Meaning of omote and ura in Aikido

Hi folks,
For me, it's good to have dumb questions always so I start with the most basic one.

One of the most common concepts, when someone wants to systematize Aikido techniques, are omote (表) and ura (裏) techniques with widespread explanations like 'omote when we move in front of uke and ura is about to move to rear the uke'.
The first discrepancy that comes to mind regarding this classification is kaiten nage omote. First demo appeared in YT search completely not about moving in front of uke and even uchi kaiten nage from Tissier doesn't look like moving in front. At that point, classification seems broken however it would be nice to hear explanations about kaiten nage.

And still, the question appears to that classification. Other Japanese arts contain the same concepts however this different meaning is more about tactic rather than body position.

So the question is how it comes that omote appears moving in front and ura is about moving rear in Aikido?

Any thoughts about that will be appreciated.

As I understand it, omote quite literally means front in Japanese, and ura behind or rear. I'm not sure if it's worth reading anything more into it than that. The way we do omote and ura kaitennage are different. While the omote is not as clearly ‘in front' as, say, ikkyo, it lacks the step behind and 180 turn that the ura version has at the throwing step. So omote is throwing to the forwards direction that uke is pointing to and omote is switching to throwing to the rear direction.

The soto vs uchi is a different thing. So there are basically 4 ways a kaitennage can play out.

2Setok,
You're completely right about the translation of omote and ura however why does it relate to body position against uke, not the technique itself?

Ivan Labushevskiy wrote: 2Setok, You're completely right about the translation of omote and ura however why does it relate to body position against uke, not the technique itself?

I'm not sure I understand the question. I would describe it as two variants of the technique: one that goes to front or forwards of uke, and the other that goes to the rear. Often timing and position of uke related to which one makes more sense. So they are different techniques, or at least alternative implementations, but related to position.

This may or may not be the same as other arts like kenjutsu, but broadly that's how it is in aikido and also, from my experience, older Takuma Hisa's type of Daito Ryu (and probably Ueshiba's). Other lineages may have a different logic, I don't know.

My understanding was that omote techniques moved uke towards nage's front, while ura techniques moved uke around behind where nage was. Uke moves forward to the ground versus uke gets moved around behind to the ground.
I could be forgetting - hip problem means no aikido for the last several years

The question was about why omote and ura in Aikido relate to body position against uke 'cause such an approach is not traced in other Japanese schools in which Aikido is rooted. Where are the roots of this for me artificial division?

Ivan Labushevskiy wrote: The question was about why omote and ura in Aikido relate to body position against uke 'cause such an approach is not traced in other Japanese schools in which Aikido is rooted. Where are the roots of this for me artificial division?

Why would you describe it as artificial? I would think it's quite logical to call two frequently made variants of techniques with those names, where one is going forwards, the other behind. What other wording would one use for those variants? You say it is not traced to arts in which aikido is rooted, but as mentioned I've seen very similar terminology and meaning for at least some techniques being applied in Daito Ryu (like the equivalent of ikkyo/ikkajo).

(Though it's worth remembering that any formal DR curriculum may have only appeared after Takeda, and that of his son already apparently differs quite a bit from what Ueshiba etc were doing)

Ivan Labushevskiy wrote: The first discrepancy that comes to mind regarding this classification is kaiten nage omote. First demo appeared in YT search completely not about moving in front of uke and even uchi kaiten nage from Tissier doesn't look like moving in front. At that point, classification seems broken however it would be nice to hear explanations about kaiten nage. .

I finally had a chance to watch these videos and both are, indeed, kaitennage omote, although do have circular movement before the actual throw part. But after they go under the arm (uchi kaitennage) they then throw uke forwards (in the direction uke is facing). The ura version would be to, at that point, step behind uke, bringing their arm with them (possibly grabbing a collar behind the head) and to throw them at a 180° angle from where they were initially facing.

Perhaps the confusion comes from how kaitennage can have a fair bit of circular movement before that happens? So yes in both cases you end up somewhat to the rear of uke, but the actual throw is different in omote and ura, with a bigger step behind uke in ura.

2Setok,
both are ura by classification 'go in front' or 'go rear' if you ask me.
Regarding classification of other arts, it's not related to position against uke. That's why I wonder why it's exactly like that in Aikido however isn't inherited from roots.

Ivan Labushevskiy wrote: 2Setok, both are ura by classification 'go in front' or 'go rear' if you ask me. Regarding classification of other arts, it's not related to position against uke. That's why I wonder why it's exactly like that in Aikido however isn't inherited from roots.

Look again. Specifically after nage goes under the arm of uke. Follow the direction of the throw: it is executed in the direction uke is looking towards (forwards). To use Tissier as an example, here is kaitennage ura: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UTulCYqKp0

Note how, after the moment where he goes under the arm, he ends up stepping to the rear of uke, and executes the throw 180° from the direction uke is looking at. He turns uke 180° by going behind uke before throwing, hence it being the ura version.

I have experienced the exact same logic in Daito Ryu (the 'behind' version and the 'to front' version), so I don't think aikido differs in that respect.

The way I understand this (Iwama background) it is not 'omote when we move in front of uke and ura is about to move to rear the uke'.
Omote is when the techniques is executed when the uke is facing you (more or less) and ura is when uke faces away from you (more or less).

Typically the uke gets this or that way, because you move them into that position.

Omote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4c67YE4mk0

In addition to physical, positional advantages, there are also non-physical aspects that can be explored by digging into 表 [omote - visible] and 裏 [ura - invisible].

Omote is what you allow uke to see; ura is what you hide from uke.

Michael Hacker wrote: In addition to physical, positional advantages, there are also non-physical aspects that can be explored by digging into 表 [omote - visible] and 裏 [ura - invisible]. Omote is what you allow uke to see; ura is what you hide from uke.

This is more in line with my understanding:
Omote is the obvious and ura what is behind it, the hidden.
The tradition of technical execution is the symbolic, physically visible, phenomenal representation of these concepts, i.e. omote in front of the partner's eyes and ura in the back, i.e. where his eyes are averted from, where only his through appropriate practice united vision and ratio may finally come to see and understand .


One should also not forget that in modern Aikido the roles of "tori" (nage) and uke are deliberately reversed in comparison to the ancient tradition, but that this role play should get completely lost in the advanced stage. It then should turn into a completely free togetherness, where is neither uke nor nage, omote nor ura, neither you nor me, ... only an entity of two or more.
We have to be truly strong to create and allow this to happen.

Best,
Bernd