A Stern Warning

We warmed up with 蹴リ拳け゚ keriage. It is important to note that the version shown on Hatsumi Sensei’s 六尺棒術 rokushakubō jutsu video is missing some detail. Hatsumi Sensei made this clear to us when he told us this video was incomplete.

The transitions for each strike will change on each side. And they can alternate or be done on one side. But the opponent should never know when and where they will hit. And the very last one appears suddenly out of hichō. It vectors in at an angle the opponent cannot defend.

After this warmup, we continued our study of 位取りkuraidori with 防備之構 bōbi no kamae. The name of this kamae suggests you are warding off or preparing to defend. But Hatsumi Sensei writes 威厳を表わしたる。This means you express 威厳 igen with your kamae or attitude. Igen can mean dignity, but when you examine the kanji it can also be a stern warning to your opponent. In other words, you are not messing around!

Our exploration of kurai dori used 速心早速法 sokushin sassoku hō to capture position. We did shallow, middle, and deep in the kukan. We also took the 十字 jūji position. Hatsumi Sensei will demonstrate this position with a slight arch in his spine, almost falling into the opponent. This type of position prevents further aggression from him.

Next, I used the kata 跋扈 bakko to explore more positioning with bōbi no kamae. Here the evasion is subtle. If you’ve been to Japan in the past few years, you may have witnessed Hatsumi Sensei evade a 胴切り dōgiri seemingly without moving his feet. Soke told us,
“You can't have this habit of evasion, it's not about that. It's not about the evasion. You give him the feeling that he hit you. Don't confuse fudōshin with kamae. You don't want to be stuck in kamae or even associated with kamae. You can't show him that you've evaded. It's not about technique or kamae, it's about creating this kukan. I've been teaching this for 50 years.“

The evasion in this kata uses that principle if you understand it. Then you deliver a swift 打ち込み uchikomi to 人 jin, dropping the opponent. I added in some details about control over the opponent’s sword.

Your bōbi no kamae may conceal weapons. I used a knife to intersect my opponent’s sword. Then with leverage from the principle of 支点 shiten, we tie the opponent up with his own weapon.

Of Note: pigskin festival