Thursday, February 10, 2005
Do Men With Shaved Foreheads Live Longer?
Yesterday I went for a haircut. But being that this is Japan, it was heavily labor intensive, highly expensive, very precise, too a long time, and featured excessive heapings of service and attention.
It’s hard to get a men’s haircut for less than about $30 in Japan. Mine was $38 plus only four more bucks for a shave. But, there’s no tipping in Japan, so the total was only $42.
Now, you can find cheaper haircuts, but less than about $18 bucks is really hard to come by. Plus, you don’t get the full Japanese treatment.
It begins with a shampoo. Yes, this is standard. Actually, I should back up. It begins with a man who takes you jacket off you and hangs it up nicely. He issues you a baggage claim ticket, too, despite the fact that the coat is never more than 5 meters away. He then walks you over to your chair, puts you in, makes light conversation, and washes you hair.
The guy who took are of me plays the six string and is a big fan of Guns N Roses and Velvet Revolver. He’s hoping to start a band soon.
My stylist then came over. Well, he’d be called a stylist anywhere else but in Japan he’s just a barber.
My hair is awful. Three cowlicks, two in one direction, one in the other. He had never seen such horror before. But to work he went and he did a very nice job.
While he was cutting and making light conversation, the manager came over. They were amused that I didn’t much fit their image of a professor. But I think I managed to convince them that I really was. Talking enthusiastically about Guns N Roses didn’t help my case.
He also mentioned that their owner and mentor now apparently runs a very expensive hair salon in Manhattan called Momotaro—Momotaro being the name of the lead character in a famous Japanese children’s story. So perhaps you can experience the full on Japanese treatment in New York, as well.
But in any event, it was now time for the second shampoo. So the jacked/shampoo guy came back and we talked about the local indie music scene while he washed my hair, and then turned the chair around to begin the shave.
Japan never freaked out about HIV like we did in the states. Straight razors are still legal. So he began with hot towels.
It is very pleasant to lie back in a big comfy leather barber’s chair while a hot, wet towel rests on your face and softens up all your wiskers.
He then remove the towels and applied the warm foamy soap. Yes, warm and pleasant. There’s no cold foam in a Japanese barber shop.
And then he shaved me. But not just the normal parts. He also did my forehead and offered to sculpt my eyebrows. But, thanks be to God, my monobrow remains intact!
He then shampooed me very lightly again to get my hair wet for the stylist guy to come back and blow dry it.
Finally, I got my shoulder rub. Yes, in Japan, they are afraid that all of this pampering might have stiffened you up. So every hair cut ends with a short shoulder rub. Very nice.
And then, with much bowing, I doffed my jacket and went on my way.
So, since Japanese men live longer and Japanese men routinely have their heads shaved, one must cogitate upon the health benefits of the perfectly smooth forehead.
A New Kaeshi Waza Sequence if You’re the Guy Stabbing
Apparently, I’ve wandered into Shodokan at a period when they’re congealing together a new kaeshi-waza (counter technique) sequence.
They haven’t yet named it, but let me tell you what it consists of.
There are seven kaeshi waza. They are meant to be done by a person stabbing as counters to sever particular aikido techniques.
In all my descriptions below, I’m going to be assuming that you are the stabber and that you are standing in a right-foot forward posture and that you are holding the knive in your right hand. As you slide forward to stab, you remain in a right-foot forward (migi gamae) posture.
#1. Hijimochi no Tsukuri countered by Weird Gyakugamae/Ushiro Ate
The hijimochi no tsukuri are a sequence of ways to grab a stabbing person’s arm. This counter technique is used against what is typically taught as the first of the hijimochi no tsukuri (which literally means the elbow grabbing movements).
In that first hijimochi no tsukuri, suppose for a second that you are being stabbed at by someone with the knife in their right hand. You slide diagonally to the left to avoid the knife. You end up turning 90 degrees so that you are square to the stabbers extended arm. You then grab their right writs with your right hand and rest your left hand, thumb pointing up, right behind their elbow. That way, when their arm pulls back after the stab, the elbow pushes right into your waiting left hand.
You then scoop up the stabbers arm, raising the elbow above the shoulder and brining their forearm vertical. Their elbow should be bent to about a 90 degree angle.
You then knock them over (hopefully) by pressing on their bent elbow with your left hand as you step forward with your left foot. This is essentially a version of oshi taoshi.
OK. Now that you know how uke is supposed to attack the stabber, imagine yourself in the roll of the stabber.
