Idori - Kneeling Defence

[Zanshin]

Hi Guys,

Just wondering how many of you guys have Idori incorporated into your syllabus.

It features in Wado Karate from 1st Dan and I have seen footage of Chōjun Miyagi doing a Goju version of Idori. So it’s not exclusive to Wado.

Is it something that is practiced In TKD for example.

I know Hapkido comes from comes from Daito Ryu (which has plenty of Idori in it), but would be interested to hear your experiences in it.

Edited February 2, 2008 by Zanshin

[NewEnglands_KyoSa]

We practice it at our tang soo do school. it is a requirement for our masters test...seated self defense. in a chair, kneeling, sitting cross legged...etc...

[Zanshin]

We practice it at our tang soo do school. it is a requirement for our masters test...seated self defense. in a chair, kneeling, sitting cross legged...etc...

Thats cool, do you feel you get a lot out of it?

[NewEnglands_KyoSa]

We practice it at our tang soo do school. it is a requirement for our masters test...seated self defense. in a chair, kneeling, sitting cross legged...etc...

Thats cool, do you feel you get a lot out of it?

absolutely. even though we are responsible for creating them on our own, masters from the past do help us and show us what they did. but every group prides themselves on having new different ideas. i think it is very helpful because we have already learned open handed, knife, gun, and sword(club for real life situations) defense so with all those tools, to transfer it to sitting is very very cool. you learn that you don't have as much power, so you learn to manipulate your attackers body through locks and the theory of two cirlces. i definately feel that it is worth it, and sensible because im actually injured in my left ankle and need a surgery, so im sitting alot and one demo we had, i did a sitting break and a sitting self defense scenario and just having that injury made me realize the worth of sitting self defense, because you don't always have your feet or your body weight.

[bushido_man96]

I have never done it in my TKD days. I thought that it was exclusive to Aikido, to be honest. I have not done it in Hapkido, either, but I use the ICHF curriculum, and it doesn't contain everything that a more "traditional" Hapkido curriculum would.

I have never really played around with it, and I think it would be interesting. One of our college students is also in the Aikido club with the college, and has talked about it before. I may get to experiment with it sometime.

[Zanshin]

We practice it at our tang soo do school. it is a requirement for our masters test...seated self defense. in a chair, kneeling, sitting cross legged...etc...

Thats cool, do you feel you get a lot out of it?

you learn that you don't have as much power, so you learn to manipulate your attackers body through locks and the theory of two cirlces. i definately feel that it is worth it, and sensible because im actually injured in my left ankle and need a surgery, so im sitting alot and one demo we had, i did a sitting break and a sitting self defense scenario and just having that injury made me realize the worth of sitting self defense, because you don't always have your feet or your body weight.

That’s exactly the way I look at it. In Daito Ryu a lot of techniques are first practiced in Idori. If you can learn to move and perform techniques from sitting/kneeling then they will be ten times easier when you come to do them standing up. It removes the option of being able to use a lot of excess strength and makes you rely more on good technique timing and movement.

It also has added benefits of allowing you to train with an injury (as you say), and you can do throws safely because you’re that much closer to the floor in the first place.

At our Wado dojo we will often spend time just moving forwards and backwards up and down the Dojo in Idori as it is said to be one of the best exercises to improve Juntsuki.

I thought that it was exclusive to Aikido

Well I think you are right Brian in that it is practiced in Aikido (which of course also came from Daito), but it was practiced by the traditional Jujutsu Koryu centuries before Aikido was established. It has its origins because of the way that the Samurai were required to stay seated (Seiza) all the time they were in their master’s house. Consequently a system of fighting was developed to be able to deal with an opponent who sought fit to have a go at you when you were on your knees.

It is also very physically demanding to train and move on your knees.

Great fun though and brings a wealth of advantages.

[bushido_man96]

Thanks for the clarification, Zanshin.

I don't know if I would like it too much; to tough on my knees. They are bad enough as it is.