Fundamental Principles of Martial Arts
by Sensei Richard Howell
While studying Danzan Ryu Jujitsu I have had the opportunity
to attend classes, camps, clinics, and conventions featuring both
masters of jujitsu and masters of a wide range of other martial
systems.
After a while it becomes clear that there are some concepts and
principles that seem to be common to all martial arts from the
softest Tai Chi to the hardest Gung Fu and Karate styles. This is
particularly easy to observe at mixed martial arts clinics such as
those that are held in Southern California and South Carolina.
To aid in my training, I started to list those principles that
seemed fundamental. This was done in the spirit of attempting
to make sure that I was not missing them in my own techniques.
For a principle to make the list it had to be basic to at least
all the martial arts styles that I happened to see taught. Other
useful concepts that are “good things to do” might apply only
to our system. So true and useful concepts that are specific to
only jujitsu/judo systems but not karate or tai chi based systems
would not be fundamental. It is fundamental when it is a part of
all martial arts.
Once I started my list, I started testing my techniques against
the principles. Does this technique have all the principles or is
it missing some or, worse, does it violate some of them? And if I
adjust my technique to include all the principles does it get better?
As I tried this I found that our kata techniques became stronger as
I included principles that I had ignored and I avoided violations.
This probably does not surprise you. I also found that seemingly
small changes in technique separated strong arts with sound
principles from weaker arts that lacked them. Remember when the
professor said that strong jujitsu was based on precision and detail?
Well this process helped guide me to find the correct detail and the
strong precision in our arts.
Using these concepts as guideposts for the details of my jujitsu
has helped me improve, and so I am sharing my present
understanding of these principles with you in this article. This is
a work in progress. The list is probably not complete and all of
the descriptions are in my words and described from my personal
viewpoint. You may have a different way of expressing the same
concept. This happens often in martial arts discussion and so read
what is here but use the description that works for you. You may
also think that the principles listed here are obvious and old hat.
That is great, and your jujitsu must be strong.
It would take much too long in this article to illustrate each of the
principles below with detailed examples and techniques. That is
the purpose of the Danzan Ryu kata and working out on the mat.
If you want to learn more about the details of these principles ask
your sensei, go to classes, and do some jujitsu.
Some principles:
You are stronger while exhaling.
This is the basic issue of kiai. Kiai and control of breathing is
common to all martial arts, weight lifting, general sports, and
even yoga and meditative practices. Consequently this is a broad
and complicated topic that is unified by the concept that you
are more powerful during your exhale. There are many breathing
techniques that recommend exhaling to enhance your strength
and power. There are none that recommend inhaling for that
purpose. So exhale for strength, power and control. The quality
of your exhalation can have a profound effect on the results you
obtain. The details of speed, duration, intent, and technique of
your breathing are all important and significant study is required
to master all the possibilities. Since breathing is so basic there
is a great sensitivity to someone else’s breathing. Consequently
the quality of your kiai and breathing can be used to establish a
connection and establish control between yourself and others. A
common example is exhaling in order to speak. Martial artists
often use kiai to manipulate both their own and uke’s strength
and balance through the qualities of a kiai yell.
The posture of strongest equilibrium occurs when all joints
are free.
Sometimes a strong equilibrium is described as being “in your
center” or grounded or rooted or having strong balance or good
kamei. I like to use equilibrium since it has the same meaning on
the mat as it does in a physics book. It is also a dynamic concept.
You can describe equilibrium and dynamic motion together. A
scale can be in static balance but a top will fall over if it is not
spinning. The spinning top has a stable equilibrium.
The best, most stable, equilibrium is found when all joints are
free to move. This means that muscles are relaxed and that the
skeleton is aligned so that all joints are near the center of their
range of motion. This posture is described as the “anatomically
efficient position” on the skeletal charts, shizen hontai by judoka,
as the “central post” by some of our instructors, and the yiquan
basic stance in Chinese martial arts.
A strong, stable equilibrium is found when a system restores
itself to its central position after some action displaces it. Think
of a marble in a bowl: It always returns to the bottom of the
bowl after being pushed up the side. It is in a stable equilibrium.
Human bodies are much more complex and move in multiple
directions but still have this same property. Humans are in their
strongest equilibrium when each joint is free to move and near
the center between the limits on its motion. In that stance you
are more difficult to displace and can re-establish your posture
most efficiently. You may choose to modify this posture for some
purpose such as taking a more covered defensive stance or making
a motion to push or strike an opponent. The posture that leaves
you most relaxed and your joints most free will be your best
equilibrium for that stance. The stability of your equilibrium will
be weakened if you move into more awkward positions and can
even become unstable in the worst cases.
This principle may be more familiar when stated in the contrary
view. Any time you lock any of uke’s joints you have made some
reduction in the strength of uke’s equilibrium and balance. When
someone’s frame has been broken they are in a posture that has
moved their joints off-center and closer to the limit of their range of
motion. If all the joints are locked then uke no longer has a stable
equilibrium; any displacement will cause him to fall. Think of a
marble on the bottom of a bowl but the bowl is upside down. Now
the marble is in an unstable equilibrium and any bump to displace
it results in the marble rolling onto the floor.