You stab, they move to your right, grab your arm and go to do the technique. From your perspective thy will be a little behind you and to your right as they push forward.
Go with the movement, moving your whole body forward. Then, as soon as it has stopped, you begin your counter.
Since their left leg is forward (and now slightly in front of you), you are in a good position to do gyakugamae ate with your right arm. But since they are holding it and it’s bent, you can’t do it in the normal way.
What I want you to imagine to see the correct position is to stand vertically, and raise your right arm straight till its flush with your shoulder and your arm is pointing directly to your right. So your arm and your torso make a 90 degree angle. Now bend your elbow 90 degrees, so that while your upper arm points directly to your right, your forearm and hand point directly forward.
That’s the position you want to be in when you push.
So you put your right foot behind uke (which is easy to do given that he’s standing with his left foot forward) raise you arm up to the position I just described and push into him and walk backwards.
It is a very strange technique in that from uke’s perspective he’s being basically walked backwards because your upper arm ends up pushed up against the upper part of his chest and left shoulder.
Walk into him and backwards, kind of sliding your feet, and uke will fall.
The rest of these descriptions will hopefully be much shorter!
#2. Hiki Taoshi countered by (8th kyu) Shomen-ate
You stab straight ahead and uke does hiki taoshi and really pulls hard. But your balance is not broken. You end up for a moment in tug of ward. But then your rotate your stabbing hand (right hand) over, slide slightly to your right to get on uke’s center line, and then slide forward, doing shomen ate against uke’s upper chest/neck/chin, depending on how he’s pulling.
The turning over of the hand is exactly like in the shomen ate of he 8th kyu (which all the older students will know. The newer students may not know it in the USA since the JAA/USA got rid of the 8th kyu. But the technique I’m talking about is still part of the Junana Hon (Basic 17) done against a single hand, matching stances (aigamae) grab. So it’s still in the curriculum.)
#3. Waki Gatame countered by Gyakugamae ate
Here you stab and uke begins to to waki gatame. Before he can get it locked in, you slide forward and throw him but doing a right armed version of gyakugamaeate. Your right arm should be across uke’s upper chest and your right leg should be behind him.
#4. Kote Gaeshi countered by Ushiro ate
Here is the infamous kote gaeshi counter. I have now learned to do it correctly, but will wait till I come back to the states to explain it in any great detail since it’s really subltle.
But what happens here is that you stab, uke moves first to your right ot get out of the way, and then grabs your arm and pushes you down and forward (onto your own weak line) to break your balanced. He then gets the butterfly grip with both hands on your right hand and goes to do kote gaeshi.
As he does and as he is raising your hand up from down low (where he pushed it to break your balance) up to it’s highest point in the arc on which he wants to move it, move into him. Push your right hand toward him. Then twist your right arm in a screwing counter clockwise motion and extend it strait out. At the same time, slide slightly forward and to your right (in a right foot forward stance, which you should have maintained from the beginning.)
If you do this correctly, you will both break out of the kote gaeshi and will also turn uke 90 degrees or more to his own left. That will mean that his back is towards you.
You then throw him with ushiro ate.
Actually, let me try to explain the key part where you twist your right arm to break the grip.
Stand up straight and then bend your right arm so that your forearm is vertical, your upper arm is parallel to the floor and your palm is facing you. Your upper arm should also be at a 90 degree angle to your chest.
Now make a fist as if you were holding a knife. And without bending any other joint but your wrist, tilt your hand toward you (as though your face were a door that you wanted to knock on.)
This would also be the position your hand would be in if someone were taking it through an nice high kotegaeshi in order to throw you.
Now let me try to describe the screwing motion with which you are to extend your arm and break out of the kotegaeshi.
Everything I’m about to describe is a bit over done, so don’t think you should use such big movements in reality.
Bend at the elbow, so that your fist comes towards your chin. Keep moving your fist in that direction down past your chin, and down your center line. Once the fist is facing the floor, start moving it away from your chest by extending your arm at the elbow and just keep on extending until your arm is straight. This is the counter clockwise screwing motion that I intended you use above.
#5. Tenkai Kote Hineri countered by Ushiro Ate
Here, again, you stab with the right hand. Uke grabs your arm and attempts to pass under your right arm to do tenaki kote hineri. The trick here is to grab him and pin him against you chest as he is turning around. After you grab him, move backwards to throw him backwards using ushiro ate.
As you pin him to your chest, his back will be to your chest and your stabbing arm will be draping down over his chest. Keep your elbow bent a bit and put your left and on his left shoulder to help to control and then throw him. A helpful thing to do is to put your right hipbone into his lower back. This will help to bend him backwards and break his posture.
