Daito-ryu mystery

[Rukawa]

A couple of months ago a friend convinced me to come with him and sit in on a training session with the famous Daito-ryu club run by a shihan Seigo Okamoto here in Tokyo where I live. Not knowing anything about this style, I went there with an open mind, but what I saw shocked me, not so much over the techniques that these people did, more because I wasn't really sure what it was I was actually seeing.

 

When the class started it looked almost like a traditional Japanese aikido class. Except it was a bit more "basic". There were about 50 students, and they lined up in four rows, at the end of each row one student would sit down and perform a certain technique on each of the students one after the other as they approached. .

 

The shihan would come by each of the rows from time to time and show them how to do it. The first techniques were really simple: The attacker would grab the guy's wrists with both hands and to get free he would do a twist and point his fingers slightly upwards thereby breaking loose of the attacker's grasp. Really basic stuff. But when the students (who were all but a few, brown and black belts) were to perform it on the shihan, the result was completely different! His techniques although they looked to be the same, seemed to be much more effective: When the shihan was attacked, the attacker would usually be thrown away as if pulled by some invisible wire, and sometimes he would yell out as if he had received an electric shock.

 

The techniques then changed, different escape techniques, in itself nothiing spectacular. Then gradually it got stranger and stranger. The shihan's next technique was outrageous: The student would approach him and try to grab the collar of his gi jacket, and in the same instance the shihan would move slightly forward in a little jerk, and the attacker would suddenly fly away, collapse backward in pain or throw himself into a judo fall rolling over one shoulder and land on a feet and a knee. But all the time without the shihan even touching him! Yes, he didn't even use his arms. Later he briefly explained that he could do this with any part of his body...

 

I still have no idea what was going on.

• Was it an extreme perfection of skills?
   
  Was it a mass hypnosis?
   
  Was it just acting?

Has anyone heard about this? What do you think happened? This style is famous around the world, and there are several dojos in other countries - the one I went to is supposed to be one of the main dojos.

 

Btw, after the training the shihan disappeared, and we were never allowed to train or even be thrown by any of the other teachers (we had to become members first, they said)

[traz]

Sounds alot like what the Aikidokists seem to do in the various movies I"ve seen (note, I've never seen it live)...they seem to be flipping and tossing people without actually touching them. I"ve seen it in a few aikido movides...but I always attributed it to acting. But now that you mention..maybe its not?

[smr]

I'm certain it's acting.

[kempocos]

Sounds like you found out that JAPAN has as many Crap instructors as the rest of the world. Being from Japan does not mean it is the best available training.

[SevenStar]

I've been told that in aikido, they do the uber cooperative fall intentionally - if you resist the techniques, you're gonna get something hurt - similar to tapping on an armbar - if you don't tap, you get your arm broken. problem is that in being cooperative, people get too carried away and just throw themselves...

[smr]

I just think that's just a convenient excuse to get out of having to prove anything.

[Rukawa]

I too believe it was acting, but why would anyone come to this place and "train" for two hours something that is absolutely useless? It didn't even look good, like, say, the perfectly timed, stylised sword fights of Iaido practitioners I have seen once.

 

And why wouldn't they let us try, even after the regular training? Not the best way to get new students is it?

[Kelend]

I"ve practiced Aikido and seen and felt what you've described. I can't say what you saw was acting or if it was real, but strong pratitioners of Aikido/Daito-ryu can do what you described. Its all about timing, moving the shoulder, the hand, whatever the object of the attack is just slightly, and the right time to throw the attacker. One thing to note, is that the falls themselves, may of seemed more dramatic (I know in Aikido its better for the uke to roll and land safely rather than stagger back off balance, which often leads to "Oh hes just falling for him")