Nikyo

Nikyo, basic immobilization (Osae Waza) of the technical repertoire of Aikido with Ikkyo, Sankyo, Yonkyo and Gokyo.

In general, we can define Nikyo as a technique that consists of controlling the axis of the attacker’s body from two points: the wrist lock and the elbow control.

If we execute it from Ikkyo (in the Omote form), Tori circles Uke’s hand with his thumb while holding the elbow up or forward, then locking the hand firmly with the little finger and thumb, leading Uke to the ground. Once there, the control can be performed as in Ikkyo, but keeping Uke’s hand blocked, or, as a second option (most commonly used) “hugging” Uke’s arm and around their shoulder with their knees to then give flexibility to your shoulder, always respect the lines of your body.

For the Ura form, Tori guides the action to the outside causing Uke to lose their balance, then Tori surrounds the hand of Uke, in this way his thumb blocking the hand (as in Omote) but Uke’s arm will be in a horizontal position, which will induce Tori to press their arm over Uke’s in a downward spiral, performing the final control in the same way as in Omote.

It is very common, both for the Omote and Ura forms, to first pass through Ikkyo and then use Uke’s reaction (who seeks to regain their balance), which will lead to a set of actions and reactions that make the execution more dynamic and “alive”.