The rotation which is called irimi-tenkan, and which is expressed in the form of the well-known movement tai no henka, requires - as far as the movement of the feet is concerned - that two steps be performed.
Irimi tenkan involves both legs, so you can't do tai no henka by moving just one leg: the rotation of the body first launches the first leg into irimi, and the second leg follows immediately afterwards in tenkan, as shown in the video :
- If the second leg does not follow, this means that the rotation has stopped.
- If the rotation has stopped, it means that uke is not unbalanced.
- If uke is not off balance, no Aikido technique is possible.
It is not the irimi time that causes uke to loose balance, it is the tenkan time. This second time is therefore absolutely essential, as without it a step is missing. Any irimi is an irimi-tenkan, and the following equality is perfectly justified: irimi = irimi-tenkan.
Remember! Ki, primitive energy, gives Yin-Yang, 1=2 guides matter, itself energy, towards the vital phenomenon, the ten thousand beings; this allows us to write 1=2=3 where 3 is the manifested One.
Pierre Chassang, ‘Aikido - Tell us what you know!
The principle is One, irimi-tenkan is Two, the manifested technique is Three. Three is the form taken by One to come into the world. Aikido expresses and respects the universal model of the production of being.
