Pulled this down from a Google search, as we have mainly bin doing
variations on this technique the last 3 months.
The verb "kaesu" does not mean "to twist". It's the transitive form of
"kaeru", to return. Kaeru doesn't have a precise equivalent in English,
but
means something like "to return (home or to where the subject belongs)".
Thus, you would not use it to say goodbye to someone after they have been
visiting your house by "please come back soon", because in that context if
you used "kaeru" to mean "come back" you would actually be saying "Please
return home quickly" or "Please go home as soon as possible". Not the
intended meaning at all!
While kaeru describes the subject of the sentence "returning" themself,
kaesu describes the subject "returning" the object. Thus, the concept of
"kae****" is "putting back where it belongs", or "returning", not
"twisting".
"Kae****-waza" means "reverse techniques", that is, turning the tables on
someone who is doing a technique on you. There's an aiki-jo technique
called
"hidari nagare kae**** uchi" which might be translated as "left flowing
return strike".
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How to perform kotegae****
There are a wide variety of kotegae**** techniques. One can emphasize
creating a pain in the wrist, or controlling the body. One can also do
large, expansive techniques (which are most appropriate off a tenkan
blend)
or shorter, straighter, somewhat more brutal variants.
All variants share the same hand position, which is (e.g.) your right
thumb
on the back of uke's left hand, in the soft spot between the ring and
pinkie
finger bones, and your R fingers wrapping around the meaty part of uke's L
thumb. Your pinkie finger should be roughly on the crease where the wrist
bends, and your index finger should hook the thumb (NOT go in between
uke's
thumb and index finger, because it can be grabbed there).
You can practice this hand position on yourself, since you have L and R
hands. This is the normal Aikido kotegae**** wrist stretching exercise,
which
actually has a dual purpose. The hand being bent gets a good stretch; but
also, the hand doing the bending is practicing doing the correct
kotegae****
hold. After many repetitions, this hold should should become very
comfortable and natural, and deviations from it should feel "wrong".
When getting a kotegae**** hold on someone, your hand should be kept very
soft and sticky-feeling, like bubble gum. A hard or tense hand will tend
to
"bounce off".
A typical large tenkan kotegae**** might start from a munetsuke (straight
punch to the stomach) with uke's L hand. Nage steps in with R foot, "toe
to
toe", with a feeling of almost impaling oneself on uke's fist. Then nage
pivots the hips so as to face the same way as uke, simultaneously putting
all weight on the R foot and stepping behind uke with the L foot. This is
a
very deep entry and pivot, more than 180 degrees. Nage's R hand finds
uke's
forearm and slides down the forearm to "catch" at the wrist, at which
point
is should be in perfect position to do the technique. (It's im****tant not
to
grab directly for the hand, which is much easier to miss than the
forearm.)
This "catch" also helps to overextend uke. Nage's L hand sweeps out and
around, and can be used to pat uke on the rump (if doing this feels like
an
awkward stretch, your tenkan is not deep enough).
Now nage wants to apply the technique, but if he just pulls uke's hand
into
his center the rest of uke will also turn around and be in striking range;
the situation becomes crowded and unworkable. Instead, nage now pivots on
the L foot, stepping back and away from uke and (thus) creating a space
into
which uke can fall. As uke comes around, apply the kotegae****, using your
center and keeping uke's hand fairly low. (There's a tendency to try to
gain
momentum by making a large circle with uke's hand coming up and then down,
but while it's up there are nasty openings for counter-attacks.) Depending
on how hard the technique is applied, and whether the wrist is torqued
while
doing so, you can generate a variety of different throws. Some of them
leave
uke no alternative but to leap over his own arm and take a medium-high
break
fall. More gentle versions allow uke to merely sit down.
Maintain control of uke's hand throughout the fall, unless you are
projecting them away from you. After they are grounded, you can pivot
around
(torquing the arm) which turns uke into position for a standing pin. You
can
convert this into a seated pin if you want.
A tenkan kotegae****, if done with a large spirit, can cover a lot of
ground.
It's not unusual for me to move 2 or 3 meters while doing this. (Of
course,
I'm 202 cm tall, so your mileage may (literally!) vary.) In a very dynamic
situation this might even reach 4 meters, or twice my height. A common
beginner problem is simply not moving enough.
A typical "direct" style might step to the side instead, turning a little,
and bru****ng uke's arm with the R hand to get the correct hand position.
Then nage will turn back (and step back) in front of uke, applying the
technique by turning uke's hand directly back onto the forearm and pulling
it down and into their center. This more-or-less forces uke to stumble
forward onto their knees. The feeling is a little bit like reeling in a
kite, or dragging a hoe to to make a furrow for planting. Keep walking
backwards until uke is completely stretched out, then convert to the pin
as
above.
Both of these, everything in between, and a few things off to the side,
are
all kotegae****. The salient characteristics, I believe, are:
1.. the hand positioning, and
2.. turning the hand back against the wrist (with or without torquing)
in
the direction it normally bends.
Triangle, circle, Square
Iwama Takemusu Aiki Aikido Wales.
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