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Old 09-25-2011, 05:12 PM   #12
George S. Ledyard
 
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Dojo: Aikido Eastside
Location: Bellevue, WA
Join Date: Jun 2000
Posts: 2,670
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Re: inside the spiral vs. outside the spiral

Quote:
Lorien Lowe wrote: View Post
My dojo uses the terms omote to describe nage moving in front of uke, ura to describe nage moving behind uke, and ura tenkan to describe nage moving behind uke in an arc; also uchi and soto to describe nage going inside or outside.

Recently a guest came to the dojo and had some other useful terms, describing uke either in the center of motion with nage moving around him, or uke moving around nage. I was unfamiliar with the terms used, and don't remember them; anyone here recognize the description well enough to give me the terms?
Hi Lorien,
This may just be a descriptive issue... But as I understand it, there's is almost no time when uke is at the center and nage moves around him (unless connection was broken and nage needs to reposition).

We use the terms irimi and tenkan generally. A basic principle is that there is no tenkan without irimi. So, for me, there is almost never a time when uke is at the center and I am not. There are times when I appear to be very still, with minimal visible movement and uke is moving around me. There are times when I am moving a lot and uke is moving around me. I try to avoid any technique in which the uke is standing still and I am doing most of the moving since, in a real encounter, they won't really sit there waiting for me to get around to doing my technique. You will often see techniques done this way in Aikido because the partners have been taught not to counter. But I won't do them.

To my way of thinking, omote and ura often refer to something which equates to irimi and tenkan but they are not identical. Omote and ura are really positional descriptors and irimi and tenkan are descriptors of movement.

That's just my take on it.
- George

George S. Ledyard
Aikido Eastside
Bellevue, WA
Aikido Eastside
AikidoDvds.Com
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