The first basic Awase was Right Side Strike, then Left Side Strike as thought by M Saito Sensei. Then he would go into other applications without too much order. But Right then Left were alway practiced first as a warm up. As far as distance, a full strike towards partners centerline was the basic target. As you got more skilled, the top of head was next (not side of face). The next stage was to cut the right wrist. The last stage of difficulty was to cut the thumb of the right hand. All cuts were to stop 3 to 4 inches from target. When your skill got better, 1 to 1/2 inch from target was done. The Suburi and Awase were practices for non Yudansha or new practitioner to Aiki Ken. Ki Musubi no Tachi and Kumi Tachi were for Yudansha.
Thank you very much Sensei Paul Lowig for sharing these excellent AIki-ken concepts. I have studied your movements carefully, and now I can understand, in part (and to some extent) why many students of Morihiro Saito Sensei did _not join_ his son Hitohiro when he decided to become independent from the Aikikai. From my humble point of view, I maintain that the practice of Aikiken in Iwama _today_ has been modified in an unnecessary way to the point of appearing somewhat "broken" in its execution. On the other hand, I can see that in your technique, at the time of execution, you actually _cut_ with the bokuto instead of _hitting/striking_ , treating the bokuto as a blade and not as a blunt instrument. That's interesting. Cheers!
The below is a message from Paul. Mauricio. Thank you for your comments. I view the jo and bokken as tools to help understand and hence to generate internal power, unify body movement and generate power through movement. To that end I generally use a bokken as a blunt weapon. E.g. if you where to look at my 2nd ken suburi and 6th jo suburi they are essentially the same. Also adding cutting movemement into a basic suburi complicates the movement and makes the understanding and development as stated above harder to achieve (in my view). Having said that partner practices derive from sword movements so there are times where it makes sense, or feels better to use the bokken more like a sword. A good example is the alternate finishes of the 7th partner practice in this video. The first finish emphasises body movement and power and the second adds in a slicing movement. I teach this with the first finish to get the basic movement and power and then add the slice once this has been understood by the student/s.
@@AlexanderGent Thank you very much for the excellent feedback, I appreciate it very much. This old Iwama partner practice is indeed very interesing and deep to study. It is, from my humble point of view, much more martial (the partner practice No.- 7 in particular is a fine example) and _natural_ to me. The powerful concept of ki-musubi-no tachi (気結びの太刀) has the essence of the Iwama's aiki-ken can be clearly seen in this demo and helps to understand that the goal of Aikiken is not to prepare the practitioner to be a swordsman _per se_ (striking vs cutting "systems") but rather, to help to enhance the bonds between all the integral parts of the human being (mind, body and spirit). Cheers!
Awesome! Are thse the kata from Traditional Aikido 1? I have always felt that the kumitachi are too complicated for sword fighting, these simples techniques are easier to apply. Thank you!
@@AlexanderGent Maybe "Vs" was not the correct way to put it and I apologize for it. My comment is in relation to the type of bokuto(s) used in the video, which I consider excellent and very illustrative _per sé_ . Specifically, it is normal to observe the "model" of the Iwama school current in videos related to the Aiki-ken practice and Morihiro / Hitohiro Saito Sensei technique; but it is very rare indeed to observe practitioners using the Keishi-style model and it caught my attention. The Iwama bokuto is great, but the Keishi-Ryu bokuto I personally find it sublime for its weight and balance, which made it very much like that of a real katana. This is the reason why I thought: "Paul Lowing Sensei has an excellent taste in his choice of a weapon for practice and demostration". Best regards!
@Mauricio - I'm impressed! I wondered if that was what you meant, but thought you can't be that observant, however you clearly are! I also have Keishi style bokken, which I think I use in the kumitachi videos we filmed a while ago. I completely agree with you, yes, they do feel amazing to use. I have several types I rotate through, more recently I have been using the Iwama one. We plan to film some other styles in future videos so keep an eye out for them! I the meantime I'll be doing some solo longsword drills and Jo on the opposite side - so something a bit different!
Today I learned these techniques in Aikido class in Tokyo. Thank you for sharing; this is a great review.
That's great, it's good to hear that you practiced them and I'm glad you liked the video.
