No Attack In Aikido? The First Principle Says Otherwise
There is an elephant in the room that is so large it isn’t simply a case of nobody talking about it. It’s so big that somehow most people don’t even notice it. At this point, the elephant is the room. It relates to a simple concept that you hear about aikido all the time. Namely, there is no attack in aikido. This has become a fundamental part of the art. There is even a quote from O Sensei about this in the Art of Peace as translated by John Stevens:…
A Better Way To Teach The Irimi Entry
People often talk about modernising aikido, but when they do this they tend to refer to adding techniques and removing others. Very few people ever talk about the techniques used to teach aikido. The closest aikidoka come to that is discussing free-style sparring. Some are against it, others just go ahead and do it. This blog post will introduce a new way to teach your students the irimi entry. The Problem At some point in their training every aikidoka will have been told to “go forward”. For a sensei to…
With Weapons Training You Need To Finish The Technique
Over the last number of months, as the world has been shut down, there has been an increase in weapons training. As noted in a previous post I think this was a missed opportunity but it has revealed something else that was unexpected. The world over aikidoka are performing weapons techniques and kata. Now, more than ever, social media groups are flooded with videos of aikido weapons. Watching these videos it’s almost impossible not to notice a problem. Failing To Finish It seems that when aikidoka are performing weapons kata…
That really painful lock? Yeah, it doesn’t actually hurt.
There’s a really common idea in aikido that if it doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t work. I can understand where this sentiment comes from. If somebody applies a nikkyo lock to you then it’s usually accompanied by pain. That tends to be how it works. The classic one for this though, is yonkyo. People groan when yonkyo practice is announced because it means they’re in for a lesson of pressure point squeezing pain. The catch though, is that yonkyo doesn’t hurt. None of the katame-waza in aikido actually hurt. They can…
The Most Common Mistake In Kaiten Nage
Kaiten nage is a fascinating technique. We can learn many lessons while performing it but I think we often miss one of the most important. It takes place during the uchi form but not the soto. Rather, it is more obvious in the uchi form. It concerns where the elbow in kaiten nage goes. The specific part of the form that we are going to examine here is after the entry under the arm. Just at the point where nage turns to face the same direction as uke but before…
How to Make a Proper Entry for Irimi Nage
Irimi nage means ‘entering throw’. Many aikidoka are successful at the second part – throwing, but less so at the entering. What amazes me is the sheer number of aikidoka that don’t actually enter when doing irimi nage. This is one of the greatest technical pitfalls and it is actually very easy to determine why. The majority of aikidoka fail to begin irimi nage with a step deep enough to carry them behind the uke. Proper entry in irimi nage involves being behind the uke. The problem is that nage…
How to Place Your Fingers in Kote Gaeshi
The Problem Kote gaeshi is a fundamental technique that is taught to all aikidoka. Despite this there are numerous issues that arise with it’s correct execution. This is because as well as being fundamental, it’s also difficult. This post is going to examine one of the biggest problems with correctly applying Kote Gaeshi. Where the nage’s hands go in relation to the uke’s wrist. It is quite common to for a nage to place their fingers on the uke’s wrist when applying kote gaeshi. This is a mistake that occurs…