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Saturday, January 21, 2012

Aikido Techniques past Gokyo?

I've read that other techniques existed.  I've had a variety of people give a variety of answers.  Most Aikido schools are on the same page with techniques from Ikkyo to Gokyo - or, in the case of Yoshinkan Ikkajo to Gokajo. 

I did some looking around at Daito Ryu technique lists, and Ikkajo is actually a catalogue of 24 varied techniques, which includes a number of techniques like iriminage, shihonage, a variation of jujigarame, a variation on aikiotoshi and others.  There are 5 catalogues, going up to Gokajo.  There are other catalogues, but they don't seem to be named by number.

I admit, the idea that "Ju" means a cross shape but also means "Ten" would be a nice bit of symmetry for me if this was the 10th technique in a series as well.  I like that each of the osae-waza can be employed in throws, pins, koshinage and as a platform for atemi. 

This is also true for other techniques that don't have numbers assigned to them, and some that I don't even know the name for and techniques that just get spontaneously created and probably have no name at all.

Rokkyo is an interesting idea, and I think it's been adopted as a technique name at least in the USAF, but I hadn't heard of it before I met a USAF affiliated teacher.  I learned Higi-kime.  Higi-Kime what the same motion is now called in the books published by the third doshu.  I'm not sure if that means this is what Hombu calls the technique, or if this is a comment on the translator.  The second doshu's book referred to Higi-Shime, and referred to this specific motion as a Nikyo variation.  Higikime is the term in all of Shioda Sensei's books as well.

I have had a student of O Sensei tell me there is no such technique as Rokkyo or Higi-Kime in Aikido, either by name or by motion (no Aikido techniques work against the natural movement of the joint in his experience).  This school then taught Aikijujutsu techniques and Karate techniques on the side to give their students the same options I had as only an Aikido student in Canada.  Trying to turn a blind eye to potentially dangerous applications is not the path to safety in my opinion.  It means injuries happen out of ignorance.

I remember asking Sensei once if Higi-Kime was Rokkyo and getting, "Who say?  Who taught you that?"  in his quiet nonchalant voice that usually meant I just did something monumentally stupid.  I stopped asking, and I stopped equating the two names.  His teachings on Kime showed a very wide degree of expression and many variations in the physical form; Rokkyo means only one thing in the USAF.

In the "Hidden Roots of Aikido" by Omiya Sensei, a technique is listed as Rokkyo that bears no resemblance to higi-kime.  Aiki-jujutsu apparently is also a little politically fractured, and maybe even our roots aren't consistent.

I'm not sure that there ever were techniques past Gokyo that were as solidly codified as the first five.  I do remember Sensei once saying that a certain motion was called "either shichikyo or nanakyo in the old days."  I regard Sensei still as a genius with a phenomenal memory, and the fact that he wasn't sure which number (7 or 9) that the technique had been assigned was maybe that this technique hadn't consistenly been given the same name.  The third doshu calls it Udenobashi in his books.  I have had a USAF Shidoin teach it as "Ikkyo variation."  On Youtube, Udenobashi is used for Gokyo or Ikkyo depending on who posted the clip.

In all cases, when I've had someone wanting to teach me "secret" techniques past Gokyo, no one has ever showed me something I hadn't seen before.  Also, no one has shown me the same thing.  I have come to think the idea has little merit.  Consistency in names is important for safety - when a student is getting ready to practice Nikyo, they better know if their elbow is at risk or not.  Either name, Rokkyo or Higi-Kime communicates that there is a movement that is more risky to practice, making these terms more safe to use than Nikyo Variation.

Somehow, when the Daito Ryu Ikkajo became modified into the Aikido Ikkajo and then eventually Ikkyo, it became a much more rigidly defined singular technique.  Maybe this is why people want to learn there is more than the 5 movements.  To learn Katsoyuki Kondo Sensei's Ikkajo to Gokajo apparently involves around 180 specific kata.  To learn Ikkyo in modern Aikido is to learn one idea with broad applicability. 

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