# Shinden Fudo Ryu- Karai Article



## 301stSpartan (Nov 5, 2006)

*Shinden Fudo Ryu,*
_The from the Heart, Explanation of how to Remain Unshakeable in Battle_ 

*Working with the One-handed lapel Grab, or Katate Mune Dori* 

These days, casual fans of the Japanese flipping and wrestling sport of judo expect the action to begin once the competitors come to grips with one another. Hands take hold of thickly quilted wrestling jackets and the excitement begins. To the more seasoned eye however, the decisive battle has already been won by the time that the competitors, known as judoka have secured their holds. Few people are aware of the significant drama that unfolds in just the initial seconds of a judo match. Even fewer realize the degree of influence in determining ultimate victory that the first contact of the players actually has. Judo, is an art of psychology, mechanics, and timing. These three aspects mix, mingle, and give rise to the infinite variety of movement combinations that make judo an entertaining delight to behold. 

New, inexperienced judo players are not yet sensitive to the fact that how a match transpires is hugely influenced by how it starts. In judo, the early stages of training presuppose that a mutual kumitai, standing position of engagement, exists between training partners before most upright exercises commence. This saves a lot of time and spares many potentially sprained fingers. At the same time, this training norm has created an inadvertently rare area of study; instruction on how to close with and dominate an opponent usually comes as the product of pure experience these days. 

As with any sport, judo has ruses, tricks, and tactics to ensure success. One such tactic involves detecting the path along which the opponent can be moved the easiest, inserting a fulcrum point along the way, and applying force in such a manner that a minimal amount of effort produces massive results. In order to apply this concept, the position of a judokas grip on his adversary is important. For the most part, the further away along the lever arm, from the fulcrum point, that force is applied, the better. Here, arises one of the seeming contradictions of judo. On the one hand, judoka seek to be very close to one another, which allows them to jockey for maximal physical balance. One the other hand, each judoka wishes to apply leverage force as far away from his fulcrum on the opponent as possible. This apparent contradiction very much makes judo like a physical game of chess. 

Strategies to both stalemate and dominate a match, center on the clever placement of the hands and arms. In any moment during a match, a judoka will have a primary grip, defined as such, because it is the point of contact that he has with his opponent that affords the most control over movement. As such, the primary grip is usually taken somewhere on the torso, whether it be on the lapel, at the shoulder, in the back of the collar, or even around the waist is not of consequence. The grip taken up by the judokas other hand is not classified as secondary, but complimentary. The arm sleeves, trouser cuffs, and collar, are all common places for this type of grip. 

It is advantageous for a judoka to secure a primary grip quickly in the match, such as grabbing the opponents left lapel with his right hand. A judoka can further such an early advantage by preventing the opponent from gaining a primary grip of his own. 

A host of tactics and ruses exist that allow the judoka to deny the opponent the opportunity to gain a firm grasp of him. When seizing an opponents lapel with the right hand, a judoka can often use his right elbow, to keep an opponents outside arm at bay. A judoka can also use his free left hand to prevent an opponent from gaining a controlling hold on his torso. A judoka in such a circumstance, controls the center of the match. 

In modern, sport judo, the battle for control of the center of a match usually unfolds with something resembling a fencing match, as opponents slap, tap, and jockey with their free arms. The judoka first to establish a grip on his opponent seeks to capitalize upon his advantage, by denying his adversary a useful hold on him. The other judoka tries to stabilize his situation in any way that he can. Without a primary grip established, he has no way to effectively control the distance between him and his opponent. If he steps too far away with his feet, hell be put off of balance, and quickly thrown. If he steps too close, hell be thrown by just the simplest of rotations. Perplexities, such as these are precisely the basis of judos allure. It is every bit a game of mental strategy as it is a sport of physical competition. 

