Losing the point

Many accomplished kenshi lose the opportunity to attack by dropping the point of their shinai as they make seme. I regularly experience situations where my opponent steps in with strong seme and takes control of my centre only to drop his kensen prior to making an attack, in the process allowing me to regain control of the centre.

Moving the point downwards often causes the attacker to lean forward so that their balance is on the right foot. If this happens he needs to readjust his posture so that there is sufficient pressure between the left foot and the floor to be able to push off and launch his attack. Dropping the point also alerts his opponent that he is about to move. It is almost tantamount to announcing “here I come”.

I have thought hard about the reasons why people do this and I believe that in most cases the action is involuntary. As we step in, we gear ourselves up to attack and as we do so we inadvertently tense our arms and shoulders. The result is that the tip of the shinai is forced down by this tension. This is not an easy habit to correct. Many people who fall into this trap are unable to correct their movement even though they are aware of the problem and its root cause

To repair this fault you have to relax and to focus your energy forward rather than down. To achieve this you need to go for overkill and think about making upward pressure. There are many ways to do this. You can imagine that you are pushing towards your opponent’s eye by angling your navel upwards as you step forward. You can also think about an imaginary string pulling the top of your head upwards; almost like a marionette being pulled up by a puppeteer.

Holding the shinai incorrectly is another reason why the point drops as you make your approach. If your grip is too tight, any tension in your body will result in the point either dropping or raising as you step forward. Your hands should of course be relaxed and you should grip the shinai lightly as we have discussed in previous posts.

In a perfect world the transition between stepping in to take the centre should be seamless and any unnecessary movement that signals intention should be avoided. Successful attacks in kendo depend on sharp footwork and light, relaxed kamae. The explosion on striking should come from good fumikomi, kiai and tenouchi and not upper body strength.

http://kendoinfo.wordpress.com/2013/11/25/losing-the-point/  Accessed Nov 27th