Uechi's tenshin footwork - out of the box

[Bill Glasheen]

I dedicate this post to a certain non-Uechi someone who won't be here to trash a perfectly good point.

Just yesterday I was chatting with a medical professional who was so proud that he was back studying with his Korean champion TKD instructor. Those who live here know the person I'm talking about. He's a great businessman, but... What he's teaching has little to do with martial arts. It's martial exercise, which frankly is a perfectly good thing to do. But it's not really my thing.

He told me about how they have no (zero, zilch, nada) contact in their sparring now, and how all techniques are delivered at a distance. I happened to be wearing shorts, so I showed him how hair no longer grows on my shins because of the ashikitae we do. He looked puzzled. Then I took my knuckles and knocked on my shinbone. Now I don't really think much of it anymore, but... it was difficult for him to comprehend.

So then he shows me a katana form he had just learned. It's a lot of cuts. Overhead cut. Side cut. Stab. Upper cut.... and no movement. So there was an umbrella in the office. I showed him how to disembowel and decapitate - all without moving the arms. It's in the footwork. Then I dropped the umbrella, and showed him shihonage. Yep... it's the same damned move, only used to take someone down in aikido. Disembowel the person with their own forearm, and decapitate them with their own forearm. He was sooo excited.

My aikido training taught me to take the tenshin exercises taught in Uechi Ryu's hojoundo, and get way out of the box with it. At first I was just doing things because my aikido training (combined with years of a love of dancing) just allowed me to do it. But then one day an epiphany struck.

I remember reading in George's Uechiryu Karatedo about an oral legend of Kanbun. He was walking home in a rural area, and encountered a thug hiding beside the road. The thug had tied a knife to a stick. He lunged at Kanbun with his spear, and Kanbun was almost immediately on his back. Now when I first read this, I pictured Kanbun leaping in the air the way my Ridgeback can pop up like a Mexican jumping bean. Works for me! Maybe this white guy can learn to dunk a basketball, and then I'll be leaping over my attacker and landing on their back. Yea, that's the ticket!

But no... By one of several means (either entering or exiting), good footwork allowed Kanbun to avoid the line of force and position himself where his attacker used to be. It isn't basketball; it's modern dance!!! Now the more I do it (inside or outside), the easier it is. I seem always to end up exactly where I want to be. It's as if George had painted those Arthur Murray dancing feet on the floor, and I finished my form just where I wanted to be.

To get my students to shed the Uechi mental straightjacket, I have them go watch basketball and football. We've had some amazing athletes at UVa who could do a 360 while driving to the basket towards a defender, and deftly lay the ball up with no block. We've had runners (Thomas Jones, Tiki Barber) who chose not to bash bodies, but instead do the soft-shoe on the field. Thomas Jones now is about to set a pro record for the most number of games played without interruption by injury.

Think outside the box, and the principle is yours. And then the sky's the limit.

For your morning entertaiment. It's not the strict ichi-ni-san-shi tenshin, but it is classic tenshin. Twice. While avoiding massive defenders AND paying attention to where his tight end was - 53 yards away. A receiver sandwiched by 2 defenders. Bullseye!!!

Watch the footwork! And most importantly, watch the composure of the quarterback. Amongst football professionals, quarterbacks are the fighter pilot of the gridiron. They are the best athletes, and they are mentally unflappable. Mushin on wheels!

JaMarcus Russell spins twice & slings it 53 yds

I'm one of a rare few people I know who defeated The Tueller Drill. * Someone gets 20 yards away with a knife, and you have a holstered gun. They charge, and you react. I'm not patting myself on the back because I'm a superstud athlete. Far from it... I cheated!!! Nobody said I couldn't move.

- Bill

* The point of the drill isn't to learn how to defeat the scenario. Rather it's designed to show you how vulnerable you are with a holstered gun once someone enters a quite wide circle of defense. It's used in court by LEOs to justify a shooting.

[Van Canna]

I'm one of a rare few people I know who defeated The Tueller Drill. * Someone gets 20 yards away with a knife, and you have a holstered gun. They charge, and you react. I'm not patting myself on the back because I'm a superstud athlete. Far from it... I cheated!!! Nobody said I couldn't move.

Backed up and side stepped?

Maloney tried a technique we used for tournaments take downs...once.

A 360 'drop and spin' with his right leg sweeping close to the ground clockwise.

It took the 'charging knifer' right off his feet...and down he went in front of all the force on force students during a Mas Ayoob LFI training session.

[Bill Glasheen]

Backed up and side stepped?

The details are fuzzy; it was a few years back. But Rich was in the class with me, and witnessed it.

I believe I did even better. No back-stepping. I went a few inches forward (the first adjustment step), and then off to the right. I comfortably and calmly moved until I had the firearm front and center. I ended up diagonally behind a confused attacker, and fired the "round" in his head.

