Yoseikan Aikido

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Yoshinkan Aikido has some 150 kihon waza (lit. "basic techniques"), which are practised repeatedly and designed to teach principles of movement, balance, timing, etc. In addition to set techniques, the style includes kokyunage (lit. "breath throws"), or techniques in which nage attacks and uke makes a non-mandatory, short and decisive response. As students progress, they begin to practice jiyu waza (lit. free techniques), which is a time-limited free-form attack and defense. In higher grades, jiyu-waza is performed against multiple attackers and/or attackers with weapons.

The syllabus contains a few weapons forms, although they are rarely practised outside the hombu dojo, where they are taught to senshusei students. Jiyu-waza for yudansha includes free-form techniques against sword and knife, and some Yoshinkan dojos teach knife take-away techniques. Some Yoshinkan dojos offer aiki-ken classes (classes in which aikido principles are investigated through sword practice) and some offer non-aikido weapons training, such as iaido, concurrently with aikido classes.