Aikido and/or self defence - Part 2

The next aspect of self defence that still does not need to end with executing a technique, but that is a very important basic principle of aikido, and no technique can be done without it, is getting out of the line. What does that mean? Every attack by the attacker (uke) is aimed at the defender (tori). We can say that the defender is the target of the attack. If the defender does not move the attack will certainly find its target. However, if the defender has good timing (to be discussed later in detail) and moves away, the attacker doesn’t stand a chance to modify the course (a straight line) they are approaching the target. By stepping out of the way at an appropriate time it is possible to defend ourselves by dodging the attack, getting out of the sight of the attacker. This is clearly effective self defence.

Let us discuss the principle behind getting out of the line.

Let’s see the initial conditions first.

Aikido, as most of us know it, is primarily defensive. It does not start from an aim to be above everyone, to be stronger and harder than anyone else. As such, an aikidoka cannot meet the attack by force, or by staying there waiting for the impact. If someone attacks you, you cannot suppose that you are stronger than them, why would they attack someone who they think is bigger and stronger? So based on this, let’s suppose that the attacker is physically stronger than the defender. You can’t block their attack, they would just damage you or break through your blocks altogether. The only way to get out is…to get out of the way.

As mentioned above, getting away involves a very important element which is correct timing. If you move too early then the attacker will have a change to correct their movements and modify the course of their attack. If a goalkeeper moves too early when the opponent takes a penalty, the player – seeing that the goalie goes to one direction – quickly kicks the ball to the other direction and scores easily. If you are attacked and move early, as opposed to the player who kicks the ball to the other corner, the attacker will simply follow you with their fist or whatever they use to attack you.

Another – not so useful – option is when the defender moves too late. In this case we might get away from the deadly blow but we might not have enough time to move all our body out of the line and step out completely. For example, your body moves out of the line but one of your feet remains there. You survive but you might get your leg kicked seriously. This is only a self defence technique with very limited success.

Note that if you don’t move at all there is no self defence at all and the threat is imminent and almost certainly unavoidable.

Let us return to the attacks. An attack, independently from what tool (knife, sword, jo, etc.) or body part (fist, edge of hand, knee, elbow, foot) is used as weapon to attack you is relatively easy to characterise. That is, every attack has a certain main direction.

The main direction categories are the following:

1. straight attack on the line, at various heights (e.g. tsuki (punch), mae geri (straight kick) gedan, chudan, jodan (three heights),
2. straight attack on a vertical line from top to bottom (shomenuchi) or bottom to top (can be a hook, for instance) ,
3. horizontal attack left to right or right to left (wielding a stick towards the defender from one side towards the other)
4. diagonal attack from someone’s outside to inside or vice versa (e.g. yokomenuchi)

Why is this important for now?

Mainly because these pretty much determine which way you are going to get away from the line. For example, if the attack is a horizontal left to right attack you cannot move out of the way towards the direction the stick’s end comes from because you would simply walk into the dangerous end of the stick. It is much more likely that you should try to step the other way, close to the attacker, to step in. A vertical or straight cut allows to step either way (left or right). We can see that there are basically two directions you can move away from the line of attack which is either the left or the right. Rather then saying left or right, in aikido, we refer to inside or outside movements. In aikido, soto means outside (outside from the point of the attacker, the side closer to their back), and uchi means inside (the side that takes you closer to the front/chest/face/etc. of the attacker). The steps you step, which also determine which way you will be facing, can either be described as irimi or tenkan. So there are four basic types of steps out of the line: soto irimi, soto tenkan, uchi irimi and uchi tenkan. The individual aikido techniques are all based on these four initial steps. If you learn these four movements and you do not use any aikido techniques at all, you can already feel a little bit safer than before the attack, and you won’t be surprised if an attack comes from any direction, you will defend yourself by just getting out of the line.

There is a story about a beginner who had been taught only the basic movements to get out of the line. He started to get very disappointed and sad. He just wanted to know why he had to do these boring steps all the time, day after day. Then there was some sort of incident with other people and he was saved by the very steps he had been practicing thousand times a day. The attacker – thrown off balance by his own energy initially directed to the student – fell to the floor having missed his target. There was no aikido technique at all but the student demonstrated a very important aikido principles. On a similar note, I often tell my students that “You can do a technique without doing aikido but you can do aikido without doing any technique.”

To analyse this statement further and where aikido techniques come from, how effective they are, and what other aspects of self defence are there will be discussed in subsequent posts. If you don’t want to miss out please subscribe to our blog posts by e-mail or in a reader.

If you are interested in already discussed aspects of self defence don’t forget to read any previous posts of the Aikido and/or Self Defence - part 1.

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