20 BOOKS.

1. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. Her first full depiction of her philosophy and the ideal man that lives by it. The creative individualistReally deep shit, for real. If you read this and only get a story about an architect, you need to call me so we can have a long fucking talk.

2. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Her philosophy, even more fully spelled out. Here she shows the role that the mind plays in the world, and the consequences of what happens when those creative productive minds say “fuck you” when they are not properly dealt with.

3. The Art of War by Sun Tzu. I prefer the Thomas Cleary translation. Trust me.

4. Go Rin No Sho by Miyamoto Musashi. For real. A strategy book written by a man that killed dozens of other martial artists in duels, and died from cancer. Can’t go wrong.

5. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. If ever a love story was written, this is it. As a somewhat uneducated reader, here’s what I got out of it: Love does not have to be perfect to be genuine, and sometimes, if not usually, that genuine love is what is perfect.

6. Seraph On The Suwannee by Zora Neale Hurston. Another love story from a different angle: What do you do, how do you feel, when everything you do, to show how much you love someone, is not enough? How do you push through that?

7. Song Of Solomon by Toni Morrison. I have never cared about my own past and the legacy I might leave until after I read this.

8. The Art Of Worldly Wisdom by Baltasar Gracian. A Jesuit priest that is somewhere in the middle of a Venn Diagram consisting of The Art Of War, The Prince, and How To Win Friends And Influence People.

9. Honoring The Self by Nathaniel Branden. At some point, you are going to have to start giving a shit about yourself and other people. He talks about being honest with yourself and your self-esteem, so that you can have the empathy to know others and really be a whole person.

10. Anything by or about Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Just read his words, his quotes. There are power in his words.

11. Same thing with Martin Luther King, Jr. Same reason.

12. How To Be Good by Nick Hornby. The author of High Fidelity gives you a delicious premise.

13. Pedagogy Of The Oppressed by Paulo Friere. This is some pretty rad shit. If you consider yourself any sort of teacher of student, if you care about really learning how to affect change in yourself and in others, or I should say, WITH others, you need to read this. The foreword blew me away. You’re going to hear so much about this, and see some radical changes in me, when I finish this one.

14. Logicai Chess by Irving Chernov. The best book I have EVER read on chess, period. The surest way to learn how to THINK about what you are doing when you play.

15. Winning Chess by Irving Chernov. Logical Chess focuses on the strategy, or overall plan of a game. This book teaches you how to address the situation when it becomes tactical, that is, when you have to address an immediate danger. The focus here is how to use tactics as forceful moves for powerful combinative play.

16. Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess by, well, duh. An excellent primer for learning the game, no board required. A very weird book, as you would expect.

17. Traditional Aikido and Takemusu Aikido series by Morihiro Saito Sensei. Pardon my bias, but hands down these books are the still the most authoritative and encyclopaedic presentation of Aikido out there, period.

18. Tao Of Jeet Kune Do by Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee was the man, period. How could you not read his book?

19. White Noise by Don DeLillo. An extremely well written book that makes you think.

20. The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. LOTS of great stories here. It makes your mind work as well.

TIME FOR SOME ACTION.

I know that I have been rather quiet lately, but it is with good reason. Basically, the city I live in is becoming a cesspool. People are getting beaten up and raped while riding their bikes out at night. Little girls walking home from school are getting kidnapped and murdered. It’s getting out of hand. I have been quietly working on updates on the AJNM, but my main focus has been trying to raise awareness in my community by offering self defense discussions and martial arts lessons. You’re going to hear more about that from me than anything else.

AIKI JO’S HIDDEN SECRET: ROKU NO JO.

