Chudan tsuki kotegaeshi analysis

How NOT to do... chudan tsuki kotegaeshi

When the attacker punches or thrusts with a knife, neither it is safe nor likely that the defender can immediately grab the attacker's wrist, unless the defender is a big italian inspector with beard called Piedone (This joke was made up by one of my students.)

Here, unfortunately we can't see one of the main principles of aikido which is to connect to the motion of the attacker. It would only have been possible if the defender had controlled the attack and its straight line instead of grabbing the wrist immediately. In addition, uke's (the attacker's) motion should have been redirected into a horizontal circular movement by stepping behind him with a tenkan step.

The entering step should have been executed in a way that keeps uke in at tori's (the defender) centre. Unfortunately, in this video, the attacker is not there. This is because the defender's arms are not adjusted to his centre, the arms are not in front of his hips. If the steps and the centre gets their correct position, the position needed for the throw will come naturally and the attacker can be put down into his irimi point, and can be thrown without using any force.

At the moment of the throw, the defender leans forward. This way his stability decreases and it is possible that the flying attacker can kick him. While executing the technique, a stable but not forward-leaning body position should be kept.

After the throw, the positions are still incorrect in the video. The defender is not stable, he doesn't keep his hanmi position after the attacker has been turned, but he stands parallel. For securing, an irimi tenkan step would be needed where the defender can use his own weight, and, with this step, he would take on a closed position. When securing, the leg corresponding to the hand holding kotegaeshi should be in front. In this position, the hanmi should point towards the attacker's head, and it should be a proper hanmi. In this video, we can see uke's securing from a standing position. In this case, the attacker's hand should be pressed towards his head, but kotegaeshi should still be kept, and the defender's front leg should support the attacker's arm, keeping a stretched shoulder by moving his centre of gravity forward.

If the shoulder is properly stretched, a minmal effort is needed with pressing the hand so that the knife can be removed easily.

Kotegaeshi also has a different pinning method which is in a sitting position. As it is not shown in the video, we will discuss that another time.

We'd appreciate if you had any comments you would like to add to this video analysis.