Pre-training discussion between Tony and Roger tying up
loose ends from the previous session. I
subsequently thought the high back hand in / low palm out is already revealed, in
principle at least and by virtue of the muscle memory involved, in our overarm sword
hand technique; and the low palm in / high backhand out technique is a crane
hand technique already covered in our basic training. Because of this the regular hand technique
need only be practised or shown as a high palm in low back hand out technique
and the reversed hand technique need only be practised or shown as a low
backhand in high palm out technique.
This is as it has been for many years and so the discussion served only
to clarify why we do things this way and was useful if for this reason
alone. The discussion did clarify and
emphasise already known things such as understanding what ‘natural’ movement
is, the precise mechanical working of the skeletal and muscular components of
the arm, why we have a ‘preference’ for double bone receptors, why we prefer
soft receptors to destructive ones etc.
The following training session proper acted as a good
spring clean for our current understanding of thrusting and striking techniques
and hopefully provided plenty of food for thought. A lot of evolution has occurred over the last
couple of decades and it was good to recognise some of these things. Sevenoaks Shinseido thrusts and strikes are extremely
difficult to define because there are many subtleties that cannot be well
expressed without face to face analysis.
Hopefully those who attended will have made notes and will remember what was
said because it is not often we have the opportunity to go so far into a
subject. In essence my ever growing love
for open hand techniques instead of closed fist techniques has culminated in an
almost exclusively open handed system.
However, Shinseido would not be what it is without its continuum
principle, so no matter how little used the closed fist may become, it is still a
part of the whole and there to be used when circumstance demands it; this
because of angles, distancing, available targets among many other things.
I think it was proved to all present just how powerful a
loose, relaxed, focussed open hand technique can be. After describing my mindset regarding kime and how I perceive my focal point
in impulse thrusting to be related to the taper of my forearm to a focal point, I subsequently measured this
and found the focal point to be 12 inches beyond the face of my closed
fist. Don’t take this literally in terms
of what I actually think and do when thrusting for I don't have a clear idea, it is dependent upon a
dozen different factors. For me, it is not to try to drive a thrust through
a target to a particular point; I am not trying to drive through the solar plexus
to the spine, for example, in real mechanical terms because that would lead to what
I perceive as a dull, ‘dead’ thud. I have
no doubts as to the effectiveness of such a technique; it is just not my way of
doing things. My way is to hit the
target with what might be regarded as ‘minimal’ penetration of the hand before
it recoils (actually loops) away into the next technique, but my mind, my focus extends beyond
that point. This is the impulse nature
of my thrust, it is not intended to generate ‘maximum force’ (for the most
part), simply sufficient to do the job. It
is a matter of how you perceive the moment of contact, the mindset you have,
the visualisation you generate.
Descriptors such as “grabbing a butterfly” (relating to the developing hand
formation during the last millisecond of a thrust), “punching a red button”
(that detonates an explosion), “a bolt from a crossbow”, “a laser beam”, “flicking
a tea towel” and the “crack of a bullwhip” all touch upon an aspect of this
type of thrust. The other noticeable
thing is that I do not actually clench my fist tight at the point of impact for
that would arrest the natural continuity and flow of movement into the next
technique. My modus operandi is to use a
hand that can make use of the regular knuckles but also transmute
instantaneously into a back wrist, palm, ox jaw, dragon head or other
destructive ‘tool’ dependent upon my intuitive needs in the moment. An important aspect of this is to have
correct alignment of the bones of the hand, wrist and forearm along with a fleeting firmness of the musculature. It is important to recognise that when I execute a thrust, in the moment I utilise the entirety of my body in terms of the alignment of the skeletal structure right up from the feet through to the hand. I think of the individual bones of the ankle, legs, spine, shoulder, arm and hand as being sticks arranged in a line end to end. I can push one end of the line of sticks and they will all shunt forwards in line, but if there is a kink in the line of sticks, the line will just collapse into disarray. We also explored the nature of the trajectory
of my punches. They are not ‘straight’, (straight
is specific, any deviation from straight is probably ‘curved’ hence circular), mine are rather
spiral in nature, particularly the low ones.
The middling to higher ones have a kind of rising and dropping quality
as if driving over a hump backed bridge leading me to feel as if I were going
to execute some kind of knuckle rap, but it isn’t and the force generated is
unquestionably forwards and through the target.
The fist does not rotate fully into a palm down position but assumes a ‘natural’
45 degree position. Age old principles
still hold good; the arm is never fully extended or straightened and the elbows
always want to be down and in close proximity to the torso. In Shinseido we carry out our hand techniques
from a defensive kamae position in
front of the torso. There is no pull
back (hikite) as a preparation for
the thrust which is of a jab (kizami
tsuki) or cross/reverse (gyaku tsuki) nature;
this either over or under the passive cover hand dependent upon the nature of
the attack coming in. Over if I am covering
or bridging downwards with the cover hand or under if I am covering or bridging
upwards with the cover hand.
Incidentally, the maybe ‘unorthodox’ manner of
spiralling my punches allows me to intercept incoming attacks at the same time
as I drive the counter thrust through with the same hand/arm what I call kaeshi waza (reversal, return, return
gift, return favour) as in to counter an attack with an attack or tit for tat. I am mindful that everything I say has an
exception and is not locked in concrete.
This is a ‘problem’ with what I do, there is no such thing as a fixed
point which makes it incredibly difficult to describe a process without being
somewhat misunderstood, but that’s always been the problem with words and with me. I have often wished that people could see
into the depths of my mind, then quickly retract that wish J
During the training we explored the dynamics of
thrusting, inward, outward, oblique descending, rising and descending strikes, forearms
and elbows along with their comparative power values using the body, pads and
breaking board. I am not a breaking
board man and in my world having an ability to break a board or put a man down
are two significantly different things, however that is not to say there is no
merit in board breaking once in a blue moon; and for the record the average
blue moon is every two and a half years.
I should also mention my take upon the makiwara (straw post) here – it is a tool for checking out thrusts and
strikes and doesn’t need to constitute a regular practise, again it’s a once in
a blue moon game.
We finished our session working a little open hand exercise
comprising jab, cross, hook, uppercut, ovearm hook, shovel thrust, elbow, knee
and testicle slap grab 'n' jerk. This
exercise can also be performed with closed fists for the most part or a mix of
both open and closed hands.
All in all and by way of a change, a session devoted to
destroying the enemy with no peaceful connotations at all.
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