http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62rYtTad4m8

I am wondering about this part below:

Doshu Katatedori Kaitennage Cut-Down

Doshu cuts straight down and back. For a moment, Uke has a bent arm whereby he can regain his balance. Doshu keeps tension on Uke‘s arm the whole time. This just looks bent because of the trajectory and the angle.

Doshu Katatedori Kaitennage Uchitenkan

Doshu cuts straight back, and then goes for Uke‘s neck for the throw.

I am wondering if there is a way I can do this and keep tension on Uke‘s arm for the entire technique and hold Uke‘s head earlier in the cut-down?

When I try it this way (lack of tension on Uke‘s arm as in the still above), Ben Sensei either motions to elbow me in the face or escapes. The way to keep tension is to project outward along Uke‘s arm through the tenkan before and during the cut down. This should keep Uke off balance.

Please see a more recent post for details on this aspect.

Uke needs to be off-balance before entering, so it is important to retain tension while applying the arm extension. Nage then enters under the extended arm and does full tenkan more than 180 degrees, cutting forward and down off Uke‘s centreline at 45 degrees. Throw in the direction Uke‘s feet are pointing, keeping his head low.

On the irimi kaiten, Tori steps straight back and deeply. That is, he does a textbook irimi kaiten. If the kaiten is not done on a straight line, on the kaitensoku Uke may fall into Tori‘s leg. Also, unline the tai-no-henko practice, Tori‘s front foot after the kaiten is complete is a little behind Uke‘s front leg. This gives Uke clearance to pivot around Tori on the pin.

Step back at 180 degrees

This waza has a smooth flow. The ikkyo idea is to redirect energy fluidly and efficiently.

Update: 2010.12.18 – It was strongly suggested to me to not step back yet while 1) Uke is high, and 2) without my arms in front of my hara. I look at the still above of Doshu and I think I was cautioned when I was doing something similar.

I’ve merged our large list of Aikido terms and phrases and the audio pronunciations together on the same page. See the dictionary page. For many terms you can hear its authentic Japanese pronunciation as well. I will make the definitions more detailed over time. -Eric

We’ve been doing a lot of work with tai-no-henko lately so I added a category for this under type > taisabaki > tai-no-henko as this is a form of taisabaki. Please update your posts if you haven’t done so already. Thanks.

-Eric

At the point when Uke‘s arm is extended horizontally outward and you are about to ‘zig-zag’ to take his balance, consider this:

Uke‘s extended-arm’s wrist should be on your outer thigh. As you take him to the ground for the osae, keep his wrist on your thigh all the way through the motion. His hand should be free to wiggle as he cannot grab on to anything so it is moot. When Uke reaches the ground, his wrist is still on your thigh. Do not plop down to the ground with both your knees as this is proven to be ineffective. Instead, consider placing your knee which is closest to Uke on the ground first (just into his armpit) while the other, outer knee is up still. This is essentially kneeling on one knee. If you keep one hand on his shoulder and hold it to the ground, and keep the other hand on his wrist, Uke should feel a slight hyper-extension at his elbow.

This is one opportunity to control his elbow and prevent him from fighting. We are not done yet.

One hand is on his wrist while the other is on his elbow (use your thumb here to press into his ulnar nerve if you need to control him more). Lower your outer knee to the ground (knees wide apart, back straight) while still keeping Uke‘s wrist on your outer thigh. When your knee is down and you are stable, while pressing on his elbow and holding his wrist lightly, firmly slide his arm to the ground in front of you. Keep the angle a little more than 90 degrees from Uke‘s body with the excess in degrees toward his head.

Finally, here is another opportunity to control him: while pushing down on his elbow, you can can pull up on his wrist to hyper-extend his arm again.

These three or so control points should lead to a secure ikkyo omote pin.

1) Uke rushes to grab the offered hand. Nage blends and performs tenkan (180 degrees) such that Uke is extended off-balance. Nage then enters, keeping Uke‘s grabbing hand low so he cannot recover balance, and with the other hand on Uke‘s inner elbow finishes with kokyunage throw.

2) Same as above but without the 180 degree tenkan. Nage enters immediately, keeping the grabbed hand low and finishing with kokyunage on Uke‘s inner elbow.