jonreading

Of my own experience, my ukewaza...

"Nonetheless, the importance of ukemi - of being slammed over and over again to the floor, and of being cranked over and over again in various joint locks until one learns to absorb the force, redirect it, and even add ones own power to it and send it back to one's "attacker," is clearly inherent in both Ueshiba and Sagawa's training method."

1. Ukemi is physical conditioning to improve the body's resistance to injury.
2. Ukemi is training by experiencing the human condition response.

To these points I say that ukemi is important to well-rounded aikido.