Glossary

Uke grabs tori's wrist with one hand across (ai-hanmi = handshake stance)

Diagonal downward cut with the sword, following the line of the kesa (= the front hemline of the jacket).

Counter-attacking movement in Aikiken, in which the attacker's cut is first deflected with a circular movement that leads directly to a counter-attack with Shomen-Uchi (literal translation: ‘returning the cut’)

Shomen-uchi is a vertical strike or cut to the head or forehead of tori.

Yokomen-uchi is a diagonal strike aiming at tori's temple