Words for Aikido Weapons Take-Aways and Throws
The names for weapons take-aways in Aikido can be perplexing. The take-aways, or -dori, are easily confused with another set of techniques, throws, which end … Read more …
japanese words in aikido
Japan – Language, Etiquette, and Culture in Aikido
This is the tenth in this series of 26 posts, one for each letter of the alphabet, that I am writing during the Blogging from A to … Read more …
How To Learn to Count Out Loud to 31 in Japanese, Under Pressure, and with Distractions
When I tested for 2nd kyu, almost a year ago now I was required to demonstrate the 31 jo kata. The 31 jo kata is … Read more …
Searu. Clarity.
I came upon this footnote yesterday, about the Japanese word “saeru”: “*note: saeru is clarity, and Harry Watson notes that the word has strong poetic … Read more …
Weapons Words – The Big Picture
Weapons work shares many words with open-hand training, but weapons also have a lot of words of their own. There are a bunch of numbered … Read more …
6th Kyu Words
This post is meant to help beginning students listen for and understand the technique names we hear in class (especially those on our 6th Kyu … Read more …
Words: Huh? What’s Everyone Saying?
[An introduction to my Words posts, if you haven’t read it yet.] Everyone’s first few days (weeks? months?) of training can be disorienting and overwhelming. You need … Read more …
A Few Words
Several people have asked me recently about some of the words we use at the dojo. I’ve sent them some info privately, but what the … Read more …
