Gekken thoughts!
I was going through some youtube clips and found a clip from Hataya sensei's dojo in Japan. In it is Hasegawa san. Hasegawa san and I have fought plenty of times and I love fighting him. I feel like he and I are very opposite in our approach but reach the same destination.
One of the things about Hasegawa san that I really admire in his technique is the way he can overpower his opponents just by moving towards them. He is a big guy but his technique is very sensitive. When he is in a bind, he doesn't use brute force but rather a softness that helps him adjust accordingly. For me, my kendo habits are still there so when I'm in a bind I do pressure but a lot of times I'll do hiki men or kote or put bind the opponents wrist. Hasegawa san's bind has you adjusting to what he does rather than you reacting to something.
Also for a big guy, he's extremely quick. I define speed into three categories
A) Actual speed, how physically fast you are
B) How good your technique is
C) How fast is your reactive ability.
If you watch the video I post you can see how physically fast he is for such a big guy. It can be overwhelming
You can see how efficient his technique is by how little movement it takes to do his technique. Also his movement can coerce his opponent to do other things, so he doesn't have to be as fast.
And when he's in a bind, he can react accordingly and adjust to attack or defend instead of panicking.
One of the strongest things about him is his seme. The pressure he puts on you to just react to him. Seme is one of the biggest factors that's used in gekken and the things I see missing the most when I watch most people do gekken. Seme is something that should be practiced in kata, the idea of pressuring your opponent for them to panic enough to "lose" so you can do with them as you please. Hasegawa san has a great strength for that.
These are great things to see and learn and things I strive for myself. I consider Hasegawa san to be stronger than me so I always look forward to fighting him. Even when I watch a video of him, I'm just itching to get on the floor.
One of the things about Hasegawa san that I really admire in his technique is the way he can overpower his opponents just by moving towards them. He is a big guy but his technique is very sensitive. When he is in a bind, he doesn't use brute force but rather a softness that helps him adjust accordingly. For me, my kendo habits are still there so when I'm in a bind I do pressure but a lot of times I'll do hiki men or kote or put bind the opponents wrist. Hasegawa san's bind has you adjusting to what he does rather than you reacting to something.
Also for a big guy, he's extremely quick. I define speed into three categories
A) Actual speed, how physically fast you are
B) How good your technique is
C) How fast is your reactive ability.
If you watch the video I post you can see how physically fast he is for such a big guy. It can be overwhelming
You can see how efficient his technique is by how little movement it takes to do his technique. Also his movement can coerce his opponent to do other things, so he doesn't have to be as fast.
And when he's in a bind, he can react accordingly and adjust to attack or defend instead of panicking.
One of the strongest things about him is his seme. The pressure he puts on you to just react to him. Seme is one of the biggest factors that's used in gekken and the things I see missing the most when I watch most people do gekken. Seme is something that should be practiced in kata, the idea of pressuring your opponent for them to panic enough to "lose" so you can do with them as you please. Hasegawa san has a great strength for that.
These are great things to see and learn and things I strive for myself. I consider Hasegawa san to be stronger than me so I always look forward to fighting him. Even when I watch a video of him, I'm just itching to get on the floor.
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