That's actually the way I refer to it, too. I often teach an "Aikido" version of a technique and a "Judo" version. They operate on the same principles once they start, but they tend to be at different distances, and start differently. On some techniques, I have a personal preference for the "Judo" version (not necessarily actually anything to do with Judo, but more in line with the Judo "approach").
Tomiki called his aikido, "Judo from a distance." So, I'm not surprised you see that stuff.
Interesting, I'd always assumed kuzushi was a common concept in Aikido. Though now that you mention it, I don't think I've ever heard it used in the dojos I've visited. It's a central concept in NGA, and I guess I just assumed it would be so in our cousin art. I personally have a heavy emphasis on it in my teaching for both striking and grappling - so much so that I'll fail a student for not "taking structure" (how I usually refer to kuzushi these days), and am more lenient about flaws in the movements of the technique.
I don't think of this as an "either-or" situation. I move and get hands up. If the movement gets me what I want (I end up in a usable position against an over-extension), the fight is over. If not, it's the hands' job to keep things under control (or end it if a big strike opening shows up). Hands don't move far from the face except to take structure, which (mostly) eliminates the openings for a fight-ending strike.
Same page. Same book.
When I first ran across it, the absence of fundamental understanding of what they were literally doing when things "worked," it struck me as odd, too. For some reason (this is my perception of what I've personally experienced), in (some, most?) traditional aikido schools the breaking of balance, posture, structure whatever you want to call it is performed, but not discussed. I visited a dojo about 20 miles away once and while there watching, I never once heard anyone say anything about kuzushi, posture/structure changing, moving the person to hwere they didn't want to go, nothing.
Agreed. As I think back to classes I've watched or participated in while visiting schools, and seminars I've attended, I don't recall a specific discussion of the concept. I recall seeing some good kuzushi. I recall seeing (and feeling) some students struggling because they weren't doing it. I now know what I'd focus on if I were doing a seminar for Aikido folks.
Your discussion of what is and isn't "aikido" is similar to mine. There are times I contradict myself, because there are things that aren't "ideal aikido" to me, but fit with a broader interpretation of aiki principles. A jamming block into something is an example of the latter. There's not much "aiki" in a jamming block, but sometimes it's still the right choice, and more often it's what you're doing so you don't really have a choice. Fighting against that occurrence and trying to make it "aikido" isn't very "aiki" to me. And that latter statement is confusing and clarifying to me, all at the same time.
What you said.
Excellent. To my way of thinking, the other lines of aikido will get the kuzushi part in their own art, eventually. It's just that it ought to be specifically discussed, and "put out there" so that people can be thinking about it as the initial goal - then techniques can happen.
Of course you can find positions that can defeat other positions, Drop. Are you trying to say that the way that you hold your hands in guard is impervious and impossible to penetrate? I'd bet not, you've got too much good sense for that.
You'd probably keep your hands closer to your face than I do, as a general rule. I keep my hands closer to my face than this guy does, as a general rule. There are definitely positions where you are open to a second strike, and those should only be used when you're out of range of a second strike or have eliminated (by structure) his ability to deliver it. The video shows a position that should only be used if you've covered those bases. If you use it on a strike without that, the other hand is probably going to end you.
Agreed. In fact, I teach my students that, early on, the techniques aren't even the point. Kuzushi/taking structure is the point. If we get halfway in and the technique fails, but we've done our job well at the beginning, there are lots of openings for striking and other techniques. If we get halfway in and the technique fails, but we've skipped the first job (taking structure), we're hosed.
The perfect defense is to
