Protective Arts

SHOMEN VS YOKOMEN

We are now moving to the specifics of attack with the focus on shomen vs yokomen. Shomen should be an easy attack. Nothing could be more visually clear than a direct overhead attack. However the mechanics deserve a close internal read and we used the sword as that feedback devise. An iaito makes it easier to achieve and hear but even with a bokken one should be able to create a smooth “swish” with each cut.

Achieving the sound isn’t a goal per se but rather is a tool to tell you that your cut is at the proper angle with sufficient acceleration and arc. Really the only way to achieve this is repetition. Correct repetition. Once you learn to do it correctly you can maintain this perishable skill with solo training at home.

We then explored the two basic distances. The first is a strike delivered with the front foot advancing (a slide cut with the power initiated from the back leg) and the second is a step cut with the back leg in movement. The first is a closer range the latter is longer range attack. As a training device the step attack is the basic form only because it is longer range and longer in time allowing for a longer response time. The slide attack is not as frequent because it forces a faster response. At the more advanced level it is important to change up tempo and distance so that advanced students get used to the different proximity and times which have a different visual appearance on feel. With shomen clearly understood and achieved the next distinction to learn is yokomen.

Most of the time yokomen is presented as a pathetically open and oblique attack that has only suicidal combative value. It infuriates me because what should be an eminently effective attack makes our art look inept to a trained fighter. That is not the fault of the art but of its practitioners.

So how should yokomen be delivered? A fast feedback mechanism is to practice tamashigiri – because it is manifestly obvious that the angle of delivery must be sharp to cut effectively. Unarmed it is still possible to learn to attack properly. I had the great benefit of having Shibata sensei as a training partner at a seminar once. Intimidating as that was to begin with, the attack was yokomen and his delivery was fast and much sharper than I had ever experienced before. That made a profound impact on me because it crystallized two challenges: first that the amount of visual distinction between shomen and yokomen is, and should, be small – revealing themselves only at the last moment and with little preemptive cues; second, given the limited distinction, how can there be one set of responses (techniques) to contend with shomen and yet another set for yokomen? The processing time to make a conscious choice isn’t sufficient. It would either have to be instinctively executed (meaning the skill, reactionary and perception speed is unique to the practitioner) or there must be a universal response mechanism (meaning the art has contained within it a logical counter that is effective). While skill is always manifest at an individual proficiency level, the art contains a counter to each delivery. The problem is that to make it easier to understand the art, techniques are still taught in the “if this then that- but if that then this” manner. This may be necessary pedagogy to show a beginner, but that manner of thinking is a structural limitation that must be destroyed to progress. To move beyond the basic we experimented with contending with uke moving between shomen and yokomen. When uke is delivering a proper attack this is a challenging exercise at first. However with proper stimulus nage soon exhibits “correct” responses. I watched students reflexively catching the attacking arm at the tricep (gokyo) and using a “prayer/split entry” response. But gokyo is a “knife” response – why yes it is. Yes, insights into universal responses.

Over the month of March we will continue to explore shomen and yokomen The goals are to ensure a proper and effective attack and to understand the necessary differences in angle and purpose. Another goal is to train with sufficient authenticity that students learn the subtle visual cues and distance games so as not to become flustered by the chaos of contest. Then we can overlay the refinement of techniques and show the connections by destroying distinctions.

224718_201193526585812_8256432_n — Yokomen defeated by showmen / thrust

Control the center – always.

SELF-PRESERVATION

In the realm of armed (meaning fire arms) self-defense, the most frequent categorization of the population is a three-part segmentation: sheep, wolves and sheepdogs. (Reminds me of Bloch’s segmentation of Feudal society.) A sheep is a productive member of society – the ‘normal’ people who would only hurt one another by accident. Violence has little or no part in the decent lives of sheep, most of whom live in denial that violence is possible. Sheep do not want to believe in the existence of a class of individuals who actively use violence to fulfill their needs. Those who predate on sheep are designated ‘wolves’ – those criminals who are the repeat offenders living off and exploiting sheep. Fortunately, these criminals are statistically infrequent but violence is their primary tool.[1] They may be rare, but they undeniably exist. (I loathe the ‘wolf’ label as a pejorative since I am quite fond of wolves and respect their social structure, but the label serves to distinguish the groups.)

The final group is a relatively uncommon group – ‘sheepdogs’ [2] who know that wolves are real threats and have taken an active role to acquire training to defend themselves and protect the sheep. Law enforcement and military personnel are the most obvious members of the class, but there are trained civilians who have the ‘gift of aggression’ as LTC Grossman calls it.[3] The existence and presence of a sheepdog can often make sheep uncomfortable because their mere presence is a reminder that wolves are real.

