So lately, I’ve been playing with making that initial connection with uke - before and upon making physical contact.  It is a connection that I sometimes find myself skipping in my rush to “do” a technique.  Aside from not having uke’s center right off the back, not making that first connection means I end up trying to make that connection while I’m doing the technique.   It’s like trying to start your car when it’s already moving down the road in traffic.  Instead of doing the technique, I spend the majority of the time acquiring uke’s center.  Lots of work with no guarantee of success.

I would like to start that engine and keep it going.  That means connecting with uke and acquiring his center right from the get-go.  What does that really mean? 

Awhile back, my friend Chris Moses - who used to train at Two Cranes Aikido but is now studying Icho Ryu Aikibudo - told me about the three phases to any throw: kuzushi-tsukuri-kake.  They are judo concepts but are applicable to aikido as well.

Kuzushi is balance breaking.  It is in this phase that the initial connection must be made.  Otherwise, as my Sensei is apt to say, we might as well have tea.  But this connection, I think, has a very specific purpose: to acquire uke’s center so that you can compromise his balance.  That, quoting from the Ford commercial from long ago - is “Job One.”  It can be very overt - katate-dori, moving off the line, extending uke so he’s off balance.  Or it can be subtle - like when Ikeda Sensei touches uke’s hand ever so slightly in one direction then immediately moving in opposite direction.  Quoting from Chris, “uke should still have some of their balance, it’s just that they’ve become compromised.”

Once broken, nage must not give back uke’s balance.  You do this, and I’m quoting Chris again, “by applying constant forward pressure and very specific weight shifting (often while uke is stuck/double weighted).”  This is the tuskuri phase.  In essense, you lock uke so that he continues to be off balanced throughout the entire technique.  Lock is probably not a good word since it implies you’re fixing uke into a static position.  More accurately, you’re applying pressure at the point of contact and shifting weight appropriately so that uke maintains his unbalanced shape as he moves through the technique.  Uke should feel he’s compromised at all times and given no choice but to fall or be thrown (kake phase) in the end. 

All of it starts with that initial connection.  Too often, I find myself attempting kuzushi after the technique has started.  If uke is nice, I’ll have many chances to do that.  But more likely, I’ll get bopped in the head because uke is completely balanced and in a position to attack me - while I’m busy trying to figure out why I don’t have his balance.

It seems straightforward conceptually.  But in practice, it’s extremely difficult.  This is because the initial contact last less than a second, if that.  You have that short of a time to connect, acquire uke’s center, and break it.  Then you have keep uke unbalanced.  That’s assuming you recognize uke is unbalanced to begin with.  Sometimes you can’t tell visually.  You just have to feel it.  That’s where being really connected helps - you’ll know how uke is positioned and weighted so you can reacquire his center if you need to. 

As for keeping uke unbalanced throughout - I think the one key thing to remember is that aikido techniques work because uke’s balance is broken.  I can not think of any technique that will work if uke is stable. None. But we so often focus on the movements of the hands and feet that we forget that uke is there.  Lately, I have been finding myself looking up during a technique and realizing that uke is standing straight up smiling at me - as in “Hi, remember me?  You don’t have me and you’re toast.”

Someone once said - I forget who - that the throw is an afterthought.  All the important stuff happens before the throw.  The throw is the easiest part, assuming you’ve done everything right before it.  To me, that means making that initial connection and breaking uke’s balance - all in the microsecond before or upon contact.  Then keeping uke off balance throughout the technique.  That means reducing the number of reacquisition attempts.  Like shuffling my feet.  Bad habit.  More precision.  One seamless connection throughout - from start to finish.