Practicing Japanese Martial Arts in Japan for the last two years has allowed me to learn more about Judo, Kendo, and Aikido.  Within Aikido, I was first attracted to comprehend the Aikikai style as there are today many different variations of Aikido.  The founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, had many live-in students over the years, and one was Yasuo Kobayashi Sensei, who is today an 8th dan in Aikido.  I could write several articles about Kobayashi Sensei because of my unique experiences in this dojo learning the Aikikai style, much about taiho jutsu, the jo staff (aikijo), the bokken (aikiken), and among other disciplines like Japanese calligraphy after classes on Saturdays.  During the era of Covid-19, I was not able to travel a lot east into central Tokyo, where Ichiro Shishiya Sensei was teaching; however, this would change in 2022.  So for 2021, it was a deep dive into the Aikikai approach to Aikido with Kobayashi Sensei.


(Shoji Nishio practicing Judo in...

For almost a year living in Japan, I have been studying how to off-balance my training partners that I am throwing (Uke's). Off-balance or breaking a person's balance is called Kuzushi. I have been training Karate, Judo and Aikido while all this time catching some great moments in my learning curve on this topic. This has assisted in my research of evolving taiho jutsu arresting technique and specifically something of value to add to the Gunji Taiho Jutsu system.

One of the key positioning points or objectives to reach in Gunji Taiho Jutsu is the outside position (outside line). This is the point just next to your training partner or someone that you wish to bring to the ground to arrest. From the outside line, it to easy to gain the back position which is even better in terms of superior positioning to protect yourself from a bigger and stronger person. In former blogs, I have discussed the universal arm control with two hands-on holding a person's one arm. This universal arm...