03/01/2026
It's often asserted that Aikido requires that the opponent initiate the encounter, but this is in direct contrast to Morihei Ueshiba's own practice, which was aggressive, proactive, and virtually always initiated the encounter.
「持たれる」のではない、「持たせる」のだ！
"It's not that you're being grabbed, make them grab you!" - Morihei Ueshiba
Shigenobu Okumura (pictured here with Morihei Ueshiba and Kenji Tomiki in Japanese occupied Manchuria, back row second from the right) elaborated on this in his recollections of Morihei Ueshiba in "Interview with Aikido Shihan Shigenobu Okumura, Part 2":
Q: Do you have any other memories?
A: Well, what I can’t understand even now was the feeling of his wrists. When you grabbed his wrist it felt as if you were somehow floating. When we were doing breath power training, even if I gripped him with all of my strength, it was just completely different. That feeling is still a mystery to me today.
Q: Was it softness?
A: It was different than softness. There was an elastic force, and even though I was grabbing it felt as if I was being grabbed…
Q: “Even though you were grabbing it felt as if you were being grabbed”?
A: O-Sensei told me “In Aikido, even if there is an opening (in the opponent), don’t leap into it”. It is said that the Samurai of old didn’t say “I was cut”, rather they said “I made them cut”. Aikido is the same – my hand is not grabbed, I make them grab my hand. Technique is the same, you make the opponent leap in and then take them.
https://www.aikidosangenkai.org/blog/interview-aikido-shihan-shigenobu-okumura-part-2/
For reference, more thoughts on Irimi and moving off the line in reactive encounters from Ellis Amdur:
"In Japanese, reactive counters are often called “go no sen,” which is a counter to the other’s initiative, but even this is not accurate. In fact, reactive counters are commemorated with tombstones."
"Irimi," by Ellis Amdur:
https://aikidojournal.com/2016/05/06/irimi-by-ellis-amdur/