You really have to be flush with uke to do this right.
Also, please not that if uke is some way away from you to your right when he tries to go under your arm to do the technique, simply slide towards him as he is turning around. This will bring you flush to him.
#6. Shihonage (Tenkai Kote Gaeshi) countered by Gyakugamae ate
Stab with your right arm. Uke will move to your left, grab your arm and begin to do pull it down and to your left in order to do shihonage (which in the Tomiki nomenclature is called Tenkai kote gaeshi).
Let him get it down and then back up to your mid chest level. And then level him with gyakugamae ate, with your right arm pushing against his upper chest or even this temple if it comes that high depending on how he’s moving.
A key point is that you should slide your arm up uke’s chest. That is, starting from when he has your arm at its lowest point, pin the arm against uke’s chest (it’ll be near his/her belly button, most likely) and then slide it up, pushing into uke’s chest the whole way.
Once it’s at the top and you want to throw, make sure you turn the blade towards uke and then push. (The blade side is the ulna bone side of the forearm.)
I say this because during the sliding up the body portion of the technique, the radius bone side (thumb side) of the forearm will be pushing up against uke’s chest. The forearm needs to be turned over before the throw.
#7. Mae Otoshi countered by Gedan Ate
Here you stab, uke moves to your left into your center and grabs your arm. He then goes to do mae otoshi. To do so, he must step forward with his left foot. That is your entrée to the counter.
As he is stepping forward with that left foot, drop your weight down onto that forward thigh (his left thigh). This will break his balance. Proceed with gedan ate to throw him.
A subtle point is that you want to suddenly twist your arm while dropping down so that you can push with the blade side of your right (stabbing) arm. That is, your elbow should be pointing towards uke. As you throw, your right arm is flush along uke’s torso and your own right side of your torso is flush against uke’s torso, too. Slide both feet as you push into him.
Ki Phrase of the Day
Ki ga shizumu literally means that your ki is sinking. And, idiomatically, it means that you are down in the dumps, blue, or melancholy.
Engrish has Gratefullness
If you don't already know about Engrish.com, please go there and have a little look around. They've got nothing but authentic pictures of hugely absued English--stuff that you find on shirts, bags, and signs all over Japan. The saddest part to me is that my Japanese is probably most of the time just as oddfull. Here is a classic.
It’s hard to get a men’s haircut for less than about $30 in Japan. Mine was $38 plus only four more bucks for a shave. But, there’s no tipping in Japan, so the total was only $42.
Now, you can find cheaper haircuts, but less than about $18 bucks is really hard to come by. Plus, you don’t get the full Japanese treatment.
It begins with a shampoo. Yes, this is standard. Actually, I should back up. It begins with a man who takes you jacket off you and hangs it up nicely. He issues you a baggage claim ticket, too, despite the fact that the coat is never more than 5 meters away. He then walks you over to your chair, puts you in, makes light conversation, and washes you hair.
The guy who took are of me plays the six string and is a big fan of Guns N Roses and Velvet Revolver. He’s hoping to start a band soon.
My stylist then came over. Well, he’d be called a stylist anywhere else but in Japan he’s just a barber.
My hair is awful. Three cowlicks, two in one direction, one in the other. He had never seen such horror before. But to work he went and he did a very nice job.
While he was cutting and making light conversation, the manager came over. They were amused that I didn’t much fit their image of a professor. But I think I managed to convince them that I really was. Talking enthusiastically about Guns N Roses didn’t help my case.
He also mentioned that their owner and mentor now apparently runs a very expensive hair salon in Manhattan called Momotaro—Momotaro being the name of the lead character in a famous Japanese children’s story. So perhaps you can experience the full on Japanese treatment in New York, as well.
But in any event, it was now time for the second shampoo. So the jacked/shampoo guy came back and we talked about the local indie music scene while he washed my hair, and then turned the chair around to begin the shave.
Japan never freaked out about HIV like we did in the states. Straight razors are still legal. So he began with hot towels.
It is very pleasant to lie back in a big comfy leather barber’s chair while a hot, wet towel rests on your face and softens up all your wiskers.
He then remove the towels and applied the warm foamy soap. Yes, warm and pleasant. There’s no cold foam in a Japanese barber shop.
And then he shaved me. But not just the normal parts. He also did my forehead and offered to sculpt my eyebrows. But, thanks be to God, my monobrow remains intact!
He then shampooed me very lightly again to get my hair wet for the stylist guy to come back and blow dry it.
