Tuesday at Aga Khan Sports Club

On Tuesday’s class, we mainly focused on different versions of irimi-nage. This is because we can use the yoga mats to fall safely, so we can try to go all out in attack and defence.

But first was gyaku-hanmi kokyu-nage(呼吸―投げ), where tori(取り) has to do the ten-kan and stand beside uke(受け) in the exact stance (kamae/構え) in such a way that tori is still in control. We then did ai-hanmi irimi-nage. This was after Mateusz demonstrated three different ways of doing irimi-nage, that is jodan(上段), chudan(中段) and gedan(下段). So we started with ai-hanmi irimi-nage jodan, after which was ai-hanmi irimi-nage chudan. At some point I remember uke doing shomen-uchi and tori responding by doing irimi-nage jodan.

Last of the technique was this type of irimi-nage which I doubt would work on a mush stronger opponent, but what do I know… in this one, tori has to time his defence/attack and get to uke before uke gains full momentum. There is no time for much hip movement. As uke moves forward, tori also counters the same force by leading the attack sideways, and at the same time opens uke forwards and does irimi-nage. The end result is that uke falls down backwards where he came from. Its hard to explain this in writing, so better just join the class and see it for yourself.

We finished with a demonstration of the 8 katas(型). I can only do four so far, but in time I hope to somehow do all of them. There was this demonstration of two muso-shinden ryu techniques in tachi waza, one called iwa-nami, and the other whose name I can’t recall. Amazing stuff. Something happened during this demonstration, which I choose to keep to myself for now…

Of course Mateusz gives us all these tips he has learnt from Chiba sensei, Piotr sensei and Daniel sensei which are very useful. An example is a different way of doing ushiro-ukemi. It is supposedly not supposed to be very comfortable for the one falling, coz in a real attack one does not have time to fall so gently. So, one absorbs the shock with the hand before his body hits the ground, and he twists his body sideways and lifts the legs such that one is ready for a counter-attack. Again this is not something I can explain on paper.

I look forward to the class at Goan Gymkhana, it being a holiday and all.