GENERAL TERMS AND REIGI: ETIQUETTE
Ai 合 – Harmonizing or blending
Ki 気 – Spirit, life force, or inner energy
Do 道 – The way or the path
Aikido 合気道 – The way of harmonizing with the Spirit, life force or inner energy
Aikidoka 合気道家 – One who trains in Aikido
Dojo 道場 – Practice hall (or place to practice the way or place to find enlightenment)
Gi 着 – Practice uniform (or dogi)
Hakama 袴 – Pleated skirt like pants worn by Yudansha and first kyu (WAAI) students. Traditions vary from dojo to dojo.
Obi 帯 – Belt
Sensei 先生 – Instructor or teacher, a title of respect, one who has gone before
O Sensei お先生 – The great teacher, referring to Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido.
Shihan 師範 – Master instructor
Shomen 正面 – Head or front. Also the shrine at front of the Dojo honoring O Sensei
Rei 礼 – Bow literally, to give thanks
Ritsuri rei – Standing bow
Za rei – Seated bow
Shomen ni rei 正面に礼 – bow to the shomen
Mokuso 黙想 – Meditate
Yame 止め – Finish or stop
Sempai 先輩 – Senior student
Kohai 後輩 – Junior student
Dan 段 – Black belt rank as in Sho dan, first-degree black belt (lit. level)
Yudansha 有段者 – Refers to person(s) who hold black belt rank
Kyu 級 – Non black belt rank as in Go Kyu, fifth level
Mudansha 無段者 – Practitioner(s) without dan rank
Onegai Shimasu おねがいします – “Will you train with me?” Used between partners before practicing or by the group at the start of the class. (lit. I make a request)
Domo arigato goziamashita どうも有り難うございます – “Thank you very much”, used by the group at the end of class or by partners when through practicing.
Seiza 正坐 – The seated position with the legs folded under the torso.
Kiza きざ – Like seiza but up on the toes.
Anza 安座 – Sitting with legs crossed.
Ukemi 受身 – Protective falling, receiving a technique, what uke does (to receive with the body)
Mae 前 – forward
Ushiro 後ろ – backward, to the back, from the back
Zempo kaiten ukemi 前方回転受身 – Forward roll (mae ukemi 前受身)
Koho kaiten ukemi 後方回転受身 – backward roll (ushiro ukemi 後ろ受身)
Shikko – Knee walking
Hara 腹 – The center of gravity, which should be about two inches below the navel and corresponds to the third chakra.
Tegatana 手刀 – The edge of the hand (lit.: hand sword)
Budo 武道 – The martial way
Bushido 武士道 – The way of the warrior
COUNTING
Ichi, ni, san, shi, go, roku, shichi,hatchi, ku, ju – One through ten. (Shi 四 is a homonym for death 死, hence fourth technique is called Yonkyo rather than Shikyo or “death technique”
Ju ichi, ju ni, ju san,… ju ku – eleven through nineteen
Ni ju, ni ju ichi, ni ju ni, …ni ju ku – twenty through twenty nine
San ju – Thirty
Yon ju – forty
Go ju – fifty
Roku ju – sixty
Shichi ju – seventy
Hachi ju – eighty
Ku ju – ninety
Hyaku – one hundred
一二三四五六七八九十 – (one to ten)
AIKI TAISO: MOVEMENT EXERCISES
Undo運動 – Exercise
Sayu undo 左右運動 – Side to side lateral arm swing exercise
Ude furi undo 腕振ろ運動 – Arm spinning exercise
Tenkan undo 転換運動 – A turning exercise involving a 180º spin. Tenkan literally means to divert.
Tekubi kosa undo 手首交差運動 – An exercise drawing the arms forward against an imaginary rear two handed grab.
Ikkyo undo 一教運動 – An exercise in which the arms are raised as in shomenuchi ikkyo.
Funakogi undo 船漕ぎ運動 – Rowing exercise
Ushiro tori undo 後ろ取り運動 – An exercise practicing a defense against an imaginary bear hug from behind.
Ushiro tekubi tori zanshin undo 後ろ手首取りざんしん運動 – An exercise practicing a defense against an imaginary two-handed rear grab.
Shiho Undo – Four directions
Happo Undo – Eight directions
RELATIONSHIPS
Nage 投げ – To throw, or the partner executing a technique. (Sometimes called tori)
Uke 受け – The initial attacker and the one who receives the technique.
Hanmi 半身 – The basic aikido triangular stance.
Ai 合 – The same
Ai hanmi 合半身 – Standing so that uke and nage have the same foot forward.
Gyaku 逆 – Opposite (reverse)
Gyaku hanmi 逆半身 – Standing so that uke and nage have opposite feet forward.
Ma ai 間合い – The concept of a proper distance which retains ki connection and yet forces the opponent to commit in order attack.
Shiho 四方 – four directions
Happo 八方 – eight directions
Omote おもて – A variation of a technique that is done generally to uke’s front.
Ura 裏 – A variation of a technique generally done towards uke’s rear side.
Soto 外 – Outside
Uchi 内 – Inside
Jodan 上段 – Upper level
Chudan 中段 – Middle level
Gedan 下段 – Lower level
Migi 右 – Right
Hidari 左 – Left
Irimi 入り身 – Entering
Tenkan 転換 – A turning movement involving sweeping the backward leg 180º and changing directions.
