Dear Tori,
Today I will start by attacking you with a Yokomenuchi aimed to your right side, I will also use a Shomenuchi but I’ll let you know about it in advance, see you later at the dojo.
Best regards… Uke
Based on my limited experience I’ve always felt that strikes as attacks in Aikido were not studied as thoroughly as in striking based arts (with the exception of some schools i.e. Yoseikan and Tenshin just to name a few). As a result I started to explore and try out other ways of practice focusing on strikes as “unannounced attacks” and subsequently my study group at the time and I adapted “sparring” as part of training. However, we did not start with a “full out” spar, we only and specifically practiced our reaction to Shomen, Yokomen and mid-section thrusts and we only did this for what we called the “engagement” of an attack, meaning the parry and deflection of an attack and continuing as far as unbalancing uke, unless the technique was suitable for finishing up with a degree of safety (for instance Irimi nage as opposed to something like Shiho nage). Obviously we didn’t communicate in advance what attack was going to launch although we did agree on using either a straight right or left punch, circular strikes (Yokomen type) and straight to the mid section to start. This practice implicated the use of sparring gear. Some people might think that this will hinder the flow of the technique, but like I indicated before it was just an addition to our regular practice.
Para leer más: aikidojournal.com.







The Founder was adept at dictating the terms of a would-be attacker’s movement. Among the ways he would achieve this end was to execute various body manuevers with exquisite timing just before an attack. Using up and down, side-to-side, and slipping movements, he was able to make it virtually impossible for an attacker to launch an aggressive movement from a stable posture. Uke’s mental composure would be disturbed through such leading movements to the point he lost any will to attack.
To isolate a particular point of interest in iriminage, I would like to show you a screenshot from “Divine Techniques” where O-Sensei can be clearly shown grabbing his partner’s collar in preparation for the throw. (His partner by the way is American aikidoka Terry Dobson.) It is actually unusual to see it done this way in modern aikido. The collar grab contrasts with the way the opponent’s head is controled in most approaches to iriminage where instead the hand is hooked around to the opposite side of the opponent’s neck or ear.
Systema (Ruso: Система) es un arte marcial ruso. Esta disciplina marcial se caracteriza por su enorme versatilidad. Diseñado para ser práctico en todo tipo de escenarios y situaciones, su entrenamiento difiere del resto de artes marciales. En lugar de realizar el aprendizaje a base de repetición de movimientos, formas o katas, éste es llevado a cabo a base de ejercicios para el desarrollo de habilidades y trabajo de sparring. El resultado es un método de combate basado en reacciones intuitivas y naturales. El Systema se centra en controlar los seis niveles del cuerpo a través de puntos de presión, golpes y mediante el uso de armas. El Systema aparece con frecuencia citado en relación con el entrenamiento de algunas unidades de élite Spetsnaz del ejército ruso.
