Aikido hands in iriminage and tenchinage

Closeup slow motion of how the hands move in the aikido techniques iriminage and tenchinage, by aikido instructor Stefan Stenudd, 6 dan Aikikai.
The hands should be flexible enough to redirect the force of the attack into the trajectory of the aikido technique. Their movement shows where the power is going,so their first move is to join with the direction of the attack. Then continuing with the technique meets with little resistance. It's as if tori's hands become those of uke. These movements are spirals, as are most aikido techniques.
John Hallbeck is uke on the video, and Andreas Johansson held the camera.
Here is my aikido website:
http://www.stenudd.com/aikido
My aikido books:
http://www.amazon.com/Aikido-Principles-Concepts-Peaceful-Martial/dp/9178940176/
http://www.amazon.com/Attacks-Aikido-Kogeki-Attack-Techniques/dp/9178940257/

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• aikido
• iriminage
• tenchinage

[Aikidostenudd]

@southernsecurity Back of the neck or middle back, to me that differs from time to time. What comes naturally, depending on uke's size, form of attack, et cetera. Me, I usually don't grab the back of the neck, but the shoulder. That makes it easier to control all of uke's body.

[southernsecurity]

Question: this is one of my favorite techniques because people don't expect it. It works very well on drunks too because its usually a noisy technique (for the drunk) when executed at full speed. This helped me once and gave me time to pay my tab (throw a 20 on the table) and quietly leave. I've seen the same technique executed where the "set up hand" is not positioned on the back of the neck but on in the lower middle back. Is there a general preference for either? Is one used in a given circu