Aikido

People seek power… we do Aikido!

                                                                           – Maadi Dojo

What is Aikido? Is it the art of breaking bones? isn’t it what Steven Segale does in his movies? is it a brutal martial art?

Esma7ouli, I will steal Wikipedia’s entry on Aikido:

Aikido (合気道), translated as “the way of harmonious spirit”, is a modern Japanese martial art (gendai budō) developed by Morihei Ueshiba as a synthesis of his martial studies, philosophy, and religious beliefs. Ueshiba’s goal was to create a martial art through which a practitioner could achieve the ability to defend himself without injuring his attacker.

Aikido emphasizes joining with an attack and redirecting the attacker’s energy, as opposed to meeting force with force, and consists primarily of body throws and joint-locking techniques. In addition to physical fitness and techniques, mental training, controlled relaxation, and development of “spirit” (ki) are emphasized in aikido training.

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The following are a sample of the basic or widely practiced throws and pins. The precise terminology for some may vary between organisations and styles, so what follows are the terms used by the Aikikai Foundation. Note that despite the names of the first five techniques listed, they are not universally taught in numeric order.^[16]

• Ikkyō (first technique) a control using one hand on the elbow and one on near the wrist which leverages uke to the ground. This grip also applies pressure into the ulnar nerve on the medial side of the arm.
• Nikyō (second technique) an adductive wristlock that torques the arm and applies painful nerve pressure.
• Sankyō (third technique) a pronating technique that directs upward-spiraling tension throughout the arm, elbow and shoulder.
• Yonkyō (fourth technique) a shoulder control similar to ikkyō, but with both hands gripping the forearm. The knuckles (from the palm side) are applied to the recipient’s radial nerve against the periosteum of the forearm bone.
• Gokyō (fifth technique) a variant of ikkyō in which the hand gripping the wrist is inverted. Common in tantō and other weapon take-aways.
• Shihōnage (four-direction throw) The hand is folded back past the shoulder, locking the shoulder joint.
• Kotegaeshi (wrist return) a supinating wristlock-throw that stretches the extensor digitorum.
• Kokyūnage (breath throw) a term for various types of flowing “timing throws”.
• Iriminage (entering-body throw) throws in which nage moves through the space occupied by uke. The classic form superficially resembles a “clothesline” technique.
• Tenchinage (heaven-and-earth throw) From uke grabbing both wrists of nage. Moving forward, nage sweeps one hand low (“earth”) and the other high (“heaven”), which unbalances uke so that he or she easily topples over.
• Koshinage (hip throw) aikido’s version of the hip throw. Nage drops his or her hips lower than those of uke, then flips uke over the resultant fulcrum.
• Jūjinage (shaped-like-‘ten’ throw) a throw that locks the arms against each other. (The kanji for “10” is a cross-shape.)
• Kaitennage (rotation throw) nage sweeps the arm back until it locks the shoulder joint, then uses forward pressure to throw.

Aikido makes use of body movement (tai sabaki) to blend with uke. For example, an “entering” (入身, irimi) technique consists of movements inward towards uke, while a “turning” (転換, tenkan) technique uses a pivoting motion. Additionally, an “inside” (内, uchi) technique takes place in front of uke, whereas an “outside” (外, soto) technique takes place to his side; a “front” (表, omote) technique is applied with motion to the front of uke, and a “rear” (裏, ura) version is applied with motion towards the rear of uke, usually by incorporating a turning or pivoting motion. Finally, most techniques can be performed while in a seated posture (seiza). Seated techniques are called suwari-waza.

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That’s it for now about aikido 🙂 Any question??