Resources for the Aikido practitioner

• Dojo Etiquette
• Terminology
• Weapons
• Tying & Folding a Hakama
• Kneeling
• Miscellaneous Japanese words used in Aikido
• Grading syllabus
• Club Forms
• Safeguarding

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Dojo Etiquette

Entering the Dojo. Have your keikogi on and obi(belt) tied properly. Just inside the door perform a bow towards the picture of O-Sensei (the Shomen). Go to the corner of the tatami and perform a kneeling bow, again towards the picture of O-Sensei.

The Bow. Remain seated on your heels (kneeling). Place the left hand then the right on the tatami in front of you so that the two thumbs and index fingers form a triangle.

When the Sensei or appointed instructor enters the dojo all members should line up in the kneeling position facing the picture of O-Sensei.

Starting the Class. All bow with Sensei towards the Shomen, then return Sensei's bow saying "Onegaishimasu" . Follow his lead during warming-up exercises.

During Class. Perform a standing bow to your partner both before and at the end of a period of practise. If the Sensei should teach you and your partner individually it is proper to perform a bow afterwards. While the Sensei is working with your partner kneel on the tatami. Make sure your keikogi remains tied properly during practise and that you remain adequately covered. Whilst Sensei is teaching sit quietly whilst observing instruction. If you have a question raise your hand and await Sensei's prompt before asking your question.

Coming Late / Leaving Early Wait before entering or leaving the dojo until the Sensei is not demonstrating. Wait at the side of the tatami to ask Sensei's permission to come on the tatami. Perform the proper kneeling bow when coming onto or leaving the tatami. If leaving early, ask Sensei's permission first.

End of the Lesson Follow the lead as for 'starting the class' but when returning the Sensei's bow say "Domo Arigato Gozaimashita" . Allow the Sensei to leave the mat first - and thank your partners.

Leaving the Dojo Perform kneeling and standing bows similar to the format for 'entering the dojo' but in reverse order.

Wear Zori (Sandals) to and from the tatami - always leave them neatly by the side of the tatami while you are practising.

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Terminology

For help with the pronunciation of any of the Japanese words used in aikido visit the AikiWeb site here.

Postures & technique types
	Tachi-waza	Standing (both Tori & Uke)
	Tori	The partner receiving the attack
	Uke	The partner doing the attack
	Suwari-waza	Sitting (both Tori & Uke)
	Hanmihandachi-waza	Tori sitting & Uke standing
	Nage-waza	Throwing or projection techniques
	Kansetsu-waza	Joint/pinning techniques
	Atemi-waza	Striking/hitting techniques
	Ai-hanmi	Both Tori & Uke in same posture
	Gyaku-hanmi	Uke in opposite stance to Tori
Attacks
	Katate dori	Wrist grip
	Kata dori	Shoulder grip
	Hiji dori	Sleeve grip at elbow
	Mune dori	Lapel held at mid-chest area
	Morote dori	Wrist gripped by both hands
	Ryote (Ryo)	Use of two hands to attack and grip
	Ryo katate dori	Both wrists held
	Ryo kata dori	Both shoulders held
	Ushiro	Gripped or 'done' from behind an opponent
	Ushiro ryo katate dori	Both wrists gripped from behind
	Ushiro eri dori	Collar gripped from behind
	Kubishime	Strangle/choke
	Ushiro katate dori Kubishime	Neck choke from behind with one hand, and other hand holding at wrist
	MuneDakishime	Bear hug (usually from behing - ushiro)
	Shomenuchi	Front downward strike to head
	Yokomenuchi	Strike to side of head
	Tsuki	Punch or strike to body
	Jodan tsuki	Punch to head
	Chudan tsuki	Punch to stomach/chest
	Gedan tsuki	Punch to groin
	Geri	Kick (jodan/chudan/gedan)
Defence Techniques
	Ikkyo	First principle (arm pinning technique)
	Nikyo	Second principle (arm pinning technique)
	Sankyo	Third principle (wrist pinning technique)
	Yonkyo	Fourth principle (arm pinning technique)
	Gokyo	Fifth principle (usually used against a knife attack)
	Hijishime (Rokyo)	Sixth principle (elbow lock against the joint)
	Iriminage	Entering body throw
	Tenchinage	'Heaven and earth' throw
	Shihonage	4-direction throw
	Uchi-kaitenage	Rotary throw initiated from the front
	Soto-kaitenage	Rotary throw initiated from the side
	Kotegaeshi	Wrist (outward turn) throw or pin
	Kokyunage	Breath throw
	Sukumen	Breath throw (under head/chin)
	Koshinage	Hip throw
	Aiki otoshi	Body drop
	Sumi otoshi	Corner drop
	Ude-garami	Elbow lock - and throw
	Juji-garami	Crossed elbows throw
	Kata gatame	Shoulder lock and throw (or pin) to ground
	Aikinage	'Harmony' throw - no pre-control technique used
Exercises
	Mai Ukemi	Forward fall/roll
	Ushiro Ukemi	Backward fall/roll
	Shikko	Knee walking
	Irimi Tenkan	Entering and turning outwards
	Taisabaki	Circular blending motion
	Tsugi Ashi	'Glide' walking
	Torifune	Boat-rowing exercise - with Ki-ai
	Ikkyo Shihogiri	4-direction turning
Exercises with a partner
	Suwari-waza Kokyu-ho	Sitting posture - and practise of extending power through breathing out
	Hi-shin-undo	Back stretch
	Tai-no-henko	Basic blending (tenkan) exercise
	Ki-no-nagare	Tai-no-henko as a flowing movement
Everything else
	Irimi	Entering into an attack from your partner
	Tenkan	Entering (with a turn) to the side or back of your partner
	Omote	Moving across the front of your partner
	Ura	Moving to the outside of your partner - normally with a turn
	Ninin dori	Practise with 2 ukes attacking
	Sannin dori	Practise with 3 ukes attacking
	Jiyu-waza	Free style attack and defence with 2 or more ukes
	Tanto-dori	Defence against a knife (tanto) attack
	Tachi-dori	Defence against a sword (bokken) attack
	Jo-dori	Defence against a staff (jo) attack
Dan Grades
	shodan	first degree black belt
	nidan	second degree black belt
	sandan	third degree black belt
	yodan	fourth degree black belt
	godan	fifth degree black belt
	rokudan	sixth degree black belt
	shichidan / nanadan	seventh degree black belt