The inspiration for the vast majority of judo technique was, of course, the martial arts. In its early days, judo was an activity partaken in mostly by people who had some form of systematic, combative training already under their belts. Training in late 1800s concerned itself with clarifying what was prohibited in a match, as much as it sought to educate participants on what they could do. The situation at the Kodokan was akin to someone setting up a marksmanship competition center in the Wild West. On a simple target range, a shooter does not need to fire from behind cover, because no one is shooting back at him. In judo, you do not need to wear gloves because no one should have razor blades concealed in their robes. 

Common knowledge of any ancestrally bequeathed combat strategy has faded now, and judos wild hombrés of yesteryear are long gone. Yet today, scores people routinely turn to the martial arts for insight into self-defense and personal protection, resulting in many heated conversations and much consternation. Sadly, the ability to put the knowledge that is available into context is what is most lacking. Thoughts like, If the most powerful people use it to fight in a cage for millions of dollars, it must be good enough for me. And, If I can avoid a three-foot razor blade, swung at me with someones entire bodyweight behind it, I can avoid most anything. are not uncommon at all. 

Lets say the opponent has closed in on you, and secured a grip on one of your lapels. In the opponents mind you are immediately limited in some manner. Whether or not you choose to agree with this is entirely up to you. You can act in a manner where the supposed limitation is not a factor at all. If you reach for his torso or head, you will be magnifying the limitation; you will be reaching with less than full control because of his grip on you. However, if you clearly assess the moment, you will see that all that he really has on you is a one-handed lapel grab. Work directly against this and you will once again be fighting without a disadvantage of balance, reach, or control. 

There are two other major dynamics that evolve into the one-handed lapel grab situation. The first is the break-away. This occurs whenever in the course of extremely close range fighting, you are able to break one arm free. In judo, this can occur when you voluntarily relinquish your primary grip, and break that arm completely free of the opponents reach. If you miss the opportunity to work against the opponents initial one-handed lapel grab, the break away can allow you to re-create another one-handed grabbing situation. 

The other one-handed grab dynamic that I will cover involves weapons. Here the opponent takes a hold of you, to limit your motions, so that he can bash, smash, or skewer you with some nasty weapon that he has in his free hand. Here again, working directly against the grab will give you more reliable results than trying to move straight into the path of a weapon, while he has some degree of control over you. 
It is important to note, that nowhere did I describe the scenario in which you are just standing still, when someone grabs your lapel and starts yanking you around. Yet, this is the scenario that everyone trains for. Dont do it, youll be missing the valuable advantages that knowing how to work with grabbing attacks can give you. 

I present below some of the ideas for training with the one-handed lapel grab scenario I have developed after training with some motions supposedly derived from the an old samurai jujutsu system known as Shinden Fudo Ryu.

*Shinden Fudo Ryu*, The from the heart explanation, of how to remain unshakeable in battle. 

*DakenTaiJutsu*, Unarmed fighting with striking as a primary focus 


*Traditional Fighting Example: Karai (Mist thunder) *

The Initial Situation:

*Attacker Actions:*
The opponent closes in to control and throw you. 

*Note:* The Shinden Fudo Ryu system of training contains specific experiences intended to impart a certain degree of familiarity with what it looks like to have an opponent close the distance, and try to throw you down. This fighting example goes beyond that and is intended to further sharpen your awareness of how this sort of attack unfolds. Karai involves direct work against the opponents initial, primary grab. You can also train with this example later in the fight; after you have been locked-up by the opponent in a judo-type, lapel-and-arm hold, break your right arm completely free, then practice the fighting concepts below. 

