Unbendable Arm

Unbendable Arm is an Aikido demonstration that is supposed to show Ki development. This is taught by telling the student to imagine water flowing from the belly out through the arm like water out of a garden hose. This is supposed to make Nage very strong so that Uke cannot bend Nage's arm. People sometimes get irate when they are shown how this really works. Once I was showing this to a big martial artist. He was very upset that I would dare challenge his beliefs. He was supposed to just push on the arm but he struck the arm with his full body motion. Being much smaller than him I swung around him but the arm did not bend.

Example 1, Unbendable Arm

Movie of Example 1.

Fig. 1 Unbendable Arm		Fig. 2 Striking Arm		Fig. 3 End of Strike

1. Fig. 1 shows the basic Unbendable Arm position. It is very important that Nage's palm be up so that Nage's arm does not get damaged. The back of Nage's fingers or the tips of Nage's fingers can be on Uke's shoulder.

2. In Fig. 1 Uke presses down on Nage's arm. This should not be a strike. It is not competition although many people compete. The idea is not to see who can control who.

3. The technique in Fig. 1 is really very simple and suggested in the KI explanation. As Uke presses down Nage's fingers push on Uke's shoulder. This disturbs Uke's balance making it difficult for Uke to use force against Nage. If Uke tries to exert force in different directions besides down to disturb Nage's balance then Nage will have to adjust and push or pull in different directions.

4. Nage should practice doing this very subtly so that no one can tell what Nage is doing. This makes it mysterious and magical.

5. Before anyone started teaching Aikido in this part of the world a few Japanese Aikido students from Tokyo came to the college where I worked. They would teach me what they knew but they were not black belts. One of these would raise his hands as shown in Fig. 2 and then strike down on the arm as in Fig. 3. This is as much a reaction time test as a test of Unbendable Arm. If Nage does not get the technique and the timing correct it can be quite painful. The reason it is a reaction time test is because Nage does not push soon enough for it to be obvious. The push has to be hidden by Uke's strike.

Example 2, Application of Unbendable Arm

Movie of Example 2.

Fig. 4 Start of Strike		Fig. 5 Moment of Impact		Fig. 6 Balance Broken

1. Fig. 4 shows the starting position for the strike.

2. In Fig. 5 Uke steps forward with the strike and Nage pushes Uke's shoulder as in Example 1. This breaks Uke's balance making it difficult for Uke to put force into the strike.

3. In Fig. 6 Uke falls back to catch his balance.

4. Normally we would say that Uke did not complete the strike because Uke was pushed back. Uke's strike just could not reach. It is not that simple. As Example 1 showed even when Uke is striking down and is not pushed away from Nage's elbow Uke still cannot bring normal force to bear on Nage's arm.

5. The explanation of this might be something like this. As Uke pushes Uke loses balance. Uke's nervous system gets feedback at an unconscious level indicating that Uke's action is affecting Uke's balance adversely. Uke's life since one year old has been spent not doing things that make Uke fall. Uke's don't fall muscles resist Uke's push muscles causing tremendous effort with little effect. This gives the illusion that Nage has suddenly become very strong.

6. The above examples show why breaking Uke's balance is the heart of Aiki. When people lose balance they have great difficulty exerting force. They become much less dangerous. For this reason the first thing an Aikika wants to do is break Uke's balance. That is a huge safety factor. The entry strike with the tornado twist is designed to instantly take Uke's balance.

7. Many people think that applied Aiki techniques need to be preceded by kicks and strikes to weaken Uke for the Aiki technique. The logic of Aikikuta is that the Aiki movement is to weaken Uke for other techniques. For this reason Aikido does not usually teach the gratuitous strikes and kicks that were typical of early Aikido. This is not because Aiki became less martial. It is because with intensive training the practitioners learned the power of balance and the devastating effect of its loss.