Ude Garame

Lately I have been using a lot of ude garame. I use it when I practice jiyu waza. In free practice, I always try to take ikkyo or irimi as my primary techniques and move to secondary techniques only when the first don't quite gel.

Ude garame is an excellent secondary technique. Particularly when ikkyo ura doesn't quite connect, ude garame is right there to absorb resistance.

Yesterday. I saw a picture labeled ude garame except it appeared to be a reverse form. Instead of cutting uke's hand toward the fron of his shoulder, uke's arm bends the opposite direction and cut back and up toward the rear of his shoulder. Naturally, I had to try it.

It was slightly awkward to get a position where it made sense, but once the technique was applied, it turned out to be extrememly powerful. More powerful I felt than the usual version.

I learned that BJJ players call the technique the kimura after the judo man who used it to defeat Helio Gracie. I've seen a lot of talk about it in online circles but have never looked closely. Now I will have to go back and see what the fuss is about and how all of the grapplers like to use it.

Harmony

Here is an idea to explore. This morning I took a few minutes to play with a very basic kaeshi waza, receive ikkyo and turn it around and give it back. It was harder to get than I would have thought. Part of the problem was the language barrier. I couldn't really explain to my uke what I wanted to do and his level of resistance made it difficult to find the technique to practice it.

Then I tried something a little different. Instead of turning my body where I thought it was supposed to go I simply turned my body where it needed to go to keep my own hand lined up on my center. The result was that I started to get the reversal as well.

Then a little later as I was receiving shihonage, I tried the same principle. Instead of trying to move myself where I thought I should to take ukemi, I just moved my body to keep my center lined up with hand. In other words, I followed my hand with my center. The result was a very natural and relaxed ukemi.

It seems to me that this is what we generally do as tori. We line up our centers. I don't force my hand to my center; I gently move my center so it lines up with my hand and then I have a natural and easy power. So it makes total sense that I should be practicing the same approach as uke. After all, there are not two aikidos, one for offense and one for defense. As I move into a more fluid practice, there isn't even much distinction between tori and uke, there's just a constant flow pursuing alignment and the power that emenates from it.