I was looking at videos of gyaku hanmi katatedori shihonage and I came across one by Nishio Sensei that was peculiar. I don’t want to show the video, but the link from YouTube is at the bottom1.

In this clip Nishio Sensei starts off by saying that 99% of Aikidoka do shihonage “in a very dangerous way”. The image below is of the dangerous way he is referring to.

Nishio Sensei's akurei demonstration

Intrigued, I continued watching. He was referring to the initial movement when grabbed. His solution is a bit unusual but his reasoning is interesting so I sought out other videos to see if others keep this in mind.

Here is Doshu’s solution2:

Step 1

Notice how he raises his arm as if to drink a glass of water. This looks like it affords him some protection from a strike from the back fist.

Step 2

Next is Endo Sensei’s solution3. He extends Uke‘s arm at waist-level:

The grab

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Christian Tissier’s solutions is similar to Endo Sensei’s solution4, except that he extends Uke‘s arm at chest-level, not at waist-level the way Endo Sensei does:

Christian Tissier's solution

Here is Saito Sensei’s solution5. He slides to the side and has an atemi waiting. Notice how his toes are aligned with Uke‘s – this is a common posture he uses in many of his kokyuho waza:

Saito Sensei's solution

Osawa Sensei has the most effective entry of all. His initial step and slide is similar to that of Endo, Saito and Tissier, except his toes are only a couple cm away from Uke, and he makes use of a shoulder lock to raise Uke and assist in waza (not shown here).

I have presented the entering solution of four influential Aikidoka in no particular order. I think it is a worthwhile investment to discover for oneself how to enter into katatedori shihonage safely all the time.

1. From http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9PTMSwr1h0 [↩]
2. From http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HJjb65eu2w [↩]
3. From http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkbx7Kp7KFI [↩]
4. From http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfuwPVOfGZ8 [↩]
5. From http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f1LOIqmNI4 [↩]