I mentioned in the video where I covered walking that for us, locomotion is a series of falls. Obviously if we just fell down with each step eventually there would be nowhere to fall too. There is also a rise. I don’t emphasize the rise because it occurs naturally. Also, in the case of walking, we aren’t just falling down, we are also falling forward.
“Down force,” is one of the BIG THREE free sources of force (San Gen). Namely, it is gravity. Obviously, to use “down force” at will, one must use their will, which is another of the BIG THREE free sources of force. That is human will or intent. The last of the San Gen (Big Three origins of force) is Normal Force. This is often used in conjunction with one’s Kokyu Ryoku. For example, if I drop a well inflated ball, or tire onto the ground it bounces. There is “up force.” This is of course, a result of the interplay between “down force” and normal force. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. It works like an echo. One could call it a, “Mountain Echo” (Yama Biko).
I was taught the use of “down force” by Shirata Sensei, but my friend, training partner and student Robert Roeser pointed out that Ueshiba Morihei and Okamoto Seigo could be seen using “down force” repeatedly in the following videos. Note how they rise up and then fall using the down force:
And he also pointed out that they aren’t the only ones using “down force”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GywlwAkWZSo
There are a lot of arts that use “down force.” Gravity is ever present after all. But not all arts use it in the same way. It should be noted (I’ll go into this later.) that we don’t just use “down force” to drop the whole body. We use “down force” and “up force” to move our own tissue which in turn moves the body! The same tissue movement could be done through muscle contraction, but that isn’t using the San Gen. It can work very, very well. But it isn’t our method.
When Shirata Sensei uses down power it can be a little harder to see. I’ll explain why. When some use down power they go from standing to rising, to falling. They rise up, before falling down. Shirata sensei taught me to go from standing, to falling, back to standing. This way the movement is instantaneous and the fall is virtually invisible, which is why so many miss it. In the case of Shirata sensei, I can only think of one exception to the fall first rule and when he breaks the rule, he does it in a big way. He jumps up in the air pulling up his legs and falls all the way to a kneeling posture.
Here is another example from YouTube. This isn’t the whole video, it has been edited. Maybe I’ll upload the whole thing someday.
Part of what got cut off, are the parts that relate to Tandoku Dosa 4, 5, and 6. But you can see Tandokudosa #4 with a Ken in my casual presentation here:
And I run through Tandokudosa #1 – 6 here:
So, there you go. “Down Power” relating to Tandoku Dosa 4, 5, and 6. More to come!
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