You are right that I made a bad choice when I used the word "optional". We strike when the situation requires; we do not have a choice. Or maybe we do, but the other option is allowing ourselves to be punched in the face. What I meant to say was that sometimes a technique does not call for atemi, and yet remains the technique, and therefore atemi is not a defining characteristic of the technique.
So where does atemi fit within 99% of those techniques which are classified specifically as kokyu.. by "kokyu" I'm referring to waza which don't otherwise have a name. Kokyu [nage] are generally single phase movements which make particular use of awase to create kuzushi, and again, generally move in the direction of the energy being generated from uke thus atemi [could] either partially or fully arrest that movement, which is why it's more often than not, not applied.
Yes, I see what you mean. It actually is uke or the attacker that determines the extent that atemi is used. Defining atemi as a method for establishing contact... well if uke already has a grab on tori, then there is no need to establish contact with atemi. In this case, atemi may be optionally used as necessary to stun uke where uke is open. Atemi means the whole body can be a weapon, so atemi could be a punch, an elbow, a head butt, a hip check, a knee, a sweep, etc. However, since contact is already established, actual atemi can be thought of as being on a "need to do basis". What is not optional, however, is the threat of atemi in these technique, such as in kokyunage. My claim is that uke does not just let go in kokyunage because of the threat of atemi if they do. Therefore there isn't a visible atemi but there is the projection of atemi (another way to put it is that atemi is used to fill the space where uke needs to go). Because atemi can fill the space where uke needs to go, uke has three choices, they can get hit (walk into the atemi and then fall into a kuzushi), move around it (and in doing so fall into a kuzushi), or they can try to counter it (kokyunage may fail in this case). I may not be correct, that is what discussion is for. But as I see it, atemi is part of all akido technique at some level, even if the level is that of the threat of atemi.
Yes, as part of the previous paragraph in that post talking about when uke has already established a grab so you don't need atemi to establish contact. I sort of inserted your quote in between but originally it was one block of text. I feel that the use of atemi in kokyunage before contact (such as uke is attempting a grab or punch) is pretty straight forward. Am I wrong to see the threat of atemi in many of the throws (considered kokyunage) in this video? [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3636uWgpBo"]YouTube - Morihei Ueshiba - Aikido (1935)[/ame] Note I am only referring to where O-Sensei is using his body to cut through uke in some manner as atemi, even if it is cutting through the space uke is entering, such as iriminage (e.g. I am saying iriminage is kokyunage when uke is not grabbed).
