Aikido for 04/12/2011

Ken taught class tonight and we worked on a tsuki kotegashi variation that I really enjoyed focusing on. What Ken emphasized was bring uke off balance through timing and bring uke into nage's center and shifting by shifting uke's weight over the front foot, keeping uke off balance until applying the kotegashi. On of the last variations we worked on involved bringing uke's forearm clear down to the by nage dropping the inside knee and throwing uke through either a full tenkan or a tenkai movement. As uke attempts to stand recover balance, nage applied the kotegashi for the full take-down and pin. We did a variation where nage takes uke down to the mat and then does a tenkan throw. It was only with this technique that I finally felt blending; for most of the night I was slightly off. It is interesting to me that I noticed missing Saturday's class in lack of crispness in my techniques during practice.