From the little bit that I've worked with sutemi waza (sacrifice techniques), I have to say that I like them a lot. In Vietnam I worked with them regularly, slipping them in as counters, and they were very effective.
But these days not so much. These days I'm in Belize and working with one practice partner in a limited space and sutemi waza never seem to come off the way I'd like. Plus, my uke is really sceptical about the role of sutemi waza in aikido. For that reason, I've pretty much abandoned sutemi for now.
On the other hand, my uke is very fond of otoshi (body drop) and so I've been trying to get up to speed with that. I've had some progress. I'm getting better. But I've also had a realization. It seems suddenly clear that otoshi can be applied in almost exactly the same manner and instances as sutemi. Except that I don't need to end up on the floor with uke.
Right now this is all theory. My uke is out of town for the next several weeks and I'm just working out ideas with an uke of the imaginary sort. But I feel like this is a workable concept.