Big things do come in small packages. While I have been working on the AJNM, I have also been sorting what exactly needs to happen to make Aiki Jo a proper fighting method. I have so far concluded that mastery of the various Kamae is the first part, and understanding how and why the Kamae changes, offensively and defensively. Certain options and variations naturally lend themselves to a particular posture, yet the postures are all fluid and interchangeable. That’s when it hit me that Roku No Jo is just that, a way to practice the various changes from each Kamae. Here’s what Roku No Jo is:

1. Starting in Hidari Tsuki No Kamae, thrust with Choku Tsuki
2. Raise the jo with the Jodan Gaeshi movement
3. Step forward and strike with Migi Uchikomi
4. Draw the jo back to Migi Gedan Gaeshi No Kamam
5. Step forward and strike with Hidari Gedan Gaeshi Uchi
6. Turn the jo with the Chudan Gaeshi movement, which puts you back in Hidari Tsuki No Kamae, and starts the practice again

This is the first stage. Later, you combine the counts of the movements, eventually making this a two count exercise. I find that if you use this as an exercise to practice Kamae, instead of strikes, you will find a key ingredient to using the jo flexibly in a combat situation. Here is what I’m talking about:

1. Start with Hidari Tsuki No Kamae, which is the basic Jo Kamae
2. Prepare to change with Jodan Gaeshi
3. Make Migi Chudan No Kamae, the basic striking posture, same as when holding the Ken
4. Draw the jo back to the rear to make Migi Gedan Gaeshi No Kamae
5. Bring the forward and make Chudan Gaeshi No Kamae
6. Turn the jo with Chudan Gaeshi and return to the first posture

And there it is. Right there in front of me. A drill that teaches you the all of the basic postures: Tsuki No Kamae, Uchi No Kamae, Ushiro No Kamae, Chudan Gaeshi No Kamae. It also teaches the basic jo changes: Jodan Gaeshi, Gedan Gaeshi, and Chudan Gaeshi. Note that there is a definitive high, middle, and low in the Kamae and the jo switches. Think about that.

THE VARIOUS METHODS OF DEFENSE IN AIKI JO.

As a birthday present from me to you, and since I’m not sharing the notebook for now, I’ll at least let you see a bit of what I have been up to.

1. Choku Barai – Direct Parry. Barai is the principle of warding off. Usually with Barai, you will stay on the line, or cross the line in such a way to dominate the line and space. With Choku Barai, the jo is used to ward off thrusts and strikes using a semicircular motion that is controlled with the rear hand holding the jo. When you use this parry, you do not change your kamae. For example, if you were attacked while in the left thrusting stance, you would stay in the the left stance to parry with Choku Barai.
2. Kaeshi Barai – Reversing Parry. With Kaeshi Barai, you take a step away from the attack and bring the rear end of the jo up to ward off strikes and thrusts.
3. Kesa Barai – Diagonal Parry. This parry has the final form of Kaeshi Barai, but does not use a reversing movement. The name comes from the angle that the jo makes when parrying.
4. Kaiten Barai – Rotary Parry. With Kaeshi Barai, you reverse the jo while stepping back to parry, and then rotate the jo a half turn with the right hand. This is practiced on both sides, and no matter which side you practice this on, the right hand is the hand the controls the rotary movement. Plenty of practice with Hachinoji Gaeshi and Hasso Gaeshi will prepare you for this.
5. Age Barai – Rising Parry. Here the jo is raised over the head to parry a strike or thrust. This is usually followed by Maki Waza. Maki Waza means that you use your jo to knock away your attacker’s jo and then finish with your own thrust or strike. There are many instances where instead of hitting your attacker’s jo, you would hit their hands. This is actually the case with most parries and it is worth the time to discover some of these ideas in your practice.
6. Jodan Gaeshi – High Jo Reversing. Jodan Gaeshi is a Nagashi movement. It is not a firm parry, but a way to deflect an attack while moving off of the line. Usually, in a Nagashi movement, you yield the space.
7. Gedan Gaeshi – Low Jo Reversing – After a strike or thrust, the jo can be moved to your rear and swept forward for a parry. This type of parry is done as an
8. Awase Dome. That means that you are parrying a similar attack, such as Gedan Gaeshi Uchi.
9. Chudan Gaeshi – Middle Jo Reversing. This means that you hold the jo with the Gyakute grip, and release with the rear hand while turning the jo with the forward hand. You finish the movement with the Choku grip. As a parry, it can done as a Barai movement or as a Nagashi movement. When done as Chudan Gaeshi Barai, there are several Maki Waza that can be practiced. When done as Nagashi, there are several Kaeshi Waza, or Jo switches, that can be practiced. The final form of Chudan Gaeshi, minus the turning of the jo, is often used as a parry in several of the Kumijo.
10. Uchi Barai – This is the case when a movement such as Uchikomi is used to parry an attack.
11. Uchi Dome – This is the case when an attacker’s strike or thrust is forestalled by a strike or thrust of your own.
12. Nuki Waza – Here, you let your attacker strike or thrust freely, but they miss.