👊
The first basic Awase was Right Side Strike, then Left Side Strike as thought by M Saito Sensei. Then he would go into other applications without too much order. But Right then Left were alway practiced first as a warm up. As far as distance, a full strike towards partners centerline was the basic target. As you got more skilled, the top of head was next (not side of face). The next stage was to cut the right wrist. The last stage of difficulty was to cut the thumb of the right hand. All cuts were to stop 3 to 4 inches from target. When your skill got better, 1 to 1/2 inch from target was done. The Suburi and Awase were practices for non Yudansha or new practitioner to Aiki Ken. Ki Musubi no Tachi and Kumi Tachi were for Yudansha.
Thanks for the info 🙏
Thank you for keeping it alive. I've only seen Saito sensei (on film) and Alan Roberts sensei perform these 🙏
Glad you enjoyed the video! 😊
Thank you very much Sensei Paul Lowig for sharing these excellent AIki-ken concepts. I have studied your movements carefully, and now I can understand, in part (and to some extent) why many students of Morihiro Saito Sensei did _not join_ his son Hitohiro when he decided to become independent from the Aikikai.
From my humble point of view, I maintain that the practice of Aikiken in Iwama _today_ has been modified in an unnecessary way to the point of appearing somewhat "broken" in its execution.
On the other hand, I can see that in your technique, at the time of execution, you actually _cut_ with the bokuto instead of _hitting/striking_ , treating the bokuto as a blade and not as a blunt instrument.
That's interesting. Cheers!
The below is a message from Paul. Mauricio. Thank you for your comments.
I view the jo and bokken as tools to help understand and hence to generate internal power, unify body movement and generate power through movement. To that end I generally use a bokken as a blunt weapon. E.g. if you where to look at my 2nd ken suburi and 6th jo suburi they are essentially the same. Also adding cutting movemement into a basic suburi complicates the movement and makes the understanding and development as stated above harder to achieve (in my view). Having said that partner practices derive from sword movements so there are times where it makes sense, or feels better to use the bokken more like a sword. A good example is the alternate finishes of the 7th partner practice in this video. The first finish emphasises body movement and power and the second adds in a slicing movement. I teach this with the first finish to get the basic movement and power and then add the slice once this has been understood by the student/s.
@@AlexanderGent
Thank you very much for the excellent feedback, I appreciate it very much.
This old Iwama partner practice is indeed very interesing and deep to study.
It is, from my humble point of view, much more martial (the partner practice No.- 7 in particular is a fine example) and _natural_ to me. The powerful concept of ki-musubi-no tachi (気結びの太刀)
has the essence of the Iwama's aiki-ken
can be clearly seen in this demo and helps to understand that the goal of Aikiken is not to prepare the practitioner to be a swordsman _per se_ (striking vs cutting "systems") but rather,
to help to enhance the bonds between all the integral parts of the human being (mind, body and spirit). Cheers!
I remember this as Ken-Awase from Koboyashi sensei. Indeed old style but even interesting.
🙏
Awesome! Are thse the kata from Traditional Aikido 1? I have always felt that the kumitachi are too complicated for sword fighting, these simples techniques are easier to apply. Thank you!
Glad you found them useful! Yes this was the old Iwama style partner practice Saito Sensei put together.
Link to the 5 Kumitachis:
ruclips.net/p/PLCJWyF7ZFbLytfIjt0VOQmxGnCP_Jj4W-
Keishi Ryu bokuto Vs Iwama Ryu bokuto?
Is the question regarding which is the preferred type of Bokuto or the the actual partner practice?
@@AlexanderGent Maybe "Vs" was not the correct way to put it and I apologize for it. My comment is in relation to the type of bokuto(s) used in the video, which I consider excellent and very illustrative _per sé_ . Specifically, it is normal to observe the "model" of the Iwama school current in videos related to the Aiki-ken practice and Morihiro / Hitohiro Saito Sensei technique; but it is very rare indeed to observe practitioners using the Keishi-style model and it caught my attention.
The Iwama bokuto is great, but the Keishi-Ryu bokuto I personally find it sublime for its weight and balance, which made it very much like that of a real katana. This is the reason why I thought: "Paul Lowing Sensei has an excellent taste in his choice of a weapon for practice and demostration". Best regards!
@Mauricio - I'm impressed! I wondered if that was what you meant, but thought you can't be that observant, however you clearly are! I also have Keishi style bokken, which I think I use in the kumitachi videos we filmed a while ago. I completely agree with you, yes, they do feel amazing to use. I have several types I rotate through, more recently I have been using the Iwama one.
We plan to film some other styles in future videos so keep an eye out for them! I the meantime I'll be doing some solo longsword drills and Jo on the opposite side - so something a bit different!