When uke’s equilibrium is made less stable by locking his joints he
is limited in launching attacks, absorbing blows, or resisting being
thrown. Yawara, nage kazushi, and many strikes serve to lock
joints and diminish uke’s equilibrium to the point that it becomes
unstable (see the “bicycle chain” discussion below). As one of its
many benefits, massage opens the joints and allows uke better
physical equilibrium.
There is only one sequence that locks all joints between
your initial point of attack and uke’s support by the earth
and all of those joints must be locked to control uke:
i.e. like a bicycle chain.
The joints of the body can be thought of as being like the links in
a bicycle chain. Each link can move freely in some directions and
has limited movement in other directions. Picking up a bicycle
chain sideways will lock all of the links into some pattern. Once all
the links are locked, a bicycle chain is set in that pattern and under
control. However full control of the position of the bicycle chain
is not achieved until all of the links are locked. The same is true
for the human body. Each joint of the body has directions of free,
natural motion and directions that are limited or locked. Most
of the joints of the body have much more complicated ranges of
motion than the simple hinge of the bicycle chain but every joint
has limits and directions of free motion. If all the joints are locked
then uke is under your full control.
When you lift a bicycle chain sideways each link will lock in order.
This starts with the link you grab and goes on until the last link of
the chain is locked. The sequence cannot be altered and there is
no way to completely control the chain if one of the links is loose.
There is no technique that locks a central link before locking the
link nearest your grip. It must always happen in sequence. This is
also true for the human body. Problems in techniques often come
from failing to take each step in its proper sequence.
There are two ways to lock the bicycle chain links; you can lift
up until the last link is lifted off the table (so you have them up
on their toes as in moro yubi tori or a floating kazushi in nage)
or you can press the chain into the table to put pressure on the
last link as is done to uke in ryote tori or ryo eri tori. This means
that all yawara techniques go through a necessary sequence if
they are taken so that all of uke’s joints are locked and uke is fully
controlled. Control starts at your grasp and progresses joint by
joint. The line of attack is defined by the motions of each joint
in order and will vary from the beginning to the end of an art in
order to lock all joints. When all of the joints (links) are locked
between your contact and the uke’s (the chain’s) support on the
ground full control is achieved. There are many closely related
sequences that lock related joints or lock the same joint but against
a different limit of motion. It takes some practice to fully lock all
joints. Nevertheless, each line has its special necessary sequence.
Yawara is not the only joint locking technique. The shock of a
strike or a loud, sharp kiai can create tension in the surrounding
muscles that effectively immobilizes uke’s joints for a short time.
Also any internal tension in your body serves to partially lock
your joints, weaken your equilibrium, and give tori assistance in
attacking you. Remember all those times when sensei said relax?
Hands/fingers push (not pull) to get power and balance.
When you push, the force between the ground and the object
being pushed is generally along the length of your bones. At the
joints the force partially compresses the cartilage but puts little
stress on your tendons and ligaments. When you push you are in
an alignment that has the object being pushed at one end, your
center of equilibrium at an intermediate spot and your contact
with the earth at the other end. Thus, pushing requires minimum
strength for a strong result and also protects your center of balance.
When you pull, the alignment between the object being pulled,
your center, and your contact with the earth is changed. Strength
is limited by the tension that you can produce in your ligaments
and tendons since at least some joints will be opened by pulling.
In the extreme case of pulling, your center is behind your contact
with the earth so that your equilibrium is substantially weakened
in comparison to pushing with the same force. Also a pull actually
invites uke into your center rather than protecting your center
from uke.
The human body has inherently strong and weak lines in
any stance
Human physiology has a large number of related strong and weak
lines of motion. Some of these lines can be found by observing
the details of uke’s stance. Their direction is modified if the stance
changes but there is no stance that does not include them. An
important, commonly known strong line is along the direction
set by a line between the balls of your feet. Another is from the
heel over the big toe. Weak lines are over the little toe, over the
outside to the back of the heel, and to the two sweet spots found
in front of you and behind you. These sweet spots are found by
locating the tip of a triangle that has equal sides and a base that
connects the balls of your feet. Another weak direction comes off
of the shoulder and hip as points where you can warp uke’s frame
and make him twist. The shoulder and hip can be thought of as
the unsupported corners of a square frame that is the torso of the
body. The directions just described are just a sample, there are
many other weak and strong lines of motion determined by the
physiology of our joints and muscles.
The strongest yawara attacks at the joints not on bones or
muscles.
This is both a mechanical and a physiological effect. One common
object of yawara is to lock the joints between your point of contact
and uke’s contact with the earth (as when you grab their fingers
and get them on their toes). The longest lever is the strongest tool
to use. So the best leverage to control the joint you are attacking is
on the other end of the bone connected to it. And what is at the
end of that bone? Another joint – so the best advantage is always at
a joint. Also joints are well supplied with nerves capable of feeding
back pain and other sensations more effectively than soft tissue
or bones. Attacking the joints benefits from the body’s natural
reaction to protect the joints when pressure is introduced.
