Aikido is its own kind of martial art. Its main focus is on making the mind and body work together in harmony with the laws of nature. Aikido is all about accepting and respecting the energy of life and nature and putting that energy into techniques.
People usually think of Aikido as more of a defensive martial art because its techniques and teachings are meant to help you stay out of trouble or get away from it. On the other hand, the techniques of Aikido are very strong and effective.
In Aikido training, there are four main levels of skill. These are the katai, which is the basic training and is meant to build the foundation of body movements and breathing; the yawarakai, which trains the defendant to deflect attacks and fuse movements to take control of the attacker or situation; the ki-no-nagare, which trains the defendant to defend or counterattack by merging his movement with the attacker's even before the attacker makes contact; and the ki, which is the absolute Aikido technique and involves espionage.
For Aikido training, you need a partner to spar with. The nage and uke. The Uke is the one who starts the attack and gets the Aikido techniques. The Nage is the one who defends and stops the attack.
Aikido's basic techniques include: ikky, which involves controlling an attacker by putting one hand on the elbow and the other on the wrist, giving you a chance to throw the attacker to the ground; niky, which uses a wristlock to pull the uke in and twists the arm while putting painful nerve pressure on it; sanky, which is a rotating technique meant to put spiralling tension on the whole arm, including the elbow and shoulder; and yonky, Another form of ikky is goky.
shihnage, or the four-direction throw; kotegaeshi, or wrist return, which involves a wristlock-throw that stretches the extensor digitorum; kokynage, also known as breath throws or timing throws; iriminage, or entering-body throws, which looks like a "clothesline" technique; tenchinage, or the heaven-and-earth throw; koshinage, or Aikido
These are just the basic moves, and aikidokas can come up with thousands of ways to use them or put them together. In Aikido, the strikes that are used to do an Aikido technique are called atemi. Grabs are the first moves that new dancers learn. It is safer, and the aikidoka can easily feel the energy moving from the uke to the nage.
Basic grab techniques include the katate-dori, or single-hand-grab, which uses one hand to grab one wrist, the morote-dori, or both-hands-grab, which uses both hands to grab one wrist, the ryte-dori, which uses both hands to grab both wrists, the kata-dori, or shoulder-grab, which grabs the attacker's shoulder, and the mune-dori, or chest-grab, which grabs
Discipline and hard work are needed to master each technique. To be a good aikodoka, you need to know both the moves and the rules of the martial art.
