Is Atemi-waza or Kokyunage the most common Aikido technique?

"Atemi accounts for 99% of aikido." was a remark once uttered by the Founder."  This is from Saito Sensei's Traditional Aikido, Vol 4.  The quote is given without much context, and there is no indication of the timeline.  

There is much confusion about this, as most of our training does not explicitly involve striking.  Aikido is not a mostly striking art as defined by the Western mind.  I have known students who talk about taking karate or krav maga classes to make their aikido better; to recover this "99% atemi aikido."

There is only one aikido student of Morihei Ueshiba who clearly set up a definition and teaching method of aikido atemi waza that I am aware of (lots of teachers who move with strikes in their techniques, not quite the same thing as what I am talking about).

This is Shomenate, the first movement of Tomiki Aikido's Junana Hon kata, first appearing in the early 1960s.  Shomenate is also first movement in the the earlier kata version, the 15 basic techniques developed in the early 1950s - years before any obvious friction between Mr Tomiki and the Aikikai.  

The first five movements of Junana Hon kata are named "atemi waza."  (And the first three in the 15). When O Sensei said 99% of aikido is atemi, there was a well categorized and developed set of movements called atemi waza codified by one of his students.  The simple atemiwaza sets are ubiquitous, indeed appearing often explicitly or implicitly in the movements and techniques of other schools of aikido.  They just aren't called atemi by everyone.

Many basic techniques I learned certainly contain this Shomenate posture, if only for a split second.  Uchi Kaitenage depends on this for a split second in time, so do most koshinage I was taught.  Yokomenuchi Shihonage and Yokomenuchi Iriminage start with this movement.  How did I learn Tenchinage and Kokyu-Doza?  "Hold on to my wrist, or you're getting my palm in your face."  Palm In Face is what I called Shomenate for years.

I was told many times, "If you step into your uke's center and open them up, put a hand in their face."  This could be a strike, or a distraction, or just obscuring uke's vision while something else happened.  I wasn't given a name for it, nor did I practice it much in isolation.  The movement itself is called atemi waza by Tomiki aikido, not the actual contact only.  The omnipresent threat of Shomenate in Tenchinage and the actual technique Shomenate are still about Shomenate in my opinion.

Tomiki did not stop with defining atemi as a posture.  He was also clear about atemi's purpose:  "Although the atemi-waza and kansetsu-waza can be viewed as techniques that can inflict a severe injury on an opponent, if we study the principles of the martial arts well, we realize that they are exquisite techniques for toppling (taosu) or controlling (osaeru) an opponent without necessarily harming him."  On Modern Jujutsu by Kenji Tomiki is fully available online at Judoinfo.com.

Combine this statement with Gozo Shioda's explanation of atemi in Aikido Shugyo, "In Aikido, atemi is not limited to punching or kicking. Any part of the body can become a weapon for executing atemi. Some of you may have seen me in demonstrations use my back to repel an opponent rushing at me, or my shoulder to send my opponent flying as we pass each other. The reason these techniques work is that the contact point in itself becomes the atemi."  

Neither Shioda nor Tomiki defined aikido atemi as boxing style striking.  Atemi was the throw itself.  As any body surface making contact can be an atemi, and atemi is used to topple an opponent or control an opponent - then indeed atemi defined this way is the vast majority of aikido.  This is absolutely not the same as saying jabs, hooks, and upper cuts are 99% of aikido!

Aikido is said to have changed post war.  From two of the prewar greats to a giant of the post-war era, Morihiro Saito's book, Takemuso Aiki: Kokyunage Vol 4 contains this in the foreword: "Kokyunage are the most numerous and important techniques in aikido, hence my decision to devote an entire volume to this subject.  If Kokyunage techniques were to be removed from the art, it would no longer be worthy of being called aikido."  

The text alone makes it sound like Saito Sensei has disagreed with O Sensei, or said something different, or offered a counterpoint to atemi being the most prevalent techniques.  However, demonstrated here by Hitohiro Saito in Takemuso Aiki: Kokyunage, this is a Kokyunage (pg 141):

Saito's book on kokyunage shows many variations that are explicitly this movement, or derived from this initial movement.  The most often demonstrated Kokyunage demonstrated in the book is arguably the same movement as Shomenate.  

 

Different Percentages     

Gozo Shioda's Aikido Shugyo on atemi:  "...my teacher Morihei Ueshiba sensei always had stated that in real fighting occasions 70% of aikido is atemi, and 30% is throwing..."  

Why was Shioda's estimate of the prevalence of atemi 29% less than other estimates?  Was he saying something different?  Maybe not.  For one thing, this movement wasn't called atemiwaza but instead was called Sokumen Iriminage.  Morihei Ueshiba is on the left, Shioda on the right.

This movement is the third atemiwaza technique in Tomiki's Junana Hon kata, called Gyaku Gamae Ate:

The woman demonstrating is one of Mr Tomiki's students, Dr Lee ah Loi.  The palm down is distinctively Tomiki lineage, but the palm up Aikikai style is regarded as a variation.  Certainly I was told by Aikikai teachers that the applied movement was an elbow in the throat.

Morihiro Saito in Takemusi Aiki: Kokyunage, pg 153.  Hitohiro Saito is demonstrating a kokyunage again.  Kokyunage is indeed super prevalent in aikido as Saito defined it - it's just not clearly different from Atemi waza to me, except in name.

