Grab My Wrist

Weapons Words - The Big Picture

Weapons work shares many words with open-hand training, but weapons also have a lot of words of their own. There are a bunch of numbered things, too, and those can be really confusing until you have a sort of framework for understanding them.

So here are some words about weapons stuff, starting with the basics. There will be another couple of posts going into jo words and bokken words. Often you’ll hear technique names with the numbers in Japanese. That will be another post, too.

I’m just going to cover the wooden weapons we use in regular training here. Maybe we’ll look at katana, shinai, iato, shinken, and other weapons words later.

The Sticks

Jo - The longer straight one that looks like a rake handle.

Bokken - The somewhat shorter one with a little curve to it, like a sword. Also sometimes referred to as just ken. You’ll also hear tachi in the names of bokken or sword exercises.

Tanto - The little one, about the size of a hunting knife.

The Kinds of Things We Do with Sticks

One of the most confusing things for me, when I was first trying to figure this stuff out, was sorting out the kinds of things we were doing. Not the specific instances, but the groupings. One exercise would be a suburi, another would be a kata, sometimes we practiced awase… I couldn’t figure out what was what.  It’s hard even to describe. Let’s just get right to it.

Suburi are discrete techniques, or very small groups of techniques, that you do by yourself. They are the very first things you learn.

They are like learning words or phrases in a language. You’ll put them together later to form more complex expressions and conversations.

You will see the suburi referred to in numbered groupings, like the “20 jo suburi” or “ken suburi 1-7” For some reason the jo suburi have names, and the bokken suburi are numbered. We’ll get into those in detail in a couple of other posts. 

Kata are sets of techniques, still done alone, strung together in a prescribed way, each flowing into the next.

If we stick with the “suburi are like words” concept, kata are like poems. You memorize them and recite them. Like reciting poetry, everyone will have their own subtle ways of expressing kata, but we don’t change the words.

You’ll hear numbers when talking about kata, too. The “31 jo kata” is everywhere - it’s a string of 31 movements. You’ll also see the 13 jo kata, which has 13 movements. No reason you couldn’t make up your own, either, but mostly we practice the set ones handed down to us. There are bokken kata, too.

This is where the numbered stuff starts to get weird. The jo kata are made up of the number of techniques in the name: 13 jo kata, 31 jo kata, etc. But the bokken kata are numbered: bokken kata 1, bokken kata 2, etc.

But back to the kinds of things we do…

Awase are prescribed sets of techniques that you do with a partner. One partner in an awase does a familiar suburi or kata, and the other partner does the appropriate techniques that complement it. These are basic exercises to learn timing and distance when working in relation to another. The suburi you have been learning will begin to make more sense in the context of practicing awase.

If suburi are words and phrases, and kata are poems, then awase are very simple conversations, the kind you learn when studying a new language. “Good morning.” “Good morning.” “Where is the library?” “Is there there, on the left.” “Thank you.” “You are welcome.” Very simple, perhaps a bit formal, and not quite how a real conversation might go, but a necessary step in becoming fluent. 

The two simplest are left awase, and right awase. Then there’s a little more number weirdness… You’ll hear the “5th awase” and “7th awase” mentioned. These are just partner practices incorporating the 5th and 7th suburi. (There are no 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 6th awase.)

Kumitachi and Kumijo are partner practices that more closely simulate an actual fight, using the bokken and jo, respectively.

The distinction between awase and kumitachi/kumijo seems fuzzy to me. There is a partner practice based on the 31 jo kata, for instance, that I see referred to both as the 31 jo awase and 31 kumijo.

A Last Comment on Numbers You’ll Hear

The numbers for suburi have nothing to do with the numbers in the names of kata.

When you see “20 jo suburi” or “ken suburi 1 through 7” those are just describing which ones we’re talking about. If you have to do the “bokken suburi 1-5” on a test that’s just the first five descrete bokken techniques. Saito Sensei created a set of 20 jo suburi for us to practice. They are 20 separate exercises.

The 31 jo kata, on the other hand, is a single flowing exercise incorporating 31 movements. Note that the 20 jo suburi are not the 1st 20 movements of the 31 jo kata. They are completely separate things.

