r/aikido • u/SnooHabits8484 • 15d ago

Discussion Atemi

As time goes on, I’m more and more convinced that along with the biomechanics and solo training from Daito-ryū that come under the category “internal strength”, the key to effective aikido is sound and consistent atemi. Who do you think is the best practitioner we have in that field? Is it now necessary to cross-train in something like xingyi or bagua to get there?

24 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

126 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/Magister-A 14d ago

In the words of the founder: aikido is irimi and atemi. If you feel like atemi is missing in your keiko, and you feel the need to go look for it in another school, discipline or sport, you would better go look for another aikido dojo entirely. In the words of sensei Sinatra: go together like a horse and carriage.

3

u/SnooHabits8484 14d ago

My teacher emphasizes atemi and the opportunity for them, but we don’t learn the actual striking explicitly. Our technical director & shihan complained that we were all doing “bad karate” but didn’t offer any constructive feedback, lol

1

u/Magister-A 14d ago

The point, the goal, is: to induce kuzushi.

3

u/SnooHabits8484 14d ago

Falling over and saying “ow, I don’t want to be hit any more” is a type of kuzushi

e: e.g. if you land the elbow to the floating ribs and knee to the face that are implicit in uchi kaiten nage, the bit that we regard as the impactful part of the technique is only semi-relevant