Dictionary

The following is a guide to some of the Japanese terms used in an aikido class.

Attacks:

Eri dori	Collar grab from behind
Gyakute dori	Cross hand grab
Hiji dori	Elbow grab
Jodan tsuki	A straight punch or thrust to the center of the face
Kata dori	Shoulder grab
Kata menuchi	Shoulder grab and strike to the face
Katate dori	Single wrist grab
Morote dori	Grabbing the wrist with both hands
Mune tsuki	A straight punch or thrust to the center of the chest
Ryote dori	Grabbing both hands
Shomenuchi	Strike to the top of the head.
Ushiro kubishime	Rear choke with one wrist held
Ushiro ryokata dori	Both shoulders grabbed from the rear
Ushiro ryote dori	Both wrists grabbed from the rear
Yokomenuchi	Strike to side of the head

Techniques:

Ikkyo	Involves controlling your partner's center through the arm, as well as pinning the arm flat on the mat. Literally, first teaching or first principle.
Nikkyo	Involves manipulating the wrist and pinning the arm vertically. Literally, second teaching or second principle.
Sankyo	Involves twisting the wrist and arm in a third way, pinning the arm vertically, and torquing the hand and wrist. Literally, third teaching or third principle.
Yonkyo	An arm pin involving leverage on the underside of the arm and elbow, while attacking the nerve points there. Literally, fourth teaching or fourth principle.
Gokkyo	Similar to ikkyo but with a change in the position of the hands. Literally, fifth teaching or fifth principle.
Kotegaeshi	Involves throwing partner by folding the hand back over the wrist. Literally, small hand (kote) turn over (gaeshi).
Shihonage	A throw in which partner may be thrown in any direction. Literally four (shi) direction (ho) throw (nage).
Iriminage	A throw involving entering through an attack to get behind your partner and take his balance. Literally, to enter (iri) body (mi) and throw (nage).
Koshinage	Throwing your partner by rotating his body over the back of your hips. Literally, hip (koshi) throw (nage).
Kaitennage	Throwing your partner as if he were a big wheel. Literally, rotation (kaiten) throw (nage).
Jujinage	Throwing your partner by using leverage on his cross arms. Literally, cross (juji) throw (nage).
Tenshinage	Throwing by extending your arms around and behind your partner's body, one down toward the mat and the other up toward the ceiling. Literally heaven (ten) earth (chi) and throw (nage).
Kokyunage	Any sort of throw that relies essentially on blending and flowing with your partner's movement and upsetting his balance, rather than any specific movement. Often used for throws that have no specific name. Literally, breath (kokyu) throw (nage).