*Defender Actions:*
a. Cover the attackers lapel grabbing, right hand, with your left hand
*Note: *Your covering hand also works as a movement sensor. You can feel through your covering hand, whether the opponent is pushing, pulling, leaning, or twisting. Your sense of touch, allows you to detect these things much sooner than your sense of sight does. 

b. Step back with your left leg. 
*Note: *Here we are setting up the opportunity for the opponent to support himself more through his left arm and hand. 

c. Deliver a right punch to solar plexus. 
*Note: *This punch does two key things. First, it works in much the same way that a primary grip does, it keeps the opponent at a comfortable distance. Second, the sudden force from the punch, causes the opponent to subconsciously bend forward slightly. 

d. Grab the opponents right shoulder with your right hand. 
*Note: *You are seeking to establish a handle on the opponent here. Grab any clothing in his shoulder area. If he has no clothes, grab the muscles of his trapezius, or neck. You can even grab his right ear with your thumb pointed downward. 

e. Switch the position of your feet, then pull the opponent down onto his front.
*Note: *While you are establishing your grip on the opponents right shoulder, step forward and slightly to the left with your left foot. As soon as the left foot lands, step rearward with your right foot, squatting as you go. 

The leverage for the takedown is as follows: His right hand, on your lapel, is the primary fulcrum. His right arm is the lever arm, thus you want it to be straight and stiff. You pull strongly with your right hand on his right shoulder, as you step back and squat. This brings the opponent forward and down. 

f. Put your right knee on the nape of his neck, and your left knee on his spine, somewhere just below his shoulder blades. This position will allow you to keep his arm extended up between your legs as you kneel on him. 

g. Hyper extend his wrist and elbow, by facing his palm upward, while applying downward pressure on it. 

Some Important Variations to the Standard Karai Example: 


*Variation One: Alternate Arm Pin

*a. Cover the grabbing hand again. 

b. Instead of stepping back with your left leg, step forward and to the right with your right leg. 

c. Hit to the solar plexus and grab the attackers right shoulder with your right hand again. 

d. Step back with your right foot, pulling the opponent down. 

e. This time, instead of keeping the opponents arm straight for hyper-extension, fold the arm at the elbow. 

f. When you have the opponent down and pinned with both of your knees, his arm will be twisted behind him, in a sort of hammer lock. 

g. Reach across his body to secure his other arm. Continue to apply pressure to his spine at the neck and below the shoulder blades. 


*Variation Two: To Keep Further Away from His Left Arm 
*
a. Now well cover his right grabbing hand, using our left hand. 
*Note: *It is important here to cover from the top. In other words, your left hand circles counter-clockwise, allowing your palm to come to rest on the back of his hand, and your finger tips to surround his thumb. 

b. Step forward and slightly left with your left foot. 

c. The special feature of this variation is what comes next; four sequential actions with your right arm. 

1. First, swing your entire right arm clockwise. As you come over the top of the circle, deliver your right elbow smash to the elbow joint of the attackers extended right arm. 
2. Your right arm continues through the target.
3. Next, strike forward with a clenched fist to the opponents solar plexus. 
4. Follow this with a right elbow strike to the lower right zone of his torso. 
d. Now, grab the opponents right shoulder. 

e. Pull him down while stepping backwards with your left foot. Pull his right arm out straight to your left to prevent him from rotating. 
*Note:* The angle of the takedown is different this time. The opponent is brought down somewhat sideways. You use your left-handed grip on his right arm to steer his torso into the proper front-downward position, as he falls. 

f. Secure both of his arms, like before. 

g. Once again, attack his spine with your knees. 



*Recommended Training: 

*Engage in free exchange training (randori). When the opponent tries to secure a hold on you, seek to apply Karai immediately. If you are unsuccessful, break your right arm free, and attempt Karai again. Remember, Karai takes an opponent down in a forward direction. So basically you have three variations of how to work against an opponents primary grip. But you can train with these from both the initial contact and from the break away situation, which gives you six options to train on. This doubles when you consider both the right and left sides, for a grand total of a dozen training opportunities for you and your partner.

Thoroughly practice the Karai fighting example and the variations that I have mentioned. Even though you are engaging in randori, it is important that you stick to the specifics of the techniques. You can not learn as quickly, if you are constantly inserting unknown variables into the equation. You can pressure test you understanding of the karai strategy by trying to seamlessly insert it into a match against any unsuspecting judoka.


Wishing you best luck and good training,


Vern Jeffery


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