 

Some humorous Aikido definitions courtesy of AikidoFAQ.

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Weapons

The handling and use of weapons - particularly the Bokken (wooden sword) and Jo (wooden staff) - forms an important adjunct and element of a student's understanding of the principles of aikido. Demonstration of the use of the bokken and jo (as used by tori) is an optional part of gradings instead of ninin-dori/futari-gaeki. The Kai Shin Kai has a number of Senseis who are able to teach (for example) :

Bokken Suburi	The 7 basic sword cuts
Bokken Awase	Partner blending practice
Bokken Kumitachi	Kata practice with a partner
Jo Suburi	The 20 basic Jo movements
Jo Kata	The 13, 31, 25 and 22 count katas
Kumi-Jo	Jo against Jo - blending practice
Ken-tai-Jo	Sword against Jo partner practice

 

Below are links to YouTube videos of Morihiro Saito Sensei (1928-2002) demonstrating Jo & Bokken. Morihiro Saito was one of the founder's most dedicated and longest serving students who created the weapons 'routines' that we practice today based upon the founder's teachings.

7 Ken Suburi

20 jo suburi

13 jo kata

13 jo awase

31 jo kata

31 kumi jo pt1

31 kumi jo pt2

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Tying and Folding a Hakama

The following illustrate how to tie and fold a hakama :

•      Tying a Hakama (option 1, gif image)
•      Tying a Hakama (option 2, PDF)
•      Folding a Hakama (PDF)
•      Folding a Hakama

How to tie your belt

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Kneeling (Seiza)

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Miscellaneous Japanese words used in Aikido

ai	Principle of harmony with others
arigato	Thank you
arigato gozaimashita	Thank you for everything
bokken (ken)	Wooden practice sword
budo/bushido	Code of the Samurai
dame	'don't do that' or 'no good' etc
dan	Black belt rank
domo arigato	Thank you very much
dojo	Training hall
gi (keikogi)	Practice suit
hakama	Divided skirt worn over the gi
hanmi	Posture/stance
hara (tanden)	Your centre/stability
hidari	Left
hajime	Begin, start or go
irimi	Positive entering movement/step
kamae	Ready posture (ready to attack)
kata	Set form of movements
katana	Japanese sword
keiza	Kneeling - but up on toes
ki	Spirit/energy
kokyu	Breath power
kyu	A rank below dan
mai-ai	Relative distance between partners
migi	Right
omote	Moving to or across the front of an opponent
rei / ritsurei	Salutation (bow)
ryu	School
sensei	Instructor/teacher
seiza	Kneeling posture
shikko	Knee walking
taisabaki	Circular motion, blending with an attacker
tatami	Practice mat
tegatana	The side of the hand ("handblade")
tenkan	Circular motion - outward turning
tsugi-ashi	A follow-up step (forwards or backwards) without the feet crossing
ura	Turning to the outside of uke (opposite of omote)
yame	Stop or end/finish
zanshin	Preparedness/readiness/awareness

Counting

1	ichi	2	ni	3	san
4	shi/yon	5	go	6	roku
7	shichi	8	hachi	9	ku
10	ju	11 (10+1)	ju-ich	12	ju-ni
20 (2x10)	ni-ju	21	ni-ju-ich	30	san-ju
31	san-ju-ich	40	yon-ju		and so on...

