[stancheung75]

Ukime (oo key may) or Breakfalls are the first thing a Aikido-ka or Judo-ka, learns when they start their path in the respected arts. Some will say learning fall is even more important than learning to throw. I totally agree with this statement.

In the martial arts that are heavy into throwing such as Judo, Jujutsu, Aikido, Shuai jiao (chiao), Yudo, Sambo, MMA and Pro Wrestling. Learning to take a fall is extreamly important to learn. After all how are you suppose to learn to throw people if everyone you practice on gets injured from every throw?

Learning the basics of the fall takes very little time to do. It's the continuous practice to make it second nature that is more difficult to do. There are many examples of people using breakfall techniques outside the dojo (training hall) to prevent injuries to themselves. Most of the time from slipping on a wet floor or on ice. Now I don't recomend you practice on such hard surface. I can promise you that this is not a comfortable thing to practice. But it's better to have an painful correct fall than to have broken bones.

There are several different kinds of breakfalls. There are the straight drops that pro wrestlers call a "bump". It's a strategic fall that braces for impact and the arms slap the surface to spread the force of the impact.

There are also cover up break falls. I personally don't like this one. But to be fair I have very little practice with this specific kind. It's when a person is getting thrown. In this example the head. The uke (victim) will put their arms on the head as if resting on a pillow to absorb the shock of the fall. But I don't see where the impact to the arm gets addressed. But in fairness it has been around for hundreds of years and it's still taught today. So there must be something to it. I don't have to agree with it to respect it.

The other kinds of breakfalls are the tumbeling breakfalls where the uke will "go with" the fall and roll along with the throw. It's very spectacular to see demonstrations of this. Notably high level Ninjutsu practitioners have demonstrated rolling breakfalls with very little sounds. I have seen this done on delicate rice paper and there was no damage to the paper after several rolls on it.

The next kind are the aerials. You can expect to see these done by Free runners, Tae Kwon Do artist, and Wushu competitors. These are the ones where you see people flip in the air and have a gymnastic whirlwind of movements. Some are so incredible that they will do a jumping spin when getting thrown just to end up on their feet unharmed.

There are some basic components to making a breakfall work.

1. protecting your head. In a back breakfall this is done by tucking your chin into your chest. This way when you fall the head doesn't hit the floor.

2. protect your vital organs. At no point is the center line (I will post a thread about Wing Chun's Centerl ine Theory in future) of the body ever come into direct contact with the surface during the breakfall.

3. Dissipate the impact energy. to spread out the energy will help lessen the chances of injuries during the fall. We do that by "slapping the mat" This creates a larger surface to take on the impact. This might be better explained by the example of a bed of nails. If there are many nails and the weight is spread out throughout the entire bodies surface. The bed isn't at all painfull. But if it was just one nail you're putting all your weight on. I think it's safe to say it's not very comfortable. For that matter you might break the skin and more.

4. Dissipate the air inside the body. Learn to Kiai (spirit shout) during the landing of the fall. This will prevent you from "knocking the wind" out of your body. I think this applys to most of the major throwing martial arts. Except for those pesky silent ninja. But I'm sure the ninja's out there with a sense of humor can wave a sign that says "KIAI" after the fall.

Here is a clip for some basic breakfalls.

Train Hard = Fight Easy my fellow Jedi

[RyuJin]

i didn't know breakfalls were suppose to have any noise....of course my uncle was a blackbelt in renshinken ryu ninjutsu, judo, and a goldbelt in tae kwon do, and he was my first sensei...
the one thing he could never figure out was why he couldn't throw me even when he could get my feet off the ground(i'm very good at lowering my center of gravity) my center of gravity is so good in fact that i've never been tripped, i rarely ever fall and i can walk on some pretty unstable surfaces without even wobbling a bit...my friends used to call me a mountain goat

[jdmcowan]

Excellent post, Stan. I hope most of the offline groups have a place where they can practice on mats. You gave a great explanation, but there's no substitute for practice and repitition, eh?

BTW, it's ukemi (oo-keh-mee).

RyuJin, my own opinion is that it is important to practice falls with sound and without. If you can dissipate or redirect the energy through motion, it is much better and much quieter. But there are always times when your body has to stop instead (like if there's a wall coming or if you're dropping straight towards the ground). In those cases, you'd better know how to slow down your head and chest even if it hurts the arms and legs a little and makes some noise.

[Mindas Arran]

I've never understood the "slapping the mat" thing. If your weight is falling in a controlled arc, then shouldn't the body absorb the impact without slapping anything?

RyuJin, do you have a link to any information about renshinken ryu ninjutsu? I tried yahoo search and it came back with zero hits.

[RyuJin]

unfortunately i don't think they have a site for it, i was taught 22 years ago. i'm a bit surprised that the name doesn't show up at all.
many of the dojo's i trained at have been closed for some time, even the shuri-te school i studied at closed down 10 years ago, though you can still find websites for it and it's still being taught under it's own name....i'm going to hafta see if i can find some of my old pamphlets for renshinken-ryu

[RyuJin]

i found out why it isn't listed....the name has changed a bit...and i spelled it incorrectly Shorinji Ryu Renshinkan Kempo (Fuma Ryu Ninjutsu). i did a search using dogpile.com...its a much more thorough search engine because it actually uses all the engines simultaneously. there's quite a few sites for it...hope that helps

[RyuJin]

funny while i was doing the search i found a link to my introduction on temple of the jedi order's website. bit of a pleasent surprise

[stancheung75]

Originally Posted by RyuJin

funny while i was doing the search i found a link to my introduction on temple of the jedi order's website. bit of a pleasent surprise

[stancheung75]

Originally Posted by jdmcowan

Excellent post, Stan. I hope most of the offline groups have a place where they can practice on mats. You gave a great explanation, but there's no substitute for practice and repitition, eh?

Thank you

We have mats in my basement for our meetings. But it's not the "norm" for most places. I just happen to have an obsession for martial arts.

Nope no substitution for practice what so ever. To get good you have to put in your time.

[RyuJin]

lol obsession...i prefer to think of it as an overpowering, bond...i've been studying various styles since i was 8 after seeing my very first bruce lee movie at 7....like many martial artists, i was heavily influenced by his concepts which were brilliant beyond compare.