Kaeshi-Waza: Countering Techniques in Yoshinkan

Sooner or later, every Aikido student meets the awkward truth: techniques can fail. A partner resists Ikkajo, slips a Kotegaeshi, roots against a throw—and the textbook has no page for what happens next. The next chapter is called Kaeshi-waza (返し技): counter technique, the art of converting resistance into your own opening.

1. What Counts as a Counter

Kaeshi-waza names the moment your intended technique is neutralised and you flow into another that exploits the neutralisation itself. Classic classroom patterns include trading between the four controls described in our pins overview: an attacker who stiffens the elbow against Ikkajo's straight bar has just loaded their own wrist for Nikajo's rotation; an attacker who drops weight to defeat the rising spiral of Sankajo hands their head line to Yonkajo's steering pressure.

The pattern generalises across the whole syllabus. Throws resist into pins; pins resist into throws; the entering mechanics of Iriminage and Kotegaeshi answer failed wrist work from behind. Nothing mystical is added—the counter is usually just the next sentence in a language you already speak.

2. Timing: Reading the Commitment Point

• The Golden Instant: Uke's resistance peaks when they have fully committed muscle in one direction. At that peak they cannot redirect—counters launched here feel effortless because the door swings open on its own.
• Too Early: Counter before commitment and you simply change techniques randomly, abandoning position for no reason.
• Too Late: Wait until the failure completes and Uke owns your structure. The window between these poles is what training widens.

This reading skill is the same one built by the classified attacks of our attack primer and the distance management of Ma-ai practice. Counters are not a new sense—they are old senses applied to a new moment.

3. Why Both Partners Improve

• Nage Learns Honesty: If your pin dies easily, its geometry was decorative. Counters audit every technique you own.
• Uke Learns Anatomy: Knowing how techniques fail teaches where real danger lives—which sharpens attacks and safety alike.
• Ego Dissolves: In honest counter drilling, everyone loses constantly. The habit of losing gracefully powers all long-term progress, as any reader of our etiquette guide will recognise.

4. Safety and Progression

Counters multiply joint exposure: two people applying locks simultaneously is where wrists get careless. Reputable dojos therefore sequence them late—after the graded foundations in our syllabus guide are dependable—with agreed intensity levels and instant taps, per the culture described in our Nikajo safety notes. When both partners honour those rules, counter drilling becomes the most intellectually rich game in the dojo.

Counters also feed directly into freestyle: the flowing exchanges of Jiyu-waza assume you can recycle failed actions without freezing—a skill first rehearsed in dedicated Kaeshi-waza classes.

Start Losing Beautifully in Kepong

At Shoreikan Dojo in Kepong, Kuala Lumpur, counter work grows out of the graded curriculum once fundamentals hold—Chief Instructor Tony Chung (6th Dan) introduces it when students stop needing to win every repetition. Join a Saturday morning session or begin with the first-class guide.

Canonical Literature & References

• Shioda, Gozo. (1996). Total Aikido: The Master Course. Kodansha International.
• Shioda, Gozo. (2002). Aikido Shugyo: Harmony in Confrontation. Shindokan Books.