JOURNEY - on Mastering Ukemi

by Daniel Linden

  “I intend to explain everything I know about Ukemi to Christian while we are traveling. Yes, that is my intention.”

  He looked pleased and said, “We were wondering if your trip to Nepal is filled.”

  I sat back in shock. There was probably nothing they could have said that would have surprised me more. Curtis and Chris have both done a bit of traveling, in fact Curtis spends nearly all his free time in Europe because he met a fine woman at an aikido seminar in Germany and enjoys her company. In fact they have both been to Europe with me several times. Chris travels a great deal for vacations and work, so I guess it shouldn’t have been that big a surprise, but roughing it just isn’t something that I would have guessed that they would have been interested in; not the rough part, the long walk part. But now I had to decide how to answer.

  “For you two?” I asked. “Or are you asking because you know someone who might like to trek in Nepal?”

  “For us,” Chris answered. “Curtis and I want to go. We just need to ask a few questions about the details of the trip, but we think that mostly we could do it, if you wouldn’t mind us coming along.”

  I looked back and forth at them and each in turn nodded his head to my inquiry.

  “I’ll need to think about it a little,” I said. “I’ll also need to talk it over with Christian. You know that this is really his party. But if he agrees, it really isn’t a lot more difficult to have four than two, only one extra porter with one extra tent. I’ll have to let Mr. Pasang know so he can arrange it. Tell you what, go over and relieve Christian on the grill and have him come over here and talk to us. Jeremy, why don’t you do that so Curtis and Chris can stay here?”

  Jeremy looked shocked. “Sensei, I’m a vegan. I can’t even be in the same room with cooked meat.”

  “Oh. Sorry.” I looked around and saw Mike, a former member of Disney’s Culinary Institute. “Mike, could you relieve Christian for a minute?” I asked.

  “Sure,” he said.

  “Now we’re going to have hamburgers that resemble some little, weird French meat loaf.” Curtis laughed.

  “Just go along with it,” I smiled.

  Everyone got sorted out and when Christian was sitting I had Curtis go over his proposal again. Christian was surprised, I could tell, but equally pleased. He was also hesitant to some degree, enough so that I thought we all needed to think about it for a day or two before we decided. I wanted to have a chance to hear his private thoughts before making a decision. Curtis and Chris accepted the delay in the decision making process with the same equanimity that they accept everything. They are very easy guys to get along with.

  Randori (multiple attackers) requires uke to suspend belief for the purpose of training nage to control time and space. Here the art of ukemi is most stylized and done with minimum effort to not damage nage during the attack. The purpose of randori training is to give nage a chance to deal with multiple attackers and escape. So, essentially, randori by an experienced nage is in a sense, the ultimate in ukemi. Very slippery stuff here, but as I previously stated it all becomes clear in the end.

  This is the essence of the mystery. When I wrote my first book about aikido I spoke almost exclusively about the art from the viewpoint of the nage. Mastership, after all, is about one who performs masterfully. If an attacker tried to violate a master of aikido he very likely would be overcome and subdued by the master’s effective use of his training. He would use the art of aikido to this end. He would be said to have done aikido. But the training of aikido is so much more than the efforts of the nage side of the equation that in order for him to achieve this state of mastership it would have been necessary for him to have trained as uke for many years in order to have achieved the level we describe as master.

  On Mastering Aikido (Basswood Press, © 2004) describes the process of what the nage does explicitly by examining the principles of movement that are required for mastership. Ukemi is something that has been so completely absorbed into the fabric of an accomplished nage by the time he makes a bid for mastership that it is mostly ignored in this book. I spent a great deal of time after publication of this first book describing the process or evolution of training to my black belt students. We found ourselves coming back again and again to the moment when each of them felt that they had reached a level of ‘mastership’ in ukemi. This took place sometime around nidan (2nd degree of black belt) for most students although some who were privileged to be called frequently for demonstration purposes achieved this level somewhat quicker. Still, when the process of definition was asked for, we discovered many of the same problems that we discovered when it was time to define the ‘principles’ of aikido. Confusion, redundancy, misdirection and disingenuous descriptions are all the usual things you find when you try to define the mystical without genuine western style thought. Actually sitting down with pen and paper and hours to think and diagrams to analyze; these are the necessary requirements for an in-depth definition of the mystical. Most teachers of martial arts are simply not interested, capable or inclined to do this. So here we started the hunt for the pure essence of ukemi.

  By using multiple attackers we try to create confusion and chaos for the nage. On nage’s part he tries to remain calm and indifferent to the number of his attackers choosing to deal with each one individually. There are, of course, techniques for doing this. Movements which tend to line up the attackers or cause confusion and chaos in the attacking group. Sometimes a hard technique, (or put another way, a technique done hard) can cause pause in the other attackers or sometimes simply disappearing will have solid results. It matters, but not for the purpose of this discussion. What is important is to remember that the analysis of what is actually happening during ukemi takes a long view and must be thoroughly thought out.

  This is why Christian and I were caught up in the discussion of whether to join up with Curtis and Chris for our trek across Nepal. The dynamics of a group of four plus additional staff as opposed to only two would be different, but not that much, I argued.

