IKKYO – SOLVING FOR THE INFINITE

There was a time when students paid their teachers for each technique. At first glance that may seem expensive – especially if you believe the hyperbole that Aikido’s techniques are infinite – but that would be to confuse naming conventions for patterns of movement. Ikkyo. The first technique. The first teachings form the pedagogical foundation but to drawContinue reading “IKKYO – SOLVING FOR THE INFINITE”

SAN NO TACHI

The third paired sword exercise – we broke it down into its constituent movements of uchi komi and kiri kaeshi then rebuilt it as a flow sequence. But each component has its purpose – its bunkai. Any given point in the flow could be a terminal movement. Uchidachi’s opening gambit of kiri kaeshi could remove shidachi’sContinue reading “SAN NO TACHI”

KIRI KAESHI

Uchi komi is an exercise from the low guard to the midline (ge-dan to chu-dan) and finding shidachi’s blade on the center-line. In FMA terms, it is a vertical play on the 11/12 line. Kiri kaeshi is a horizontal play on the 3/4 line delivered from 5 – seigan-no-kamai position. I am blending ‘languages’ to illustrateContinue reading “KIRI KAESHI”