Aikido Striking Tips: Imen Tsuki

Video Transcript

"Mune tsuki is a middle section, imen tsuki is a head strike. I've also heard it called jodan tsuki. And that just means upper level. When you're going to strike, one of the things I tell people, and this is just how I do things, you don't have to do this if you don't like. One of the ways that I make a fist is I curl my index finger first, I wrap my thumb around it, and then I make a fist just like this. My thumb does not extend past my index finger. My hand is relatively loose from here, and I aim with these two knuckles. That's where I want to strike someone with. I don't want to just strike them with the flat part of my hand, or with the weak part of my hand. I want to drive through these two knuckles with having the bone structure back behind your arm. Lead like this. So when I strike, that's how I will strike. I see some people that strike with a loose hand, and they just kind of tuck it over and strike with their hand. Some people make a very tight fist. I don't usually make a very tight fist, my preferred striking method is like this. Another thing you'll never see me do is do a full reverse punch like this. This actually puts the bones of the arm in a weak position and it limits your targeting. What I will do is a three quarter reverse punch, where I come in here, or I'll do a full vertical punch. Three quarter or a vertical punch, but never rotate all the way over like this. That's just my personal preference. When I strike imen tsuki, I come for the face just like this, and I'm going to hit him either here, here, or on the jaw somewhere. Another good place to hit him is right on what they call the boxer's button, right on the top of this bone on the chin, okay. If you just hit that down, you'll see the reaction of him, imagine getting punched in a down on this. So a good imen tsuki, comes straight toward the face, boom! And I'm going to hit him and notice my follow through on this. I don't punch here, and I don't punch here, and I don't punch here. From here my hands are up, come just like this. One of the worst things I ever see aikidoka do is strike like this, with their hands down. Never leave your hands down. Always keep your hands up."