I really did feel like I cheated!

I heard about the Jimmy story. He da man!

The cool thing about it was that I didn't plan it. It just seemed like the logical thing to do. That part made me feel better than any other aspect of the movement.

- Bill

[MikeK]

Just yesterday I was chatting with a medical professional who was so proud that he was back studying with his Korean champion TKD instructor. Those who live here know the person I'm talking about. He's a great businessman, but... What he's teaching has little to do with martial arts. It's martial exercise, which frankly is a perfectly good thing to do. But it's not really my thing.

He told me about how they have no (zero, zilch, nada) contact in their sparring now, and how all techniques are delivered at a distance.

I'm working with a newly minted black belt of that TKD master.
He was more than a little surprised by how we train out at the horse farm. He's learning fast though.

[Van Canna]

I believe I did even better. No back-stepping. I went a few inches forward (the first adjustment step), and then off to the right. I comfortably and calmly moved until I had the firearm front and center. I ended up diagonally behind a confused attacker, and fired the "round" in his head.

Looks like you 'got off the X' ...Wes Tasker taught some of those moves at our Dojo...pretty awesome footwork.

[Bill Glasheen]

Van

My instincts came from Steven King's version of ushiro ate. Dr. King was a grappler turned Goju guy who then spent time in special forces. Unlike most of the aikido you see, ours was pretty direct and brutal. Most of us got banged or broken at some point (just a single separated shoulder for me...), but we learned a lot.

I had to do a lot of Googling through a lot of foo foo aikido before I found something close to what I was taught. This guy captures the essense of it. There isn't a whole lot of silly dancing around. Using the essence of our Uechi tenshin stepping, you go where they used to be while getting off the line of force. The wauke is merely a feeler to the line of force. The actual technique (the dump) isn't anywhere near as important (IMNSHO) as what it took to set it up.

Aikido Reverse Throw Technique

The elegant simplicity of the footwork combined with the deft timing and spacing is what it's all about.

In the case of the football play above, the QB turned the 180 to a 360 so he could continue to focus on the tight end.

- Bill

[Van Canna]

Using the essence of our Uechi tenshin stepping, you go where they used to be while getting off the line of force. The wauke is merely a feeler to the line of force.

I agree and I use the same approach when defending against certain attacks, shoves, and baseball bats, lead pipes attacks.

I find the 'turn block and kick/shoken' from our hojo undo_ a great tenshin tool that can be applied in diverse ways.

Wes Tasker had some awesome Filipino 'Pekiti Tirsia' foot work, used the same for weapons or empty hands...that is a wonder to just look at.

It is almost like dancing with a ghost...one moment you see him in front of you, the next he is behind you, taking you out with explosive power shots.

[f.Channell]

You serious?
Maybe it is the dozen donuts he must eat before class that makes that work.
Thank goodness I found judo.

[Bill Glasheen]

You serious?
Maybe it is the dozen donuts he must eat before class that makes that work.
Thank goodness I found judo.

I'm not sure what you mean, Fred, other than the obvious massive belly he has.

I have incorporated ushiro ate into a Dan Kumite number 7. However I set it up differently. My number 7 starts off with the old number three, where the person does front kick and spinning hook kick. The kick is blocked with a 2-armed sanchin turn. (I learned that from a TKD master. Go figure.. ) Then you turn to the person's back and dump them, followed by a finishing technique to the head.

Bottom line:

• The dude is fat.
• Ushiro ate works.
• The set-up - as the fat man did it - is the whole point of this thread. Pork belly and all, he makes it work.

FWIW... I first learned my ukemi from a morbidly obese man at UVa, who was the head judo instructor. He was one of the most graceful men on the mat that I've seen. Subsequently another one of my best martial artists at ukemi was a very athletic black man who weighed 325. I had to be the one to teach him Kyu and Dan Kumite, as he was hurting everyone else.

Beware the fat boy. If it isn't a cage match where endurance is involved, they can hurt you as well.

- Bill

[Bill Glasheen]

Notice how "the fat boy" intercepts with the right arm as he's turning.

It's always bugged me how most people teach that technique.

• Turn
  
  • Stop
• "Block" (Aaaaarrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhh!!!!)
  
  • Stop
• Kick (or shoken)

Maybe that makes a good exercise for the girls in spandex. But the timing of that makes absolutely no martial sense.

The "uke" (interception) happens with the movement. Watch very carefully what "the fat boy" does. It serves maybe to deflect, but mostly to feel the line of force and stay glued to the person *AS* you're turning the corner on them. Having done so, then you can do what you want to do.

