On the Mat Day 213: New Places Old Faces (with KOB notes)

Tsurumai dojo mat

So I wanted to change things up a little last night which is why I decided to go to the Tsurumai dojo instead of the main one in Nonami. I got to the place around 7.40 pm after working my way through the subway network which I have not used in ages. It was nice to go to central Nagoya again. It reminded me of my first days in Japan, the smell, the pretty girls on the trains, familiar station names. I found the place from the station without too much trouble. I have a knack of being able to track my way to any place even if the map I get is crap. I just followed my nose and arrived there easily. F-sensei's wife buzzed me in and I went up to a brightly lit room on the 2nd floor with a nice shiny mat that spanned the entire room. The heating was turned on and it was all so nice and cosey. So much so that I didn't need to wear a full sleeve rashguard and rash leggings under my gi. Fuji-san, apparently a regular on Thursday night, turned up at 8 pm after running there from his home.

A photo used to promote jiu-jitsu at the new dojo (old dojo shown). Guess the technique being shown.

We worked on a warmup/stretch at first but it seemed kind of archaic in nature. Something I used to do when I did Karate when I was 13. Static stretches are so 1980s. I'd prefer K-sensei to make us do BJJ specific drills. We moved onto closed guard drills next. Whenever I drill with Fuji from closed guard I can never get my legs around his waist because he is like a big keg of beer. I could not connect my legs over his shoulder for the high guard armbar either.

We moved onto the knee on belly sequences which I saw on Tuesday. Again this lesson was a recap for me but involving tech I really like. Knee on the belly is not just a great BJJ position it is also great for self-defence. If you get an attacker into this position they are screwed.

During sparring the first thing I noticed was how easy it was to slide on the mats. This made escaping easy and in my opinion gave an unfair advantage to anyone on the bottom. Lucky me because most of my game is bottom now. I tried to play more open guard with Fuji-san but we always end up in closed guard. I think he pushes himself into it to get the Tozi pass. His main attacks are grab the pants if I am sitting and use bullfighter pass, or wait until he is in my guard and use the Tozi pass. I also sparred with Fumika (K-sensei's wife), she is so nimble and I try so hard not to use strength but I have to grab her so hard sometimes otherwise she slips away or transitions fast.

I will definately try to make a trip to Tsurumai once a month just for the fun of working out in a different environment.

Sparring time: 6 x 6 mins = 36 mins

Notable moments: Almost getting K-sensei in a twisting armbar from close guard. I reaped in his elbow as he tried to break my guard, shrimped to my left and was about to get his arm when he somersaulted forward to escape. Later he said my legs were too loose and it gave him space to escape otherwise I could have had him.

KOB Techniques -