合気道体系 要項 Aikidō taikei yōkō · charts A and B
Ikeda Masatomi sensei summed up the whole of aikido in two charts. Chart A says what: the attacks, the four principles and the 32 techniques that grow out of them, and the way of training. Chart B says in what order: a core and seven stages in which movement, falls, attacks, techniques and the spirit of the dojo are learned together.
Ikeda Masatomi 池田昌富 (1940–2021), 7th Dan Aikikai, Shihan, was a Japanese aikido teacher and, from 1977, technical director of the Swiss association. From 1995 to 2002 he was technical director of the Slovak Aikido Association (SAA), and its honorary technical director from 2002. The charts are signed スイス合気会 池田昌富 – Swiss Aikikai, Ikeda Masatomi.
His “system of aikido techniques” (合気道技法体系) orders the techniques by the principle they rest on, not by the attack. The 1999 exam syllabus of the Slovak Aikido Association, which we use for gradings in Vráble, is built on it as well.
The title 要項 yōkō means “main points”. The charts are handwritten in Japanese, with romaji and a few notes in German. In Slovakia they are known as Ikeda’s charts.
How to read this: what is on the charts is transcribed faithfully. The technique descriptions and connections are our explanation for students. The exact form of each technique is shown by the teacher on the mat.
The partner’s attack (uke) is the entry point. The four principles decide how tori responds. The 32 techniques grow out of them. Around this stand the way of training (keiko hō) and the teaching path of chart B.
The rows are the four principles; each cell holds the upper and lower technique of chart A. Click a technique for details. Use the filters to highlight groups, the colour to show the order of chart B, and the slider to walk the teaching path stage by stage.
Breath throws and drops. Top row: four breath throws (including tenchi nage). Bottom row: four “otoshi” – drops.
Basic omote throws · entanglements. Chart A calls the top row explicitly “8 basic throws – omote”. Bottom row: entanglements and locks.
Controls omote · ura. Top row: ikkyo – yonkyo (omote). Bottom row: their ura pairs. Chart A lists both as the “8 basic controls”.
Ura throws · wheels. Chart A calls the top row “8 basic throws – ura”. Bottom row: “guruma” – wheel-like throws.
Columns: the right-hand panel of chart A confirms that the second and fourth columns are the basic omote and ura throws and the third column the controls. The names of the first column and the lower rows are our reading of what the techniques have in common.
“Principles of attack and defence.” The character 理 ri means a law: not a particular movement but the reason a technique works. Each principle has eight techniques, with one of the great four as its model.
Meeting the attack at its moment. Tori does not dodge but enters the line, blends with the strike and at once leads its force down or to the side.
The typical arm movement is that of shōmen uchi: raise, meet, cut down. Ikkyo is its purest form. The techniques in this row rely on timing and a direct entry, not on leverage.
Take over the partner's force through the joints and bring them calmly to the ground. Control, not destruction.
What matters is leading the wrist and elbow so that uke loses their support and stays under control. Kote gaeshi is the model: turning the wrist changes the attack into a fall, followed by a pin.
The force of the attack flows around tori's centre and turns into a throw. Entering (irimi) and turning (tenkan) form a circle through which uke flies.
Tori takes a place behind or beside uke where the attack cannot reach, and joins uke's movement. Irimi nage is the core: entering behind the partner and throwing in one continuous movement.
The arm and body move like a sword cut. Uke's arm is led as if tori were cutting in four directions.
In aikido the empty-hand movements come from the sword. Shihō nage shows it: uke's arm passes over tori's head like a sword being raised, and a cut downward finishes the throw.
The Slovak Aikido Association links the principles to elements: strike – water, control – earth, throw – wind, cut – fire. These elements are not on Ikeda’s charts; they are an SAA teaching aid. The colours on this page follow them.
Chart A opens with sixteen attacks. The word uke here means the attack that tori “receives”. The order on the chart runs from blending (kiawase) through grabs to attacks from behind. Each shows the stage of chart B in which it is first practised.
Both raise an arm for a strike from above at the same moment and meet forearm to forearm.
The edge of the hand cuts vertically at the forehead, like a sword.
A diagonal strike with the edge of the hand to the side of the head.
A straight punch to the face.
Uke grabs tori's right wrist with the right hand (crosswise).