Control the elbow and you control the body - The $5000 Secret
Since the elbow joint is the first break in the arm after it connects
to the body, any push on the elbow will translate directly into a
force on the central frame of the body. For instance, nage kazushi
is more easiy done at the elbow where the best control of the body
is achieved.
Said in the opposite, you can express the energy of the core of
your body very powerfully through the elbow. An example is
our massage where the elbow is the contact of choice to transmit
energy from the basic posture to the massage uke.
About the “$5000 secret” - Years ago, Don Angier taught a clinic
focusing on techniques that emphasized control of the elbow.
Afterwards one of the students approached him and said “I paid
$5000 to learn what you have just given away.” The student had
studied jujitsu in Japan and was offered the ultimate secret of the
system if he would pay $5000. He agreed and was taken into a
special room and with some ceremony told that the control of the
elbow gave control of the body. He wrote the check. Ever since
then in my dojo this principle has been the $5000 secret.
Tense muscles are fixed - relaxed muscles can move/respond
Muscles can only contract to cause motion. If your muscles
are already contracted or if muscle groups are contracting in
opposition to each other then you will be frozen static until
some muscles relax.
Every attachment is always two ways
“Once uke grabs you, never let him go,” Prof. Ray Law.
Attachments are two way for both physical and psychological
contact. This appears to be part of the basic human condition.
Mastery of all aspects of both your’s and uke’s role in attachments
is an extremely complex subject that can be studied for a lifetime.
For every action there is an opposing reaction
Stimulation by some forceful action can generate involuntary
counter reactions in uke. Many of these are reflexive, like when the
doctor hits your knee with the rubber hammer. In addition human
beings have an intuitive reaction to oppose any motion that you
make. For example if you push uke, uke will momentarily push
back as a natural reaction. A second example occurs when if you
shock uke with a sharp slap: uke will momentarily stop or freeze.
Also uke will often have an involuntary reaction to withdraw from
pain. These effects are often used to get uke to make a motion that
you desire.
Some of these reactions can be trained away by making them
familiar and learning to remain relaxed. Others do not use your
conscious thought and are permanent, unguarded gateways into
your personal defense.
Physics cannot be denied
The human body has a wonderfully complicated set of bones,
joints, and physiology. It is possible to get the impression that
physical laws can be bent a little, if not broken, when doing some
of our techniques. This is not true. Unsupported bodies always
fall. Some force must be applied to get a body to move. Also freely
falling bodies will tumble according to how they were launched.
The laws for falling are a little complicated but we can understand
their effects by a simple experiment. Take a hard back book and
hold it in the center at the bottom. Now let the book tip to the
front and fall for a few feet. If you held it well it will summersault
and fall with the spine of the book on the same side as you started.
Now do the same thing but hold the book at the spine. Let it
tip forward and watch as it twists in mid air as it falls. Now the
landing can be in any position. People fall square or tumble the
same way. Acrobats and divers use this principle to decide what
kind of airborne twists they will do. Remember how sensei has you
do your straight-over starting with your shoulders square?
Sequence in rotations matters
This can also be seen in a simple example: find a book and lay it on
a table. Do two 90 degree rotations to the front of the book, one
along the bottom and one along the spine. Start over and do them
again in the opposite order. At the end the book is in two different
positions. There are many rotations used in joint locks and there
is one correct sequence of rotations for any progression. Failure
results if you do things out of order. An example is katate tori: the
first rotation is along the direction of uke’s fingers to get an initial
bend of the wrist back into uke and the second rotation is around
the axis defined by the radius and ulna which locks the wrist and
elbow. Doing it out of sequence results in a more easily resisted art.
I would like to thank the many jujitsuka who have discussed these
ideas with me for their insight and guidance, especially Prof. Tom
Ryan who was kind enough to offer several valuable suggestions
about this article, and the yudansha of Yoshin Jitsu Kai, Dan
Howell and Dave Klaus.
This article was published in the Spring 2016 issue of the Kiai Echo.
This article was originally published in the Winter 2007 issue of the Kiai Echo.
The Kiai Echo
The Kiai Echo is the newsletter of the American Judo and Jujitsu Federation (AJJF), a non-profit educational organization that promotes Danzan Ryu Jujitsu, a classical Japanese martial art. Selected articles have been reproduced on this web site. The Kiai Echo Editor will post contest results and Black Belt promotions immediately as they are received. These will be published online and promoted via social media (Facebook and Twitter). They will not be password protected, but will be immediately publicly available. By the time this material is submitted to the Kiai Echo, it has already been approved by the appropriate BOP members, and thus requires no further approval process. Traditional articles, as well as anything that is not native to print (i.e. podcasts, video, 3D animations, etc.), will go through an approval process.
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