Do not mirror image your partner exactly!

Rather, Igarashi Sensei wants Tori at the end of the tai-no-henko (or irimi tenkan) practice to not face directly forward, but to face slightly at an outside angle as this is hanmi. By having Tori‘s chest face directly forward this violates the principle and strengths of hanmi.

This was said in Japanese, but not translated so much.

Update: 2010.12.02 – This practice has been pretty much been abandoned since the seminar – Newcomers are requested to still face directly forward in mirror stance to Uke. It was a good idea, but if it is not practiced then I become the strange person who does it all alone.

Update: 2010.12.05 – As far back as 2004 Igarashi Sensei has actually been demonstrating this, so this is not new – if one is not looking for it, it could get overlooked.

Update: 2010.12.08 – Shirata Sensei in Aikido: The Way of Harmony states that after the tai-no-henko Tori should “assume a hanmi stance.”