四法ヲ應用ス O Sensei - “Budō”
The fourth law of Aikido is expressed by two complementary techniques: yonkyo and tenchi nage. It should be remembered that O Sensei did not use these terms. To refer to these movements, he was talking only about law n°4.
Tenchi nage does not mean that one hand is pointing towards the sky (ten) while the other hand is pointing towards the earth (chi). It has nothing to do with that.
Tenchi nage means that uke is lifted off the ground and raised towards the sky at first, before being lowered towards the ground in a second stage, after losing his footing.
To create this initial levitation of uke, it is necessary for both of tori's hands to rise together towards the sky in the first instance.
The action of the lower hand (the earth hand) - and this is crucial - is therefore not to dive towards the earth, as is often taught, but on the contrary to rise towards the sky as seen in the video:
This practice appears in Budō (the Founder's book) as the educational exercise for tenchi nage. O Sensei emphasises the action of the lower hand, which has the effect of raising uke's shoulder, and this is also what Morihiro Saito taught:
