Ukemi in Aikido

by Hoa Newens

​Throwing a ball back and forth to each other is an enjoyable pastime for two people. Similarly, engaging in a conversation brings pleasure to two human beings. In these exchanges, a person deliberately sends an object, a message or energy to the other who intently receives it and sends back a response. The exchange creates a bridge between the two participants, over which their energies flow back and forth. Humans are inherently gregarious; connecting with each other is a basic human need, though it manifests in diverse formats. A game, a conversation, a meeting, texting, sharing in social media, even competition and fighting are instances of human connection that satisfy this need.

In Aikido training, a similar exchange of energy takes place; not just between bodies and minds but perhaps at a deeper level, between one consciousness and another. The deeper exchange is made possible by a practice called Ukemi. In ukemi we intentionally suspend our innate self-defense mechanism and consciously adjust our body and mind to allow the other participant to express himself fully without harming anyone. In plain English, we refer to this practice as “receiving the technique”.
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​Nature of Ukemi. Ukemi creates a safe flow of energy that allows both participants in an Aikido technique to continue their harmonious interaction through the conclusion of the technique. By convention, one of the participants, the Nage, expresses a technique on her partner, the other is the Uke, who receives it safely and allows it to run its course, as intended by the nage. The uke serves as a sounding board that provides feedback to the nage as to the effectiveness and efficiency of her technique.

In the ensuing discussion, we examine the interaction between a female nage (who executes the techniques) and a male uke (who receives the technique).

What is an effective technique? When can we affirm that an Aikido technique has fulfilled its purpose? As we view Aikido in this essay, the technique is effective when the source of conflict is resolved (neutralized) with no resultant harm to anyone. In Aikido, it is not our intent to neutralize one of the participants to resolve the conflict. We should keep this understanding in mind because it defines the role of the uke.

What is an efficient technique? When can we state that the technique was accomplished with the minimum effort and energy? In the training context, the technique is efficient when the nage can connect instantly with the uke, center to center, and pin or throw him off balance. In other words, there is no superfluous movement, no waste of energy.

Therefore, from the uke’s standpoint, he serves nage best when he facilitates the instant connection with nage, from his center to her center, and maintains this connection throughout the technique, while protecting himself by constantly shifting and realigning to maintain the integrity of his body, and by tapping out timely or rolling on the ground to escape at the end of the technique.

In this essay, we look at the larger picture of ukemi without focusing on the last part of the technique in which the uke rolls on the mat.

The three key phases of good ukemi can be discerned from the above description of uke’s role: connect; stay safely connected; escape. We examine these phases in detail below using the example of nikyo.

Connect. When nage performs nikyo on uke she grabs his hand and wrist and align her body to effectively connect her center to her arms and his arm and attempts to find his center to pin him to the mat. If she has not yet mastered the technique, she may resort to an improper shortcut, which consists of applying force to twist his wrist and subdue him through wrist pain. If uke lets this happen every time, the nage will miss the opportunity to learn the proper technique. To help nage channel her energy properly, uke should align his body to receive the technique such that the nage can feel that the technique has “clicked”, that is, she has successfully connected with his center and is in a position to pin him down. Should uke be skilled, in addition to adjusting his body position, he could also help nage adjust her own body to achieve a correct internal alignment.

A most crucial qualitative attribute of an uke is his willingness to receive the technique without reservation; that is, the pre-requisite for good ukemi is the ability to be open and vulnerable and accept a risk of injury. If this openness is not present, certain parts of the body will be closed and resist the oncoming energy rather than cooperate, resulting in an incomplete ukemi. In this respect, keeping an open mind and a flexible body is extremely helpful.

Connecting to nage also means providing a focused “attack” on cue. A good uke is always alert, with his sensors out to constantly scan the surrounding, including nage’s energy. To begin the technique, nage initiates a movement toward uke (such as in Shomenuchi Ikkyo) or creates an opening by presenting a vulnerable part (such as a wrist, a shoulder, side of the head, etc.). These are the cues that uke must catch and respond to timely. Watching a skilled uke taking fall for Saito Morihiro Shihan for example would reveal the fact that he often interacts with his uke through these subtle cues as if through telepathy. The ukes had to constantly remain alert and move in sync with the cues. When he had to explicitly tell uke what to do, then uke had been unconscious.

