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This is Turnbull Sensei demonstrating ju-waza at the Australian National University. (Ju-waza means 'soft or gentle techniques'.) In this kind of practice the defender is not allowed to strike the attackers, but must use his 'Zen-awareness' and tai-sabaki (Aikido's dance-like movements) to control their intentions and manouvre them so their attacks are rendered useless, but without unduly harming them. This is training in what Turnbull Sensei calls 'The Watercourse Way'. It was specifically developed by O'Sensei for handling multiple attackers, and when combined with Aikido's 'hard' techniques, forms an extraordinaryily effective system of self-defence. This movie requires Quicktime™. |