Japanese Martial Arts Center's 4th Anniversary!

On June 26th, 2010, the Japanese Martial Arts Center of Ann Arbor, Michigan celebrated its 4th Anniversary. To commemorate the occasion, there were three martial arts demonstrations: First was a free-form bokken fencing bout featuring techniques inspired by Muso Jikiden Eishin-Ryu Iaido; next was a display of Nihon Jujutsu randori, wherein multiple attackers were repelled by means of throws and joint locks; and finally was a Judo demonstration of Nage ura no Kata, a systematized form of counter-throws originally developed by the renown Mifune Kyuzo. 

Following the demonstrations, JMAC students who tested the previous week participated in rank graduations. Quite a few were awarded black belt ranks, including Shodan (1st Degree Black Belt), Nidan (2nd Degree Black Belt), and even two Yondan (4th Degree Black Belt)! 

The day ended with a delicious Potluck Dinner, with a plethora of tasty contributions! Congratulations to the Japanese Martial Arts Center and to all those who tested!

Some Humble Advice for Martial Artists Who Wear Contacts

I wear contacts, and the most annoying feature of such a crutch is that they tend pop out during martial arts classes. This is a regular enough occurrence that, as long as I’ve had my coffee in the morning, I am typically able to snatch the recalcitrant deserter before it finds the ground. Of course, if my reflexes are poor, then I have to scour the mat like a cyclopic woodland creature until I find the damn thing. It’s no big deal when this happens during informal practice — I just excuse myself and take care of the problem. But I hate to excuse myself during free practice. There is something present in the confines of my brain, most likely influenced by testosterone and the pride I take in the image of my own manliness, that impedes my ability to display such weakness at fight time. 

Do you suffer from the same affliction? Well, let me advise you: If you manage to snatch the contact from the air before it hits the ground, okay, fine, put it back in if you’re in the moment and don’t want to look like you’re wussing out. It’ll be uncomfortable. Deal with it. But allow me to share a bit of accumulated wisdom that could potentially steer all you contacting-wearing martial artists from a great deal of trouble and/or death: If the contact does, in fact, contact the ground, don’t just pick it up and put back in. Go clean it off first. 

“What do you know,” you might ask? Well, here’s a good story:

I’m doing Push Hands in my Internal Kung Fu class, and my training partner hits me in the eye. My contact bails and I’m not swift enough to catch it. The good news is that I note exactly where it lands. Certainly by now there has been enough foreshadowing for you to guess that it goes back in my eye without hesitation. I do this as if to say to my partner “See? I get hit in the eye all the time. Doesn’t bother me at all.”

We continue to push, and a few moments later my nose starts running. That’s irritating, but not debilitating. Then my throat starts hurting, but whatever, I can get a pack of cough drops across the street for a buck. Then my eye swells shut. 

At this point I do excuse myself and wash the contact, which is difficult because the eye is quite puffy and the swelling has migrated to my throat, making it difficult to breathe. Someone tells me I need to go to the hospital. I respond that I need to do more push hands — and I try, but as most martial artists know, one suffers a distinct, competitive disadvantage when one can’t breathe, so I go to the hospital. 

The doctor sees me right away, despite a busy emergency room packed with people complaining they’d been waiting for hours. In my case this is favorable, because by now my face is a balloon and my throat is essentially closed. As she pumps me full of steroids, benadryl, and other magical fluids via IV, the doctor explains that I’ve suffered a severe allergic reaction to whatever had been on my contact, and in a polite, maternal voice points out that its reinsertion sans proper cleaning had been life-threateningly stupid. I concur, and enjoy a full recovery thirty minutes later. 

So, what’s the moral of the story? I don’t know. Get laser eye surgery, I guess. 

The Mid-Michigan Martial Arts Summit

The first Mid-Michigan Martial Arts Summit was a resounding success! Thirty-six students from three different schools attended this exciting seminar on self defense. 

Session 1

The event was hosted by Master Dan Vigil on May 23rd at his dojang, Dan Vigil's Academy of Taewkondo, in Northville, Michigan. Master Vigil instructed the first session of the Summit, which focused on kicking. I must say I was very impressed with Taekwondo-style kicks, specifically the front kick, the side kick, and the back kick. The speed and power that result from the mechanics of the technique are incredible.

What is most interesting, and admittedly difficult to coordinate, is that the heel of the base leg has to point at the target. This means that when kicking, the base leg has to pivot via a rotation of the hips. The other requirement is that the knee of the base leg has to fully extend upon impact, maximizing the extension of the kick. I was very fortunate to attend this session, because I never would have thought to throw a kick this way — and without seeing it done, would never have understood why it was technically sound. 

Session 2

The second section of the summit was instructed by Sam Larioza Sensei, whose heads Ohana Karate in Fowlerville, Michigan. Larioza Sensei is a practitioner of Goju-Ryu Karate and Krav Maga. His session covered Krav Maga defenses against a choke from the side, an attack from a wide swing with a stick or knife, and when held at gunpoint from behind. 

Despite my many years of training, I have never participated in Krav Maga. It is quite direct, although this should not be surprising due to the fact that it is a modern military combative system. We practiced techniques that involved "grabbing the head like a bowling ball," as Larioza Sensei put it — the thumb is shoved beneath the chin, and the fingers dig into the opponent's eyes. I personally find bowling uninteresting, but I got in this. It was really great instruction, and the session ended like so: We stood with our eyes closed while the instructors moved around the room making loud noises. At one point they even turned off the lights! Then someone would launch a random attack with little warning, and based on the lesson, we had to respond accordingly.  

Session 3

After breaking for lunch, we returned to training with Nicklaus Suino Sensei of the Japanese Martial Arts Center located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Sunio Sensei demonstrated the methods of executing and preventing throws and takedowns in a very intuitive way. The gist of the session was understanding the Strong Line and the Weak Line. 

The Strong Line is a basically an imaginary line you can envision running from one foot to the other. It is strong because you can send and absorb a reasonable amount of force in the direction of the line. The Weak Line can be envisioned by running an imaginary line between your feet. It is weak because you can send and absorb very little force along the line. 

So, in order to effect an efficient throw or takedown, the general goal is to place your Strong into your opponent's Weak Line. The idea is the same to thwart the opponent's attack. The advantage of thinking this way is that you can take this very simple concept immediately into application. Sunio Sensei's session ended with a bit of randori — free practice — and everyone, even those not used to throwing and takedowns, did really well!

Session 4

I taught the final session of the day. My lesson focused on ground grappling. In such a situation, the first necessity is to establish position. Only after your position has been secured can you work for a submission. 

We covered two very common holds — the mount (tate-shiho-gatame) and the side control (yoko-gatame). Following Suino Sensei's lesson in throws and takedowns, these two pins were natural progressions. 

From the mount we worked the Arm Triangle and transitioned it into kata-gatame, the Shoulder Hold. What better time to work a choke when you've been training and sweating all day! From the side control we moved on to a top-side and bottom-side ude-garami, also known as the Kimura and the Americana in Brazillian Jujutsu. We ended the day with ude-hishigi-ude-gatame — the Straight Arm Bar.  

All in all, it was a really great day. We trained from 10am to almost 5:30pm with a half-hour lunch break in the middle. The cost of the seminar was only $89 per person — which is a steal. I look eagerly forward to the next Mid Michigan Martial Arts Summit!