Kuzushi in Aikido

[Nothingness]

All Aikido technics require kuzushi or balance breaking before executing the technics. I don't think it is a problem to execute the kuzushi for a person with lesser expertise.



My question is, how do you apply the "kuzushi" for people that resist or people that are more experienced?

I know how to do this in Judo, this kind of expertise is developed through experiences in randori. However, I am wondering how you develop this expertise in balance breaking when you keep only practicing techniques with a cooperative partner? I know that Shodokan/Tomiki has a randori, but what about the other ryus?

I think that kuzushi is the key in Aikido, technics are just secondary. Just like O-sensei said : "Whenever I move, it's Aikido". Please help.

TIA

[Ikken Hisatsu]

afaik aikidoists dont spar. one of the reasons why aikido is looked down upon by a lot of MAists. stick with judo.

[Aikido_Iaido]

In Aikido there is Randori which is like sparring and it can be against up to 6 people at once. In aikido you dont need to get a kuzushi like in Judo, If someone is attacking you with a commited attack and you redirect their energy you will take thier balance, this requires good fundamentals to do though. Its best not to ask questions like this online for they are hard to answer.

[chris davis 200]

Often against a resisting person off-balancing can be easier.

What you will find is that due to the connection of the body, the tension in the body, the person is less able to hold their position and more prone to falling.

The point of Aiki is that if someone resists your movement you don’t fight that resistance. you change and move with it. People that try to apply aikido techniques against someone heavily resisting generally resort to a strength battle to overcome there opponent. they are missing the point.

We have Judo ka, taekwondo people, Karate ka etc etc come to our dojo. I have taught many of them. and most of the time i get resistance.

Generally this resistance appears after they have watched the demonstration i give and seen what the technique is and how it works. They are then fully prepared to resist that specific movement.

But ... funnily enough when i call them out as my Uke and just say attack like this they all fall or are locked very very easily. It is interesting how pre empting a movement when you know what it is, is so common. Very few people attack with real intent and no pre conceived notion of the response they know is coming!

Usually if someone resists a technique (because they know it is coming) I change into another movement and throw them down.

I then get 'that’s not fair' 'so that first technique doesn’t work' etc etc.

Later I make a point of redoing that specific technique when we are doing something else – it works just fine when they don’t know its coming – then they say ‘oh, I see your point now’. Then they begin to see that it is more about the attackers pre warned state than the effectiveness of the technique.

I had an interesting experience on the doors which showed me how prevalent this mindset is in the dojo.

It was kicking out time and i had to clear the gents. One guy remained in there and was extremely hostile. I told him to finish up in his own time and leave - he confronted me and attempted to grab me. I applied a very simple reverse arm lock on him.

When I apply this in the dojo with no more force - people just drop to their knees nicely with some resistance and that’s that.

In reality though there was little or no resistance and the guy went head first into the floor. He lost a tooth and split his nose open.

This is the difference between reality and practice.

In practice your uke knows what is coming and it is very easy for them to resist accordingly - In reality they have no idea what is coming and generally get a beating because of it.

People expect to be punched, kicked, head butted - they don’t generally expect to be thrown head first into the ground!!

Cheers
Chris

[Toudiyama[NL]]

I would say Kuzushi relies on the oponent resisting, you push him back, he resists and then you pull him forwards
Especially in Aikido, you want the oponent to use force, so you can use it against him

Somebody pulls you, at first you resist and then give, this will unbalance

Great explanation Chris

[Nothingness]

Any tips on keep them on a "floating" condition?

[Hardball]

I try and find the biggest and strongest uke available. I tell them, make this practice realistic; in other words, resist. Grappling practice is better if it is roughneck. In Japanese Jujitsu the Kuzushi is done in different ways. Diagonal, forward, backwards, side to side, downward, upward and circular. Know when to say Mate'. Warm up very good and have a good clean but rough session.