“How extending ki, blending and leading are
essential to making your Irimi Nage work!”

During the course of this week, we introduce you to the Ki Aikido curriculum of Shizuo Imaizumi Sensei, one of Koichi Tohei’s finest students. These video lessons by Shizuo Imaizumi have been excerpted from his in-depth Ki Aikido Course.

Now at the fourth day of our presentation of the Ki Aikido of Shizuo Imaizumi Sensei, you will have begun to grasp the importance of remaining soft, extending ki, and leading your partner when executing aikido techniques. These are all basic principles of Ki Aikido. In fact, every style of the art would benefit from applying these important concepts in their training.

By keeping your body soft and relaxed you are able to soften your opponent’s attack by not creating opposition. When you project your ki, you harness the combined energy of your mind and body. By blending with your partner, you can lead him where you want him to go to perform smooth techniques without resistance. These are all principles stressed by Koichi Tohei Sensei who developed the Ki Aikido curriculum. This innovative approach to aikido and the context in which it emerged are covered in great detail in Shizuo Imaizumi’s Ki Aikido Course.

This is a summary of the main points of Irimi Nage from a cross-grab:

• Your partner holds you in a cross-hand grab, or Kosa Tori
• This technique can be executed on three levels: gedan (lower>, chudan (middle) and jodan (upper).
• Without disturbing your wrist, you turn and pivot to your partner’s outside sending forth strong ki. This is the setup for Irimi Nage.
• Keep in mind these principles when executing the different variations of Irimi Nage: there is no opponent, extend ki, move in the same direction, lead your partner.
• Send forth your ki as you enter behind your partner and throw.
• To execute the chudan variation, a softer version of Irimi Nage, approach your partner, look in the same direction and walk together.
• While leading your partner around, you can execute the technique at any time.
• Once you align yourself with your partner along his outside, you can easily walk together leading him down and, then back to throw.

Watch Imaizumi Sensei’s video now as he guides you through the basics of Kosa Tori Irimi Nage. Kindly enter your information below to gain immediate access to this free video.