This is what we might call a basic technique. So you might wonder why we've included this movement in a section called “Beyond the method.”
Well, if you watch the video carefully, you'll see that the movement is performed twice according to the method, but also twice with a single rotational movement:
The method requires that the rotation be performed in two stages: first, the rear leg moves in a circular arc, the foot lands, then a second arc brings the same foot forward—in a second stage—to push uke to the ground. This is how Master Saito taught me in Iwama, about ten years after the following photos were taken, in which his son Hito Hiro was just 17 years old:
In the actual movement, however, the rotation is not performed in two stages, but in one. Since it is obvious that a rotation that stops and then starts again is not a rotation, no spinning top does this.
The exercise is taught in two stages in the method because beginners need to go through this learning process. The actual movement is difficult and cannot be achieved immediately, even if it can be understood intellectually.
Master Saito's genius laid in seeing what made the transmission of Aikido difficult and finding a way to address this difficulty gradually, by breaking down the movement into different stages. However, it is essential that those who use his method do not remain at the first stage of learning for their entire lifetime.
