Tenouchi!

So just recently, I slipped on ice again and I fell. Trying to break my fall, I ended up slamming my palms against the floor which hurts like heck. Hurts to grip or stretch out my hands. So in class last night, during suburi it helped me realize where in my swing I enforced my tenouchi.

In case you don't know, tenouchi is the act of applying umph to your grip. All sword arts emphasize this in one way or another. When I watch relatively new swordsman, I'll see that their grip exerting tenouchi through the whole arc of the swing. You'll end up more than likely reducing your range of cut, and bunching up your shoulders and hopping!

What I like to do is, say from jodan, I relax my grip. When I start to swing, I pull with the left hand of course, and with my right I start closing my hand, finger by finger starting with the pinky, so before the sword makes impact, I should be practically making a fist. Now, if you do this too late, you will get stuck in the mat, or if you do get through the mat, your sword will "bounce" at the end of the cut. It's a lot like punching. Loose beforehand, you throw it out....but then you put that umph in right before impact. Same application. Learning how to do proper tenouchi will help you learn how to focus your cuts as well as saving energy on cuts especially multi direction cuts.

Great example is inazuma. Inazuma alot of people tend to be stiff, which works, but you don't get the speed that you need to make the technique....real. Alot of people have power in their cut throughout the whole sequence. Myself, I'm pretty loose, but I apply tenouchi 3 times quickly which helps it keep it fast, loose and forward. The power is mainly generated by the hips and hasuji is maintained keeping my elbows generally in.

So next time you cut, think of tenouchi and how you can apply it.