Once the technique is being applied, how should uke "offer resistance"? Is "resistance" providing just enough counter-pressure so that nage has something to work with (e.g. if your arm is being held down, you push up (but not too hard) against the downward pressure)? Or does resistance really mean seeking openings for counter-attack. If it's seeking openings - where do you look for those openings? For example, do you ignore the part of the body to which the technique is being applied (e.g. your arm) and try to move your body around so that you continue to face nage and seek to attack his body with your free hand? When does the search for new openings or the application of resistance by uke mean that nage can no longer peform the technique - how do you know when "resistance" or the search for openings has been taken too far?
Irimi, No disrespect mate but your questions are those which really: A/ need to be put to your own instructor (because different styles of aikido have different emphasis on ukemi) B/ the physical amount of resistance cannot be measured, it's down to experience and a fine balance between just enough and too much, this cannot be physically taught, you have to develop your understanding through hands on experience. This is of course relative to experience and grade, the more experienced you (and your training partner are) the more resistance you should be able and willing to provide (within realms of safety) Seeking openings... I actively teach to close openings, not look for them however, if awase and kuzushi have been achieved and waza follows reasonably quickly, theoretically openings don't realistically exist, unless you as uke choose to make an opening and this is why kaeshi and henka waza exists. As for your last question... "too far?" too far is essentially when the technique becomes nothing more than a battle of strength, a struggle because tori has failed to recognise the point at which waza simply won't work based on a set of variables (one of which is resistance) and neglects the fact that they can (or should be able) to rapidly alter from one application to another. Regards
To answer the last part of the question first, too far is when the object of the exercise is lost on either nage, uke or both. In other words too far is when nothing is being learned. How much resitance you provide as uke depends on the object of the excercise. If the object of the excercise is to teach a basic technique then uke should follow where nage leads until nage makes a mistake. Mistakes should obviously not be aloud to pass without question. But at the same time it would be impractical to stop nage everytime their body was a milimeter out of alignment. As Dave has already stated getting the balance right is a question of experience.
On resistance, I'd like to say that where you are in your Aikido is the key factor. If you're just starting Aikido, you should resist the urge to fight the technique as primarily, your learning to absorb energy, moving your body, and being flexible as an Uke. As your Aikido gets better as time goes on, resistence can be increased. I think advanced Aikido would involve exploiting openings and making it more difficult for Tori. After all, it's no good letting Tori have it all their own way However, there's little point doing that if your not at that level. It also depends on training. For example, if your learning new material that is unfamiliar, it's harder to make progress when Uke's stopping your body movement (which in my opinion is how you learn Aikido, through muscle memory). At the same time, the more resistance the Uke gives, the more effective Tori has to become, so it's good training for them too. Again, this is advanced Aikido; something to be done after having a good grasp of the basics. Like what has been stated before, I think a balance is required. It's important to train with both a little and a lot of resistance. My Sensei is always saying that Uke and Tori are essentially the same person. They are both harmonising with each other. The roles can be reversed at anytime, rather than one person being designated as the one who 'wins' and the other 'loses'.
Thanks for the above. I'm interested because ukemi seems such a hard concept to come to grips with. When I refer to "resisting", I don't so much mean trying to block the application of the technique but establishing the correct way in which to "resist". Hence the reference to identifying openings. Some techniques appear to work much better if uke seeks to continue the attack and continues to turn in towards nage e.g. tenkan kaiten-nage or kotegaishi. But at other times, it doesn not appear to be the right thing to identify an opening and seek to continue the attack.
Consider this.. "Ukemi" literally means "to receive" however, as a physical act within Aikido taiso ukemi means to "recover" thus; when you are uke in the collective activity of studying aikido, your role should be to recover from the application and continue to provide 'feedback' to your training partner. Eventually that may involve taking a breakfall at some point however, ukemi doesn't mean to fall down or breakfall or give in. What do I mean by feedback ? Simple, the right amount of resistance together with spoken and unspoken assistance in development of the technique and doing so without appearing to be taking on the role of instructor or, being arrogant toward others of less experience or skill. Learning aikido waza is the easy bit, being good at ukemi, well... That's the hard part. Regards
