IMO, ikkyo isn't an arm bar, lock or pin, it's an arm control. Though the goal isn't to control the arm, it's to control the person (their center) through the arm. You do that by always keeping uke looking for their balance, either leading them out and away from their balance points or driving through uke and into that balance hole on the other side. In the spirit of practice we lead uke more to get them to the ground, but cutting that short and sharply dropping your weight into (not pushing down into them) uke as you have them at the edge of their balance, driving them hard to the ground, is the difference in nice practice vs. doing what you need to do to protect yourself.

When practiced that way along with a mind toward the proper internal structure/coordination (as always, right?), you have something that not only explores the principles that exist in the techniques and in us when doing them, but also develop a feel for how to actually apply those principles outside of the technique. Just as I'm trying to feel whether or not I have uke at the edge of their balance, uke should be feeling for when they have it back and should be looking to stand up and counter me at any chance they get within the flow of the technique. Those same priciples are applicable to most any stand up grappling situation, though as the skill level of the person increases the window to capitalize on those things shrinks dramatically and your ability to maintain the internal pricinples of the art become way more important than the external ones. (...)