Other commonly used terms

Aikido	Ai means harmony or coming together. Ki is spirit or energy. Do means a way or path. Therefore, aikido can mean the way of spiritual harmony, of the way of hamonizing with energy.
Aikidoka	Practitioners of Aikido
Atemi	Punches and other sorts of strikes to your partner's unguarded areas, designed to distract and to weaken the defenses and/or balance. (Literally, ate is strike and mi is body).
Bokken	A wooden practice sword. There are many different styles of bokken. (Literally, bokku means wood and ken means sword).
Budo	The path or way of martial arts. Literally, do means way and bu means neutralizing aggression.
Dame	Bad, wrong or mistake.
Dan	A black belt ranking such as shodan, nidan, etc. Literally, dan means level.
Deshi	Student
Dojo	A training hall for traditional Japanese arts, including Aikido and other martial arts. Literally, do means way and jo means place.
Dojo cho	The head of the dojo
Doshu	The official curator of the art of aikido. Literally, do means way and shu means the master or owner. The present doshu is Moriteru Ueshiba, the grandson of the founder, Morihei Ueshiba.
Gi	Traditional practice uniform, usually white. Also known as a dogi or keikogi.
Hajime	Command to begin
Hakama	A traditional Japanese outer garment worn over the gi pants. Black or blue in color, they provide protection in rolling and falling. They are generally associated with a certain rank, although this varies from dojo to dojo.
Hanmi	Stance. A way of standing in aikido so that the feet form a T stance and the body is turned at an angle.
Hanmi handachi	Techniques executed from a kneeling position against an attacker who is standing.
Hara	Center of the body. An aikidoka moves with the hara. It is not only the center of gravity, but also the source of reflex and power.
Happo giri	An exercise with the sword in which you practice turning the hips and cutting in at least eight directions. Literally, hachi means eight, po means direction and giri means cutting.
Hasso gaeshi	A movement from the basic stance to the hasso posture, using a figure-eight motion to block a thrust and concluding with the jo held in a vertical position at the right shoulder.
Henka	Variation. Literally, hen means unusual and ka means change. Henka waza are variations on the way a standard technique is completed.
Hidari	Left. For example, hidari hanmi is a stance with the left foot forward.
Hiji	Elbow.
Irimi	Entering. Moving into and through the line of attack with no thought of escape.
Iwama	A small town northeast of Tokyo. Also refers to the dojo where Saito Morihiro sensei taught Iwama-ryu, or Iwama-style aikido. Osensei lived and taught in Iwama during much of the later part of his life.
Jiyu waza	Free style techniques or practice.
Jo	A short staff, being about as long as the distance from the floor to just under the arm, or approximately 50 inches. It is about an inch thick and is usually made of white oak.
Jo dori	Techniques in which an attacker's staff is taken by the defender. Jo means staff and dori means taking.
Kamae	The ready position or posture, as in tsuki kamae or ken kamae, the ready positions for the jo and bokken, respectively.
Kata	Prearranged sets of movements, generally with weapons, designed to teach form and basic movement.
Ken	A Japanese sword, usually curved. A wooden sword used in practice. (See also bokken).
Ki	Energy. The vital force of the body.
Kiai	A loud shout accompanying the execution of a techniques. Literally, ki means energy or spirit and ai means meeting.
Kihon	Basic techniques, as opposed to flowing techniques or variations.
Migi	Right. For example, migi hanmi means right hanmi.
Nage	The partner who executes the technique. Literally, throw or thrower.
Obi	Belt.
Omote	The attacker's front. Moving in front of your partner.
Onegai shimasu	A phrase used to ask a favor of someone, in this case, "Will you please train with me?" Literally, I humbly request. Or, "If you please."
Osensei	Literally, O means great and sensei means teacher. Refers to the founder of aikido, Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969).
Randori	A movement exercise used to develop calm and efficient blending with the power and movement of multiple attacks. Literally, ri means principle, ran means confused, and do means melee or fight.
Seiza	A formal kneeling position. Literally, sei means correct and za means sitting.
Sempai	Senior. In Japan, how one behaves toward others is dictated largely by one's status in terms of seniority, from martial arts dojos to schools and workplaces.
Sensei	In Japan, a title used to address or refer to a teacher. Literally, sei means born and sen means before.
Shikko	Knee walking.
Shodan	First degree black belt.
Shomen	The alcove or altar at the front of the dojo, considered a sacred space, to which we pay respect in aikido practice. Literally, sho means correct and men means side. Also called kamiza.
Suburi	A single movement of the ken or jo done as a solo practice.
Suwari waza	Sitting techniques. Suwari means sitting and waza means techniques.
Tachi dori	Techniques of taking an opponent's sword and throwing him. Tachi means sword and dori means taking.
Taijutsu	Body techniques. All techniques of aikido done without weapons. Tai means body and jutsu means technique.
Takemusu	The martial technique that emerges spontaneously after many years of repetitive training with thorough grounding in the basics.
Tanto	Wooden knife
Tanto dori	Knife-taking. Tanto means knife and dori means taking techniques.
Tegatana	Sword hand, edge of the hand
Tenkan	Turning to dissipate force.
Uchideshi	Students who live at the dojo and train intensively. Uchi means inside and deshi means student.
Uke	The partner who is thrown or receives the technique.
Ukemi	The art and skill of rolling and falling as a means of protecting the body from injury during the execution of aikido techniques. Uke means to receive and mi means through the body.
Ura	The attacker's back. Moving around or behind your partner. Opposite of omote.
Ushiro waza	Attacks from the rear,
Yame	The command to stop
Yudansha	Persons holding rank of black belt. Yu means have, dan means rank and sha means person.
Zanshin	Maintaining concentration before, during, and after a technique. Remaining aware and prepared for the next attack.

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