Kuzushi: Crumbling Uke's Bubble.

The term Kuzushi come from the root word Kuzu, meaning crumb. Kuzureru means to crumble. Kuzushi is the act of crumbling Uke's center and balance. Kuzushi has two outcomes. The first outcome is a crumbling of Uke's Ki bubble and disrupting his or her center. This will attain either injury or death for Uke. The second is a crumbling of Uke's Ki bubble and a merger with the Ki of Nage. Like two bubbles colliding together and merging, the surface of the bubble being taken over must be crumbled so that the merger of the two surfaces can take place.

The initial movement of all Aikido techniques is the meeting of two forces or bubbles. At that point, if merger is taking place, usually, the surface of one bubble is crumbled and merged with the surface of the other. The air within the two soap bubbles merge and join. The now single bubble continues on its way. However, it is not completely the original direction of even the larger bubble since the merging causes a merging of the movement directions as well. The crumbling is the first part of the merging and is not complete until the merger is finished and harmony is achieved.

It is not always that the Ki of Nage is larger than the Ki of Uke. Sometimes the Ki of Nage may be smaller but joining can still take place. In this case, there is no Kuzushi until after Nage has gained control of Uke's movement. If a strong small bubble comes up against a strong larger bubble, often the bubbles but do not merge. There is no crumbling of the surface of the smaller bubble. If the smaller bubble's surface is crumbled, it loses identity and is absorbed into the larger bubble. Sometimes you can see two bubbles joined but the smaller one keeps its identity and sits on the surface of the larger one, dragging it down after it spins to the bottom, doing a Tenkan movement.

So, joining must involve Kuzushi. Without Kuzushi, there is not joining because Uke and Nage remain separate. Once Kuzushi takes place, leading can occur. In other words, leading requires joining which requires Kuzushi.

Once the leading has occurred, the momentum must be maintained. Once Uke stops being led, Uke stops following and it is difficult to get the leading started again. If this happens, Nage must break Uke's bubble, join, and begin leading again.

Several things can break the lead. If Nage stops, Uke stops and must be restarted. Uke may also stop following if Nage takes a sudden shift in direction. It is the same as stopping, or even more of break in the movement. If Nage turns at right angles, Uke has difficulty following because Uke's momentum makes her/him/it continue in a straight line. To make Uke follow, Nage must make gradual changes of direction. Thus, we have the circular movements of Aikido. After all, a circle is simply a series of tangets around a single point.

As you and your partner improve, Uke is able to discern smaller degrees of change in direction and move to counter the directional change. For this reason, the circles must be composed of larger diameters as you improve in Aikido, not smaller circles. Thus, as you rise in rank in Aikido, you must continue to increase the size of the circles rather than doing things smaller and faster. If you increase the radius of your movements, your techniques will become faster for Uke. Remember, the outer diameter of a wheel travels at a much faster rate than somewhere closer to the center. This increase in speed of technique continues until the angles in the circle are as large as they can be. At that point, you have a straight line again. Either way, the Kuzushi that allows the joining is the start of the lead. ______