Mimics

  When person's attend a martial art class (regardless of the “system” being shown), they begin as mimic's. They are basically attempting to “copy/imitate” all the motions that are being performed by their instructor.

      

  There's nothing wrong with this approach to learning, in fact it's the most commonly accepted method of instruction being done. But that doesn't (necessarily) mean that it's the best, nor the only method to use throughout one's entire training career.

      

  Learning, implies understanding. In order to understand something, one must be familiar with the various aspects of the subject (both pro and con). During a student's initial stages of study, the student is only concerned with copying the motions (ie. Being a “mimic”).

      

  Once those motions are able to be copied (to both the student and instructor's satisfaction), the student can continue to pursue the study of that subject, or move on to learn other subjects. The majority of “kyu-rank” students, choose to move on (and be shown other/additional subject matter).

      

  This is an understandable choice, there is commonly a fair amount of beginning information that student's are (as yet) unfamiliar with. As an instructor I try to not (unduly) emphasize any particular subject study by my student's (during their “kyu-rank” period of practice).

            

  Once they reach Yudansha though, I will direct them (as needed) towards subjects that they need a (more) serious understanding of. Very often, this will be in the practice of Tuite.

          

  Numerous people have mentioned (myself included) how, in the early years of it's practice (here in the U.S.), Learning Tuite was a quasi risky practice. The manor that Taika taught it, was that he demonstrated the technique on You, then told everyone to go practice it. His “demonstration” was commonly done at moderate speed (though you still bounced off the floor).

      

  I know that for our student's (many of which were Doctor's or some manor of professional's that needed their hand's for their work), this manor of practice would not suffice (they couldn't afford to be injured). For the first 10, 15 years, person's with those concerns, just quit (or didn't work on Tuite, which is where the problem began).

    

 When my associate and myself opened our own Dojo, we decided to change that concern (for students). Taika had always stated that correct (tuite) technique, would function regardless of the strength of either party (tori, or uke). He also stated that speed, was only a bonus.

   

 Taika's demonstrations of Tuite were (almost) always performed quickly. That should not of implied that it's practice/learning should be done in that manor as well. But for many, it was the only way that they could make it function (which they assumed was also correctly).

          

  My associate and I modified our student's practice to be performed slowly (only). By doing so, this made the (correct) performance of a technique (even more) difficult to accomplish. When done correctly, the speed was an irrelevant factor (it needed only to be performed correctly, to work).

      

  Essentially, we increased the learning curve for our student's study. But we also reduced the occurrence of any injury to our student's as well (in our opinion, a viable trade-off).

            

  I'm fully aware of the fact, that there are instructor's out-there, that (still) believe in the “no-pain, no-gain” philosophy (if/when applied to Tuite). I can only say that those individual's are Moron's and/or Idiot's who don't know WTF they are talking about (and should be avoided at all cost). 

       

  I will state, that if you can't make a particular Tuite technique work (while performing it slowly), then your doing the technique incorrectly. If you are having to “muscle” a technique (excessively) there's a (really) good chance that your doing it incorrectly. If the uke is able to strike you (with their free hand), while your performing the technique upon them, then your probably doing the technique incorrectly.
       

  The (continued) study of Tuite, is something that many student's fail to do. I constantly witness numerous examples of poorly performed (and very often total Crap) versions and imitations of Tuite being exampled on “U-Tube” and such. These are rarely examples of (true) Tuite. Most often they are only (common) Ju-jutsu, or Aikido types of techniques (they are not the same).

    

  Being a student, implies that one be studious. To (actually) study, one must do research. In this field that mean's "hand's-on" research. It's one thing to go through the motions, but if/when applied in an actual confrontation, it will be necessary to adapt to the current circumstances. If/when one has not done the required research, they will fail to have the ability to adapt to those changing circumstances.

  

 Over the years, it's become obvious that very few individual's have continued their study in the performance of Tuite. Having observed numerous instructors (and students) perform (or at least attempt) Tuite, it's become obvious that the general level of (actual) study, has been minimal (at best). 

 I've seen the Rules of Application that these people use in regards to Tuite. They have 10 of them, and my opinion of them, is that they are (like all the rest of the TCM nonsense) misleading, irrelevant and a waste of time. Of those 10, there is only 1 that is even similar to any of ours, and ours amount to only 6 Principles, and each of them apply (in varying degrees) to every tuite technique). 
       
 Their (version of) application principles, are only self-serving (for their lecture tours). They do nothing to aid the student's with the application of Tuite techniques (and in many ways are misleading). If these have been (somebody's?) standards for tuite application, it no wonder that the performance of tuite is as poor as it (obviously) is.