In Search of Lost Thumbs 24

Bellies and Love & Hate

The other day, after working on a move called kotegaeshi, where you throw someone by their wrist joint, the instructor showed us something he had practiced in Hawaii when he lived there. It doesn’t break the wrist joint. But it does twist it as far as it goes, so it was no mere stretch, nor was it something done to cause injury.

He did this on each of the seven of us gathered in the dojo. Usually if you tapped the mat with some part of your body, he would stop, but for this part, he wouldn’t let us out of the lock. So even if you screamed, “Ow! Ow!” in pain and writhed around, he would simply say, “Hey, don’t stop breathing!” and continued bending each of your wrists.

As I watched, one of the students was in so much pain they were going pale in the face. They broke out in a sweat. It seemed that those who cried out writhed harder.

Diving with Pain

Finally, it was my turn. The instructor took my right wrist firmly in his hand and pressed the back of my hand with his other hand. Sensing this vise-like pressure, I closed my eyes and began to dive. My wrist quietly bent.