Deshi assignment: Iriminage ukemi

This week's deshi assignment was to find a video of iriminage ukemi that we particularly like. I looked at several types of ukemi.

The first is where uke bends from the waist and their upper body tips forward, and the back leg swings up, then makes a big step around nage.

Skip to 1:54.



The second is (typical of the ASU style of ukemi), where uke's upper body remains upright, and uke lowers himself by supporting himself on one arm while pivoting and sweeping the outside leg around.



In the first few examples, the ukemi appears to be the same as the first type, but starting at 16:27, uke has more of a connection with nage's shoulder.

The specific ukemi style I'm referring to is explained in detail starting at 17:13.

Of course, there are variations in which nage sends uke on an outward trajectory, rather than keeping the head close, and the version where nage sends uke straight down, as well as the classical iriminage, where nage keeps uke's head close to the shoulder. The outcome of iriminage can also vary, with a back fall or forward breakfall, and close or long range. There are also variations in which the shoulders or waist are used to complete the turn, keeping uke close initially, but then using their momentum to send them on an outward trajectory.

The correlate to this is the space travel "slingshot effect," where a spacecraft uses the gravity well of the Sun to slingshot into deep space.

Much of the ukemi style seems to have to do with how low nage brings uke on the vertical axis. In the examples where uke bends from the waist, they bend backwards to accommodate any movement down the vertical axis.

My favorite ukemi is the ASU style, but I think that is also the hardest to master. It's much faster than the other ukemi.

Late edit: I like this ukemi the best. This is Anne Slui. She's starting off with the ukemi that usually leads into a back fall, but turns her body and does a back roll.