Thoughts on Irimi by "The Mirror"
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This column was written by Janet Rosen.
I started jotting down some random musings on irimi early in 2004;
they reflected both on-the-mat training processes and idle late-night
thoughts. During the year, as I kept training and thinking, the
musings assumed form. A three month training hiatus in the summer/fall
meant that certain thoughts could not be tested on the mats for a
while, delaying this column...so it is purely coincidental that it
follows Susan's wonderful column on the subject.
Those with more years in the art may read this and find themselves
thinking "well, yes, and?" but, as one of my instructors, Nick
Scoggins, said when we were chatting about irimi/tenkan issues, this
one area offers decades worth of stuff to work on. So please bear with
my fumbling attempts to make some sense of it all....
The joy of entering with a kiai, when the rhythm of timing and speed
is so attuned to uke's attack that there is a vacuum you suddenly just
completely fill, leaving him to be sucked downward with no
conflict.....(sigh) With inconsistency the only constant in my
training, this is an elusive event; that it happens at all is one of
those bits of magic that keeps me going.
A beginner, especially one of an aggressive mindset, or even one who
carefully watches and tries to imitate what the intstructor is doing,
is apt to enter directly into the attack, creating conflict, confusion
and frustration and the thought, if not the cry, "it's not working!"
Sometimes, especially with beginners, we parse out a basic static form
of iriminage, breaking it into two discrete parts, first receiving and
then entering. The receiving entails some form or combination of
moving back, turning the hip, or tenkaning. Then one sees an opening
that has been created and turns back or enters into it.
For the more direct "short form" of iriminage to be effective, to not
clash and conflict, it seems that the opening must already exist. But
where? This is a conundrum that I've had in my head a lot this past
year, keeping eyes open for pertinent lessons on and off the mat.
I often joke that irimi is the operating principle of my driving: take
the path of least resistance; unhesitatingly but smoothly slip into
openings as they appear. So perhaps what I need to bring back to the
mat is: perceive everything that comprises the attack (ma'ai really
being the integration of speed, distance, intent and time that
experienced drivers automatically work with), have faith that the
opening is there, and simply MOVE.
Of course, back on the mat, much of the time that I try to do this, I
end up entering directly into the attack, creating conflict, confusion
and frustration, and the thought "it's not working!" OK, aikido is
harder than driving a car.
So, is nage physically receiving the attack, but in a way too subtle
for the student to see when the instructor demonstrates? Maybe one
needs to find a little receptivity in even the most straight-line
irimi. This proves troublesome to play with physically, so for a while
I turn my attention to the flip side of that particular coin. Some
folks say that all tenkan contains, or starts with, irimi. So perhaps
my ongoing exploration of that phenomenon will help me better
In practice it is sometimes difficult to find the irimi in tenkan,
especially with a partner holding onto your arm. Newbies in particular
have a tendency to treat tenkan as a backing away maneuver. They may
not show it in basic blending practice (tai no henko), but if they are
asked to tenkan in the middle of a technique, chances are they will
start going backwards. Even with years of training , many of us revert
to this movement pattern from time to time, especially in the face of
an intense attack.
Once again, driving a car teaches me the lesson. My standard Brooklyn
style u-turn on a busy street to physically claim a parking space
reveals the irimi within tenkan: there is no way this maneuver
involves an iota of backing up or retreat. It is nothing less than a
fully committed entry. It just happens to involve a 180 degree pivot.
One night, I go home after parking and think about how to translate
this into body movement. I stand, eyes closed, and visualize/feel an
entering turn. My hip moves forward as I start to pivot. This reveals
that, unwittingly, I have often initiated the same turn with the other
hip moving backwards. Hmmm...this is probably because I'm already
thinking ahead to the "step back" to come. Over and over, first with
my eyes closed, then watching myself in a mirror, I compare how it
feels to initiate tenkan with the front hip versus the back hip. Then
I try it in the dojo with a partner during tai no henko. It makes a
difference; even though the eye doesn't see which hip is initiating
the movement, your attitude and posture and timing are all altered,
and uke feels a difference.