Some Examples

If, like me, you need to see stuff to understand it, here are some of my favorite examples to get you started. Each link here will open a YouTube video in a new tab or window. Remember that each dojo will do things a little differently.

Lewis Bernaldo de Quiros of Takemusu Aikido Kyokai Nederland:

Jo suburi 1 through 20, ken suburi 1, 2, and 3, and ken suburi 4, 5, 6, and 7 (solo)

The 6 jo kata, 13 jo kata, and 31 jo kata (solo)

Miles Kessler Sensei:

5th ken awase and 7th ken awase (paired, from 5th and 7th ken suburi)

31 jo kata (solo) and 31 kumi jo (paired)

Morihiro Saito Sensei:

31 jo kata (solo) and 31 kumi jo (paired)

6th Kyu Words

This post is meant to help beginning students listen for, and understand, the technique names we hear in class (especially those on our 6th Kyu exam), and to give those names a little context. “Katate-dori shihonage omote” can sound a little overwhelming if you don’t know how to break it down! 

[First, a reminder: Here is an introduction to my Words posts, if you haven’t read it yet.]

Please don’t rely on anything in this post as information about what’s on the test, or about how to do anything. You can find our actual test requirements in the Aikido of San Diego Dojo Handbook. If you train at another dojo, a lot of this may be helpful, but your test will likely not include the same set of techniques, and some dojo have other names for these things. So use this as a starting point for learning to listen for the words used in your own dojo.

At this point I’m going to keep it simple and stick to only what I hear them called in daily training. You will see various spellings and ways of writing these words. I’m using hyphens here to make the parts of the words more obvious (like mune-tsuki), but you will often everything run together (munetsuki).

OK, let’s get started…

Words for Attacks

There are really only three things we do most of the time; we grab, we strike, and we punch. So we have only three core words to deal with. Each one has some additional words we use for specific cases, but basically there are three words for attacks: dori, uchi, and tsuki. 

dori

[DOOR-ee]

A grab. We grab lots of things in lots of ways. Straight and cross-hand, grabbing one or both wrists, grabbing with one or both hands, and grabbing from the front, or behind Nage’s back.

Luckily there is only one grab name you need to know for your test, the straight-across (not cross-hand) wrist grab, katate-dori. We’ll do more grab words in another post!

uchi 

[OO-chee]

A strike. We have two common kinds of strikes: shomen-uchi, and yokomen-uchi

Shomen-uchi [SHOW-men OO-chee] is a straight strike to the center of the head, at the forehead. Yokomen-uchi  [yoh-KOH-men OO-chee] is an angled strike to the side of the head, at the temple or neck. Men means head, sho is center, and yoko means side. In open-hand techniques these strikes are done with the blade edge of the hand. You can also do shomen-uchi and yokomen-uchi with the bokken and jo.

Shomen means the center of the head. You will also hear it in the context of “the shomen,” which is the place at the front-center of the dojo where the picture of O-Sensei is. 

tsuki 

[tSKEE or SKEE In a complete technique names you will often hear the initial “t” from this word as though it were the last letter of the word preceding it.]

A thrust or punch. Not something you have to know for the 6th kyu exam, but you’ll hear it in class. The punch we do most in class is mune-tsuki [moo-NET-skee], a punch to about the solar plexus, where the ribs and belly meet. Lots of other kinds of punches to leave for later.  

A Couple of Ways of Doing Techniques: Front, and Rear

Most techniques have several variations. Some have inside and outside versions. At least one I can think of has four directions (more on that later). Many have a front or rear version. Front is omote, and rear is ura. These are easy to remember because omote/front are longer words, and both have a “t” in them, and ura/rear are shorter, and both have an “r” in them.

Omote

[oh-MOH-tay]

Front. Notice when your partner is standing in hanmi (the basic stance in Aikido) that even though they are facing you their hips and body are oriented more to one side. That’s their front, or omote side. When you do the omote version of a technique you begin by entering to the front side of your partner (more or less).

