"Blending" blocks
My good friend Zach Zinn asked the following question on the Tradtional Fighting Arts Forum:
- "Do you think maybe age-uke is just Goju's hiki-uke done higher than normally seen? I find myself performing it more like hiki-uke most of the time and it works fine, and since age-uke is notably absent from every koryu Goju kata, it makes me wonder what is being said by it's presence in the first kata usually taught."
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Hiki uke (an open-handed hooking chest level block that deflects sideways) also occurs in long fist, taiji, bagua, xingyi etc. In the Chinese arts it really is a separate technique, especially when practised as a basic. The main difference in its mechanics arises, as Zach points out, from the height at which you apply it. You could apply a high hiki uke, but you'll probably find yourself blending it into a haiwan nagashi uke - ie. you'll roll your forearm and turn your body as you deflect it sideways.
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In my view the blocks are meant to "blend" into one another; the basics we use are, I believe, just points frozen along a continuum.
The other "age uke" in goju is the steeple block as found in seisan, kururunfa etc.
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In goju ryu I believe the role occupied by age uke as a basic is taken up by mawashi uke because mawashi uke contains a "steeple" block. Mawashi uke is quite ubiquitous in goju, where hawian nagashi uke only occurs in seiyunchin from memory (I also use it in naihanchi, but this is not common). I acknowledge that my theory about mawashi uke is controversial (and is a separate issue - see my article "Is mawashi uke goju's rising block?").
Copyright © 2009 Dejan Djurdjevic
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