Chinese Ukemi (from one style)

Notice how different it is. For example, getting up from the floor.



The most important thing in Ukemi, is too prevent injuring yourself when falling. For example, if you fall down on rocky surfaces, it isn't smart to roll to break your fall. Maybe sticking out your elbow or hand is better. Or it's better to sacrifice your arm then your spine or even your life! It all depends on the situation.

Learning how to protect yourself in any situation is what martial arts is about.

ps. I still don't know what the chinese word for ukemi is.

Tehodoki - untying the hands

I rather call it a 'hand release or grab release'. Basically, it's how to remove someones grip.

A very useful technique to get out of a wrist/arm grab or removing a weapon from someones hands. There's a variety of ways to do it, but I'll just show you a video as an example:



Basically, to remove someones grip, you have to find their weak point in their grip. The weak point of their grip is usually away from the opponents palm. That is, the space between the thumb and fingers.

For example in the picture below:

opponent grabs hands

the person who's hand was grabbed, directs it away from palm to open up his grip

Also, anything that will help lose the power in his grip will make it easier to release it. For example, putting his mind off of your hand (distraction), increasing the space of his grip (making your fist into a palm or wedging an object between your wrist), hitting his hand and so forth.

This is the same principle if your opponent holds a weapon. You just need to pull his weapon away from his palm to release his grip. I will show you an example in another post.

Bujinkan and Eagle Claw (Ying Jow Pow) use a lot of these techniques. This is hard to explain, but if someone shows you, you can see how effective it can be. I will follow up this post soon.

Ninja0

Close your jaw

Recently, I'm getting too rough during training lately.

Just yesterday practicing techniques, I accidentally uppercut someone in the chin. I heard the nasty sound of clattering teeth like shattered bones. If I did it even harder, I reckon I would of shattered his teeth.

So if someone is going for your face, it's best to clench your jaw. Otherwise, wear protective dentures. No one wants shattered teeth.

Punching the throat

During training a week ago, I was sparring a bit. We both got a little too excited and I raised my fist up and my training partner walked into my fist. Now, my fist contacted her throat lightly. I thought it wasn't that bad, very light.

Anyway, it made her choke uncontrollably and she was put out. She couldn't continue more and she had to rest straight away.

Now that surprised me. I didn't know how a light punch (like a tap) can cause so much problems and pain.

A punch to the throat is very effective. A master told me 2 punches to the throat can knock someone out cold, no matter what size the person is.

So if you have the reach, punching the throat can easily knock somebody out.

The shoulder blade

During training, I saw one of my classmates performing Chen's taiji cannon fist form. If you haven't seen Chen's form before, it involves a lot of twisting, large wide stances, slow and fast movements, heavy stamping and strong shoulder blade and trunk movements. The one aspect of Chen's taiji that stood out to me was the strong shoulder blade movements.

I thought to myself (after watching and copying the form), why the emphasised shoulder blade movements in the form.

If you look into the history of Chen's Taiji, it originated from a chinese general called General Wangting. It was told to me that when he was a retired general, he collected all the information he knew from his battles and from others generals (with a bit of help from some *wudang monks) and formulised it into the style called Chen's Taiji.

*Wudang monks specialise in the internal fighting arts. Hence Chen Taiji having chi gong influences.

So if you think about it, the style was created to fight against an army of soldiers (I'm assuming). These soldiers will wear heavy armour who will also carry/use heavy weapons. To win against these opponents, you need to generate a certain strength, flexibility and quickness to fight against these opponents. For example, a soldier will have to swing a *kwan do or halberd accurately and quickly, whilst riding on a horseback or on land with heavy armour. Also, if you noticed in the form, you use a lot of double back fists from the chest (if you seen it, it's very powerful), jump and chop, locking, shoulder barging, shaking off, spearing with hands and feet and so forth. So generating and issuing power is very important in Chen's Taiji.

*Kwan do can weigh as heavy as 72kg. (I don't think they will be that heavy, I reckon it's half that weight, but what do I know?) They can easily make armour such as helmets melt like butter. It was also known as a horse cutter. That is, it was used to take down horses (like chopping off their legs) from a distance or on horseback.

A Statue of General Kwan with kwan dao. Also, take notice of his armour.

But back to the main point, to generate power in the upper limbs, you have to have strong and flexible shoulder blades. That's what I noticed in Chen's Taiji.

For example, try to do an uppercut or a cross punch whilst not moving your shoulder blade. It's impossible or it's very weak. You notice that when you do an uppercut, your shoulder blade wants to move up. If you block the shoulder blade, it stops you from doing a full range uppercut because the shoulder joint needs space to move. The only way to open up the shoulder joint more is to move the shoulder blade. (hard to explain, sorry)

Also, try to do an elbow. You notice that your shoulder blade is tensed and flexible when elbowing. Now try swinging a heavy object, around your body, above your head, side to side, throw and catch. You will notice that your shoulder blade is working like crazy!