Finally, I got my shoulder rub. Yes, in Japan, they are afraid that all of this pampering might have stiffened you up. So every hair cut ends with a short shoulder rub. Very nice.
And then, with much bowing, I doffed my jacket and went on my way.
So, since Japanese men live longer and Japanese men routinely have their heads shaved, one must cogitate upon the health benefits of the perfectly smooth forehead.
A New Kaeshi Waza Sequence if You’re the Guy Stabbing
Apparently, I’ve wandered into Shodokan at a period when they’re congealing together a new kaeshi-waza (counter technique) sequence.
They haven’t yet named it, but let me tell you what it consists of.
There are seven kaeshi waza. They are meant to be done by a person stabbing as counters to sever particular aikido techniques.
In all my descriptions below, I’m going to be assuming that you are the stabber and that you are standing in a right-foot forward posture and that you are holding the knive in your right hand. As you slide forward to stab, you remain in a right-foot forward (migi gamae) posture.
#1. Hijimochi no Tsukuri countered by Weird Gyakugamae/Ushiro Ate
The hijimochi no tsukuri are a sequence of ways to grab a stabbing person’s arm. This counter technique is used against what is typically taught as the first of the hijimochi no tsukuri (which literally means the elbow grabbing movements).
In that first hijimochi no tsukuri, suppose for a second that you are being stabbed at by someone with the knife in their right hand. You slide diagonally to the left to avoid the knife. You end up turning 90 degrees so that you are square to the stabbers extended arm. You then grab their right writs with your right hand and rest your left hand, thumb pointing up, right behind their elbow. That way, when their arm pulls back after the stab, the elbow pushes right into your waiting left hand.
You then scoop up the stabbers arm, raising the elbow above the shoulder and brining their forearm vertical. Their elbow should be bent to about a 90 degree angle.
You then knock them over (hopefully) by pressing on their bent elbow with your left hand as you step forward with your left foot. This is essentially a version of oshi taoshi.
OK. Now that you know how uke is supposed to attack the stabber, imagine yourself in the roll of the stabber.
You stab, they move to your right, grab your arm and go to do the technique. From your perspective thy will be a little behind you and to your right as they push forward.
Go with the movement, moving your whole body forward. Then, as soon as it has stopped, you begin your counter.
Since their left leg is forward (and now slightly in front of you), you are in a good position to do gyakugamae ate with your right arm. But since they are holding it and it’s bent, you can’t do it in the normal way.
What I want you to imagine to see the correct position is to stand vertically, and raise your right arm straight till its flush with your shoulder and your arm is pointing directly to your right. So your arm and your torso make a 90 degree angle. Now bend your elbow 90 degrees, so that while your upper arm points directly to your right, your forearm and hand point directly forward.
That’s the position you want to be in when you push.
So you put your right foot behind uke (which is easy to do given that he’s standing with his left foot forward) raise you arm up to the position I just described and push into him and walk backwards.
It is a very strange technique in that from uke’s perspective he’s being basically walked backwards because your upper arm ends up pushed up against the upper part of his chest and left shoulder.
Walk into him and backwards, kind of sliding your feet, and uke will fall.
The rest of these descriptions will hopefully be much shorter!
#2. Hiki Taoshi countered by (8th kyu) Shomen-ate
You stab straight ahead and uke does hiki taoshi and really pulls hard. But your balance is not broken. You end up for a moment in tug of ward. But then your rotate your stabbing hand (right hand) over, slide slightly to your right to get on uke’s center line, and then slide forward, doing shomen ate against uke’s upper chest/neck/chin, depending on how he’s pulling.
The turning over of the hand is exactly like in the shomen ate of he 8th kyu (which all the older students will know. The newer students may not know it in the USA since the JAA/USA got rid of the 8th kyu. But the technique I’m talking about is still part of the Junana Hon (Basic 17) done against a single hand, matching stances (aigamae) grab. So it’s still in the curriculum.)
#3. Waki Gatame countered by Gyakugamae ate
Here you stab and uke begins to to waki gatame. Before he can get it locked in, you slide forward and throw him but doing a right armed version of gyakugamaeate. Your right arm should be across uke’s upper chest and your right leg should be behind him.
#4. Kote Gaeshi countered by Ushiro ate
Here is the infamous kote gaeshi counter. I have now learned to do it correctly, but will wait till I come back to the states to explain it in any great detail since it’s really subltle.