Ura

[OOR-uh]

Rear. Their backside. The side with the shoulder blades, hindquarters, heels, etc. When you do the ura version of a technique you begin by entering to the rear side of your partner (more or less).

On the 6th kyu test there are two techniques (ikkyo and shihonage) where you will be demonstrating both the omote and ura versions.

Speaking of Ikkyo…

Technique names ending in …kyo [kyoh] are pinning techniques. You’ll hear these names on the mat: ikkyo, nikkyo, sankyo, yonkyo, and gokyo. They are all pinning techniques. If you take off the …kyo part, you end up with roughly counting to 5 in Japanese: ichi, ni, san, yon,* go. (Four is also sometimes “shi.” We’ll get to that.) So they are pinning techniques one through five. Simple, huh? You’ll see the same counting pattern later, in weapons techniques.

The only one on the 6th kyu test is ikkyo (both the omote and ura versions).

Speaking of Shi…

Remember that four is sometimes yon, and sometimes shi. The 6th kyu test includes the technique called shihonage (both the omote and ura versions). Shiho means four-direction and nage means throw.  

So, Getting Back to ”Katate-dori shihonage omote”

The complete names we use on the mat carry a lot of information, but they really are simple. The patterns is attack (where & how) > technique (description & type) > variation. So katate-dori is the attack, shihonage is the technique, and omote is the variation. Cool, right?

Breaking it down further, we know that dori is one of the three kinds of attacks: a grab. Katate is straight-across to one wrist. So the attack, katate-dori is a one-handed, straight-across grab to the wrist. Awesome. Next?

Shihonage, we know is a throw (nage), and we just learned shiho means four directions. So it’s a four-direction throw (we’ll leave the details of all the directions for another time!). But at least we know it’s a throwing technique. And…

The variation is omote, or front. So the entry for this technique goes to the front of our partner. 

Let’s try another one: Shomen-uchi ikkyo ura. Here, you figure it out:

How will your partner attack? Will it be a grab (dori), strike (uchi), or punch (tsuki)?

And where will the attack be directed? At the shomen, right? Remember what that is? By now you should be able to say “my partner is going to attack by _____ing me in the ____.”

So, what kind of technique is this? Ikkyo, sure. So it’s a kind of technique that involves what? It’s not a throw (that would be -nage)… It’s a _____ing technique. And a hint: There are five of them. Which one is this? #_____.

And don’t forget the variation: Ura. So your entry to the technique will be in what direction? “I’ll start by entering to the ______ of my partner.”

Got it?

OK, here’s the whole answer: Shomen-uchi is an attack the front-center of the head. Ikkyo is the first pinning technique. The entry is to the rear of your partner.

Try this with more technique names you hear in class! 

A Few More Words to Know

ukemi 

[oo-KEH-mee]

Ukemi is what you do when you are Uke [OO-kay]. (The other person is Nage [NAH-gay]. Ukemi includes providing the attack your partner needs so they can practice a technique, and then safely receiving the throw, pin, or whatever they do in response to your attack. The ukemi skills on the 6th kyu exam are forward and backward rolls.

waza 

[WAH-zah]

Technique. You will hear this in a lot more contexts, but in day-to-day training we mostly use it for freestyle, or free technique, called jiyu-waza [GEE-yoo WAH-zuh], and for techniques done from the kneeling position (seiza [SAY-zuh]), called suwari-waza [su-WAR-ee WAH-zuh].

tenkan / irimi

[TEN-kahn / ee-REE-mee]

These are the entering and turning movements we do at the beginning of most classes, and they are part of most techniques. Here are some tricks for remembering the words: Tenkan (with a “t”) involves turning (with a “t”). Irimi, at least to me, sounds like “excuse me,” and looks like what you would do if you were sliding past someone in a row of theater seats or a narrow hallway.

kokyu dosa

This is the seated (in seiza) exercise we do at the end of many classes, where your partner grabs your wrists (usually, but not always, both wrists), and you tip them sideways. Kokyu, to the best of my understanding, refers to breath or breathing, and dosa is an exercise (as opposed to a technique). 

tai no henko

I’m afraid I’m no help at all on this one, and I forget the words every time I try to describe this. It’s the blending exercise we often do at the start of class, where your partner grabs one wrist (katate-dori again!), and you enter and blend with their energy by stepping and turning (tenkan) alongside them. If you think of a good way to remember the name of this, let me know!

