ChrisHein

If the techniques chosen for Aikido were centerd on weapon taking, it seems that the techniques should start with nage grabbing and uke, and not nage being grabbed.

Looking at the forms, it seems that the majority of them come from uke grabbing, and nage responding to the grab.

If you look at a technique like the Katate dori tai no henka Kokyu nage, where you tai no henka to the katate dori grab, then extend forward and throw uke in a forward roll. If uke simply lets go of your hand, he can avoid the throw, and take a superior position behind you.

This throw seems foolish unless uke has a reason that he MUST hold your hand. It's not only logical for him to let go, it's natural. So why would he HAVE to hold your hand, even if it means taking the fall .

Looking at Nikyo through rokyo, you can see an emphasis on wrist technique. The MMA crowd will quickly tell you that getting a wrist lock on someone is hard to do, and not too effective. They are correct. Not that wrist locks cannot be done, and not that wrist technique can't work, but they are, to use a cliche', low percentage.

However when clearing your weapon hand those wrist techniques are 100% indispensable. We train this sort of thing at my school, and those techniques come up constantly, they seldom have the finish as is seen in the forms, but they always work beautifully.

While I agree that the techniques work wonderfully for weapon taking, the forms, would suggest that they are more likely weapon retention.