Kihon Shibu 08/01/2007

We were all over the place last night so I'll try and recall what we did.

We kicked off the evening with chi, sui, ka, and fu no kata. That lead us to a short exercise on one of the first things you do in four of the five sanshin and in nearly everything else we do: stepping off the line of attack. We practiced stepping off at a 45 degree angle by imagining a large compass beneath your feet. In shizen no kamae you would be standing in the center. Step back into ichimonji no kamae and you would be facing north with your rear foot on the south point or your body on the south line. If you were in hidari ichimonji you would be moving to the right in a counter clockwise circle. Your first step would place you facing northwest with your body/feet on the southeast line. The next step would place you facing west with your body on the east line, etc. We did this in both directions a few times.

We then lined up and as a pair practiced zenpo and koho kaiten back and forth across the yard. After the ukemi we practiced some atemi. Since fu no kata was the most recently introduced kata and it uses a boshiken, we broke out the punching mits. After a short talk on the boshiken we took turns striking the mit with a boshiken from ichimonji no kamae exactly the same as when we practice the standard fudoken atemi. When then did a simple application of this ken.

With uke and tori in ichimonji no kamae, uke performs a fudoken tsuki to the tori's face. Tori then evades with a gentle uke nagashi before rocking in with a boshiken to the ribs. Pretty straight forward. Be sure to evade correctly and maintain contact with your arm.

Next was the formal introduction to hira no kamae followed by a simple application. Uke is in ichimonji no kamae and performs a fudoken tsuki to tori's face. Tori is in hira no kamae and steps to the outside of the attack and strikes the uke's head/face with either a fudoken or happaken. The evasion was practiced two ways. The first being the tori moves from hira to hira and the uke pretty much runs into the atemi. The second being the tori moves from hira and does a more proactive atemi by shifting/leaning into the atemi. I mentioned the various targets of the head and which fist would be appropriate with this exercise. We then expanded on this exercise to include a sokuyakuken keri with the rear foot after the initial strike. Again, being aware of the target and the ken being used. We're not just throwing punches and kicks hoping they land on something.

Next we took this exercise and turned it into an atemi drill against one of the nearby trees. Pick a tree, gauge your distance and assume hira no kamae. Move off the line of attack striking with happaken followed up by the sokuyakuken keri. I chose a tree that was skinnier than the others we practice with so that the happaken atemi would be applied to the side of the tree much like the side of someone's head. It's probably better on the wrists too.

Finally, I formally introduced jumonji no kamae and the jumonji no kata from the kihon kosshi sanpo.

Gambatte!