I remember when my father first lectured me that a gin and tonic is a gin and tonic because the gin is the most important part of the drink. I would suggest the same emphasis should be on our art: we are training in a Martial art, not a martial Art. Chiba sensei would evoke (promote/create) an atmosphere of fear in his classes because he was one of the few who emphasized the seriousness of the stakes. That ability to present the seriousness of training is a regrettably rare skill. I would further suggest to anyone who starts training in a martial art that they have stepped off the comfortable grazing pasture and are becoming a sheepdog.

Sheepdogs are protectors – of themselves and their flock. Sheepdogs understand that they have the moral imperative to survive.

__________________________

Peter van Uhm is the Netherlands’ Chief of Defense but that does not mean he is pro-war. In his TEDx Amsterdam talk, he explains how his career is shaped by the love of and the pursuit of peace, and why we need armies if we want peace:

[1] Statistics and violence: Pinker only gets it partially right.

[2] Sheepdog. Rob Pincus makes a fine distinction on what it means to be a sheepdog.

[3] The Gift of Aggression can be an acquired or taught skill. Consider military training:

TYPES OF SPEED

“An attack must be executed with quickness, not speed. Attack with power, not strength. There
is a great difference between speed and quickness, power and strength. Think this through carefully.
It is the essence of strategy”

Miyamoto Musashi

Semantics are important – speed vs quickness. Power vs strength. What was Musashi driving at? Power doesn’t necessarily rely on strength but rather on an understanding of the physiological weaknesses of the human body. Strength is the inherent (or achieved) physicality of the body. If you rely only on speed and strength then you must always be the stronger and faster to prevail.

But by focusing on power (target identification and acquisition) and quickness (timing) you can prevail against stronger and faster threats.

Nevertheless, physical strength and speed are critical to develop, improve and maintain. The following is a derived from Bruce Lee’s Fighting Method and the Tao of Jeet Kune Do – both are highly recommended additions to your library. Bruce Lee was an innovator who constantly researched means and methods to improve both his physical abilities and the means to employ them. He read widely and synthesized much of the traditional and (then) current sports physiology. In the Tao he labels the physical attributes “qualities” and the means of employment “tools.” This post merely summarizes his granulated classifications on the attribute of Speed:

PHYSICAL SPEED: Performance speed, quickness in a chosen motion (jab, thrust, kick, parry)

INITIATION SPEED: Economical Starting to a stimulus / Response Time

PERCEPTUAL SPEED: Visual speed to incoming attacks and openings.

MENTAL SPEED: Quickness of mind / Selection of targets, openings and moves rapidly

ALTERATION SPEED: The Ability to change direction quickly / many factors (balance, surface)

COMBINATION SPEED: Ability to deliver series of motions in combinations related to target.

SENSITIVITY SPEED: Contact Reflex / To change rapidly when touch contact occurs

FOOTWORK SPEED: Smooth, sure control of angles, placement and distance via footwork

HAND TRAPPING SPEED: Ability to immobilize limbs rapidly and in combination

One the hardest areas to train is perceptual speed – but I pass on these ‘tricks’ to developing perceptual speed I learned from Master at Arms James Keating. Frontal vision, the “normal” habit of “looking” at the action to try to see it is a slow means of capturing information. It is great for details and accuracy – the squinted concentration of the finite problem in front of you – but it tends to ‘lock’ your focus and that can be disastrous. Focus solely on the knife and you cannot see the limb that manipulates it. Instead, use your peripheral vision – turn your head slightly sideways to the action to find that you can “see” quick motion more easily. This concept ties back to the No-Mind ideal – zanshin – taking in everything so as to respond to anything. Take lessons from the natural world – peripheral vision is what a lot of animals do naturally to survive.

Tricks to help augment your peripheral vision. Tilt your head away from the action. Move your point of focus (1,000 yard stare) far past your opponent’s head. Focus on the space around your opponent. There are other tricks to explore. And once you learn to use your peripheral vision effectively, then experiment with the ‘capturing of spirit’ – fix your opponent’s gaze to force their focus on you. If you can increase your perceptual speed, the tactic of trying to limit your opponent’s is a logical converse.

It is remarkable to me that Bruce Lee was categorizing these differences – a scientific approach to better study and therefore improve upon human potential.

In reading Bruce Lee I am reminded of articles by Oliver Sacks.

As a neurologist, Oliver Sacks was able to study the physiology of perceptual speed and reveal its fascinating complexities. This is a great starting point to delve the neurological differences that show the range of human potential.

A >link< to some of Oliver Sacks best essays. He was also a frequent guest on RadioLab.

Imagine being able to harness the accelerated speed (tachypsychia) often experienced in emergency situations and the rapid and accurate movements (tachykinesia) demonstrated by some with Tourette’s syndrome. Some people with Tourette’s are able to catch flies on the wing. When perceived by a witness, this may appear as a superhumanly quick and accurate movement, but when Oliver Sacks asked one man with Tourette’s how he managed this, he said that he had no sense of moving especially fast but, rather, that to him the flies moved slowly. Perceptual speed = physical speed?