Friday, August 18, 2023

Kyusho: the beginning of the atemi-Waza

 


By Javier Cid Dojo-cho takemusu aiki Spain

O-Sensei said, " my technique is 70 percent atemi and 30 percent nage."

Based on this principle is inexplicable as many "Sensei" are completely concerned with this section. The Atemi is not only to create an opening, it is also a martial art by itself; in aikido we have the huge advantage of practicing different martial arts in a single (it is wonderful), we are specialists in ukemis, we are specialists in controls and grab certain , we work extrangulaciones, we work bokken, Jo, naginata, yari, Jūken, so much, etc. And in turn, we work how to get rid of each of his attacks (Jo Dori, Jo Nage, Tachi Dori, etc. ) that is, a huge repertoire that o ' Sensei bequeathed us in a systematized way and perhaps structured by his students for the later. We understand that being a martial art that has its origins in the samurai, it is not surprising the multitude of techniques that in different situations had to know a high-Ranking Samurai and that o ' Sensei Improved and implemented as the jūken-Dori (grip From Bayonet) of which he had been an instructor.

But resuming the atemi and deepening on the subject, it should be noted that so much importance gave him o ' Sensei to this aspect of art, which wrote a true manual on the same called "Budo" in which photographs appear in the noma dojo referring Exact of the atemis. If we look good, we will see that the points of hitting are neither more nor less than vital points of the human body studied exhaustively for hundreds of years to remove the opposite, points that match perfectly in other schools, although many would have stopped practicing Go to the sports part, and seem little noble.

Perhaps this sounds very strong in the current field but we must not forget that the best swordsmen in Japan, we have read it on countless occasions in the zen books, used to preserve the life of the opposite or at least try to get rid of the confrontation, and this only It could be achieved when his dominion over life or death made them invincible.

In the aikido of iwama there is a lot of emphasis on the atemis when practiced in kihon (basic technique). And it's curious because precisely that these are the last years of o ' Sensei, I mean those of iwama and precisely it's the only thing that never changed. You can see the photos of noma dojo with 50 years and those of iwama with 80 years, the atemis are exactly the same. I hadn't modified anything...

A few years ago I read a book about atemi (fantastic) written by Henry Plée, a 10th Western Karate Dan of world renown. In your day I commented with my students and now I want to reflect it in these lines. I was given the attention given that he spoke of the investigation and conclusion of a Japanese squadron that during the 2th world war had identified the different vital points needed to end a person, all this inflicted on prisoners of war in which they had tried Your conclusions. The curious thing about the case is that the ultimate map coincided exactly with all the vital points we call "opening" in aikido. Where I want to come with this is that it is not possible, in my understanding, to preserve the life of a person if our knowledge is limited marcialmente, especially in a matter as important as the atemi. In Aikido is not possible our self-defense if we do not have the certainty that what we practice can do much damage; for this we have to practice many kihon with atemis and at least know where to hit, not only as an element of distraction and opening (which of course can also be).

As the great swordsman said "Yagyu Munenori"- the sword that kills is the sword that gives life –




 

 

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