Knee Wheel

We warmed up with 雷光之剣 raikou no ken walking drills. I focused on advancing, then circling the opponent. Then, for an advanced drill, both partners do raikou no ken, with one changing the angle or timing to win.

I began class with 膝車 hiza guruma. Hatsumi Sensei calls this 足下ろし ashi oroshi, which means that it relies on the foot dropping. You kick your opponent, he blocks, then you use your footfall to continue.

Next, the Japanese text says to 止めに来た右手首。This means you as you pick up the right wrist, you come to a stop. Then you 引き上げ hikiage, pull the arm up, and 廻して押え込み mawashite osaekomi… turn it over and pin it down.

A hidden concept in this kata is to attach it to the knee. This uses the power of hicho. Then as you fall out of the kamae, it takes no strength to pin the opponent.

Hatsumi Sensei told us that “The kick is really just a trap you set.” This means your initial kick is 虚実 kyojitsu. When your opponent reacts to this illusion, it is easy to turn and kick with the other foot in a way he cannot defend.

I shared some sutemi henka. Soke said, “Evade then 落ちる ochiru, drop down. If you do this strongly the elbow will break.” You may use a 立流れ tachi nagare to drop on your opponent’s arm. Or you break it between your legs as you roll.

Hatsumi Sensei added, “ You kick in order to evade. If you can do this then you'll understand that there's an 裏技 urawaza to all the techniques.” This is an awesome concept, attack as a form of evasion! I finished class using this idea to catch the opponent’s arm in a musha dori using just my kick to wrap it up.

Of Note: mitosis