|
The Japanese word for
teacher is Sensei. The founder of Aikido, Mr Ueshiba, is known as
O-Sensei or great teacher.
On the mat, the instructor is referred to as
Sensei. |
|
Etiquette
At the beginning of class
we bow to O-Sensei, then bow to Sensei
and say “o ne gai shi mas”, which means ‘please’
- in this context ‘please practice’. At the end of class we bow to
O-Sensei, then bow to Sensei and say
“domo arigato gozaimashita” which is a very polite
‘thank you’ (generally, the longer a phrase is the more polite it is).
When practising with a
partner we bow to each other before and after training together.
|
Tori |
the
person performing the technique |
|
Ukei |
the
person receiving the technique (usually the attacker) |
|
|
Posture
|
Kamae
|
posture (general) |
|
Hanmi
|
half
body posture |
|
Migi |
right foot forward |
|
Hidari |
left foot forward |
|
|
Tai Subaki (body
movement)
|
Irimi |
entering body (step forward) |
|
Tenkan |
(pivot on the front foot) |
|
Tsugi ashi
|
following feet (move the front foot forward,
draw the rear foot up behind) |
|
Ukemi |
(receiving body) break falls |
|
Mae
|
forwards |
|
Ushiro
|
backwards |
|
Yoko
|
sideways |
|
Shikko
|
knee walking |
|
|
Introduction to techniques
|
An Aikido technique
is described by the attack, followed by the name of the technique.
Sometimes it is specified whether the technique should be sitting or
standing.
Most techniques have
two forms, omote (positive, irimi) and ura
(negative, tenkan).
When practising in pairs it is usual for
one person to perform the technique four times (omote, right
and left; ura, right and left), then the other person to
perform the technique four times. |
|
Suwariwaza |
sitting techniques |
|
Tachi waza |
standing techniques |
|
Hanmi handachi |
sitting technique, standing attack |
|
|
Attacks
|
Katatedori |
wrist held by one hand |
|
Aihanmi
|
(agreeing posture) right takes right or left takes left |
|
Gyakuhanmi
|
right takes left or left takes right |
|
Katadori |
shoulder holding |
|
Ryotedori ryotemochi |
both
wrists held |
|
Morotedori |
one
wrist held by two hands |
|
Shomenuchi |
vertical cut down |
|
Yokomenuchi |
diagonal cut down |
|
Tsuki |
punch |
|
Jo dan
|
upper level (punch to face) |
|
Chu dan
|
middle level (punch to the knot on the belt) |
|
Ge dan
|
lower level (!) |
|
Ushiro |
behind |
|
|
Techniques
|
Ikkyo |
first technique (circling arm) |
|
Nikyo |
second technique (painful wrist twist) |
|
Sankyo |
third technique (turning wrist and forearm) |
|
Yonkyo |
fourth
technique (cutting forearm while applying pressure to a nerve) |
|
Gokyo |
fifth technique (applied to the wrist) |
|
Rokkyo |
sixth technique
(applied to the elbow) |
| |
|
|
Iriminage |
entering body throw |
|
Ko te gae shi |
little hand turn |
|
Shi ho nage |
four
direction throw |
|
Kai ten nage |
body
turn throw |
|
Uchi
|
inside (under) |
|
Soto |
outside |
|
|
Weapons
|
Jo
|
stick |
|
Bokken |
wooden sword |
|
Tanto |
wooden knife |
|
|
Aikido Concepts
|
Tegatana |
(hand blade) the edge of the arm from the base of the little finger to
the forearm |
|
Ki |
energy |
|
Tanden |
centre, point below the navel which is the centre of ki |
|
Kokuho |
breath power |
|
Atemi |
strike to distract ukei |
|
Ma ai |
distance, space or being in the right place at the
right time |
|
Zanshin |
finishing, spirit at the end of the
technique |
|
|
Counting
Numbers are regular, once
you know one to ten you can go all the way to 99. The exception is 4 which
can be pronounced either shi (shi ho nage) or yon (yon
kyo).
|
1 |
Ichi |
20 |
Ni ju |
|
2 |
Ni |
21 |
Ni ju ichi |
|
3 |
San |
22 |
Nu ju ni |
|
4 |
Shi (or Yon) |
|
|
|
5 |
Go |
30 |
San ju |
|
6 |
Rokkyu |
31 |
San ju ichi |
|
7 |
Shichi |
|
|
|
8 |
Hachi |
40 |
Yon ju |
|
9 |
Kyu |
41 |
Yon ju ichi |
|
10 |
Ju |
|
|
|
11 |
Ju ichi |
50 |
Go ju |
|
12 |
Ju ni |
51 |
Go ju ichi |
|
|
Yet More Japanese for
those who are interested
Japanese is pronounced
with short ‘a’s like northern English accents.
Japanese is written using
a mixture of kanji (the Chinese characters),
and hiragana and katakana, which are
phonetic. There are nearly always at least two ways of pronouncing a
Chinese character: the Chinese sound and the word
that existed in Japanese before they had access to the written script. The
Chinese pronunciation tends to be used in similar contexts to those where we
would use words of Latin or Greek origin.
The Japanese consider ‘g’
to be a hard form of ‘c’; ‘b’ as a hard ‘h’;
and ‘d’ as a hard ‘t’. When two words are combined to make a compound word
if the second word begins with c, h or d it will appear in the compound word
in the hard form. Katana means sword and te
means hand, but the compound ‘hand blade’ is tegatana |
Last updated
25 May 2006 |
