Endo Sensei showed the futility of a strong-armed atemi in aikido. To demonstrate, he delivered a strike to Uke‘s face where his atemi was met with a block by Uke. We are all used to this pattern in, say, katatedori kaitennage uchimawari. He then instructed Uke, who knew Endo Sensei’s atari lessons, to do ‘kuzushi’ on his atemi. Endo Sensei, as Tori, then fell promptly.

He did this a few times to illustrate that if force is met with force, then kuzushi is possible and not necessarily in Tori‘s favor.

Instead, Tori should use a calm, slow atemi with fingers out toward Uke‘s face. Sensei says that if his hand sneaks up to Uke7s face, then the rest of the technique doesn’t matter.

(Strong atemi to Uke‘s ribs or stomach is still okay)

It is okay to bend over sometimes in aikido. The important point is to keep balance while doing this.

Steven Seagal iriminage

Endo Sensei on grabbing

“Because I am not grabbing, my arm has function.” – Endo Sensei

Parts of Tegatana

掌底部　（しょうていぶ） – The low part of the hand
尺骨部　（しゃくこつぶ） – Ulna bone
橈骨部　（とうこつぶ） – The radius bone

It is easy to leave a gap between Tori and Uke on iriminage ura. We’re told “don’t leave a gap”, but not how exactly to do that1.

Iriminage gap

Iriminage gap

Some shihans have us practice entering behind Uke with the goal of grasping Uke‘s opposite shoulder on the initial entry. Other shihans want us to get behind Uke completely in order to see the back of Uke‘s head2. Still others want us to enter so deep that we can potentially elbow Uke in the back of the head on the initial entry.

In the beginning, a newcomer to iriminage tends to leave a big gap between him and Uke, and then iriminage turns into an out-of-control spiral or Uke falls forward and is hard to throw.

Iriminage: Uke falling

Osawa Sensei, as one example, goes deep behind Uke and can minimize the gap. Notice how far behind Uke Sensei is:

Osawa Sensei: iriminage

My theory:

Entering behind deep and close to Uke will minimize this gap and tighten the tenkan before the throw. Contacting Uke with the hand of an outstretched arm will almost always result in a shallow entry and a big gap. See below again.

Iriminage gap

1. in my experience [↩]
2. Seki Sensei really emphasizes this [↩]

I’ve noticed that some shihans absorb Uke‘s forearm into their centers thereby isolating his forearm when executing nikyo. Yokota Sensei showed this last night1 and he took time to explain it after. After discussion with other students, it seems it comes down locking/isolating Uke‘s forearm as well as his wrist before cutting down. This may seem like common sense, but I made a project out of review my nikyo videos and noticed that it is not common after all.

Isolating just Uke‘s bent wrist and taking his tegatana imaginarily through his neck works well, but this above method of a more confident and devastating nikyo is much sexier and more efficient. Doshu does this method.

Endo Sensei: nikyo ura

Yamada Sensei: nikyo ura

Doshu: nikyo ura

Doshu: nikyo ura

Doshu REF: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r_L6EIZ1yU

Doshu: nikyo ura

Continued

REF: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NCDO7gpMiY

1. 2011.12.05 [↩]

Masuda Sensei said this week to my partner something similar to:

“For kotegaeshi, it is done like sumiotoshi where the elbow is the focus point.”

Myth. Definition: A fiction or half-truth, especially one that forms part of an ideology.1

There is a way to do shihonage without cranking on Uke‘s wrist. Osawa Sensei2 never cranks on my wrist, but beginners tend to try – they can’t help it.

Sometime in the beginning I remember someone3 saying to me to grip the base of Uke‘s wrist with one hand, and the back of the same hand with the other, then cut down with a rolling action. That advice is terrible. I fear that following this method of executing a painful technique will give some inferred, unjustified permission to practice a whole host of other painful techniques. I know yudansha who still crank on the wrist. If Uke falls, then it must work, right? No, no, no.

That is why it is important to create/follow some sort of mantra or philosophy when executing techniques rather than just merely executing them. Hopefully one key concept is to not injure or cause pain.

