Break the Arm

We warmed up with partner rolling drills. First using sokuho kaiten to mirror your partner. Then by clasping both hands or one hand… this is more difficult than it sounds! And lastly we rolled between our partners as they rolled at us. All of these challenge awareness and distance control.

I began class with 腕折 ude ori. The cross cover of this kata changes things up a bit. It is important to “break” the wrist or elbow before you attempt to enter. I showed how to do that from the cover.

But another common method is to use oya goroshi. This causes the opponent to collapse into your shuto.. He will even turn to offer the target of kasumi in his effort to deal with the pain.

In fact, Hatsumi Sensei showed us how to enter with the opposite shoulder. He told us, “You effectively 殺せ korose, or kill his arm on this side.” By kill, Soke meant that you render that arm useless through positioning.

Now when you take the opponent down with his grabbing arm, his body is all twisted up. Or, you might continue to lock up on the side you entered. This captures the whole body and both arms.

I showed how to deliver the shuto to kasumi from many angles. In an interesting variation, our initial sabaki turns to the outside to stretch him out. Then the shuto will nearly knock him over.

Sabaki is the essence here. Soke told us, “Use the most efficient type of 捌き sabaki. This is the essence of it and that is why the name of the school is 本體高木揚心流 Hontai Takagi Yoshin Ryū. Because the hontai implies the essence or the true form.”

Of Note: tree swaying