But what happens here is that you stab, uke moves first to your right ot get out of the way, and then grabs your arm and pushes you down and forward (onto your own weak line) to break your balanced. He then gets the butterfly grip with both hands on your right hand and goes to do kote gaeshi.
As he does and as he is raising your hand up from down low (where he pushed it to break your balance) up to it’s highest point in the arc on which he wants to move it, move into him. Push your right hand toward him. Then twist your right arm in a screwing counter clockwise motion and extend it strait out. At the same time, slide slightly forward and to your right (in a right foot forward stance, which you should have maintained from the beginning.)
If you do this correctly, you will both break out of the kote gaeshi and will also turn uke 90 degrees or more to his own left. That will mean that his back is towards you.
You then throw him with ushiro ate.
Actually, let me try to explain the key part where you twist your right arm to break the grip.
Stand up straight and then bend your right arm so that your forearm is vertical, your upper arm is parallel to the floor and your palm is facing you. Your upper arm should also be at a 90 degree angle to your chest.
Now make a fist as if you were holding a knife. And without bending any other joint but your wrist, tilt your hand toward you (as though your face were a door that you wanted to knock on.)
This would also be the position your hand would be in if someone were taking it through an nice high kotegaeshi in order to throw you.
Now let me try to describe the screwing motion with which you are to extend your arm and break out of the kotegaeshi.
Everything I’m about to describe is a bit over done, so don’t think you should use such big movements in reality.
Bend at the elbow, so that your fist comes towards your chin. Keep moving your fist in that direction down past your chin, and down your center line. Once the fist is facing the floor, start moving it away from your chest by extending your arm at the elbow and just keep on extending until your arm is straight. This is the counter clockwise screwing motion that I intended you use above.
#5. Tenkai Kote Hineri countered by Ushiro Ate
Here, again, you stab with the right hand. Uke grabs your arm and attempts to pass under your right arm to do tenaki kote hineri. The trick here is to grab him and pin him against you chest as he is turning around. After you grab him, move backwards to throw him backwards using ushiro ate.
As you pin him to your chest, his back will be to your chest and your stabbing arm will be draping down over his chest. Keep your elbow bent a bit and put your left and on his left shoulder to help to control and then throw him. A helpful thing to do is to put your right hipbone into his lower back. This will help to bend him backwards and break his posture.
You really have to be flush with uke to do this right.
Also, please not that if uke is some way away from you to your right when he tries to go under your arm to do the technique, simply slide towards him as he is turning around. This will bring you flush to him.
#6. Shihonage (Tenkai Kote Gaeshi) countered by Gyakugamae ate
Stab with your right arm. Uke will move to your left, grab your arm and begin to do pull it down and to your left in order to do shihonage (which in the Tomiki nomenclature is called Tenkai kote gaeshi).
Let him get it down and then back up to your mid chest level. And then level him with gyakugamae ate, with your right arm pushing against his upper chest or even this temple if it comes that high depending on how he’s moving.
A key point is that you should slide your arm up uke’s chest. That is, starting from when he has your arm at its lowest point, pin the arm against uke’s chest (it’ll be near his/her belly button, most likely) and then slide it up, pushing into uke’s chest the whole way.
Once it’s at the top and you want to throw, make sure you turn the blade towards uke and then push. (The blade side is the ulna bone side of the forearm.)
I say this because during the sliding up the body portion of the technique, the radius bone side (thumb side) of the forearm will be pushing up against uke’s chest. The forearm needs to be turned over before the throw.
#7. Mae Otoshi countered by Gedan Ate
Here you stab, uke moves to your left into your center and grabs your arm. He then goes to do mae otoshi. To do so, he must step forward with his left foot. That is your entrée to the counter.
As he is stepping forward with that left foot, drop your weight down onto that forward thigh (his left thigh). This will break his balance. Proceed with gedan ate to throw him.
A subtle point is that you want to suddenly twist your arm while dropping down so that you can push with the blade side of your right (stabbing) arm. That is, your elbow should be pointing towards uke. As you throw, your right arm is flush along uke’s torso and your own right side of your torso is flush against uke’s torso, too. Slide both feet as you push into him.
Ki Phrase of the Day
Ki ga shizumu literally means that your ki is sinking. And, idiomatically, it means that you are down in the dumps, blue, or melancholy.
Engrish has Gratefullness
If you don't already know about Engrish.com, please go there and have a little look around. They've got nothing but authentic pictures of hugely absued English--stuff that you find on shirts, bags, and signs all over Japan. The saddest part to me is that my Japanese is probably most of the time just as oddfull. Here is a classic.
