Aikido shomen ate blending: the uke nagashi parry, by Stefan Stenudd

SHOMEN ATE is a straight attack to the face, much like jodan tsuki with the katana - or for that matter the fist. Aikido techniques start by blending with the attack, here done by UKE NAGASHI, which is originally a sword parry. It is not a block stopping the attack, but letting it through and leading it on.
On this video, uke nagashi is followed by the aikido technique ikkyo (well, the beginning of it), but many other techniques start the same way.
Later in the video, a slightly different parry is used, but with the same approach and intent. It is followed by the technique iriminage.
The blending should commence at the same time as the attack does. So, it should be the initial intention of tori, the mindset of accepting what’s coming instead of resisting it. That way, the attacker gets unbalanced and the direction of the attack can be changed.
The starting move can be small, even subtle, and the effect is the same - as long as there is blending instead of resistance.
This was filmed at an aikido seminar I held in Prague, Czech Republic, in February 2024.
My aikido dojo is Enighet in Malmö, Sweden: www.aikidoenighet.se/
For more about aikido, visit my website:
www.stenudd.com/aikido/
My aikido books:
www.amazon.com/Aikido-Princip...
www.amazon.com/Attacks-Aikido...

[@deanfunk8448]

Always at a high level of the teaching. Thanks, Sensei!

[@peterrudolph7857]

Thank You 🙏