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.

This is one of the most important exercises for Aikido. We usually start class with this after warm-up. To jazz it up, we practice four more variations of this sometimes. However, students have confessed it is so boring and seems useless. I used to agree with them, used to.

To make it more interesting I tried to do it the way Saito Sensei demonstrates. I’ve since stopped doing that. The reason is because I have discovered the point of these tai-ho-henko practices and the positive ramifications of practicing them over and over again properly.

I strongly feel the best way to practice the basic tai-ho-henko is with ki blending the way O-Sensei shows in his historical footage. He was wise. The version where Uke grabs as hard as he can is useless to discover the point of this practice. If Uke grabs hard and tries to jam you, he is damenahito, I believe (you can’t translate that, by the way).

This is a blending/leading exercise. If done right, it can be repeated hundreds of times in succession without getting tired or bored. In fact, K and I do tai-no-henko for fun when we don’t have training mats. The key feature is to move as soon as Uke makes contact with Tori’s wrist by bending the wrist so Tori’s fingers point in the direction of Uke’s momentum, then finish the irimi tenkan. Tori should be ridiculously relaxed but in control.

The result of practicing this exercise this way is better blending in other techniques, more control of one’s own body, and a better sense of distance and timing. It is just so fun too.

Today went from 10:30 am until about 3:30 pm with an hour for lunch.

We started with basic tai-no-henko practice. Kawahara Sensei emphasized that the palm be faceup, and when we tenkan our fingers should point in the direction of Uke’s extended arm.

We then went into tai-no-henko with nagare for a short period of time. No general comments from Kawahara Sensei.

Now doing uchi tai-no-henko, Kawahara Sensei had a good point to help everyone: For uchi, we do not let Uke grab our wrist. As he comes to grab out wrist, we retract it by bending it inward toward our hara. This is basic. What he suggests is to not only bend it, but to bend it and present your elbow so Uke cannot grab your forearm (or sode) after a failed wrist-grab attempt. Also, when you retract your forearm to your hara, go past your hara. I noticed that Kawahara Sensei bends his arm, presents his elbow and retracts his arm so that the wrist is well on the other side of his body, beyond his hara. In fact, his elbow becomes closer to his hara than his overshot wrist.

Building on uchi tai-no-henko, we did katatedori kotegaeashi. Sensei had good advice for this was well: After Uke’s hand is grabbed from the top and after you have done the first tenkan, you have a choice to make: send Uke’s energy back into himself or outward in the direction he is already going. Beginners stop after the first tenkan and curl Uke’s fingers and wrist back into him so he falls. The better version is to do another tenkan (not blocking Uke!) so that when you apply the kotegaeshi it is in the direction that Uke is moving already. However, if after the first tenkan Uke is adamant about resiting, you can do the so-called beginner way and blend with Uke’s pulling toward himself. This is according to Sensei, today.

This time it was katatedori koshinage. Right away we are supposed to extend Uke’s arm out using an atemi, extend up and tenkan in to get Uke’s center of gravity raised, then continue the koshinage. Sensei goes on to say that atemi is 90% of Aikido.

Next, we went to zagi ryokatadori nikyo osae. Both arms need to be addressed simultaneously to prevent you from being hit by an unattended arm. From the outside in, one arm needs to be cut down toward the horizontal middle of both of you (cut down toward your hara). At the same time, from underneath the second arm needs to be raised and directed upward in a circular motion. This will cause Uke to begin twisting his body, as well as guard your body in case he lets go to strike you. Next, tenkan maybe 90 degrees so you are perpendicular to Uke when he comes to rest; you should guide his shoulder in between your legs for the nikyo pin.

The old way of doing the above pin was to pop Uke’s elbow (i.e. break it), then strike the back of his head or spine. “We don’t do that anymore.”

Kawahara Sensei then talked about lining up in seiza. Specifically, in the Aikido world it is not important who is on the left of whom. We are all humble. What is important is for everyone to hurry and line up for the next demonstration. However, if someone like Ueshiba Sensei comes to visit, then out of great respect we line up by rank.

We worked next on yokomenuchi nikyo via irimi. What was unique is that Kawahara Sensei wanted the shoulder pin of nikyo. That is, we are to hold Uke’s arm upright from a standing position, press down on the back of his palm to lock his arm and apply pressure to his shoulder, then push his arm toward his head more to accentuate the pressure on the shoulder.

Both in hidari gyakuhanmi: Uke grabs both your wrists and you want to do a tai-no-henko exercise. You can do the nagare version whereby your left hand goes low and near your hara and your right hand raises and your palm is toward Uke’s face.