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Grading syllabus

What are Kai Shin Kai examiners and instructors looking for?

• Correctness of technique in the 4 postures of :
  Irimi (or Omote) from hidari and migi hanmi
  Tenkan (or Ura) from hidari and migi hanmi
• Effectiveness of technique and quality of tai-sabaki
• Posture - stability and good use of tanden (centre)
• Mai-ai - correct distance between partners, relative to speed and type of attack
• Flow and flexibility
• Zanshin (readiness and alertness)
• Ki (spirit)
• Manner, attitude and general Dojo etiquette (eg correct rei to the Shomen, examiners and training partners)

During gradings the examiners are not looking for perfection but, overall, will expect candidates to achieve a 70% rating in all aspects, with allowances made for age, sex and specific handicaps.

5th Kyu (Yellow belt) - minimum 30 hours training
Selection of exercises from:

Tai-sabaki	Tsugi-ashi	Tori-fune
Ukemi	Shikko	Tai-no-henko
Suwari-waza-kokyuho

Techniques from ai-katate-dori (irimi and tenkan) using the following defences:

Ikkyo	Nikyo	Shiho Nage
Iriminage	Kotegaeshi	Sukomen

Ninin-dori (from ai-katate-dori)

4th Kyu (Orange belt) - minimum 50 hours training from 5th Kyu
Selected techniques from 5th Kyu syllabus plus techniques from the following attacks:

Ai-katate-dori	Gakyu-katate-dori	Chudan-tsuki
Shomenuchi	Yokomenuchi

using the following defences:

Ikkyo	Nikyo	Iriminage
Kokyunage	Kotegaeshi	Sukomen
Shihonage	Tenchinage	Sumi-otoshi

Ninin-dori (using above attacks) or:

Weapons: Bokken suburi Nos 1-4 and Jo-suburi Nos 1-5

3rd Kyu (Green belt) - minimum 60 hours training from 4th Kyu
Selected techniques from 5th and 4th Kyu syllabus plus techniques involving the following additional attacks:

Kata-dori	Kata-dori-shomenuchi	Ryote-dori
Ushiro-ryote-dori	Ushiro-ryo-kata-dori

and the following additional defences:

Sankyo

Yonkyo

Mai-otoshi

Ninin-dori (using above attacks) or:

Weapons: Bokken suburi and Jo-suburi

2nd Kyu (Blue belt) - minimum 70 hours training from 3rd Kyu + attendance of minimum one Kai Shin Kai / BAB course in the preceding 12 months.
Selected techniques from 5th to 3rd Kyu syllabus plus techniques involving the following additional attacks:

Hiji-dori	Jodan-tsuki
Morote-dori	Ushiro-hiji-dori

and the following additional defences:

Gokyo

Hiji-shime

Kaitenage

Escape from being held by 2 attackers (morote-dori grip)

Ninin-dori (using above attacks) or:

Weapons: Bokken awase and Jo-suburi / kata

1st Kyu (Brown belt) - minimum 100 hours training from 2nd Kyu + attendance of minimum two Kai Shin Kai courses in the preceding 12 months including the mandatory KSK pre-grading course.
Selected techniques from 5th to 2nd Kyu syllabus plus techniques involving the following additional attacks:

Mune-dori	Mune-dori-shomenuchi	Ryo-mune-dori
Ushiro-eri-dori	Ushiro-katate-dori-kubishime

and the following additional defences:

Juji-garami

Aiki-otoshi

Aiki-nage

Koshinage

Tanto-dori (from named attacks/defences)

Ninin-dori (free attacks) or:

Weapons: Bokken (ki-musubi-no-ken) and Jo kata (13 or 31 count)

1st DAN - minimum 12 months from 1st Kyu + attendance of minimum two Kai Shin Kai courses in the preceding 12 months including the mandatory KSK pre-grading course.
Selected techniques from 5th to 1st Kyu syllabus plus techniques involving the following additional attacks:

Mune-dori-jodan-tsuki

Ushiro-mune-dakeshime

Gedan-geri (kick)

and the following additional defences:

Ude-garami

Kata-gatame

Juji-garami

Defence against weapons - disarming techniques using 2 of the following : Bokken, Jo or Chain

Futari-gaeki (as spirited ninin-dori), or

Weapons: Bokken kumi-tachi/kumi-jo (content to be agreed with examiners before start of grading)

Click the image below for a higher-definition, printable syllabus sheet :

Club Forms

Club Membership Application Form

Club Membership Medical Declaration

KSK Membership Form

 

Safeguarding

Please refer to our safeguarding page.

Tel: 07554 252021

Email: info@northcotswoldsaikido.co.uk

For a full list of Kai Shin Kai dojos please visit the Kai Shin Kai website