Aikido is one of those martial arts that focus on both the use of the body as well as the mind. It doesn’t place and emphasis on physical skills but it also places an emphasis on the spirituality of practitioners and other people who wish to study the art.
Aikido employs moves that are more of a defensive than offensive nature. It aims not to injure but to prevent or stop a person. Weapons are rarely used in this far eastern martial art, mostly movements and different techniques. Some advanced practitioners of this martial art however tend to employ the use of weapons. The weapons in Aikido are the tanto, the jo and the bokken. At this advanced stage techniques are taught which focus on taking weapons from your opponents and keeping these weapons.

Rather than the focus on specific weapons Aikido experts focus on the moves that they were taught with. By mastering these movements they can effectively handle people whose only aim is to harm them.

These are some of the movements and techniques that are taught in Aikido.

Ikkyo

This is the most basic Aikido movement. This is the first thing that you will be taught. The Ikkyo will make use of control in your grip by applying hand grip on your elbow and close to your wrist. This grip in turn will apply pressure on the medial portion of the arm known as the ulna.

Atemi

Atemi are strikes which are designed to attack the vital areas of the body. These moves are meant to cause major damage and are rarely used in Aikido. Despite this fact if you use Atemi you can easily get out of brawls and difficult situations. You can easily break the concentration of your opponent and surprise them by startling them. If you use these attacks properly you can also ruin the balance of your opponent. This is also an opportunity for you to strike or flee.

In Aikido you can also use a kick although it is not particularly encouraged due to the injuries that they can cause. Kicks also weren’t common in the formative years of the martial art.

Here are some forms of strikes that are often used.

Face-thrust – Ganmen-tsuki is the Aikido name and it is quite complex but this move is simply a punch to the face.

Front-face – This is also called Shomenuchi in aikido language, and it is a vertical knife strike to the head of an opponent.

Side-face – This is called Yokomenuchi and this strike can be made by making a diagonal knife-hand strike to the side of a person’s neck or the side of the head of an opponent.

Chest-thrust – This is called Mune-tsuki and in its true essence it is a punch to the torso, targeting the chest, the solar plexus and the abdomen

Attacks

Attacks are not encouraged in Aikido but teachers of the art often recommend it in a situation that requires a more offensive technique. One type of attack in Aikido is the immobilizing grab which is used when your opponents have weapons.

Grabs

This is a basic Aikido technique and it is among the safest and easiest to carry out. It can be used to free your hand, get rid of your opponents’ weapon and immobilize a person as well.

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