We’ve been using Instagram for a few months to post short videos that demonstrate what we’ve been studying. And they been followed and liked quite a bit by other Aikidokas of Insta. We’d also like them to help promote what we do to potential students so if you have a Cornish community of seekers after fitness and spiritual progress, please link to it. This is our feed.

Here’s a recent post:

Attack: Ushiro Morotedori Uke strikes towards tori’s face and then pushes tori’s defensive hand down, so she can get behind tori and grab both wrists.
Defence: Kodegaeshi Tori starts by moving his hips back so that his hands come in front of his hara. Then he raises one hand and turns under in order to escape the grip. Continuing to turn he takes uke’s hand and uses it to throw.

Ushiro techniques are often practiced by tori turning his back on uke to allow her to take a grip. In this case, the more complete attack is shown, in which uke starts in front of tori and strikes his wrist down so that she can get ‘round. But this is a very formal execution in the dojo and doesn’t relate much to any real-world scenario. I’ve heard some people say that a martial artist would never let anyone get behind him, but how can you prevent that in daily life?