Circular, angular or linear movement?

[Mark Jakabcsin]

On this board and over on the AJ forum a few of the folks from the mainline study group have commented that they felt DR (mainline) was more linear than circular as compared to Aikido. During the most recent seminar I understand that Kondo Sensei demonstrated and taught more of the aiki no jutsu techniques than he had in the past. If this assumption is correct (I could be wrong) I am wondering if this has changed anyones perceptive of DR being linear. If so how? If not why not? Just curious about this and thought it might be an interesting topic for discussion. Take care.

mark

[Nathan Scott]

[Post deleted by user]

[Dan Harden]

Th real question is not the "movement shapes" of one party. It is the relationship of two. Some arts have the throwers center moving as much as the attackers body in order to move them. Others do not "move so much. Mores the point- it is any adepts level of skill at connecting and using the connection.
As for ball and socket needing circular imput. I won't answer in regards to combatives except to point to the game of stick and hoop. A linear hit on the circular hoop moves "it" in its circular "shape" quite nicely. Question is- who is the stick and who is the hoop? What makes you a stick what makes you a hoop at any given moment in the relationship? How and when does it apply? It is the relationship of these shapes that do more to define the arts in general then anything else. It is any single person's understanding of the use of Nathans "movement shapes" that defines their abilities.

cheers
Dan Harden

[Nathan Scott]

[Post deleted by user]

[chris davis 200]

Hi all,

The Hakuho Kai holds the Hitoemi (one line) principle very highly.

Okabayashi sensei has stated that Tokimune Takeda Moved in this way, very direct and 'linear'.

When training with Hisa Sensei I felt that there was older body movement involved behind the techniques. And when training with Soke, I saw that he absolutely did not do any kind of turning and always moved in one line, many of his students were making turns and circles and did not do the techniques how Soke would do them. For example many would jump, or rise into ippon dori instead of releasing (Sensei demonstrates). From watching Soke I knew this was not correct, I followed closely how Takeda Sensei would move and researched the techniques

I watched very closely how Soke moved, he was always moving in hitoemi, one line. I looked at old paintings of the bushi, their bodies were also always partrayed as being in a hitoemi position because that is how the bushi moved. I read old history texts about life in old Japan and how things worked back them. Across all of this I did not find anything in particular, but there were hints here and there. Then, when researching the techniques, we had pictures (Asahi News pictures taken by Hisa Takuma when Takeda Sokaku was teaching there) of the beginning of a technique and the end of a technique, but could not make certain techniques work. I asked myself why have a technique that doesn’t work? So by applying my knowledge from Soke and my research, applying hitoemi and gravity principles I could make those techniques effective and efficient.

The earlier techniques are quite linear. I have done some aiki no jutsu and it seems to be more about building and releasing, using gravity, rather than circularity.

I think that linear & circular are quite confused notions. They may be circluar motion but linear application of force afterwards. The opposite may also be true. There is obviously circularity of movement in most techniques but force is often applied in striaght lines not circles.

Just some thoughts.

Kind regards
Chris Davis

[Nathan Scott]

[Post deleted by user]