Mick Gould’s – Nagasu Do
THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF NAGASU DO
ATEMI WAZA SHIMI WAZA TAI SABAKI.
The striking of vulnerable and/or vital points.
Vital could mean a strike to an area to cause instability and or pain in an opponent enabling a change of direction to further or re-apply a technique.
The three basic principles of Atemi Waza are
OBSERVATION -ASSESMENT- REACTION
The two principle angles of Atemi Waza are
THE CROSS AND THE INTERMEDIATE ANGLES OF THE CROSS .
The + being the angles of strength. The X being the intermediate angles of application from the +.
Incorporated into this:
POSTURE AND BALANCE.
Bad posture produces bad balance, which in turn will generate bad coordination, bad timing and bad technique. (Leads to extra adjustments when applying a technique)
Body movement/management. Coordinating and shifting the bodies weight to apply or avoid a technique.
One thing!!! A punch, kick, strangle, choke, lock etc.
“The accumulation of techniques”
PYRAMID OF TECHNIQUES
To compress the arteries of the neck, reduce blood flow to the brain, and cause unconsciousness.
To compress the airway (Trachea and Larynx) reduce and or block the flow of air and cause unconsciousness.
To cause pain and or loss of functional movement at a joint or joints.
In budo,(NAGASU DO) like other physical endeavours, the interconnected factors of space and time (rhythm and timing) are crucial.
In Japanese, the term for “space,” in between objects and opponents is “ma,” and the character can also be pronounced “aida,” as in “in between.” It is the space “in between” yourself and your opponent, the empty field that defines the potential of attack and defense, the ma-ai(the “meeting” space).
Like music, however, “empty space” between notes or opponents aren’t “empty” in a sense that there’s nothing there. Potential is there. Fullness is there. Emptiness is necessary for fullness. Spaces between individual notes creates a song, its tension and melody.
Space between adversaries define the field in which they fight, and the person who can control the space (and time) best is the one who wins.
An understanding of ma-ai (the proper distancing) is important, but many martial artists of even respectively high levels in their specific art aren’t aware of it beyond their particular specializations.
Worse, kata-based training (especially when done individually, such as in karate kata and iaido) may make a person ignorant of proper ma-ai.
Just as kote-gaeshi is a foundational technique in aikido, there are foundational techniques in NAGASU DO that, if properly understood, will enable an understanding into the riai (CORE PRINCIPLES) not just of that technique, but of the entire curriculum.
And the wonderful thing about understanding riai is the discovery that it can go from a simple notion to great complexity, but in the complexity there is a beautiful simplicity, if understood correctly.