Gekken....using nukitsuke....?!
In iai, a lot of times nukitsuke techniques are used for self defense. You're walking home, there's a threat, you analyze the situation and draw and attack from a certain position etc. A lot of times, you try to make your movements subtle so the opponent doesn't know that you know he's about to attack. But what if the opponent is knows you're aware of his presence and you haven't drawn yet?
I know some styles have an offensive oriented nukitsuke, but I thought it would be interesting to practice gekken, using only nukitsuke. That means the opponent has their sword already drawn (using gekken sword). I would be using a plastic sword with saya. Although the sword is plastic, it's quite substantial and is quite strong. Definitely hurts to get hit by it. That way, although the gekken sword definitely does hurt to get hit by, the plastic sword has much more of a "threat". If I missed the cut, I would have to just sheathe again (otherwise a flailing second cut could hit the face or something and that would suck).
Some notes.
- People who have a sword already drawn is quite confident of their advantage. That was something to learn how to manipulate. Draw them and make them commit, or make them confident and careless. At that point was when I liked to draw and cut their hands or forearms.
- My starting position wasn't with my hand on the tsuka, but rather close by. I tried making big motions to grab at the tsuka to get the opponent to react and move, and then react to nothing and when they realized it was nothing is when I drew and cut them.
- You really got to reach! But the great thing is, because you're using one arm for nukitsuke, you have a range advantage, at the same time, if you missed, you had to bring the sword back as quickly as you could. This was one of the reasons why I would do nukitsuke right after as well as for safety reasons.
- It was interesting to parry with the draw and try to cut right after. Had to reposition the body for good angles, cause hard to get center using one arm only.
- The understanding of seme has to be way more affluent going sword sheathed vs drawn sword because you really are at a disadvantage.
- People like to tsuki while your sword is sheathed. That actually worked in my favor.
- If my opponent when into Jodan, I actually moved in so I could use the reach advantage from using on arm, and got their wrist on their way down.
Those are some notes. There is more but those were the most apparent and I need some more practice with it. Overall, your technique has to be clean obviously, but your seme and how you're able to manipulate your opponent is even more of the utmost importance. I got hit a few times usually from not reacting accordingly or just tough to parry a two handed attack vs one without moving your body!
Sorry for hitting the guys hands and forearms. Next time we'll use kote!
I know some styles have an offensive oriented nukitsuke, but I thought it would be interesting to practice gekken, using only nukitsuke. That means the opponent has their sword already drawn (using gekken sword). I would be using a plastic sword with saya. Although the sword is plastic, it's quite substantial and is quite strong. Definitely hurts to get hit by it. That way, although the gekken sword definitely does hurt to get hit by, the plastic sword has much more of a "threat". If I missed the cut, I would have to just sheathe again (otherwise a flailing second cut could hit the face or something and that would suck).
Some notes.
- People who have a sword already drawn is quite confident of their advantage. That was something to learn how to manipulate. Draw them and make them commit, or make them confident and careless. At that point was when I liked to draw and cut their hands or forearms.
- My starting position wasn't with my hand on the tsuka, but rather close by. I tried making big motions to grab at the tsuka to get the opponent to react and move, and then react to nothing and when they realized it was nothing is when I drew and cut them.
- You really got to reach! But the great thing is, because you're using one arm for nukitsuke, you have a range advantage, at the same time, if you missed, you had to bring the sword back as quickly as you could. This was one of the reasons why I would do nukitsuke right after as well as for safety reasons.
- It was interesting to parry with the draw and try to cut right after. Had to reposition the body for good angles, cause hard to get center using one arm only.
- The understanding of seme has to be way more affluent going sword sheathed vs drawn sword because you really are at a disadvantage.
- People like to tsuki while your sword is sheathed. That actually worked in my favor.
- If my opponent when into Jodan, I actually moved in so I could use the reach advantage from using on arm, and got their wrist on their way down.
Those are some notes. There is more but those were the most apparent and I need some more practice with it. Overall, your technique has to be clean obviously, but your seme and how you're able to manipulate your opponent is even more of the utmost importance. I got hit a few times usually from not reacting accordingly or just tough to parry a two handed attack vs one without moving your body!
Sorry for hitting the guys hands and forearms. Next time we'll use kote!
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