STRONG SIDE BACK 2

I owe the allocentric framing entirely to Mark Hatmaker. In his most recent post (The Orthodox Fighting Stance, part 2), he introduced the neurological language that gives shape to a phenomenon fighters adopt reflexively; the preference for placing the dominant side to the rear when the stakes rise. Hatmaker wrote that this posture “turns offContinue reading “STRONG SIDE BACK 2”

IRIMI NAGE

In the last several classes I have focused on irimi-nage starting from ai-hanmi katate-dori. To develop precision and accuracy, I’ve emphasized how nage’s hand position determines the flow of movement. More importantly, the moment of contact defines the fixed point around which all subsequent action resolves. What do I mean? Much like tai no henko,Continue reading “IRIMI NAGE”

TACHI DORI (Forms 1 and 2)

I have been presenting sword-takes away from the paired sword form san-no-tachi. The reason to show the disarms from a paired sword exercise is to train the visual system to recognize how the moment in time looks and to teach sensitivity in weapon engagements. Form 1 is done on after the first kirikaeshi. Shidachi executesContinue reading “TACHI DORI (Forms 1 and 2)”