• A "kick" can be done as an instep movement to the back of the knee. This sets up a rear naked choke. This app is one of my favorites.
• The yang interpretation of a shoken is a thrust. But the yin interpretation is a grab. So... ushiro ate would then be the logical conclusion to grabbing both shoulders. (Two shokens, right???)

Go back and look at the clip again. If I had good video equipment, I'd make it look more plausible than "the fat boy" and his uke. But you most certainly can see the basic principle.

- Bill

[Van Canna]

I’m with you on this Bill as I see this tenshin exercise as a pie with different flavored slices to it.

I think the beauty of this hojoundo exercise is that it contains much ‘methodology’ underlying the techniques.

I see lots of ‘wheel’ into the exercise….when I ‘suspend’ the kicks/shoken applications…in favor of ‘spin’ you can introduce against ‘straight force’ or blend with a circular attacking line of force …possibly with ‘reversals’ as in an aikido finish, or a ‘circle toss’ of the opponent in motion, using his momentum…much like a ‘hammer throw’…

http://www.hammerthrow.com/videos/annus-WC01-7786.mpg

Now look at Olga’s technique…..
http://www.hammerthrow.com/videos/kuzen ... 7_7310.mpg

“Rotational technique has the advantage of creating favorable conditions
For the acceleration of the athlete and shot.”

o Bartonietz, East Germany, Scientist

• “Successful spinners usually exhibit a higher degree of un-teachable
Characteristics of natural ballistic motion.”

o John Kennenson, North Carolina State.

Now let’s look at superb athletes using spin techniques…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DgK_qiSut8
Lots to learn just by looking at those athletes move.

In my days as a ‘shot-putter’ I came in close contact on the field with Hammer and Discus throwers….

It was awesome just standing close by while feeling the awesome torque those throwers could generate with their spins.

Imagine one of them intercepting someone coming at them and then tossing him.

[maxwell ainley]

Bill,
There are a couple of stories on the actual attack upon Kanbun, one is were the attacker is at the other side of a hedge ,which needs to be jumped to get to grips with the attacker .

The other is in bushes ,with no mention of jumping .Kanbun pulled the attacker via ,as if climbing a rope ,to get to grips .

Max.

[Van Canna]

http://hammerthrow.wz.cz/videos/mpg/odl ... i_8486.mpg

Yeah, it is in Uechi

[Bill Glasheen]

Bill,
There are a couple of stories on the actual attack upon Kanbun, one is were the attacker is at the other side of a hedge ,which needs to be jumped to get to grips with the attacker .

The other is in bushes ,with no mention of jumping .Kanbun pulled the attacker via ,as if climbing a rope ,to get to grips .

Max.

That's a wonderful set of observations, Max.

As novice students, we eat these stories up like junk food. We want to believe. But reality strikes when we spend decades on the floor, the mats, and training with reality-based specialists. We drop the story for a bit and then come back to it with a fresh perspective. Or we forget about it completely until one day we've assimilated a concept and then the "Aha!" principle strikes our brain.

The reason why hearsay isn't admissible in court is for the very reason this "story" has to be taken with a grain of salt. Do I believe Kanbun was attacked? Yes. Do I believe the storyteller got it right? No... and neither do most senior seniors. Over time people like me learn to squint our eyes, and picture how "it" could have happened should we have been in his shoes. And if our reality matches a plausible version of the story, then our martial paradigm is validated.

The reason why I loved the original clip I posted is because it illustrates a principle without getting overly pedantic about the specifics. On first blush, the untrained eye sees chaos. But the knowledgeable eye sees something different.

People like Van and I see organized behavior within the chaos. And I would put someone like Rory in the gifted, visionary category. Rarely do you see someone so experienced able to pull so much crazy behavior and reduce it down to 10 basic rules. But that's Rory, that's the way I like to do things, and that's the KISS world that Van often aspires to.

And the rest of it? That's what separates the talkers from the doers. At some point, the Nike princple (Just do it!) must take hold. At least half of it is in the special character it takes to execute while the world goes to hell around you. Any specific application undoubtedly involves myriad nuances that are difficult to put in words.

But the doers see "it" as clear as the hands in front of their faces. Everyone else just sees... chaos.

Good stuff!

- Bill

[Bill Glasheen]

http://hammerthrow.wz.cz/videos/mpg/odl ... i_8486.mpg

Yeah, it is in Uechi

So this begs the following two questions. When looking at that video over and over...

1) Where does the novice look?

2) Where does the experienced athlete look?

IMNSHO... the difference between these two answers is the difference between the "That's not Uechi!!! " crowd on the one extreme, and The Borg* crowd on the other. And if I may be impolite... The former are reduced to correcting the positions of your pinky in Sanchin, and the latter are having a lot of fun.

No bias here!

- Bill

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borg_(Star ... similation