Uke grabs one of tori's forearms with both hands.
A straight punch to the middle of the body.
Uke grabs both lapels of tori's keikogi.
Uke grabs tori's right wrist with the left hand (straight across).
Uke grabs the keikogi at the shoulder, or at the chest.
Uke grabs the shoulder and strikes from above with the other hand.
A kick, for example mae geri forward.
Uke grabs both of tori's wrists from the front.
Uke goes around tori and grabs both wrists or elbows from behind.
Uke grabs both shoulders from behind, or hugs tori.
Uke chokes from behind with one arm and holds a wrist with the other; or lifts both of tori's arms.
The lower right panel of chart A picks the most important of the 32 techniques.
Each stands in one principle: ikkyo in striking, kote gaeshi in control, irimi nage in throwing, shihō nage in cutting. Whoever understands them will more easily grasp the other techniques in the same row.
Omote and ura here do not only mean “in front of the partner” and “behind the partner”. On the chart every omote technique has its ura pair in the same principle: sumi otoshi – aiki goshi, kote gaeshi – aiki otoshi, irimi nage – kaiten nage, shihō nage – ude kime nage; ikkyo – gokyo, nikyo – hiji kime osae, sankyo – uchi kaiten sankyo, yonkyo – ude garami.
The last row of chart A (玄形呼吸投と天地投の四大技法との関係) shows where the four great techniques come from. Two breath throws are their seed.
The circular arm movement and wrist turn contained in genkei become a wrist lock in kote gaeshi, and in shihō nage the raising of the arm over the head and the cut.
The upper hand of tenchi nage cuts down as in ikkyo; the entry past the partner and the hand that leads them backwards are the basis of irimi nage.
For gradings: the 6th kyu exam of the SAA syllabus contains exactly these six techniques – irimi nage, kote gaeshi, ikkyo, shihō nage, tenchi nage and genkei kokyū nage. The first exam therefore teaches the core of Ikeda’s system.
The same technique can be practised in three ways. The chart gives only the names; the description is our explanation.
A firm, precise form. Uke holds fully, tori looks for the right body structure and power from the hips and legs. This is how both body and technique are “forged”.
A flowing form: tori and uke are joined in movement from the first contact, the technique flows without stopping (ki no nagare).
In earnest, as if it were a real sword: full concentration, exact timing and distance, no needless movement.
Chart B has eight columns. The first is the core, the other seven are stages. Each column holds movement and basics, ukemi, attacks, four techniques (one from each principle, in the order strike, control, throw, cut) and spirit, breath and weapons. Everything is learned side by side, not falls first and techniques later.
| 打 Uchi no ri | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 抑 Osae no ri | ||||||||
| 投 Nage no ri | ||||||||
| 斬 Zan no ri |
The rows match the rows of the 32 techniques in chart A. Each stage adds one technique to every principle, so after seven stages all of them are covered.
the four great techniques and the spirit of the dojo
stance, three body movements, first meeting
footwork, knee walking, changing the body
unbalancing, zanshin, cutting in four directions
walking, first sabaki and awase, weapons
triangle and square
circle – all sabaki together
omote and ura stance, the sword by the four principles
Seen from above. Grey dashed outlines are the starting position, solid feet the end position, blue is the new position of the foot. Blue dashed outline: the foot stays in place and only turns.
In stages 5 and 6 the sabaki and awase exercises take the shapes sankaku, shikaku and maru. The founder of aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, also used these three shapes as an image of the whole art.
The dojo principles stand in the core of chart B, right next to the four great techniques. Ikeda sums them up in two words: kibishiku, tanoshiku – strictly and with joy. Strictness without joy dries training out; joy without strictness lets it spill away.
These three values come from the old Japanese Shinto tradition.
The breathing exercises of chart B (kokyū hō in seiza, daien kokyū hō, funakogi undō, furitama) come from the misogi purification practices of O-sensei. They are not an extra warm-up: they teach breathing with the whole body and joining movement with breath, which is the heart of the breath throws, kokyū nage.
From stage 4, bokken and jō are added: etiquette, suburi, five stances, deflection (uke nagashi). In stage 7 the sword is drawn according to the principles of the four great techniques (aiki battō hō). Here too it shows that the hand movements of aikido are movements of the sword.
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