# Kuzushi



## Tempura (Jun 15, 2008)

hey, i got a question concerning kuzushi from single hand/grip techniques.

lets say you were doing kuzushi from a jun katate dori, do you use use your other arm/hand to push your arm down to help with the unbalancing?


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## theletch1 (Jun 15, 2008)

Given all the different types of aikido out there you will run into many different techniques that could be called kuzushi.  It's a generic term for unbalancing.  Can you find a link to a video of the way you are talking about it?

Here's a video to the 14 kuzushi waza of Tomiki aikido...not my style but it demonstrates what I was saying.

[yt]TNFAgTyoS2U[/yt]


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## Tempura (Jun 15, 2008)

well my nets slow right now, so i cant find any video's, sorry.

so I'll describe it the best i can.

In Aiki no Taiso, the uke grabs your wrist with a single hand.  you enter rotate and unbalance them by taking your arm through the uke's center line and taking them around you then going through them to disengage. This is done with resistance by the way.  

so im wondering, is there an easier way to unbalance uke, if hes taller and bigger than me, without sinking my weight down.  the pushing my arm down helps me lead them around me and slightly unbalances i think, because your pulling them down.


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## theletch1 (Jun 15, 2008)

Think of your fingertip as an extension of your hara.  When you drop your center your fingertip will follow suit.  Thinking of it as pushing your arm down is kind of throwing your flow off and causing you to muscle a technique.  This is, of course, complete conjecture on my part as I'm not able to see you move or to feel you move (which would be better).  There are a lot of folks here in the aikido forum that are better at this than I am and I'm sure they'll be able to help you more.


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## Tempura (Jun 17, 2008)

thanks theletch1

by pushing my arm it does feel like im muscling the technique. 

i find dropping my weight helps alot, but its hard to sink properly.  feels like my knee's might lock up.


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## morph4me (Jun 17, 2008)

Think about moving yourself not uke, as long as you maintain the connection and move your body properly, kuzushi will happen naturally as a consequence.


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## amir (Jun 24, 2008)

Tempura said:


> thanks theletch1
> 
> by pushing my arm it does feel like im muscling the technique.
> 
> i find dropping my weight helps alot, but its hard to sink properly. feels like my knee's might lock up.


 
Well, you should move from your center, not your extremes, the better you do that and the more sensitive you become (soft), the more options you will find to create Kuzushi.

In reality, no two situaitons are the same, and in each case one should vary his movements slightly to really atain Kuzushi.


Amir


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## Tempura (Jun 24, 2008)

thanks guys.

i recently solved this problem.  dropping center does helped and also taking it though the center.  i think the problem before was, that i wasn't taking them through the center to unbalance.


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