Lower is Better

[vorcek]

Alright.. let me see if I can get this across right...

I've been told that I carry my 'power point' high in my body and that I should 'lower it'... when I asked what this means I couldn't get a good explaination.. I was told that it is more of a change in mental state than just bending my knees and lowering my center of gravity....

when I compare myself on video with other great players I can 'see' the difference.. but I can not undertand it well enough to get me on track to actually doing it...

What is it that is going on with this.... anyone who can explain it in anyway would be greatly appreciated...

vorcek

[nodachi]

I remember being told that my center of gravity was too high once. They didn't talk to me about mental state, but that because my center of gravity was too high, from poor arm position (more up than I should have done) and risen shoulders and maybe a few more things during zanshin, that it was throwing everything off balance. I didn't feel stable and was clumsy as I turned around and you get the point.

After correcting those things and lowering my center of gravity back to where is should be and moving from my waist better, everything was much more stable. Moved much more smoothly and everything felt much more stable.

Does this help or make sense?


Also, I've been told that you shouldn't bend your knees. So that may only be adding to problems and not correcting them. Check the rest of your body and not your knees.

As always, I defer to more experienced people here, I just regurgitate what's been told to me.

[Karaken]

Alright.. let me see if I can get this across right...

I've been told that I carry my 'power point' high in my body and that I should 'lower it'... when I asked what this means I couldn't get a good explaination.. I was told that it is more of a change in mental state than just bending my knees and lowering my center of gravity....

when I compare myself on video with other great players I can 'see' the difference.. but I can not undertand it well enough to get me on track to actually doing it...

What is it that is going on with this.... anyone who can explain it in anyway would be greatly appreciated...

vorcek

My sensei tells me to cut with your feet not with your arms, ( Also cut with your spirit not with your technic ). I think concentrating on your steps ( lower part of your body ) will give you more balance and power ( firm ) than concentrating on cutting ( Arm and shoulder ) which may give you raw power but not much else.

Center is balanced.

[Nishi]

When you start kendo, your power settles alot like an upside down pyramid, beginners are head strong, and upper body heavy. A major goal in kendo form is to settle your power like a pyramid (please excuse the dodgy metaphors), you hear it all the time...cut with your hips, or breath through your heals is one of my favorites.

Stability and real power start with strong hips, and strong lower body movement.

[Jagaimo]

Alright.. let me see if I can get this across right...

I was told that it is more of a change in mental state than just bending my knees and lowering my center of gravity....

vorcek

Perhaps it has to do with your kiai? I hear its not just about yelling and screaming, but rather when you breath out it helps your shoulders swing that shinai. So if you strike "men" and just say men, its coming from your throat. But if you use your diaphram and force out the air when you say it, you get a deeper more powerful battle cry. Going off of what you have been told this seems to be what they mean. And when you have that deeper more intimidating "kiai" it just makes ya feel more confident and correct your posture.

Anyways, thats my hypothesis. Just scream from the gut, which just so happens to be lower than your throat...

[Eldritch Knight]

My godan sensei (Japanese) explained this to me about a year ago- its a bit complex. Remember that the ancient Japanese were a very agricultural people, and thus everything from their culture evolved from agriculture (go into their history - you'll see that agriculture is the main hub, with militarism being a secondary hub). Even the vertical motion of suburi are supposed to mimic the motion of flailing a rice paddy or hoeing a field. Thus, Japanese arts are very strong in the "earth" element. Try to draw your strength from the earth by being close to it - try to mix your waza with the spirit of the earth. Yep - its very philosohical, but that's the basic idea.

On a distant side note: there is one exception to Japanese arts being strong in the "earth" element. Ninjutsu. It emphasizes all the elements equally, and for that reason (amongst others) is disrespected and banned by the Japanese government and other schools of art.

[A P]

So!!!!!!!!!!!!

We suppose to watch our feet more than???

Cut from the heel or the waist. Like a paraymid.

How come not from the arms??? I can' see the picture cutting for the wasit or

lower...

[Fantasia]

So!!!!!!!!!!!!

We suppose to watch our feet more than???

Cut from the heel or the waist. Like a paraymid.

How come not from the arms??? I can' see the picture cutting for the wasit or

lower...


It's a metaphor...

Your legs and waist and feet don't literally do the cutting, but the idea is to understand that the STRENGTH of the cut must begin with those things.

Similar to me telling a kid in my choir to breath into her belly. The air isn't REALLY going into her belly (it's just displaced viscera that distend the abdomen) but if that helps her to breathe with her diaphragm, great!

[slidercrank]

Alright.. let me see if I can get this across right...