  “Look at it this way,” I said. “We are already in the mix for a sirdar, porter, maybe a cook, but maybe not, reservations, plane schedules and transfers, hotels and transportation to the airport, from the airport, to the hotels and then on to Jiri. So we double the load. What does that actually do to the overall plan? We get two porters or three, a bigger cab, twice as many tickets, two rooms instead of one in Kathmandu, or what have you. It isn’t any big deal and the real effort isn’t ours, but Mr. Pasang’s. All we have to do is tell him that we need the whole deal for four instead of two and he takes care of it. As for plane reservations and what not, when we call for our reservations we ask for four instead of two. When we get to Singapore we get two rooms instead of one. When we leave Kathmandu for Jiri we get the big car instead of the small one. See?”

  “Easy for you to say,” he said.

  “Well, it is. The real work on this trip will not be in the planning, the organization or getting there. People do these things every day. I guess that means to me that it isn’t any big deal, and even with lost luggage, delays, missed flights or riots in the streets, these things manage to get done. Where the real trial begins is where the road ends and you realize for the first time in your life that everything in your world is being carried with you and that everything in front of you is a mystery and new and different. That is when the light seems brighter and the noise in the trees has a different sound. When the breeze is heavy with scents that you cannot recognize and the colors have a new and vibrant hue. When people walk past and humbly say namaste and you reply with the same and actually mean it.

  “Christian, this is the real deal here and it doesn’t matter how many of us go. I am going to tell you why right now. When you are standing in the dojo in the middle of the group of attackers and waiting for me to say “Hajime” (start), you are already engaged with one individual. Who is that?”

  “I guess it would be the strongest attacker. Or it would be the person I feel
is the most dangerous attacker. I focus on him first and plan my first move to deal with him first.”

  “Very good, you’re correct. You deal with one attacker and then what?” I asked.

  “Then I deal with one more and then one more and so on until I either run out or you call mate (stop),” he said.

  “Okay, and then what?” I asked.

  “Well, hopefully, then I get to go sit down and watch someone else do it,” he laughed.

  “And when you sit down, how many people do you deal with?” I asked. “Anyone?”

  “At the most, two, one on either side of me.”

  “So you never have to deal with more than one attacker and never with more than two people while you are waiting for a chance to be uke or take part in randori as a nage again. Right?”

  “Right,” he said.

  “Okay. That’s Nepal,” I said.

  “I’m sure that you will explain,” he said.

  “Of course. When you are walking on the trail, you can almost never walk side by side except rarely, so you almost never have a chance to talk to more than one person at a time. That person is either in front of you or behind. When you are traveling commercially you only have one person on one side and one person on the other, so you should feel right at home. With Curtis and Chris along you will never have to be engaged with someone you won’t be familiar with. And at the same time there will always be a group around you to make you feel right at home and comfortable without any encumbrances that will put you into culture shock worse than you will already be. In other words, four is a really good trekking number.” I smiled and continued. “When we stop for a break you could have Curtis sit on your left and me or Chris on your right. Then those pesky French or Italians who will also be trekking along won’t be able to engage you in any arguments about which pasta is better or whose wines have more longevity, or what not. I mean, it is one way to travel while still being culturally isolated. If that’s what you want.”

  “Sensei, do you want Curtis and Chris to come along?”

  “Of course,” I said.

  “Why,” he asked?

  “Simple, they are both great travelers. They don’t whine when things go wrong and don’t complain when things are different. They are interested in life as a process and both are wickedly intelligent, funny, affable companions. They are both well educated, clean in their habits, strong, serious and both can hold their liquor. And the French and German babes will be all over them.”

  “You’re joking.”

  “About which part?” I asked.

  “There will be women on this trip?”

  “Son, women will be passing you all day long. Women who are five foot tall and about ninety pounds will be walking along and you will be expected to make way for them.”

  “Why?” he asked. “Is it a cultural thing where women get the right of way?”

  “No.” I answered. “You will get out of their way because they will be carrying about forty or fifty kilos of goods up into the mountains on their backs. A ninety-pound woman will carry her weight in Coca Cola and kerosene and rice and all the other goods that people consume. And when porters come through other slower people get out of the way of the porters. It is about being polite. I guess I should also mention that she will probably be either barefoot or wearing shower shoes. And don’t even imagine for an instant that you could ever in your dreams do what they do. Just respect it and be amazed and carry on.”

  “But what about other women?” he asked.

  “Son, you’re going to be too tired. Forget about it.”

  “So do you want Curtis and Chris to go?” he asked again.

  “I do.”

  “Okay,” he said.

  “You don’t?”

  “Yeah, I guess I do,” he said.

  “Then you call them and tell them you would like them to join us,” I said.

  He stood there looking at me for a moment. Something was up. “What?” I asked.

  “Um, well, there is something. Celine wants to go. She says her sister wants to go, too.”

