I think it would be helpful to define a stable position as it applies to the opponent.
UkeÂ’s center of gravity (center from here on out) is located approximately two inches below the navel. The center drops downward between the two feet. Uke maintains balance by keeping the feet and body aligned in such a way that this downward spiral from the navel goes to the ground below.
Movements (kazushi) from pushing and pulling to strikes are used to disturb or “take” the center and to move it outside the area of support, thus making the opponent unstable. The nonstriking off balancing movements are generally achieved through an “alignment change” on the uke’s body. This change of alignment is not the actual force (please don’t confuse the “action” with the “result”) but is a measure of efficacy of the movement used to displace body’s center thus allowing for the ease and type of throw to be executed.

“Taking the center”

Strikes, footwork, misdirection and body alignment all play a part in setting up a proper throw.

1. Striking- A hard fist to the short ribs instantly brings uke’s elbow down and in as well as pushes one shoulder down and one up. A strong uppercut often produces a back step and raised hands to the face. Quick straight jabs bring up the hands and often result in a “boxing” like stance (I’ve seen many an untrained person adopt this “stance”). Each strike, making contact or not will result in a certain behaviour and or physical reaction. A well trained and practiced martial artist should able (with a little quite observation) be able to effectively recognize patterns of movement that result from strikes and then move accordingly to exploit them.

2. Footwork- Footwork is of course essential to any throw. You must remain totally balanced if your going to throw. To setup an effective throw its essential to always be in the superior position. How you get there depends on the throwing art you study. One basic principle is to always be in the space not occupied by uke, in other words, donÂ’t meet force head on. By always being slightly off ukeÂ’s so called line of attack (where the momentum is at its most powerful) we can easily dominate ukeÂ’s center of gravity by both being underneath (as in a fulcrum, hip throw) or over top (like a wave, armdrag).

3. Misdirection and Body Movement- Often we will face people focussed on our hands, feet, etc. “Give” them the appendage. Someone looking to grab the shoulders or neck to engage in close quarter grappling has a direct target, moving first from your hips leaves that target in uke’s line of attack for longer thus creating the misdirection as your body will move powerfully as whole all the while maintaining balance leaving the target behind and eventually placing you in the dominant position. All body movement should begin from the hips and always off the line of momentum as well as changing level so as to make physical contact.

The Throw- Too many try to force a particular technique when all that needed is subtle movement in the direction that ukeÂ’s body is already going. If your center is below ukes, then many a variation of the hip, shoulder throws or leg sweeps are the clear options while if the center is above ukes, then a controlling technique into a throw is usually the choice.
Let the throw happen, we learn different techniques to “fit the situation”, not “force the situation“. Do not force a throw, it will more times than not fail.

[Tease T Tickle]

After reading your great post, I re-read your section about footwork because on the first read a lightbulb went on. You mentioned being in the space not occupied by uke, and I get that. Maybe a year or so ago, I read an article elsewhere regarding the principles at work in the irimi nage. That article mentioned a concept (the Japanese label had been forgotten by me) that basically asserted that the throw comes when you take the space your opponent occupies. I think I get this perspective, and how it does not conflict with what you're saying here, but could you explain "the entering throw" a little more for me?

[bamboo]

My pleasure-

Irimi Nage- The entering throw

This throw is fairly unique to aikido as an unarmed technique but is fairly common as a killing movement when armed with a spear or using a jo.



The idea is to take up the space that uke had at one time occupied before the offbalancing took place. To do that the footwork dictates that you enter at an angle just off the socalled "line of attack".
If you look closely at the picture you can see the person performing the technique has his hips (whole leg infact) beside and slightly behind uke. Nage does not "clothesline" uke and infact never actually "bashes" the head of the man, instead, the arm and hand (note the hands are extended and aligned with hips, thus using all the muscles of the arm and maintaining balance) spiral from a palm up to palm down position just beside (near the ear) of uke. By attacking the corner rather than the head straight on, nage maintains position and power while at the same time is moving directly above uke's center giving him full control of his attacker's momentum and balance.

The entry is into the area of stability that uke once occupied allowing nage to always be in control. The problem with techniques such as iriminage are not that they don't work, its that the person performing it must have impecable timing as well as understand the idea of "one entry", if any hesitation occurs, then uke can easliy regain balance and defend against the throw.

This is also a great takedown into a nice choke from a scarfhold or even side mount if practiced to that effect.

Hope that helped.

-bamboo

[Tease T Tickle]

So, let me make sure I got the basic points here:
1) step off uke's line of attack
2) enter into the space uke no longer inhabits with lower body
3) unbalance with upper body
4) drink some tea
Is that it?

[bamboo]

Close,

4.You need a double latte.

Off the line and entering happen at the same time.