Tai no henko (Tai no Tenkan) 体の変更 – basic blending exercise
Tenshin 転進 – Stepping backwards at a 45º angle off the line of attack. (not necessarily backwards; sometimes backwards movement is called “zanshin.”)
Kuzushi 崩し – To unbalance uke
Shikaku 死角 – Nage’s position relative to uke’s where uke can not continue to attack. (lit.: dead angle)
Zanshin 残心 – To hold a thought, in aikido to hold the final posture of a technique for a moment. (lit.:remaining mind/spirit)
BROAD CLASSES OF TECHNIQUE
Tachi waza 立ち技 – Standing techniques
Suwari waza 座り技 – Both uke and nage are in seiza or kiza.
Hanmi handachi 半身半立ち – Uke is standing and nage is seated.
Henkawaza 変化技 – switching from one technique to another
Kaeshiwaza 返し技 – counter techniques – Uke applies a technique to nage.
Katana, Ken, Tachi 刀 – A sword
Bokken 木刀 – A wooden sword
Tachi tori 立ち取り – Techniques against attack with a sword
Jo 杖 – A wooden staff roughly reaching to the armpit
Jo tori 杖取り – Techniques applied against attacks with a jo.
Jo waza 杖技 – Techniques applied while holding a jo.
Tanto 短刀 – Knife.
Tanto tori 短刀取り – Techniques against knife attacks.
Kumitachi くみたち – Partner boken work.
Kumijo くみ杖 – Partner jo work.
Suburi 素振り – Basic solo weapons practice
Kata 方 – A set of movements strung together
Jiyu-waza 自由技 – Freestyle techniques
Randori 乱捕り – Multiple attackers
ATTACKS
Shomenuchi 正面打ち – A direct frontal strike using the hand like a sword.
Yokomenuchi 横面打ち – A side strike to the head using the hand as a sword.
Tsuki 突き – A thrust
Mune 胸 – Chest
Mune tsuki 胸突き – punch or thrust to the chest
Tekubi 手首 – Wrist.
Ushiro 後ろ – Rear.
Ushiro tekubi tori 後ろ手首取り – Rear wrist grab.
Kata 肩 – Shoulder or a set of fixed stylized movements.
Tori 取り – Grab
Kata tori 肩取り – Shoulder grab.
Katate 片手 – Wrist
Katate tori 片手取り – Wrist grab. (one hand grabbing one wrist, on same side,right hand grabs left wrist)
Kosa tori 交差取り – Wrist grab. (one hand grabbing one wrist, on opposite side, right hand grabs right wrist)
Morotetori 諸手取り – Two hands grabbing one wrist.
Ryotetori 両手取り – Two hands grabbing two wrists.
Eritori 襟取り – Collar grab, usually from behind.
Hijitori 肘取り – Elbow grab.
Kubishime 首絞め – A choke hold or attack. (kubi – neck, shime – hold/constriction)
Men 面 – Head
Uchi 打ち – To strike
Katatori men uchi 肩取り面打ち – A shoulder grab and shomen uchi combined.
Katatetori men uchi 片手取り面打ち – A wrist grab and shomen uchi combined.
WAZA – TECHNIQUES
Ikkyo 一教 – First technique
Nikkyo 二教 – Second technique
Sankyo 三教 – Third technique
Yonkyo 四教 – Fourth technique
Gokyo 五教 – Fifth technique
Atemi 当て身 – A strike intended to disorient, shock or perhaps damage uke.
Kotegaeshi 小手返し – A basic wrist throw in which the wrist is twisted outwards.
Nage 投げ – to throw
Shiho nage 四方投げ – Four directions throw
Irimi 入り身 – Entering
Irimi nage 入り身投げ – Entering throw
Kokkyu 呼吸 – Breath
Kokkyu nage 呼吸投げ – Breath throw or the class of techniques which throw uke without employing joint techniques.
Koshi 腰 – Hip
Koshinage 腰投げ – Hip throw
Kaiten 回転 – Rotate.
Kaitennage 回転投げ – Rotation throw
Juji 十字 – Character for ten in Japanese and looks like a cross.
Jujinage 十字投げ – A throw in which uke’s arms are crossed against each other at the elbows.
Ten 天 – Heaven
Chi 地 – Earth
Tenchi Nage 天地投げ – A technique in which one of the nage’s arms is directed up and the other one is down.
Japanese Pronunciation
a – like ‘a’ in “father”
i – like ‘i’ in “machine”
u – like ‘oo’ in “hoop”
e – like ‘e’ in “set”
o – like ‘o’ in “rope”
n – short ‘n’ at the end of a syllable, pronounced as ‘m’ before ‘b’, ‘p’ or ‘m’.
Note that “u” is often weak at the end of
syllables. In particular, the common endings -desu and -masu are pronounced as “des” and “mas” respectively.
k – like ‘k’ in “king”
g – like ‘g’ in “go”
s – like ‘s’ in “sit”
z – like ‘z’ in “haze”
t – like ‘t’ in “top”
d – like ‘d’ in “dog”
n – like ‘n’ in “nice”
h – like ‘h’ in “help”
p – like ‘p’ in “pig”
b – like ‘b’ in “bed”
m – like ‘m’ in “mother”
y – like ‘y’ in “yard”
r – like ‘r’ in “row” (actually a sound between ‘l’ and ‘r’, but closer to ‘r’)