Selected Shihonage Myths

The mechanics of shihonage are quite simple and not mysterious, and are reliable. If doesn’t need to be polluted with ‘what if’ backup techniques to make it work, usually. The first thing to throw away is:

Myth: “Before cutting down, make sure Uke‘s wrist is touching/attached/at his back – this is to prevent injuring his elbow.”

If possible, this is a good thing, but it is not the cornerstone of the technique or cut-down. Shihonage is often done with Uke‘s arm out a little on the inception of the cut-down, however, many shihans cut-down at a speed comparable with Uke‘s own momentum or rate of falling to keep Uke safe. Also, it is good form and kind to get Uke‘s wrist close to his back once he has started falling. This will impart a rotation on Uke‘s body so he may land up to 90 degrees turned outward.

Myth: “Place one hand on the base, and one on the back of Uke‘s hand, then roll down.”

Doshu doesn’t4.This otherwise causes pain in lieu of proper mechanics and vision. The most important observation I have made is that in the case of shihonage, kotegaeshi, tembinnage and others, the body goes where the elbow goes, not where the wrist goes5. When some aikidoka make their partners do beautiful flips in the air on kotegaeshi, they are demonstrating they know this too.

Myth: “Tori should face toward Uke‘s back/spine before cutting down”

Doshu doesn’t67. In fact, it was Doshu using me as uke when I realized he does something different that I was taught in the past8. Maybe it was a fluke of body positioning. But again he did it to me the same way, and again and again. Other shihans are similar. It is nice if Tori can face Uke‘s back/spine as it is optimal, but it is not critical. Keeping the previous idea in mind – about leveraging Uke‘s elbow, not his wrist – Uke should not be able to hit Tori.

Myth: “Let go after cutting down; never bend your back”

Again, using Doshu as an example, it’s okay to bend deeply at the hips. In fact, Osawa Sensei makes his students mimic his footwork and body motions in class. He specifically says to “touch the tatami” when we do image training as a whole class. He says the important thing is to keep centered and to keep the back foot firmly planted on the ground.

Here is a clip of Doshu at a seminar showing yokomenuchi shihonage. I like using yokomenuchi shihonage to illustrate these myths because it is easier to make Uke fall and to do things like face his back because Uke has momentum and is turning. But, much of the mythical advice is not followed here.

Here is an instructional video highlighting the last myth for kihonwaza.

1. From The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company [↩]
2. as well as ever other shihans at Hombu who has used me for uke [↩]
3. maybe an instructor, but more than one person for sure [↩]
4. See page 55 of Aikido Jotatsu Book from 2007 for an explanation of the grip [↩]
5. unless the wrist is under so much pressure and pain that it compels one to move with it, but that isn’t the goal, not to cause pain [↩]
6. See pages 48~55 of Aikido Jotatsu Book from 2007 [↩]
7. See this post: http://wazajournal.com/kamae/tachi/doshu-shihonage-ura-cut-down.html [↩]
8. See this post: http://wazajournal.com/kamae/tachi/taking-shihonage-for-doshu.html [↩]

Observation: I noticed that Kobayashi Sensei tends to keep Uke‘s elbow lower that his wrist when he does kotegaeshi. Well, it’s more like he keeps Uke‘s elbow lower than Uke‘s hara. I need to look at this more, as well as videos of people who have really skilled kotegaeshi to see if this is common. However, when I see a kotegaeshi that looks strange, Uke‘s arm (and elbow) is usually high.

Observation: In the stills below it looks like Kobayashi Sensei is circumscribing an arc leading away from Uke, rather than behind him like I originally thought. This leads to his aite flipping over.

Kobayashi Sensei

Kobayashi Sensei

Kobayashi Sensei

Kobayashi Sensei

Here is another sequence:

Kobayashi Sensei

Kobayashi Sensei

Kobayashi Sensei

I want to understand this kotegaeshi because Sensei doesn’t put pressure on the back of Uke‘s wrist at all, but instead guides his whole body from his forearm. And, this isn’t painful for Uke which is one of my goals.

It feels like he is leading Uke at his elbow, not the wrist.

I’ve noticed that Osawa Sensei turns his wrist so his thumb points down when grabbed on the initial movement of katatedori shihonage ura.

For both omote and ura, he wants us to be “gi to gi” when entering into Uke – no gap.