Borrowing from Budoshin Jujutsu

[HanshiClayton]

At our Shotokan dojo we have begun to experiment with techniques from Budoshin Jujitsu, based on the DVD materials from George Kirby, and on personal communication with George.

We have developed a drill based on one-step fighting that exercises some of these techniques.

The Budoshin techniques do not have unambiguous naming conventions like you find in Hakkoryu or even Shotokan. The best I can do is to generally describe the action in the hope that you recognize the techniques.

The attacker throws a roundhouse right to the head. The defender not only blocks the punch but catches it in a figure-4 armbar. Once this technique is learned, the defender can add a shuto strike to the right side of the attacker’s neck while setting up the arm bar. It goes lightning-fast.

The defender uses the armbar as the grip to throw the attacker to the ground. You just step slightly to the attacker’s left side, turn in the same direction he is facing, and kneel on your right knee. He flips over on his back. The motion is similar to the opening of Empi kata.

Do you still have the arm bar in place? Use it as a submission hold.

If the arm bar has slipped, shift to a figure-4 wrist lift (ye GODS how painful!) Put your left knee on the attacker’s ear to hold him down.

Now switch to a wrist pin. Place his elbow on the floor, lock his wrist and use your weight (a little) to create pain in the wrist. Shift your right knee in and plant the upper part of your shin on his biceps muscle to pin his arm in place. This hurts beyond all description.

Stand up and pull his arm straight into an ikkajo wrist lock. The beginner move is to walk around his head to the other side and pull him over on his stomach. The advanced move is to do the “Lopresti spin” where you yank on his arm to spin him counter-clockwise on his back, and when his head and feet have changed places, you yank again to roll him over onto his stomach. Either way, you end up with the attacker prone on the ground, and you have his right arm straight up in the ikkajo lock.

Play with the final move of Hangetsu for a moment, using your knee to spring his elbow while using your hands to put pain in his wrist.

Drop into kosa dachi to put your left knee into his kidney. That's one of Iain Abernethy's best moves.

The “final” move is to kneel down, allowing his arm to bend. You kneel with your left knee on his right shoulder, and his arm up and back so it wraps around your left thigh. His wrist is caught between your thigh and abdomen at your left hip. This is a painful hold-down that leaves your hands free for dialing your cel phone. If he struggles, you lean in as if to listen to his complaints more closely. A small change in your posture produces immense pain in his shoulder.

We vary the details at each practice to use other throws and to practice additional hold-downs. Advanced students sometimes practice the escapes from the same techniques as part of this drill.