AikiWeb: The Source for Aikido Information AikiWeb's principal purpose is to serve the Internet community as a repository and dissemination point for aikido information.
Hello and thank you for visiting AikiWeb, the
world's most active online Aikido community! This site is home to
over 22,000 aikido practitioners from around the world and covers a
wide range of aikido topics including techniques, philosophy, history,
humor, beginner issues, the marketplace, and more.
If you wish to join in the discussions or use the other advanced
features available, you will need to register first. Registration is
absolutely free and takes only a few minutes to complete so sign up today!
There is no point in destroying your uke because then you will no longer have a training partner.
How to Do a Hip Throw (o-goshi) by eHow.com
"So I said can you show us some hip throws?
And he said no, but I can show you some cool pins..."
Koshinage is the name used for all hip throws in aikido. In judo hip throws - koshi waza - are a category of throws.
In aikido there are two basic types of koshinage.
old-style koshinage
In the first type of koshinage at the instant of the throw the uke is at ninety degrees to tori. There is not really a comparable throw in modern judo but the equivalent right-angle body position appears in kataguruma (uke is loaded onto tori's shoulders rather than the waist).
Tori breaks uke's balance and then rolls uke approximately over the line of the belt off to the side. The hip movement in this throw is much less pronounced. This throw is the traditional aikido koshinage and O Sensei can be seen doing it in old photos and film. The older generation of Aikikai teachers sometimes used this technique. For example Sadateru Arikawa Sensei did this version.
When posture (shi sei, form and force) is perfect, the movement that follows is perfect as well.
Taisen Deshimaru, The Zen Way to the Martial Arts
You can do this acid test for almost any technique but it's particularly clear for shiho nage because of the distinct point - the turn - in the middle of the technique. You can do the check on your own first if you want and then with a partner. Of course you can dissect any technique into many parts and in many ways but for this broad-brush approach I just want to break shiho nage down into three phases. Katatedori is the simplest to analyze but it's the same for all variations.
1. before the technique
2. the technique (and especially the turn)
3. after the technique
Step 1 is really easy because you are in complete control of your body before the technique begins and before the uke takes a grip. So all you have to do is keep a good posture with your shoulders relaxed and your chest open. Easy, right. Anyone can do it. It's your body and no-one is gripping it so you can be perfectly relaxed.
Step 2 is the technique itself. Do it normally but as you turn, and immediately after the turn, check the position of your chest and shoulders. Inevitably you're going to notice that your chest has closed and your shoulders have lifted automatically. Complete the throw as normal keeping zanshin at the finish which leads into step 3.
Step 3 is also easy because you are in complete control of your body again after the uke has b
...More
I went to a sports doctor once for an elbow injury. He's a very good doctor. He looked at the x-ray carefully and then he asked me, "Do you do aikido?" "Wow," I thought to myself, "this guy is good!" Then he told me he had only seen bone spurs in an elbow like that once before. In an aikido teacher.
Let's be honest. Shiho nage is a dangerous technique. Done incorrectly by an inexperienced aikidoka who doesn't understand the technique it can put severe stress on the elbow joint. Done incorrectly by a more experienced aikidoka who is starting to understand the technique it can cause long-lasting damage. At the Aikikai hombu dojo I have seen people have to stop their training in the middle of the lesson after getting injured with an uncontrolled shiho nage.
So in fact I only teach it to experienced aikidoka. There's the paradox. If I only teach shiho nage to experienced aikidoka how do the inexperienced aikidoka get to be experienced aikidoka?
It's a kind of zen mondo or koan - an existential riddle of aikido.
So what's the answer?
Well if I told you that it wouldn't be a paradox any more, would it.
I once asked Shigenobu Okumura Sensei (Aikikai 9 dan) about ashiwaza (leg or foot techniques) in aikido. He looked surprised for a moment and then he said categorically there are no ashiwaza in aikido.
Okumura Sensei had a kind of analytical and systematic approach to aikido. He would ask things like how many ways can you take uke's wrist when you're being held in katatedori (hand inside uke's hand with your thumb up, hand outside uke's hand with your thumb down...). And you would always forget one.
So he thought that if there was an ashiwaza in there somewhere it wasn't aikido. But I don't think we need to be rigid about it. Some teachers do use ashiwaza occasionally. And in some styles they are actually normal techniques. I was invited to train as a guest in an offshoot of Tomiki Aikido once and they used ashi waza as a matter of course (along with ippon seoi nage - another judo waza). So I want to talk about a few of the sub-techniques - the techniques within the techniques - from judo (and karate) we can use in aikido (with some pretty random videos). These techniques are only components of the overall aikido techniques and unlike judo they can often be done without a grip on the uke. The connection (musubi) is through the energy of the uke's attack.
12-03-2010 04:15 AM 
When posture (shi sei, form and force) is perfect, the movement that follows is perfect as well.
I went to a sports doctor once for an elbow injury. He's a very good doctor. He looked at the x-ray carefully and then he asked me, "Do you do aikido?" "Wow," I thought to myself, "this guy is good!" Then he told me he had only seen bone spurs in an elbow like that once before. In an aikido teacher. 
