What You Can Learn From Ukemi

Learning any martial art is a very complicated affair. There is the conditioning of the body to withstand the rigors of the training, the education of the muscles in the body to move and react in a very specific and different manner to each and every attack or technique and, just as importantly, the education of the mind to internalize these mechanical movements of the body and to react instantaneously in a very intricate and prescribed manner to any stimulus or perceived threat. And then of course, there is the ukemi.

Of his many contributions to the martial arts Jigoro Kano’s development and use of ukemi in the martial arts is certainly one of his finest. Before Kano, the learning and practice of most classical jujutsu styles was quite dangerous with few safeguards for the practitioners. Techniques and throws were applied without regard for the safety of the person (uke) receiving the throw. Each person being thrown had to devise his own way of falling and protecting himself. This led to many injuries and slowed down the process of learning. Certainly if you were injured you could not learn or practice and if, during practice, you needed to constantly think about how not to be injured, your focus and attention was diverted from what you were trying to learn. This all changed because of Kano’s systematic approach to falling (ukemi).

The overall conditioning of the body that occurs a result of the constant practice of ukemi contributes to an increased sense of confidence and stability in the learning process. As it increases the speed of learning, ukemi also allows the practitioner to focus exclusively on what they are learning and practicing.

The learning processes of judo, jujutsu, aikido, and karate, are all tactile in nature, in that the practitioners needs to “feel” the technique, to feel their center of balance being disturbed, to feel the pain of atemi, and to feel how their body and that of their attacker responds to the changes of movement, angles, direction and balance which occur during the execution of a technique or from the defense of that technique. The ability to create pain, and or a lose of balance, and the subsequent lock(kansetsuwaza) or throw (nagewaza) which results is only accomplished through the “feeling” of both the technique and the results those actions. Proper ukemi allows the practitioners to feel whether a technique would be or is effective in a safe and spontaneous environment.

The ability to learn how and where to reposition your body and that or your opponent or attacker while being attacked is in direction proportion to the sophistication of your ukemi. As we are all uke and tori at one time or another, an understanding of your position in relative space and that of your attacker, and your ability to manipulate those positions(tai sabaki), distance (ma-ai) and balance (kuzushi) require split second adjustments, only possible with the mindless freedom good ukemi brings. There is in every technique, a subtlety of movement which creates a defense from every attack and an attack in each defense. While everything in the martial arts takes time to learn and instinctively feel, the mastering of ukemi eliminates several of the obstacles, both injury and fear, to that process.

The goal of every martial artist is to find for each movement or technique, that moment in time, when position(tai sabaki) and distance(ma-ai), balance (kuzushi), unbalance, and execution (kake) meld together into an effortless and unthinking combination which dominates and defeats their opponent or attacker. It is through the safety of proper ukemi, and the confidence and stability it brings to the practitioner, that the mind and the body are free to discover that moment in time.

The Kuzushi of JuJutsu

Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo, is generally credited with the first real technical understanding of the role of kuzushi, the use of balance and unbalance in the execution of throwing technique. However, this understanding and training in the ways of unbalancing an opponent in martial combat had existed in Japan for at least fifteen hundred years before the advent of judo.

The art of sumai, or sumo as it is called today, was Japan’s first system of empty hand combat. Employing striking techniques and the use of many forms of unbalancing techniques, most historians believe its origins date back to 23 BC. Often used in conjunction with religious or seasonal festivals, sumo’s originally objective was to ‘force an opponent to surrender unconditionally, or to kill him.” To this end sumo developed many techniques and principles which later found their way into numerous styles of jujutsu and more recently judo. Bare chested and wearing only a loincloth, these grappling techniques rely on a true understanding of balance as well as the strength and focus of the practitioner. Throughout the centuries training in sumo has been most martial artist’s introduction into the principles of kuzushi and their subsequent training in the martial arts.

The classical Japanese warrior, the samurai, was trained in multiple arts and weapons, the yumi,(bow) and later the naginata (pole weapon) and Katana (sword) as primary examples. The use of these weapons in combat, sometimes while seated on a horse, required years of training, coordination, an absolute control of the weapon and understanding of one’s center of gravity and balance.

With the advent and use of armor, the art of Yoroi Kumi-Uchi, grappling in armor, a system developed between the 9th and 15th century enhanced the samurai’s ability to fight in close proximity to one another. This system of grappling and locking to each other developed the samurai’s understanding and use of his balance, leverage and mobility to unbalance and ultimately kill or capture his opponent. While not designed as a strictly unarmed system of combat and as several versions of Kumi-Uchi developed as the armor of the samurai changed or was eliminated, the skills and techniques of this art formed the basis for many classical jujutsu styles. It is in these classical jujutsu styles, developed from the 15th century onward, which melded the skills and techniques of the bladed samurai arts with the lessons and understanding of anatomy, balance, motion and leverage learned through the many centuries of practice in Kumi-Uchi.

Without the benefit of a weapon, differences in size, weight, age and skill levels between opponents became more pronounced. These new challenges required a refinement of the fighting techniques and more thorough understanding of the variables which could affect the outcome of a conflict. The importance of natural posture (shizen hontai), mental alertness(zanshin) position (tai sabaki), and distance (ma-ai), skills which were always and integral part of the combat training of the samurai, were reevaluated and modified as classical styles of jujutsu were created.

Many of these classical styles fully embraced the flexibility and pliancy of the ‘ju” in jujutsu. This concept of both yielding and resisting an opponent’s attack, first by absorbing and thus negating its power and then taking advantage of the vacuum created by the attackers momentary weakness is the core of all martial arts. The ability to control, manipulate and ultimately negate an opponent’s attack is at the essence of all martial arts training. While it is this understanding of “ju” which enables a smaller man to defeat a much larger and stronger one and an unarmed man to defeat an attack by someone with a weapon, it is the accumulated wisdom and knowledge of over a thousand years of training and execution, much involving weapons and much by mortal combat, that allowed Master Kano to create judo, and gives the martial artists of today our understanding of kuzushi and all the other variables which form the essence of jujutsu.