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​Stay safely connected. While shifting and realigning his body to receive the technique, it is critical that uke protects himself by maintaining the integrity of his body. Toward this end, he must assess and absorb the impact of the technique by bringing to bear all available resources: he must muster the help of all body parts that can move to distribute the impact widely. Additionally, he must stay aligned with gravity (that is, stay balanced) by keeping his central axis vertical to the extent possible. Body awareness and suppleness are of great use for this purpose.

Note that while moving his body to fine-tune response to nage’s technique, small and smooth movements provide the most versatility and safety, as opposed to large movements that tend to result in over-adjustments.

Escape. Aligning his center timely means that he needs to move his entire body at the right time to receive the technique; if he receives late, he may get injured because his wrist will bear the brunt of the oncoming force without support from the rest of the body; conversely, if he yields too early, the nage will not feel the connection and her body will not register the technique correctly. Uke should receive by moving his body such that the pressure on his wrist remains constant. He should tap out only when he can make no further movement to absorb the oncoming energy. This is exactly when nage has effectively pinned him down. Awareness, suppleness and sensitiveness are critical attributes in this phase of ukemi.
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Note that for a technique that results in a throw, uke needs to allow all parts of his body to move and absorb the impact so that he remains connected with nage as long as possible. When his balance is about to be compromised, he switches his connection with nage to one with the mat (or ground) and saves his body by performing a roll or a high fall.
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The instant right before the escape presents the most risk to uke. Should nage have the intent to cut off any escape with an abrupt and violent move – taking advantage of uke’s willing openness – then injury probably results.

Ukemi allows dialogue. Throughout the above discussion, for simplicity we have assigned the role of nage to one person and uke to the other person in the interaction. We should note that, in reality, both participants continuously switch roles through the execution of the one technique. The designation of “nage” and “uke” is only a practical convention that does not reflect the reality of equal contribution to the technique; it is like two faces of the same coin, one called head and one called tail. Aikido is truly a dialogue: the participants alternately listen and respond, in a conscious manner. The uke does not provide an attack and go to sleep until it’s time to escape. Ukemi requires full consciousness. Both nage and uke own the technique and they are jointly responsible for the successful completion of the technique. To the casual or uninformed observer, the Aikido technique looks like a dance, due to equal cooperation from both partners. Yes, it is a dance. More specifically, it is a martial dance of spirits. On the other hand, if one were to view Aikido as a fighting art and use its techniques for fighting purposes, then the views offered in this essay will make no sense. More on this in another blog.

Trust and responsibility. During the engagement, the uke deliberately helps his training partner complete the technique by accepting the risk of exposing his vulnerability. He gives her a focused and sincere “attack”, knowing that she is going to execute a technique on him, and that there is a risk that she may not be doing it correctly, thus potentially hurting him in the process. This is a risk of training in martial arts. However, due to the nature of Aikido, the average technique takes longer to execute, and the uke does much more work than in other martial arts, and as a result, incurs more risk exposures. Good ukemi entails effort and risk. Note that Nage has the same expectation of trust of uke, and the same responsibility to protect herself and the uke. Therefore, participants should have a high degree of trust in each other in order to do good Aikido: I have complete trust that my partner will take care of me, so I give her 100% of my attention and energy. On the flip side, the partners should also take full responsibility for protecting themselves and each other during the interaction, and not readily assign blame in case of accidental injury.

Principles of Ukemi. Below we summarize the principles for good ukemi derived from the above discussion. These principles address both the technical and qualitative aspects of ukemi in Aikido.

1. Connect with partners throughout the technique physically and energetically.
2. Maintain body integrity and balance throughout.
3. Remain guardedly open throughout.
4. Stay fully alert in each moment of the engagement.

​Nage expresses herself by executing a technique on uke. Good ukemi is a mirror for nage. Uke reflects her technique; she learns from this feedback and discovers herself. Proper ukemi in Aikido training allows participants to find their true selves. Ukemi is at the heart of Aikido.
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Hoa Newens
March 5, 2020