I think this invisible but palpable forward movement may be related to
what Chuck Clark refers to when he says, "Think small irimi which
enters into the uke's space just enough that they cannot complete
their movement without changing something." It's like a little,
unexpected disruption in uke's world.
With that example in mind, I try to find irimi hidden within other
tenkan or tenshi (stepping back off the line) situations. In one
class, the instructor set up this technique: Nage is in left hamni. As
uke reaches to grab nage's forward left lapel with his right hand,
nage is to brush the hand away with his own right hand and take a step
back into right hamni. This should cause uke to deflect to one side,
creating an opening for iriminage. My partner and I found this awkward
and inconsistent. Then I realized it was a good opportunity to
experiment. I stopped thinking about stepping back with my forward
left foot. Rather, I focused on the idea of the right hip being the
initiator of a small forward movement that would cause my right hand
to enter and brush uke's grabbing hand. My contralateral left step
back was the natural result of my rear hip having first entered. Down
went my partner, so easily both of us burst out laughing.
It was still not consistent because there were so many other
variables. But the percentages were increasing and it truly seemed
effortless. I whispered to him, "Find the irimi to start it with." He
looked really startled, then baffled, then started playing with
it. And he threw the heck out of me. Later that class, the same "aha!"
for me with a different partner, a slightly different attack and
technique, but the same underlying principles: find the irimi in the
So through trial and error it becomes apparent that by visualizing
entering with the rear hip, a step back or tenkan can act as an
irimi. Now, can I apply the reverse? If my aim is too play with "short
form" iriminage, the direct entry form, can I integrate the receiving
by visualizing a withdrawal of one hip that creates a vacuum for uke
and a corresponding direct entry of my other hip?
I realize that I've been doing something like this during
kokyudosa. OK, my strange version, which is done standing because of
my bad knee. Sometimes I do it starting from a very still and static
position (it can turn into a lovely "push hands" kind of energy
exchange if the partners are attuned to it). But I also like to do a
more dynamic form.
Initially, I modeled it on "rowing exercise," only with a partner
attached. But if I went straight back and then straight forward, there
was nowhere for my partner to go except into me, and then nowhere for
me to go but into my partner. Predictably, this created conflict,
confusion and frustration and the thought, if not the cry, "it's not
working!" There needed to be a method to be circular, to receive and
extend, but without stepping.
The answer was to have a deep center, hips connected well under the
ground via the feet, and then feel a circle with my hips. As my
partner moves in to grab my wrists, I extend to invite and welcome
him. But at the same time, my back hip initiates the arc of a rearward
and slightly downward circle. So I welcome and receive at the same
time, accepting and drawing him in. The circle is constantly moving,
across my sacrum to the forward hip and forward past there, creating
the energy to move my partner away. There is a corresponding weight
shift (from front foot down across some subterranean place to the rear
foot, then back to the front foot), without any stepping or sliding,
that is integral with the hip movement.
Over time what began as a musing about the hips becomes embodied. If
I'm distracted or in my head, it's not accessible; if I settle and
open to it, it's as simple as smiling and inviting uke and letting it
When I start thinking about transferring this principle to iriminage,
the image that is evoked immediately is the basic paired bokken
practice: as your partner raises to strike shomen, you also do. But
you move slightly off the line of attack, so when you cut down it is
on a newly defined center line. Working this empty hand, the going off
the line starts as a large gesture, because working large helps to
define for body and mind what I'm trying to do. Eventually I start
paring it away, becoming more subtle, playing with how little "off the
line" is enough. This is where the playing is as 2004 begins to wind
down. So if the opening exists within the attack, perhaps nage's
"receiving" lies in reading the intent as the attack is initiated,
then aligning to be in entering mode as it arrives.
So simple.... (sigh)...yeah. right.
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