From: kominetz@cbmvax.commodore.com (John Kominetz - CATS)
Newsgroups: rec.martial-arts
Subject: Re: An Aikido Question (...what else!)
Date: 19 Aug 92 14:03:05 GMT
Reply-To: kominetz@cbmvax.commodore.com (John Kominetz - CATS)
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA

In article <1992Aug18.194245.23845@cs.rose-hulman.edu> acharya@HYDRA.ROSE-HULMAN.EDU writes:
>
>recently, we did an interesting exercise/freestyle
>[...]

>a few questions:
>1) i used a lot of kote gaeshi (wrist throws) and shihonages [...] will 
>kokyunage be better techniques to use in such a situation?

In single-uke practice, any technique works fine since time is not an issue.
You don't have to worry about ukes 2 through n ganging up on you while you
execute a slower technique like kote gaeshi.  Add more opponents and there
is little time for anything *BUT* kokyunage.  Remember also that you can
throw *DOWN* as well as *OUT* in kokyunage.  Of course, this is much more
uncomfortable for uke, but you don't have to chase him very far.

>2) we then did a 2 man attack (2 attack one). one of the problems i had was
>"attacking" uke1 after i had thrown uke2. i felt somewhat uncomfortable
>[...] since it made me feel defenseless.

I don't understand why you feel defenseless.  Too many people backpedal in
randori, waiting for an uke to attack; better to fly in and shake them up 
a bit.  I would feel more defenseless standing around, waiting for an attack
to come.

As far as techniques for street, we practice several techniques where nage
actually attacks uke first to provoke a useful response.  The best attack
(IMHO) for this is a jab; you can snap it in and out too quickly for the
layman to catch, and if uke doesn't respond at all, you can still clock 
him.  If he *does* respond with a block or something, just take the arm/head/
whatever and do what comes naturally.

I think that this may surprise some aikidoka, that we practice attacking uke.
A key situation where we might use this is when somebody else is being
attacked and we are obligated to help.  Aikido isn't terribly useful if the
strike isn't pointed in your general direction.  

When should an aikido get involved in this kind of a situtation?  Tohei 
Sensei said there are three situations where aikido is to be used:  

	In defense of oneself
	In defense of those in your charge
	In defense of society as a whole.

If two guys go at it in a bar, that's there choice.  As long as it doesn't 
involve me, my friends, or threaten to lay waste to the surrounding 
countryside, I will be content to watch from a distance.

Which brings up an incident I was involved in before I studied aikido.  I
was riding the subway in Philadelphia; a man and a woman were fighting
verbally and it quickly escalated to punches, gouges, etc.  Nobody else
in the car did anything more than watch with zombie-like stares.  I tried 
to restrain the man and quickly found out that the woman was the one who
started (and intended to continue) the fight.  I *assumed* that the man
was harrassing the woman (so, I was a chauvanist then, what can I say?)
I got a few minor scratches and bruises for my mistake, but nobody was
seriously injured.

Moral of the story:  Unless it is spelled out in neon above their heads,
assume everybody's the bad guy in a fight.  Only get involved if you must.
If I had known aikido and read Tohei's comments on using aikido, I would
probably have sat there too.  I would have been more aware of the buildup
to this, and that would have made it quite clear that this was none of my
concern.


-- 
                                      __
        John Kominetz, III            \/          Aikido Ki No Kawa
  Commodore Apps and Tech Support           "I speak for myself, not C=."
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  "The higher you fly, the faster you fall."          -- Laurie Anderson