Whew! That seems like a lot for what looks like a very short test, but because it’s all new there’s a lot to learn. I hope this helps you notice and understand these words when you hear them in class.

As always, you can always go back and read all of my Aikido Words posts any time you like (the list will continue to grow).

Words: Huh? What’s Everyone Saying?

[An introduction to my Words posts, if you haven’t read it yet.]

Everyone’s first few days (weeks? months?) of training can be disorienting and overwhelming. You need to learn how to dress yourself, how to sit, how to stand… Acck! You also hear a lot of new words - Japanese terms and phrases. When I was hearing them for the first few times I couldn’t even make sense of them enough to remember them so I could look them up later.

Here’s a huge tip: Almost every dojo, including ours, has a list of common terms in the dojo handbook! Be sure to look there - it’s very handy. Ours can be downloaded as a PDF from the Membership page of the Aikido of San Diego website.

For my first Words post, here are some you will hear in every class. They are mostly the same from dojo to dojo. You’ll be saying them often, too. Here goes:

Onegaishimasu

[OWN-ah-GAH-ee-shee-mahs  Note that the “u” at the end is silent. A good way to remember it is that it sounds a little like “Oh my gosh, a mouse!” To help with spelling, remember that it starts with “one”.]

You will hear and say this at the beginning of class, when Sensei and the class all bow to each other, and when you approach another student to ask them to train with you (you both say it). I’ve heard several interpretations of it. Whatever the exact translation, in practice it is a polite request which functions as “would you please train with me?” 

Domo arigato gozaimashita

[DOE-moe ahr-ee-GAH-toh GO-zah-ee-MASH-ta  When I have heard native speakers say it, it sounds like there is a comma after domo, like this: “Domo, arigato gozaimashita.”]  

Everyone says this when Sensei and the class bow to each other at the end of class. It means “thank you very much for what you just did.”

Arigato means thank you.

Domo is an polite, formal intensifier, like adding “very much” in English, except it comes first (like muchos grácias in Spanish).

Sometimes, informally, you will hear people just say “Domo” by itself. In that context it’s used like “thanks.”

Gozaimashita places the thanking in time, relative to the action. Roughly it’s used like, “for something you’ve already done.” Here you are thanking someone for having just trained with you.

You may have also heard “gozaimasu” [go-ZAH-ee-mahs, silent “u”]. That’s used when thanking someone for something they haven’t done yet. Like “Would you pick up some milk at the store? Thanks!” It’s also used for something that was just done, sometimes, so you will hear people saying it at the end of class, too. 

A Few Words

Several people have asked me recently about some of the words we use at the dojo. I’ve sent them some info privately, but what the heck, I might as well share with everyone. 

It drives me nuts to not understand what’s being said. Even worse, to use words I don’t understand, repeating them by rote. So I’ve tried my best to make sense of the terminology around Aikido. In most cases the explanations I give will simply be my own understanding of the meanings, tricks I use for remembering them, etc.

Some of the things I intend to cover include

• Numbers and counting-related words
• Attack and technique-related words
• Names of things
• Weapons technique names
• Commonly-heard Japanese greetings and phrases

These posts will be as accurate as I can make them, but will all be informally based on my own very limited understanding. I will try to give some indication of how sure I am of what I’m saying, and if I’m just plain wrong please tell me so (and if appropriate I’ll go back and correct things). Any pronunciation tips I give will only be for how I’ve heard them spoken in the context of training, not The Correct Japanese Pronunciation. In no case should anything in these posts be considered authoritative. I do hope it will be helpful, though!

When I know of solid sources of information I will point those out. There are a few very good books, websites, and podcasts, both for learning Aikido-specific terminology, and for learning to speak Japanese.

I will tag each of these posts Words so you can click that tag after each post to see more posts about words. You can also go directly to a page here that will catalog all my posts about Aikido terminology.