For static, you want to remove one of Uke’s hands – the right hand. First, extend both of your arms slightly toward the right (the direction of Uke’s shikaku). This will give you leverage and some protection for what is next. Now, both of your hands should be alive and not dead with the bottom hand sensing if he is about to let go or not. When Uke is slightly extended toward his shikaku, you can perform a one-hand nikyo dosa using your right hand and its tegatana. As soon as Uke’s grip is broken and he is still extended, proceed to do a basic tai-no-henko.

A variation from static is to use one hand to hit the other hand’s wrist to shear off one of Uke’s grips. The preferred way is the nikyo dosa above, however.

Igarashi Sensei says that we should focus on the opposite muscles than what Uke is attacking to move him. For tai-no-henko, we should focus on the pinky finger and use our scapula as the first point of movement.¹

1. Thanks to Derek Koter for this video [↩]

How to hold your balance as you pivot. Sensei explains the mnemonic of holding a ball through the pivot and rotation.

体の変更一：手を前方に突き出す際、まっすぐ指を伸ばしていると、三教を取られる。親指を横に突き出してるのも一緒。手は腕と同じく、ゆったりとカーブさせる。（でも、ボールを持つ程ではなく。。。）

体の変更二：手は掴まれそうになる前に、引っ込める、と同時に逆の手は手刀で切り込んで受けの手首をブロック。その時に攻撃ラインからは、既に外れている事。その後転換をするが、肘で受けの肘と結びを作って、相手の出方によりどうにでも反応出来るようにしておくこと！

体の変更三：構えは交差取り（片手取り相半身）から。手首を曲げ、まっすぐ一歩踏み出すが、この際相手のバランスを崩す事を要点において、力で無理矢理進もうとしない事。

体の変更四：練習の際に一直線のラインを超えないように、すばやく投げの前に回り込む事が受けとしては大事な事。

体の変更五：回転する時、受けのスピードに合わせる事が大事！

Ben sensei teaches 5 basic forms of tai-no-henko;

1) From gyaku hanmi uke grabs the offered wrist. Nage slides the forward foot outside and parallel to Uke’s forward foot and pivots 180 degrees. The grabbed wrist acts as a pivot-point and does not move in space, other than to turn. Nage’s grabbed hand stays in front of his hara for strength and stability with palms facing upwards and inwards slightly

2) From gyaku hanmi Uke attempts to grab the offered wrist. Nage, with metsuki (soft-eye focus), reads Uke’s intent from the movement of his upper body (head, shoulders) and withdraws the offered hand to his hara and wedges his other hand between before Uke makes contact. At the same instant, Nage pivots 180 degrees and ends up alongside Uke in a mirror image.

3) Nage offers the hand opposite the leading foot. Uke grabs from gyaku hanmi. Nage steps through with the trailing leg across the front of Uke (omote), diagonally and close with arms in an ikkyo undo position. By staying close to Uke, he is forced to tenkan himself, rather than Nage.

Note: This movement is used, for example, in katatedori shihonage.

4) This exercise is done dynamically. From gyaku hanmi uke grabs the offered wrist. Nage enters to the outside and pivots 180 degrees, but after doing so extends Uke forward and around. Uke blends and pivots around to face Nage again. Nage then repeats, switching to offer the other hand, entering this time with the trailing leg. Repeat the exercise without straying from the initial positions of Uke and Nage, such that they simply interchanging positions rather than drift across the mat.

5) From gyaku hanmi uke grabs the offered wrist. Nage performs tenkan (see 1. above) but continues to circle leading Uke around stepping with the front foot (groin protected). Uke blends keeping close to Nage. Nage switches direction and repeats.

Tonight we started off class with the always-appropriate tai-no-henko wam-up. Andy and I have gotten comfortable moving like Saito Sensei and Osawa Sensei in their videos (See my post on this here). One critical observation that Andy and I noticed and emulate subconsciously is how Saito Sensei finishes at the end of the exercise. Here is a photo:

tai-no-henkou-saisyo

Please notice that his fingers are pointing upwards.

We were made aware that Inaba Sensei and others like to have their palms flat with their fingers extended and Ki radiating from them to infinity. Andy and I tried both slight variations and here is what we found:

1. If tai-no-henko is finished with the palm flat and the fingers extending into the horizon, then it is surprisingly easy as Uke to slide his hand down the wrist and snatch Nage’s fingers and do yubidori or gyaku-nikyo. Try it.
2. In the above picture, to snatch Nage’s fingers requires Uke to let go of Nage’s wrist and attempt to scale the hand in order to get at the wrist. His own thumb is preventing him from climbing straight up. He has to let go which gives Nage a sensation and precious extra milliseconds to react.
3. Where does the Ki go? I believe it extends along the forearm and radiates from the bend in the wrist along the path of the forearm. The forearm becomes a shaft whose tip is the bend in the wrist.

Ki is not supposed to turn sharp corners any more than a fast-moving car can. That is why it feels like it sources at the hara and radiates through my extended arms and out through my wrist keeping ki-no-musubi with aite.