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A
judoka stands in shizentai (natural posture).
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Whenever a judoka
stands upon the mat, a straight leg (or legs) is not recommended. A supporting
straight leg locks the joints and can in itself prove tiring. Being caught on a
straight leg by an opponent in either practice or contest can not only be defeating
but injurious too. Shizentai (natural posture) is the basic posture in Judo,
and there are three positions. In shizen-hontai the judoka stands relaxed with
arms hanging loose. The legs are not rigidly straight, but neither are they
fully bent. Body weight is spread equally over both feet, which should be
positioned apart somewhere in line with your own shoulder width. Toed point
slightly out wards. In migi-shezentai, the right foot only is placed slightly
forward of the left foot. In hidari-shizentai, the left foot only is placed
slightly forward. There are also three forms of jigotai, the basic defense
posture, which can also be used so effectively in attack when performing, say
kataguruma (see
post no xxxx36xxxx) the main and obvious
changes in posture from shizentai are the widening of the feet and the
increased bending of the knees to drop the hips and thereby lower the body’s
center of gravity.
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| Both players in natural right side posture take hold of each other in the standard fashion – left hand gripping the underside of the opponent’s right sleeve while the right hand grasps the left lapel with the thumb inside at a point about mid way between shoulder and waist |
The feet, with
toes pointed slightly outwards, are clamped firmly on to the mat to share the
body weight and form a sound and solid base. In migi-jigotai you take one step
forward with the left leg only. Almost all the throwing techniques demonstrated
in this blog are referred to as being executed from ‘a natural right side
posture’. It is form this natural right side (or right handed) posture that you
first take up the normal grip on your partner or opponent in the basic and
traditional manner. Grasp the underside of his right forearm sleeve with your
left hand. Slide the thumb of your right hand inside the left lapel of his
jacket at about mid chest height and grip with a clenched fist, fingers on the
outside. When tightening this grip on the lapel, do not forget to use your
little and ring fingers to maximize the strength of your hold.
As you
progress, not only through this blog, but also later in any competitive career
you may embark upon, you will find many variations within the rules on this
basic manner of grasping your opponent’s jacket. Sometimes it may be a sleeve
and the back of his jacket or even his belt, both lapels and perhaps both
sleeves/. These changes are determined by the type of throw being executed, the
need for some counter action to an opponent’s movement or (in many cases) the
evolution of any individual’s particular style of Judo. Remember that you may
only hold on to your opponent’s belt in the course of executing a techniques
and that you must never hold any part or parts of one side only of his jacket
for longer than three or four seconds. Also, you must not grab the inside of an
opponent’s sleeve or screw it up at the end. Nor are you permitted to hold on
to the inside of your opponent’s trouser leg either when standing one when
engaged in groundwork. Your gripping hands should be held firm but not clenched
hard until the instant you attempt to break your opponent’s balance in order to
apply a technique. When you and your partner have learned to get hold of each
other correctly in the basic manner, you must next master walking each other
forwards, backwards and sideways in every direction. An advancing and
retreating movement is called sintai; a turning movement is called tai-sabaki.
In shintai (moving forwards, sideways and backwards) you should walk from the
hips, retaining the distribution of your body weight equally over both feet.
Then slide rather than take deliberate steps with your feet.
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Tori
(on the left) senses instantly that he can break balance to Uke’s rear right
corner.
As you
begin to experience movement over the mat with a partner, so ca you begin to
feel or sense points at which he will be vulnerable and in a position for you
to execute kusushi (to break the balance): that is, a position in which he will
have tipped his body weight too far over a supporting leg and be exposed to a
pull or push off balance in one direction or another. Generally throughout this
book Tori (the attacker) is referred to as breaking the balance of the Uke (the
defender) to the front or rear, to left side or right side. Additionally, there
are right and left front corners and right and left rear corners to which balance
can be broken. A partner’s balance forward is broken basically by pulling him
up and forwards on to his toes and simultaneously tipping him to left or right
by pushing and pulling on his jacket lapel and sleeve in the required
direction. When doing this, your arms should be bent and rotate in a
steering-wheel action is used to break balance to the rear, but in such cases,
of course, your partner is first pushed back on to his heel or heels.