OK, FOR REAL THIS TIME, NO MORE MANUAL.

It’s not personal, my friends! I have a major revision to do that will make the text of the manual complete. At that point, I will be working hard on my Aiki Ken and Ken Jo no Riai manuals. To those of you that received a copy, I hope that you enjoy it as it is, and keep swinging your Jo, as I will be swinging mine!

IF YOU WANT THE JO NOTEBOOK

It’s in the Box.net widget located on the sidebar of this blog, and it’s titled “Draft 5.” If you have any trouble downloading it, please email me!

THIS MONDAY

Hopefully, if I’m not too lazy, I will have an amazing draft six of the Aiki Jo Notebook and Manual for you all to look over.  Oh yes. Draft Five of course is still available.

NO JO MANUAL FOR YOU!

I’ve stopped sharing the Jo Manual for now, since I’m working on a major revision.  Anyone that has a copy now, please let me know what you think.  Ciao!

200+ AND BARELY A PEEP.

I’ve been checking the stats from my Box.net account, and since uploading it on May 24th, the Jo Manual has been downloaded 187 times.  That doesn’t include those people that were kind enough to email me to request a copy.  All together, that’s over 200 copies out there!  Where’s my feedback!?  I’m getting to the next stage, which is revising the text and illustrating the movements.  As far as text revisions, the main point will be to revise the terminology again so that it is consistent, from Suburi to Kumijo, and then add a glossary.  As far as illustrations, I’m going to illustrate ALL of it.  Then I can get to work on the Aiki Ken and the Ken Jo no Riai books.  So, talk to me people.  Let me know what’s up.

HEY, HEY, HEY! UPDATES.

I have had a LOT of downloads for the Draft 5 copy of the AJNM.  I have had little feedback.  Just so you know, I’m looking for ANY sort of feedback: constructive, corrections, suggestions, help of any sort.  The last thing I’m looking for is a pat on the back, although, they are greatly appreciated.  I did take some posed photos today with my friend Mackensey.  We did them VERY fast, VERY early this morning, but I think that they will suffice to illustrate some basic points.  Since there was only two of us, I showcased the Jo Kamae, 20 Jo Suburi, 31 Jo Kata, and the 13 Jo Kata.  That means that the next draft, which will be 5.1, proper, will have those sections illustrated.  I’m dusting off my layout skills now, so, it may be a few weeks.

Other than that, I’m also gearing up for a Tribe-K seminar this weekend.  Mr. Scott Gray, Head Instructor of the Kodenkan Dojo here in town, has invited Joseph Turner and myself to teach a four hour presentation of various ideas.  I’m going to cover the basics of Kali, and how they relate and transition to empty hand striking and throwing techniques.  Joseph has cooked up a little surprise that I’m not quite ready to let out of the bag just yet.

Lastly, I will be deejaying again this Wednesday at The Eclipse.  If you haven’t been, I would love to see you!

TAKING A SMALL BREAK FROM BUDO.

When I’m not doing Martial Arts, or ranting about something that pisses me off, I have all kinds of fun, all kinds of ways.  One of those ways is deejaying.

AIKI KEN: HERE WE GO.

Since it’s the 1st of June, I thought I would go over the “Ichi’s” of Aiki Ken, as an introduction to my notes on Aiki Ken.  If you’ve been following my blog at all, you should have seen this coming.

Ichi no Suburi

In Aiki Ken, since there are only seven forms in the suburi, they are simply numbered and not given a descriptive name.  The first suburi is done standing in place in Migi Hanmi.  Raise the ken straight up over the head and slide back a bit, rotating your hips.  Slide forward as you cut back down and be sure to settle your hips as you twist them forward to cut.  This arm, hip, and foot movement is the most basic practice in Aikido, armed or unarmed.

There is a Suburi Awase practice also.  Both partners face each other and practice the suburi together at the same time.  This will develop a very basic skill of moving as your partner moves.