As always check out Mokuren Dojo's website and Kaze Uta Budokai's YouTube channel for all things Tomiki, and Stanley Pranin is a never ending resource on Iwama Aikido (but really all Aikido).

Was there a technical evolution in O Sensei's Aikido.

One of the truths of Aikido is that O Sensei changed things.  He was constantly revising and updating Aikido.  He changed the Daito Ryu practices, and continued to revise Aikido further all his life.  It was how I justified seeing the Asahi News video for the first time and wondering why I didn't recognize so much of it.  It was how I justified my consternation when I read Budo for the first time.  I didn't recognize everything because things had changed.

John Stevens translated my copy.  To quote Stevens, "For the sake of comparison, several sequences of photographs are taken in Wakayama in 1951, when Morihei was sixty-eight years old, are included throughout this section.  The differences between Morihei's execution of the techniques in the pre- and post-war periods is often contrasted, but as we can see by comparing the Noma Dojo techniques (1936) and Wakayama (1951), the essence of Morihei's art remained the same."

As an example, I was told early on by intermediate students that as soon as Morihei went grey and bald and grew out the famous facial hair, he:

                                                      Got rid of Atemi 

                           And decided hitting people in the face wasn't Aiki.

(Pictures from Budo.  And the stories never came from Sensei.).

This bit about Atemi being discarded and unnecessary post war (the pics above are post war) doesn't look to be completely true.  The actual Tomiki derived Junana Atemi waza set is not explicitly defined as part of Aikikai, but all five individual techniques or some of their variations appear in non-Shodokan schools of Aikido.  They may be defined as kokyunage instead of Atemi and given different names and slightly modified, and maybe even become less refined, but they are there.

When I travel to seminars or other dojo, when a conversation comes up about O Sensei's technical evolution, the theory of growth and evolution is used to justify a disavowal of history and other lineages.  We don't need to know where we came from, because now we are better.  Don't look back; you'll only be looking at second rate stuff and you'll be the worse for it.  Or, Ueshiba evolved and became less martial and more spiritual - as evidenced by "O Sensei stopped using Atemi."  So later generations have less reason to even think they are a martial art.

I have no problem focusing on a basic core technique, learning it properly, and then focusing on the timing and Atemi.  I do think I can focus too much on hitting someone in the face and as a result not enough on necessary precision and principles.  The Atemi should fit seamlessly in a movement in my opinion.

That's very different from trying to say O Sensei stopped using atemi, and modern aikido has no atemi.

There are some great articles and a video out there recently that reiterate what John Stevens said decades ago - Morihei Ueshiba himself did not change much, nor did his personal art.

Reconciled

Two black men were shot by police this week.  A maelstrom of outrage, charges of racism, and deep frustration erupted nationwide, rapidly followed by more than twice as many police officers gunned down in vengeance during a peaceful protest.  A rapid spiral of rage against history, class, race, and law exploded into hate and blood. No one is winning.  We are all poorer for these events.  We're all losing.

Fallujah was liberated from ISIL this week.  I actually hadn't heard about it.  Are we still thinking of Paris, Brussels, Istanbul, San Bernardino, and Orlando?  Or are we saturated to boredom with religious violence?

In the backdrop, some estimates say a million refugees have escaped the hell on earth of war in Syria and Iraq to a Europe that is overwhelmed and frightened.  Resources strained, the recent history of attacks - political will and our better natures collapsing in distrust, racism, and despair.  Meanwhile the race for the next Commander-in-Chief of the world's largest military sinks to a new disgusting low with every passing day.

I see the news, and I don't want this.  I look around at the writing by my extended Budo family, and I see others who feel the same.  Something about taking responsibility for someone else's life every class?  Putting my life in the hands of others every time we train?  Immersed in a combat method regularly, am I more likely to regularly meditate on violence and it's consequences?  Once exposed and laid psychically bare on the mat am I less afraid of self reflection?  

Is the Art of Peace truly "medicine for a sick world?"  

I don't want to sit at home and watch TV for the next Oregon standoff, or the next flimsy excuse for a public murder.  I don't want the fear, the hate, the bloodshed.  I don't want to be reconciled to the fate of the world; I want the world reconciled.  I want our one family, I want peace, I want this to stop.  I want to do something.  I want to play a role.  I want to believe in Ueshiba's call for warriors for peace.  

Tohei's Leather Jacket

Aikido fosters a better world by creating and nurturing better people.

Unfortunately I've never been clear how.  One thousand Kotegaeshi is not a path to world peace or enlightenment though certainly the persistence and dedication to practice creates many physical and mental benefits.

Nishio Sensei told this story to Stanley Pranin about Koichi Tohei's leather jacket.  I tried to find the original Aikido Journal article but this Australian dojo has faithfully reproduced it.  I love this story because this is the most concrete advice on how to live your life from O Sensei that I know of.  Take responsibility for your openings.

I don't want to fall into victim blaming, and I don't want to advocate paranoia.  I do agree that strong fences make for good neighbours.

Taking responsibility for openings has so many implications for day to day life.  Online presence.  Financial decisions.  Relationship advice.  Career choices.  Home safety.  Driving.  Bad weather responses.  "Hold my beer and watch this." 

First be safe.  Consider the potential for danger or loss, and take responsibility.  Maybe make a plan, maybe develop a solution but try to see the issue before it becomes a problem.  I should know when I am taking a chance.