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Technique of the month By Bruce Bookman Katadori Shomenuchi Iriminage
Iriminage is the most fundamental throwing technique in aikido. Years ago it was called kokyunage (kokyu means internal energy and nage means throw). Kokyunage is a general term for any throwing technique that does not employ a painful lock. One translation of kokyunage is breath throw. The word, iriminage means entering throw and is a type of kokyunage. As the name implies, you have to enter to your partner’s blind side before you throw. Iriminage offers students an opportunity to experience expansiveness. It is important to do the technique visualizing your center expanding out, covering your entire body. Here especially is where you can feel a direct relationship between the misogi (purification) breathing exercise that we do at the beginning of class and an actual technique. When doing the breathing exercise, you can feel the soft extension, giving your arms and legs a cotton over steel quality. Being soft on the outside and hard on the inside is a tonus that is commonly sought in the internal arts such as tai chi, shing-yi and aikido. In iriminage, since there is no lock used to do the throw, the subtleties of kuzushi (taking the balance) are emphasized. By drawing your partner in as if to do an inhalation and to throw with the exhalation gives your partner the feeling that they are being swept away by a giant wave. Please see the footage that I have provided that demonstrates this dynamic and powerful technique.
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