WEAPONS INFORM MOVEMENT

In a prior article, I explained ikkyo and irimi-nage arise from the moment of contested weapon access—the effort to draw and the counter-effort to suppress. The last Saturday weapons class continued that line of thought, focusing more precisely on ikkyo and nikkyo as a means to draw the katana in a contested encounter. Protecting theContinue reading “WEAPONS INFORM MOVEMENT”

RETURN TO THE MAT – MARCH 2021

March 1, 2021, the first Monday class after almost a full year off the Aikido mat. Restrictions are still in place – masked, no-contact training – which makes for a challenging teaching and learning environment. Aikido is an energetic art: we need to touch each other to understand how to ‘blend’ with the intentional forceContinue reading “RETURN TO THE MAT – MARCH 2021”

SPEAR HAND IN AIKIDO

Saturday morning practice at 0830 – it’s not for snowflakes. Shomen-uchi was the attack which of course could be a punch to the face. Don’t get stuck in linguistic ruts that occlude your ability to see the similarities. The warm up was suwariwaza with the basic dexterity familiarization: ikkyo, nikkyo, sankyo, yonkyo in a linkedContinue reading “SPEAR HAND IN AIKIDO”