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 Urakami Sakae (浦上荣) of Heki-ryu Kyudo shows “Tenouchi”

 In the article “What is Aiki?” (Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3) Sagawa-den Daito-ryu Aiki Budo instructor Masaru Takahashi discussed “Tenouchi” (手の内) and it’s relation to Aiki.

Generally speaking, the literal meaning of Tenouchi is “the inside of the hand” (in other words, the palm of the hand)  – in Kendo it can mean the swordsman’s grip on the sword, or in Kyudo it can mean the grip of the hand on the bow. Urakami Sakae above shows the classical Tenouchi in Heki-ryu archery (you may remember that there was a tradition of Heki-ryu archery in the family of Hiroshi Tada) . In classical arts it was given such weight that it came also came to be used as a way to refer to one’s level of skill.

This article is the English translation of an article on Tenouchi in Japanese written by Hakaru Mori, the Somucho (General Director) of the Daito-ryu Aiki-jujutsu Takumakai (大東流合気柔術琢磨会、総務長森恕), and successor to Takumakai founder Takuma Hisa, who trained under both Morihei Ueshiba and Sokaku Takeda. It originally appeared in issue number 82 of the Takumakai Newsletter.

While reading this article you may wish to keep the following quotations from Yukiyoshi Sagawa in mind:

6/12/1965
Not receiving the opponent’s power and making it so that their power will not enter into me when I attack is Aiki. This is not simply draining their power, you must also make an attachment. Aiki makes an attachment through the way that the hand is opened. Simply opening the hand is not Aiki.

8/28/1971
I was told by Takeda Sensei to open my hand in the way that a Morning Glory (“Asagao”) blooms, but I think that this means to open the hand while rotating slightly. I conceived of my Aiki while thinking about this kind of thing.

12/16/1973
Learn Aiki through Suwari-ryote-dori Age-te. This is how I learned the Aiki method of destabilization. The important Hiden (“secret transmission”) is (1) Turn the thumbs towards yourself. (2) Rotate your forearms. Because they rotate the attachment is formed. They rotate in the same way that a Mountain Rose (“Yamabuki”) opens. Putting power into each of the fingers is important.

6/10/1973
The Gokui (“secret”) of Aiki. The reason that an attachment is formed with Aiki is because of the rotation of the forearms.

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