Hombu Dojo 1968

Hombu Dojo 1968

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Koshi Nage - The safe and joyful method

Learning to love height:
Koshi nage can be safe and fun to practice, but with wrong and premature ukemi, it can cause injury. One of our dojo members once hurt his shoulder quite badly and I saw several times people who almost got injured by this technique. In Aikido, there are several techniques that require extra caution and methodical teaching. Especially juji garami nage, hiji kime nage, ganseki otoshi and of course, koshi nage.



If you follow your sensei's correct teaching method and instruction, koshi nage training should be as safe and fun as any other aikido technique.

Step by step:
This blog post alone should never make you feel that you can bow to your parter and begin throwing each other around. Please follow carefully your sensei's and those who are experienced. Please practice step by step while making sure that you and your partner never rush into training too fast and powerfully.

Tengu and Karasu Tengu practicing koshi nage variation - Ganseki Otoshi

Here are several video clips that may assist you in your training. I hope you enjoy watching them.

The easiest ukemi:
First, Furuya Sensei shows how easy and safe it is to fall from koshi nage. Furuya Sensei says that it is the easiest ukemi, and I think that the method here is actually safe and helps people overcome quickly the fear of koshi nage ukemi.



Basic method and smooth ukemi:
Next, Mike shows wish his smooth uke two simple ways to practice koshi nage



A great master and a talented and trained uke:
Yoshimitsu Yamada Sensei shows koshi nage from various attacks together with his wonderful student - Donovan Wait Sensei to the sounds of the shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute).


"Old school" beautiful koshi nage:
Saito Sensei's koshi nage are clear and he even names them according to the attack.


Are you on your way to the dojo?
Have a nice koshi nage practice, but again, please remember: do not learn it from these clips. Koshi nage, like actually any other aikido technique, should be practiced and learned under the instruction of a qualified and experienced sensei.

1 comment:

  1. thank you for sharing, very useful and inspiring demonstrations!

    ReplyDelete