Editors Note: Scroll Down to the bottom for a Yoshinkan version of this very helpful Post.
(From Midwest Aikido Center wrote on February 19, 2009)
I’ve been working with beginners a lot lately, and I thought I would
write down some of my tips for remembering technique names.
Fortunately, Aikido technique names and terminology are not as exotic
as some of the other combative arts. You needn’t worry about
deciphering such names as “Monkey Offers Peach”. By contrast, Aikido
names are modular, and border on the unimaginative. For example, the
exotic sounding “kata tori men uchi ikkyo, omote and ura” literally
means shoulder-grab-face-strike-first form, omote and ura. Not quite
“Parting the Wild Horse’s Mane”.
The first thing to remember is that generally speaking, Aikido
techniques are named in a modular fashion. Here’s the basic formula.
Stance + (body part+Attack) + Technique + (omote or ura)
Although it may bring back painful memories for some of you, an easy
way to remember this formula is S-A-T, for Stance-Attack-Technique.
This will work for almost all cases, but, much as we would wish,
nothing is perfect. For example, the stance is sometimes implied in
the attack, and as such, is omitted. Also the terminology can vary
when weapons are involved.
The concept of omote and ura are another discussion altogether, and we
can spend pages on this topic, so we’ll skip it for now. My intent
here is to cover the basics, and arm you with enough to keep this all
straight. This is by no means intended to be a compendium of Aikido
techniques – others have done that, and I am far from qualified to
even attempt it.
So, now that we have the basic formula, then it becomes a matter of
memorizing a few words and combining them appropriately. So here are
the more common terms, organized by category:
STANCE
gyaku hanmi – mirror image, opposite foot forward
ai hanmi – same foot forward
ushiro – approaching from the back or rear
suwari waza – on your knees. Literally, “seated techniques”
hanmi handachi – nage is seated, uke is standing
BODY PARTS
te – hand
kata – shoulder
hiji – elbow
men – mask, generally used to refer to the face or head. The “men”,
strictly speaking, is a kendo mask, which encloses the entire head. As
such, any part of the head that is covered can be refer to as “men”.
kubi – neck, but when combined with hand (tekubi) become hand-neck or
more simply, wrist.
mune – solar plexus, midsection
ATTACKS
tori – grab or take away (when used as part of the name for a weapon
takeaway technique, such as tanto tori)
uchi – strike, usually with an open hand
tsuki – punch, with a closed fist
shime – to close off or pin
sho – top
yoko – side
kata te tori – one hand wrist grab – in this case kata means opposite,
instead of shoulder
moro te tori – two hands on one wrist
ryo te tori – one hand on each wrist
kata tori – shoulder grab
ryo kata tori – one hand on each shoulder
hiji tori – elbow grab
kubi shime – choke, or literally “closing off the neck”
kata tori men uchi – shoulder grab face strike
yoko men uchi – strike to the side of the face
sho men uchi – strike the top of the head
mune tsuki, or simply tsuki – punch to the midsection
TECHNIQUES – I’ll only list the basics in the interest of brevity.
Ikkyo – first form
Nikyo – second form
Sankyo – third form
Yonkyo – fourth form
Gokyo – fifth form
Kote gaeshi – literally “gauntlet turnover”
Shiho Nage – four direction throw
Irimi Nage – entering throw
Kokyu Nage – breath throw, with a gazillion variations. When in doubt,
just call it kokyu nage
Sumi Otoshi – corner drop
Juji Nage – Figure Ten (ten is drawn as a cross in Kanji) throw
Kaiten Nage – cycle or wheel throw
Koshi Nage – hip throw
Ten Chi Nage – heaven earth Throw (OK, so we’re getting close to
“Monkey Offers Peach” – but this is as exotic as it gets)
WEAPONS
jo – short staff, meant as a walking stick
bokken or bokuto – literally “stick sword”
tanto – knife
weapon + tori – technique where nage takes the attacker’s weapon away
weapon + waza – nage is holding the weapon and applies a technique
while holding weapon.
There are many other terms but that should cover the basics.
So, using the S-A-T formula, it should be fairly easy to name the
technique that sensei was just demonstrating. So, if your attempt at
invisibility fails and sensei asks you what a technique is called,
take a deep breath and remember S-A-T.
When testing, and the technique is called out, just begin “assembling”
yourself and uke according to S-A-T. “Ushiro Tekubi Tori Kotegaeshi”
is called out, and you now know that the S is ushiro, or rear
approach, A is a wrist grab, and the T is Kotegaeshi or “gauntlet turn
over”.
Hope you all find this helpful. It’s certainly easier that remembering
all the different permutations individually. If I forgot something,
feel free to add via the comments.
For Youshinkan think… A-T-S. As in Attack, (Body Part) Technique, Stance. Shomenuchi, Nikijo, Ichi, Ai “Stance”.
Front Strike to the top of the head, 2nd Control, Number One, Mutual Stance. (both attacker and defender in Right or left basic stance).
Tags: Aikido, Aikido terms, Bushokan, Martial Arts, PA, Philadelphia, Yoshinkan Aikido
