Shomen-uchi means a straight strike down the top of the head with the blade of your hand. But instead of waiting for the blow to land you preempt it by raising your own hand blade (tegatana in Japanese) to your attackers face, in a rounded motion from below. He or she responds in like manner and you take the initiative advancing with your front foot off line, curving their arm and body to their side. Uprooting their stability by spiralling their wrist and elbow so their centre (Hara) is unbalanced. Now you advance either forward through (omote) or circular behind (ura), bringing their shoulder and body to the ground pinning their arm in +90 degrees from their body, securing it with the help of your knees.

Kihon means basic from a static position. Awase means to blend or match in motion. Ki no nagare means literally flowing Ki. These are the three developmental stages the technique goes through while learning.

They also refer to:

Kotai – Solid Body

Jutai  –  Soft Body

Ryutai – Flowing Body.

Shomen-uchi Nikkyo omote -waza.

Begin in the exact manner as in the previous Ikkyo exercise. When you you bring your partner down to the side, with a firm grip on his elbow, let your hand blade (tegatana) on the other hand rotate, catching his wrist from the backhand (replay the clip to catch the detail) and bring him down to the floor. The armlock is different from Ikkyo in that you bring his arm up from the floor and pin it against your body. Slowly apply the pin across his neck till he claps out (clapping on the mat with your hand indicates pain and you must let go).

Begin as in the aforementioned practices. As you bring your partners arm down the side, grab his hand-blade, step in and pin it to your chest, securing it with your other hand. Pivot in, making the partner move up from his position, step in front as you cut his hand down, step back and follow him down to the floor. Pin the arm to your body, switch hands and secure the pin over his neck.

In the ura version, begin with an outside turn, then grab the hand-blade turning it, spiralling up without moving your feet. Bring your partner (uke) down with an outside turn again, spinning around down to the pin. Pin as in the omote version.

These techniques are difficult to comprehend without a partner but nevertheless you must be able to perform them by yourself in order to understand and appreciate the body movement. And the better you do that the better you'll be at handling your opponent. So do try to exercise these techniques with an imaginary foe, focused on your own body, balance, stability and flow.

Very similar to Ikkyo but with a different ending. So as you have brought down your opponent and stepped in as in Ikkyo, now regrab his wrist with both your hands. Using your inside of the index fingers root to press a nerve running down the wrist. Lift up slightly and use the whole arm as a sword and cut down again, pinning his shoulder to the ground. Continue pressing the nerve point as you slightly twist his arm into the mat. Make sure you control his whole body and not merely his arm. The omote and ura version follow the same form as Ikkyo.

Tanken-dori, or tanto-dori is defense against knife. We use this in gokkyo as to avoid being cut in the wrist as we grab the attackers wrist. We use a yokomen-uchi attack, an overhead slightly curbed strike to the side of the head, which we meet with a firm strong block with our underarm, intercepting it before it has gained full power, entering in blocking and counter punching at the same time.

Note: When using a wooden knife when training much care must be taken to avoid injury. Never aim for the face or eyes, be sure you can stop your attack at will. Train slowly and accurately. This caution goes without saying to the practice of all strikes and parries. Shomen-uchi, yokomen-uchi and counter atemi (strikes) must never be deployed without control. In Aikido we NEVER land our strikes, they are but indications of what may be in a real altercation. So you first practice is to learn to control and to be able to stop your strike before reaching target, and that is even if target is moving and changing.

So to continue, grab your opponents wrist underneath (your thumb down) so not to get cut, then proceed as in ikkyo ura-waza. Pin by securing his wrist and elbow on the floor, pushing the wrist in as you lift the elbow up releasing the knife. Be careful to do this gently because the pressure on the wrist lock is great.

Rokkyo, a name that fits the technique. It's a direct, tough application, not easy to give and not easy to receive. But as you receive the shomen-uchi, grab his wrist at the same time, pivoting on your front foot, spinning around causing him to step forward unbalanced. Roll up his arm underneath yours, changing your shomen hand-blade grabbing his backhand gaining the pin on his wrist. With the wrist lock secured, pin his arm with your arm, turn your hips back and down towards the floor.