Yeah that's right Jack, kokyu dosa. Nice description btwI always prefer to think in terms of principles than techniques in my aiki. I think technique-based aiki has lead to a lot of the old outdated battlefield techs being misemphasized as modern self-defence-applicable techs when they just don't work the way they are taught.
Anyway, for a slightly different angle on kokyu dosa check this out. I don't know if you already think of it this way, but you missed it out of your explanation... and it was the first time I'd heard of it this way...
My aikijutsu teacher has it that the difference between the aikido schools and the aikijutsu schools is that jutsu teaches it for all of those things but the other important distinction is that kokyu dosa is a way of feeling and practising the connection between your centre and your opponent's (partner's - whatever!) centre, and that this can be applied just as well to striking.
So my teacher emphasises it as an exercise for striking principles too, in fact, he doesn't distinguish between the two. He says it gives you the relaxed energy to find your opponent's centre quickly and to be able to explode your energy relaxedly outwards (eventually from any contact point on the body).
In theory this differs in that if you are relaxed in that way it gives the opponent nothing to hold onto. So he grabs and it's like he's grabbed nothing, so he has no leverage, and because he thought he was grabbing something you already have the kuzushi: he is already tricked into overcommitting. Of course this is not overcommitting like most aikidoists use the word; like a big Scooby-Doo-zombie lunge, or a punch from two metres away where you move out of the way in advance and they stand there at the end of the punch, all static and on one leg holding their arm out, but a subtle shift in his bodyweight for a split-second allowing you to take advantage (er sorry, blend with his disadvantage!
This theory of course translates directly into the way you practise, not only kokyu dosa but also in general. If you don't have that relaxed energy, at any point in the movement your opponent can send you energy back to you, in other words he can jerk, push, punch, uproot through your arm and directly into or through your centre. Again this has parallels to tai chi and wing chun in terms of uprooting, kendo and wing chun in terms of speed of attack, and the timing of redirection of attack, and many other arts I guess. In my MA exp so far, this sensei has the closest to any 'unstoppable energy' in striking or grappling I've come across, although my shooto teacher's shoot is close. Very fast, fluid, and explosive and you don't feel anything until your centre is out.
The other subtle distinction in practise methods is that we use the kokyu dosa practise on kick pads and focus pads too, and heavy bags when we have them. So from a neutral stance, suwari or (pref) standing we are getting used to hitting straight out and into the centre of the target. Although the direction of the punch, as the dosa, is slightly upwards, there is no 'slippage'. That is the punch goes into the target and in no way does your energy slide off to the side. This gets the crumple effect on the bag that a good boxing punch gets or a good wing chun punch gets, where the bag crumples around your fist without moving so much on the chain.
Try it! It's very very fast and very very relaxed. I also found it helped my relaxation in kokyu dosa itself and in many aspects of grappling (both mid-range in aiki and close range in jujutsu).
Should note that my teacher is from a daito-ryu and a hsing i background so he may have mixed and matched his ideas. Sometimes he talks about intention leading the movement like 'yi' in Chinese. But, there is an article I'll try an find from a trad aikisutsuka which says the same thing.
I should also note that I tried that specific strike with boxing gloves (14 oz) on live resisting opponents (!) without much success. The dynamics of fighting with 14 oz gloves are just too different. The principle itself crossed over nicely and helped me to relax in my boxing class too. And as I said, although I like principle-based practise rather than tech-based this particular strike does lend itself well to this principle, so I'll let you know my results next time I get serious and practise it on live resisting opponents with my MMA gloves! Of course the gloves shouldn't make much of a difference, ie I'll still have to 'pull' the punch or rather, turn it into more of a push-punch... except that in a pressure testing full-contact situation where basically anything goes I should be able to try it out a little more 'realistically' without liability.
Anyway, regardless of the strike techs themselves, if you change your mindset to actually practising that way, concentrating more on their centre than yours, I think you'll like the results.
BTW, my teacher usually gets us practising just the arm-raise move, not the full unbalance, follow-up and pin. He says that's the most important for realizing the centre-centre connection. We do do the finish too, but not every session. He also gets us practising the same move standing in a neutral position, and in fact is quite capable of raining on our parade using basically just that move/principle!
Sorry it's so long. Could probably show you in five minutes or less!
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