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COMPARATIVE AIKI IN ACTIONCONTENTS

1. Preferatory.....9

2. Kote-gatame no Kihon-gata (Basic Forms of Locking the Wrist).....13

3. Dachi (Stance).....25

4. Kamae (Posture) and Its Relationship to the Sword.....31

5. Ma-ai (Harmony of the Gap).....35

6. Tori-waza (Gripping Techniques).....39

7. Kihon Uke-waza (Basic Blocking Technique) andMetsubushi (Smashing of the Eyes).....45

8. Kuzushi (Off-balancing) and Katate Mochi (Single Hand Hold).....53

9. Ikkyo/Ude Osae, et al......61

10. Nikyo/ Kote Mawashi, et al......87

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11. Sankyo/Kote Hineri, et al......105

[ Shintai (Body Movement).....114-117 ]

12. Yonkyo/ Tekubi Osae, et al......123

13. Kote Gaeshi, et al......135

14. Katate Osae, et al......159

15. Shiho Nage, et al......167

16. Te Hana/ Te Kagami, et al......183

17. Osae-waza (Pinning Techniques), et al......195

18. Yubi-waza (Finger Techniques).....223

19. Afterword.....227

Glossary.....233

About the Author.....239

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COMPARATIVE

AIKI IN ACTIONAN ECLECTIC APPROACH TOTRADITIONAL HOLDS, LOCKS

AND THROWS

TONY ANNESI,TAKESHIN SOGO BUDO

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1. PreferatoryAN INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER WITH THE SPIRIT

OF A FOREWARD

Martial arts are very serious things, to be sure, but they are also alot of fun. They can produce some really valuable insights intoone’s own personality. Should the insightful one wish to act on

these revelations, the martial arts can provide the tools for sincere personaldevelopment. That’s no joking matter, but it is cause for joy. And joy is notthe most serious of things (except that it is seriously important to have somein your life).

For the last few decades, with some notable exceptions that I will detailbelow, I have witnessed a decided lack of joy in the writing of martial arts bookswhich I have greedily consumed. In some cases, the writer (i.e.: poser forpictures) was, without a doubt, an expert in his art but could not write a letterhome to mom without two dictionaries and an editor. In other cases, mercifullyfew at least in the popular market, the writer was less than an expert in his fieldbut covered it up with what he considered to be (I assume) some writing talent.The final case is that in which the author is not only an expert but also has somecommand of his language—Donn Draeger (the thinking man’s Bruce Lee) isa perfect example. Decidedly an expert, and no stranger to academic writing,Draeger almost singlehandedly produced books that served to enlighten theWest on the subject of legitimate, not made-up or fantasized, Eastern martial

1. P

referato

ry

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arts. I value Draeger’s writing second to no one’s in terms of my own martialdevelopment and as serious works on the serious side of martial arts: theacademic. But there is that word again: serious. Even in Draeger’s work thereis a noticeable lack of joy. In my opinion, if a work is to be serious in its writing,please let it be serious in its subject and general delivery, as was DonnDraeger’s. Pseudo-serious masquerading as earth-shatteringly serious tends tobe taken with so much salt as to make the reading of such self-pumped audacitythreaten the hardening of one’s arteries.

Now, it is fine to publish picture books—many are quite well-done. Itis even acceptable to veteran readers of the two sentence paragraph like me,to read the short descriptions which accompany those pictures—sometimesthey are not only valuable but necessary. But I do get rather bored with a“writer” saying the same thing three times to fill the space which comes beforeor after the pics. I am aware of the principle of “say what you are going to say,say it, and then say what you have said”, but doing so in one paragraph, ratherthan in a long lecture or essay, is a bit much. Rather, give me photos unadornedby words, or (and this is one of the above noted “notable exceptions”) give meRobert W. Smith. Smith tends to write the most serious stuff with, if not joy thenat least cleverness. (He has even been known to write cleverness in the guiseof seriousness, under a pseudonym, of course). And he knows his way aroundan English language typewriter. He shows respect for his art without anunbecoming youthful awe (I said youthful, but you may want to read “ignorant”)and still manages to entertain. Entertainment is like joy, isn’t it?

Now, I don’t consider myself the Hemingway of the martial arts, northe Bruce Lee of the visual image, nor even a Japanized version of R. W.Smith (who was, primarily, a Chinese Stylist), but if someone is going towrite a book a reader can learn from and wish to read more than once, well,I’ll volunteer. There may be others out there by the time this “gem” seesthe light of day. I certainly do not mean to suggest that no one else iscapable of producing a readable picture-book. It is just that they are souncommon that it seems that way!