  Christ on a crutch! Women? That’s what this was about? That complicates things. I thought a moment. But maybe, not that much. Not really. Women have a wonderfully civilizing effect on men. Men won’t do or say many things they normally would if a woman is present. It might actually make the trip better. And Celine is tough, well educated, an experienced traveler – she comes from Izmir, Turkey and began her training there with my old friend Mustafa Aygun, Sensei. And, she is very attractive. Half the young guys in the dojo have either gone on dates with her or wanted to, but she won’t have a relationship with anyone who trains in aikido. I didn’t need to ask her why. Those kinds of things tend to be self-evident. I thought about it, holding the idea up to the sun, letting the bright light of day sift though the equation. Why not?

  “Do you think you can stand being around her for a month?”

  He actually blushed. “Sure!”

  “I thought you had a girlfriend.”

  “She’s been gone for months. I’ve had a couple since.”

  “Christian, don’t complicate things. If this is some bright idea that you have and think you are going to seduce her on the trip it might make for a really rocky trip.”

  He laughed. “Don’t worry, she’s not interested in me, maybe Chris, but other women feel safer when other hot chicks are around. You know?”

  I didn’t, and suddenly didn’t want to.

  “Do you want her and her sister to go?” I didn’t even know she had a sister. “Where is she?”

  “She’s in Turkey.”

  “So what, we go to Turkey and get her? We meet her in Kathmandu? We go see my old buddy and do a little seminar in Istanbul?” That sounded like fun.

  “Well, Celine doesn’t have any of her stuff here for that kind of traveling, so she has to go home and get it. I guess she’s spent a lot of time trekking in the Alps and the Pyrenees. She likes mountain trekking and got really excited by the idea of the trip to the Himalayas, but didn’t want to ask you. I think she’s afraid of you. But it seems like she’s really been around and she and her sister have gone all over.”

  “You didn’t answer my question.”

  “We have to fly right past Istanbul to get to Kathmandu.”

  I smiled. He had been studying maps. That’s good.

  “So we could fly there together with Celine, and get her sister and all their gear and then go from there.”

  “Okay,” I said. “It sounds good to me.”

  I really haven’t a clue why he blushed again.

  Chapter 6

  Patience

  Restless and bored I called my old friend Arthur down in St. Petersburg. It was August and the trip was planned for October so we had a lot of time. I get tired of planning and then revisiting my plans, which is why I have so many hobbies and interests to keep my thoughts diversified. Once I make a plan I tend to stick with it unless acted upon by an outside influence. Me and the laws of motion, I guess you’d say. Immutable. I sent him an e-mail that said I was ready for a trip to the Florida Keys to do some serious fishing. He got back to me in a few days and we worked out the details.

  He was teaching an aikido seminar down in Miami and we hooked up Sunday night at the house of an old friend after it was through. We left for the Keys from Fort Lauderdale the next morning before the sun rose. Boat, trailer and gear were transferred to my van and by five thirty we were ready to hit the road.

  “Art, do you want some coffee?” I asked.

  “Sure, get me some decaf,” he said.

  I walked across the street to the McDonalds to get the coffee and while I was there bought a breakfast sandwich. We were planning to stop for breakfast once in the Keys, but it would be a couple hours yet and I was hungry. I handed him his coffee when we both got back into the van and he reached for the bag with the sandwich in it. I handed it to him.

  “What?” he said as he looked into the bag. “Where are the cream
and sugar?”

  I looked over at him and shook my head. “My, how the mighty have fallen,” I said.

  “You know, Dan…” he began.

  “Art,” I interrupted. “Fifteen years ago you embarrassed me in front of a group of hunters out in the woods by remarking that if ‘I wanted a cup of cream and sugar, why’d I ask for coffee,’ remember?” I looked at the road and pulled out onto the highway. “Well it took me years before I was able to drink coffee straight and black like a man, so I guess I’m just a little shocked to hear you ask for decaf in the first place and cream and sugar, in the second. Just a little shocked…” I looked sideways at him and he was laughing.

  “Okay,” was all he said.

  I drove and we talked. We have been friends long enough that despite all the differences we are remarkably alike. He will sometimes go off on a lecture about some subject in which we are in total agreement and I will have to stop him with a remark to the effect that he is preaching to the choir or, rather, teaching aikido to a teacher. Sometimes it is easier to just let him go on. I guess it should be noted that he does this with me as well, or so I assume.

  “Art, how do you look at the difference between uke and nage?” I asked.

  “That’s a strange question,” he said.

  “Okay, I’m just trying to fill out the mind map. You know I do this exercise where I put down every quality and aspect of a thing I can think of on a huge piece of paper or a chalk board… anything, I don’t worry about what it is. I ask for input from anyone who knows something or I think can help. I ask anyone who might have insight. Then when everything is there I organize it by category and then by relative importance and then try and impose a time line. Analytical thought is applied and hopefully everything becomes clear. Not always. Sometimes you need more input and sometimes that input comes from places you least expect. I am trying to utilize every source I have. That’s it.”

  We discussed his ideas about the relative differences in uke and nage in aikido and I soon realized it was something he had never put much thought into. Not unusual, it seems most teachers accept the obvious and since for most it is merely a necessary evil in the pursuit of true ‘aikido’ I wasn’t surprised. I dropped the subject as I felt a twitch of impatience with him. He is a 6th dan after all.