Most kendoka have had the experience when making a well-timed dou strike, of hearing the dull crunch of shinai against muscle and bone instead of the expected crack of bamboo against lacquer, (or Yamato material). Our normal reaction is to blame ourselves for hitting off target, but in many cases it is our opponent who is at fault for pulling his elbows down to his side to avoid being hit.
The logic of this baffles me. By taking such a defensive action, he loses the ability to respond with a technique of his own and whilst my knowledge of orthopaedic surgery is slight to say the least, I imagine that the pain and inconvenience caused by serious elbow injury outweighs the shame of having your dou hit.
This type of behaviour is not limited to dou and is not just reserved for shiai. I see many kenshi busily blocking attacks to dou, men and kote in their normal keiko as if the objective of their practice is not to be hit, rather than making successful strikes themselves. The mind-set of “not being hit” can go even deeper and some people are reluctant to commit to an attack, even when they have a clear opportunity, because they fear their opponent’s potential reaction. This is rather like an archer being unable to shoot an arrow because he is afraid of the bow string hitting his hand.
It is worth remembering that kendo is a Zen martial art and that our objective is self-improvement through rigorous, unselfconscious training. One of the many Japanese proverbs we hear regularly in kendo, and mentioned a few times in this blog, is “Utte hansei utarete kanshya” – reflect on your successful strikes, show gratitude for the strikes against you. In a nutshell this means we learn as much from being hit as we learn from hitting.
One practical way to overcome the temptation to spoil you opponent’s technique is to ensure that the point of your shinai is continually going forward. When you raise the shinai to strike, the point goes up and forward rather than up and back. Even when you block to make kaeshi-waza, if your kissaki is moving forward, you are able to block and strike in one movement, turning a defensive action into an attacking move. When shinai tips move backwards, postures often crumble and it is if you are rolling yourself into a ball like a frightened hedgehog.
So next time you hit an elbow, give yourself the benefit of the doubt and encourage your keiko partner to worry about your men rather than his own dou.
It always amazes me the lengths people go not to be hit… and it doesn`t matter how convincingly you teach them about hitting, the first time they would go in a jigeiko they would immediately do everything else that they were never taught ! I smile every time I see this, of course it tells you a lot about the priority of the person, more than about the training of the kenshi…. A fascinating way to study people, I think…
I have found myself pulling my arms down after attempts at men when someone is striking dou. The first thing that you learn is that it is painful. Sometimes very painful. It is very quickly apparent that this not only an embarrassingly bad technique but also stupid behavior. Oddly, this realization alone does not stop the behavior, so I needed a positive image to help me avoid the pain and embarrassment (focusing on an attempt at a full fast zanshin after men, taking me out of the hitting zone fast was the best result for me)
If someone pulls there arms down in attempt to stop my dou cut I’m not apologetic. If it’s my student I’ll keep going for kaeshi-dou … they soon learn to stop!!!
I think before we get too hard on beginners for doing stuff like this, we should remind ourselves that it makes perfect evolutionary sense. If someone is swinging at your torso with a three foot razor or even a three foot tree branch or even just their fist, the natural instinct is to protect one’s internal organs by blocking with body parts that are less necessary to sustaining life. This kind of strategy is hardwired into our brains. Kendo however, is not built into our genetic code and requires extensive training to overcome these natural reflexes. So flinching, blocking, etc. though not desirable is nevertheless to be expected from people new to jigeiko. For the rest of us of course there’s no excuse.
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