I have also noticed that when your shoulder blade is flexible, your distal upper limbs becomes more flexible too! Try reaching behind your back with one hand and then reaching further away from your body. Take notice what your shoulder blade is doing!

When your shoulder blade and spine is flexible and strong, you notice that you can use your limbs like a whip now. That is, you can perform those fajing movements in taiji and also put power into your weapons. So your hands, elbows, shoulder become strong and flexible weapons now which is especially useful if you're wearing armour or weapons.



So in training (in any style), be aware what your shoulder blade is doing. Notice it for example when punching, elbowing, push hands and chi sao etc. That's what I noticed.

Sorry for the long post, but I hope that I got the point across.

Peace

Ukemi (Break Falling)

Found an example of Bujinkan ukemi of youtube.

Hooking - part 1

"A good Bujinkan practitioner will use a lot of hooking techniques." This was quoted by a Bujinkan master that I really respect.

He didn't tell me why it was good though, but I think you have to learn that yourself.

When I talk about hooking, I mean as a defensive technique.

A lot of martial arts use hooking techniques like for example preying mantis, but the problem is some teachers don't tell you how to use it.

Well, my definition of hooking is directing movement away from it's weapon's intention of attack but at the same time, feeling or knowing where that weapon is (which in a sense your covering that next attack). For example, if someone tries to punch you in the face with his fist, you can re-direct it and control it to a position where you can open up his centre (away from his face) for re-attack. If he tries to attack with that same fist, you can easily defend against it because you know where that weapon is.

I think if you're very good at hooking, you can direct his mind elsewhere or make the person not realise he has been re-directed, exposing himself for attack whilst letting you know where that person is.

Ninja0

Everybody makes mistakes

Falling.

Everyone has done this in their lifetime. Everyone at least has tripped on something or accidentally lost their balance. The most important thing after a fall or accident is to regain your balance and stand again.

In fighting, if you go to the group involuntary, you have a higher chance of getting pummeled. Basically, if you go down to the ground, you lose.

Also if you lose your balance, you have a higher chance of injuring yourself. Like you can break your wrist if you land on it. So in any situation, you have to learn to protect yourself when you lose your balance, and try to regain you balance as quickly as possible. In Bujinkan, this is called "Ukemi" or break falling. The chinese word - I have no idea. (If anyone has an idea what's it called, let me know)

I'm quite deficient in this area, but I have learnt quite a few techniques. I'll follow it up in the upcoming posts like for example rolling.

Ninja0

Distance training

I've been lucky. I've been around some experienced teachers that taught me a lot. One of the most important thing I learned in training is how distance is very important in fighting. That is, you must know how far you can hit a person, and how far that person can hit you.

I think, the first thing you should learn, is how far can you hit a person with your weapons (like your feet, knee, fists, fingers, hands etc).

A couple of months ago, I was training kicking on a punching bag. He said to me, "you're doing it wrong." I said, "my kicking?" and he said "not exactly". I was perplexed, and he then said to kick from "at least back here" which was about a metre from the punching bag. He then said, "kick me where you were kicking before like I was the punching bag." I kicked him at the same distance I was kicking before and I was getting pummeled. "From the distance you kicked me, I could of hit you with both of my fists, elbow or even knee and it would of been faster than your kick" he said. He also added, "All styles have good attributes, but it is how you use it that makes the difference."

I learnt a great lesson that day. You have to be aware of your distance, even in training. Because if you train wrong, it can have serious consequences.

I'll leave a quote:

"Best distance, best angle, best timing... best chance!"

Walking stance - part 1

I have trouble with this recently.

Walking stance, otherwise called (front) bow stance. Where one knee is bent, and the other stretched like a bow.

How wide it is, depends on the situation, balance, distancing and style. Generally, wushu stances are wide as possible and internal martial arts have a set limit (like bagua and taichi). Foot positions are different too. Taichi and wushu foot positions is front foot looking forward and back rotated 45degrees, praying mantis both feet rotated 45degrees parallel to each other, wing chun both feet rotated in (facing each other), bujinkan is very variable but mostly front foot forward looking and back foot rotated ~90degrees to maximise distance. Weight distribution is generally 70/30 or 60/40.

The problem I have with walking stance is that it's hard for me to transition to another posture. I mean, its cumbersome for me to move to another position, because it takes me forever to move my rear leg because of the distance of the rear leg and because the knee is straight (or slightly straight). Also, most of the weight is on the front leg - so if you want to move your front leg, you have to shift weight to the other leg quickly to move.

Also, taking another bow stance after the previous bow stance challenges your balance. It's like if you take big long steps on rocks that are a metre apart.

It makes me question, why do certain styles emphasize large/short stances, foot positioning, weight distribution and how do we apply it in a fighting situation.

My little marital arts adventure

I keep thinking about martial arts all the time, so I might as well put it down in writing.
So, first post.

Ninja0