I consider my study of the martial arts (an occupation for my entire adultlife) to be pretty serious stuff. I also consider myself a traditionalist (which meanssour-puss to most non-traditionalists) therefore I respect the teachings and theattitudes of my forebears. But hey guys! Please don’t think that eitherresearching or extrapolating from the arts we have studied in all seriousnessneeds to be prefaced by sucking lemons. The techniques I illustrate in this bookare no jokes, neither are they fantasy-inventions. Rather, they are legitimate

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techniques and variations gleaned from investigating various ju-jutsu, Aikido,and aiki-ju-jutsu styles.

The names that banner each section are those commonly associatedwith the family of techniques that immediately follows. (The title of thisprefatory section is exemplary of the method). Certainly, I cannot list all thepossible variants of names any more than I can show all the possible variantsof techniques (even if I used only one attack against which to illustrate defenses),so you will find an “et al.” (“and others”) at the end of such names. The sameLatinate phrase should be understood at the end of each photo section.

The purpose of the text is not to make the reader a master of manystyles or even of one generic style of aiki, rather it is to (a) broaden the awarenessof the reader technically and stylistically, and (b) to make people who care aboutsuch things realize that we aiki stylists (et al). have a lot to learn from each other.

I mention above that I consider myself a traditionalist. Some peoplethink that means that I pooh-pooh the phrase “If it works, use it!” made popularby human martial artist thrust onto the altar of demi-godhood, Li Jun-Fan(a.k.a. Bruce). Unh-uh. Traditional styles are methods of training which should,in my opinion, be preserved; but that does not mean that they cannot besupplemented. It flies in the face of tradition (at least the Japanese tradition withwhich I am most familiar) to ignore the styles of other martial artists. On theancient battlefield, that type of tradition might surprise you with an earlycremation. But we cannot all master every style, can we? Maybe not, but wecan become at least familiar with other styles, concepts, and variants. In a givensituation, a stylistically “pure” technique may be inappropriate where a variant(someone else’s stylistically pure technique) would do just fine. I happen to lovevariations and so I find the subject of small changes adhering to a central themeto be fascinating. I am, by the way, not alone. Variations on a theme madeclassical music classic, and made Shakespearean plays, sometimes variationsof older plays, outshine others of the period.

Regarding the text (which I consider so important) and the descriptionsof the photos: I figure the person who has this book in his/her hands iscompletely able to follow the pics one after another. Rather than have thepictures make a visual clarification of some point made in the text, I use thephotos as the main text around which I build asides that I hope will be interestingand entertaining in and of themselves.

1. Preferatory

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2. Kote-Gatame noKihon-gata

(Basic Forms ofLocking the Wrist)

It is comforting to start at the beginning. So, to shake people up a little,I toyed with the idea of starting in medias res as do many good novels.But, since I value logical progressive teaching so much, I decided to

dispense with the shock tactic—except for the title of this section which,translated from my rather inexperienced Japanese means, Basic Forms ofLocking the Wrist. I used the actual title basically because I like the sound. Thismay not seem coldly logical to the average Joe, but in modern times techniquesare passed down for no better reason, and besides, the Japanese are quitesensitive to sounds and music which is processed on the same side of the brainas produces logic. This brain difference is probably caused by the Language ofthe Rising Sun since contemporary Westerners who settled in Japan soonprocessed music and Cobal in the same hemisphere as do the Japanese (that’shemisphere of the brain as well as hemisphere of the globe).

In a more Western manner, however, I am setting forth the basic wristlocks preceded by the basic wrist exercises that I happen to teach (many otherstyles teach some or all of these, too). Once one understands that all wristlocking techniques flow from these, it is pretty petty to claim grandiosedifferences between styles if (a) the techniques of the styles work, and (b) theyare applied in a relatively similar manner.

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2. K

ote-G

ata

me n

o K

ihon

-gata

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The first of the wrist exercises is called Kote Gaeshi (WristReversal) (fig. 1,2; close-ups: 3,4) although, as mentioned, there are boundto be other names in use. It can be applied by bending the wrist in a naturalmanner, fingers toward the inside of the elbow joint, or by twisting the handaround the wrist away from the body.

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