A glance back at our more recent Daito Ryu roots in Aikido: Omote andUra Reconstruction

Most people now agree that Daito Ryu was the primary technical influence on Morihei Ueshiba and Aikido. The language has some similarities, but a large number of disparities. Check out Daito Ryu Aikijujutsu's Hiden Mokuroku Ikkajo and Nikajo to get a sense of what I am talking about. Fair warning - there seems to be four or five main schools (all from the last century and all descended from Sokaku Takeda like Morihei Ueshiba's Aikido), and they do not agree completely on how many techniques make up Ikkajo or Nikajo (some say 30, some say 31). The list was acquired on one site, the video from another and they might not match up properly.  

There are differences between the different schools, so quite apart from Aikido’s inconsistency with our roots, our root art is not homogenous. It is much easier to find a list of the Omote technique list; there are few mentions of the Ura set and I am not sure if this applies to all versions of Daito Ryu. Wikipedia does hint at several Daito Ryu Ura kata now, but I believe a few years ago when I was reading up on Omote and Ura in Aikido, it did not.  In any event, I am not an expert on this subject.

Shihonage is referred to as Omote and Ura in Kondo Sensei’s book on the Hiden Mokuroku Ikkajo, but no other techniques are. With me knowing no one in Daito Ryu personally, I am wondering if the several prominent Aikido practitioners who assisted with the publishing of this one book might have influenced the headings.

 

Ikkajo

Idori techniques

Ippondori

Gyakuudedori

Hijikaeshi

Kurumadaoshi

Shimekaeshi

Dakijime

Karaminage

Kotegaeshi

Nukitedori

Hizajime

 

Hanzahandachi techniques

Hanminage

Uraotoshi

Izori

Kataotoshi

Iriminage

 

Tachiai techniques

Ippondori

Kurumadaoshi

Gyakuudedori

Koshiguruma

Karaminage

Oraotoshi

Obiotoshi

Kirikaeshi

Kotegaeshi

Shihonage

 

Ushirodori techniques

Tachieridori

Ryoukatahineri

Ryouhijigaeshi

Dakijimedori

Kataotoshi

Nikajo

 

Idori techniques

Kotezume

Gyakudasuki

Hijikujiki

Konohagaeshi

Syutouzume

Kubihineri

Kotegaeshi

Katahadori

Kamatezume

Gyakugote

 

Hanzahandachi techniques

Shotozume

Kotegaeshi

Susodori

Hijikujiki

Rimizume

 

Tachiai techniques

Gyakudasuki

Hikiotoshi

Kubinage

Susobarai

Seoinage

Shutouzume

Kotegaeshi

Kataguruma

Koshiguruma

Sekujiki

 

Ushirodori techniques

Tsukitaoshi

Sukuinage

Gyakugote

Kubinage

Hijikujiki

 

 

As you can see from the list, Ikkajo in Daito Ryu is not the same as Ikkyo in Aikikai, nor is it the Ikkajo in Yoshikan.  Ikkajo is the name of a collection of 30 very specific kata (sometimes 31 kata) containing several techniques including Shihonage and Kotegaeshi (a variation of Kotegaeshi that I call Gyaku Kotegaeshi.)  Only two techniques in Ikkajo, Ippondori and Gyakuudedori, even resemble what I learned as Ikkyo (and the second was often called Nikyo Omote– I was never clear on the distinction). Ikkajo also includes what I learned to call suwari waza and hanmi handachi waza. What I have seen as Hamni Handachi Katate Dori Shihonage Ura is called Hanminage. Kotegaeshi appears in both the Ikkajo and Nikajo set. Iriminage in the Ikkajo set resembles something I learned as the Back Stretch or a Ryote dori Shihonage exercise. Ikkajo Iriminage is a Ryotedori Uchitenkan movement that bears no resemblance to the Aikikai Iriminage.

There are five sets: Ikkajo, Nikajo, Yonkajo and Gokajo (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5).  They all contain a number of specific kata that Aikido people would not associate with the name of the set.  All five of these sets together contain the 115 kata that make up the basic syllabus.  There are apparently several other sets of kata, but they do not have numbers assigned to them.

I recently heard of an Ikkajo Ura set.  I cannot find a clip of the Ura set to compare to Omote. I assume the name denotes another set of movements, not an attempt to artificially create two distinct variations of one movement. 

Some of the techniques in Ikkajo Omote are linear, some are more circular.  This use of Omote and Ura does not appear to imply linear movement versus circular movement.  Some techniques like Karaminage (what I learned as Jujigarami and what the USAF calls Jujinage) step straight back and pull Uke down into a pin in the Ikkajo Omote.  So, this use of Omote and Ura probably doesn't imply a step-forward-front-to-front versus turn-back-to-back common to Aikikai schools.

So, Omote and Ura in Daito Ryu appear to apply to an entire set, like in the the Koshiki no Kata.  The terms also seem to apply to information that could be freely disseminated to the public (Omote) and information that was kept hidden and only for certain students (Ura).  

A person who only studied the Ikkajo Omote could be effective against a variety of attacks in a variety of circumstances.  The Daito Ryu Ikkajo Omote can stand alone and be the only techniques a retainer would need.  This is something that Aikikai's Ikkyo Omote is definitely not intended to do.