Ichi no Awase

In Aiki Ken, the first awase is a counter to the firsts suburi.

• Uchitachi: From Migi Hanmi, slide forward and strike with Ichi no Suburi, Migi Uchikomi
• Uketachi:  Slide forward in migi hanmi and cut at uchitachi’s left wrist, OR slide to your left while moving to hidari hanmi and cut uchitachi’s right wrist

Moving like this with a partner is the most basic practice in Aiki Ken, and also forms the basis for the Tachidori techniques.

Coming up next: Ichi no Tachi, Henka no tachi, Ninin Awase, and Tachidori.

Take THAT

RIAI: WHAT AIKIDO IS ALL ABOUT

Riai means “blending of truths.”  In Aikido, that means that our techniques are the same, whether we are armed or not.  It does not matter if our enemy is armed or not, and it does not matter if we face one attacker or several.  This is because Aikido is a complete Budo, designed to allow for all of these circumstances at once.  Inagaki Sensei shows this wonderfully at the 47th All Japan Budokan.  In his presentation, he faces three partners: one unarmed, one armed with ken, and one armed with jo.  He faces each one in turn, in that order, and uses a matched technique each time to demonstrate Riai.  I will describe each technique that he executes.

Round One: Throwing with Tenkan Ashi as the principle.  He enters and turns to the side of the attacker, facing the same direction of his attacker.

Taijutsu: He faces his partner who attacks with Gyaku Hanmi Katatedori.  Inagaki uses tenkan ashi, the classic urawaza footwork, and grabs uke’s hand in a manner that allows him to lock uke’s right elbow over his left shoulder.  This is an example of kansetsuwaza, or joint locking, and in this case is used as both atemi and kuzushi.  Uke is then thrown forward with a kokyunage.

Tachidori: He faces his partner in migi hanmi.  As uchiken slides forward with an overhead cut, Inagaki moves forward and tenkans while matching the ken strike by cutting down with tegatana over uchiken’s hand.  He then grabs the tsuka to throw and disarm uchiken with kokyunage.  This is a kihon tachidori.

Jodori: He faces his partner in hidari hanmi.  As uchijo thrusts, Inagaki enters to his partner’s side and gives an atemi with his left hand to uchijo’s flank.  He then turns to his partner’s side and grabs the jo in a manner that locks uchijo’s left elbow, and throws uchijo forward with a hijiate kokyunage.  This is a kihon jodori.

Round Two: Throwing with Irimi as the principle.  He enters directly omote, to the front of the attacker, and throws the attacker back in the direction that they came from.

Taijutsu: Uke attacks with shomenuchi, and Inagaki matches uke’s movements.  Inagaki continues his irimi movement to grabs uke’s right hand with his left, and strike uke’s face with his left hand for a throw.  In Aikido, this is called ago ate kokyunage.

Tachidori: Inagaki faces his partner in ai hanmi, and enters directly to uchiken’s front as he strikes with the ken.  Inagaki holds the tsuki with his left hand and strikes uchiken’s face with his right hand to throw him.  This technique is also done by stepping on uchiken’s right foot.

Jodori: Same as the tachidori technique, Inagaki enters to the front, grabs the jo, and strikes uchijo’s face to throw him.

And so on.  On the third round, Inagaki uses Sokumen Iriminage.  On the fourth round, Inagaki uses Kotegaeshi.  On the fifth and last round, Inagaki uses Rokyo.  All of this serves to showcase that Aikido is indeed an art based on all inclusive principles, not individual techniques.  Understanding any technique on the principle level is required for true understanding in any martial art.  Whether your partner is armed or unarmed is a manner of training method to practice principles which are then illustrated by technique.  A breakdown of that may look like this:

Principle: Kotegaeshi. Training method: Jodori. Technique: Choku tsuki kotegaeshi.

MY RESPONSE TO A POST ON AIKIDO JOURNAL.

Read it here. Great topic.

AIKI JO NOTEBOOK AND MANUAL – GET IT WHILE THE GETTING IS HOT.

I’ve made it even easier to get your own copy of my notebook.  Simply download it from this location.  You can also grab it from the embedded Box.Net widget on the side column. Don’t forget to help me with your input and feedback.  How easy was that?