I've been told that I carry my 'power point' high in my body and that I should 'lower it'.... anyone who can explain it in anyway would be greatly appreciated...

vorcek
Some of the explanations here are a little... over the top, I guess. Stripping away all the talks about the state of mind, the feet, the earth element, etc, the mechanics of kendo is really just physics.

Imagine you are prying a door open with a metal bar. Ignoring leverage and all that, essentially however hard you push at one end of the bar, there will the same amount of the force at the other end of bar going against the door. Why? It's intuitive; the bar is basically rigid, so the force is transmitted from one end of the bar to the other end without "loss."

Now, if we put a pivot joint in the middle of the bar, then the same exercise will become impossible. You push hard at one end, but the bar pivots around the joint, and no force is sent to the end of the bar against the door.

Now imagine that bar to be a representation of your torso; the bottom end of the bar represents your hip, and the top end your shoulder. The metal bar's pivot joint we spoke of is now your waist (lower back).

You are facing your kohei. The floor is the Y-axis. Your back is ramrod straight in a perfect chudan no kamae posture; the back is the X-axis. Your left leg rotates around the hip joint and pushes back aginst the floor. Your hip is now traveling forward in an ideally prefect Y-axis direction (remember what sensei says, "no jumpging!") If your back remains straight throughout the travel, then the tremendous force in the Y-axis direction generated by the left leg is transmitted to your shoulder without "loss." Your arms are now swinging around your shoulders. The timing and maai are perfect. By the time the shinai swings down hard in the X-axis direction, the Y-axis force from the leg has sent your body into the position such that the monouchi of your shinai now lands squarely on your hapless kohei's men. Assuming you have also applied tenouchi properly, the X-axis travel of the shinai is now stopped by the men, but your body is continuing forward travel in the Y-axis direction. The shinai is slicing forward, cutting open your kohei's imaginary skull. You have achieved an ideally perfect men strike and struck fear deeply into your kohei's heart. And you have also just hit with your "power point" down, because you have managed to keep your lower back straight and tense, while your left leg lounged and your arms swung.

The ideal picture described above goes into a whack, the moment you bend your back at some point during the Y-axis travel. The shinai's X-axis force and the leg's Y-axis force no longer supplement each other at the moment of the cut, because between the shoulders and the hip, the waist moves and that becomes the weak link. Just like you can't push a metal bar if it has a pivot in the middle, you can't hit hard properly if you bend your back. Sure, you can still hit your kohei with the shinai, but you do so with your upper body bent forward, your hip way behind the shoulders, and the left leg most likely now kicking up high into the sky like a horse. You are hitting with your "power point" high. Your strike is driven by the shoulders bending forward, not by the lower back and the leg.

Now time for some visuals to the verbose description above. Watch Miyazaki's men. Watch how he keeps his back straight throughout the cut:


http://www.skijournal.co.jp/kendo/book/0205/KN5%82%90124.swf

http://www.skijournal.co.jp/kendo/book/0207/%82%8B%82%8E7P117debana4.swf

[Koushinkuma]

And the point isn't so much to cut with raw strength anyway...my sensei always says, "everyone in this room has more than enough strength in their arms to do kendo." I lift and he told me my arms will still be good for kendo when I'm 90, but I'll have to do it from a wheelchair :shocked:

The point is to emphasize the power of your legs and footwork; the cutting part is easy, what's hard is setting it up right and going through with good zanshin and at a fast pace.

[Halcyon]

Alright.. let me see if I can get this across right...

I've been told that I carry my 'power point' high in my body and that I should 'lower it'... when I asked what this means I couldn't get a good explaination.. I was told that it is more of a change in mental state than just bending my knees and lowering my center of gravity....

when I compare myself on video with other great players I can 'see' the difference.. but I can not undertand it well enough to get me on track to actually doing it...

What is it that is going on with this.... anyone who can explain it in anyway would be greatly appreciated...

vorcek
one thing you might want to try is to make sure you are giving a good kiai before you strike. if you're holding too much air in your lungs, your shoulders will creep up, and in turn, you'll have a hard time relaxing your shoulders.

when you create a good kiai and exhale sufficiently, you may notice it's easier to concentrate your energy in your lower abdomen or hara. that may help you lower your 'power point' as you describe it.

[litige]

Woaw, i was listening to some crystal method while reading slidercrank's description...the image flow was so vivid, I think this the most brillant explanation i've ever read. Great analogy, no kidding.

[William Honda]

Western power comes from upper body strength. Upside down pyramid, big chest, small waist.

Eastern power comes from the tanden couple inches below belly button. This is related to ki and kiai.

I think this is what "lowering" was meant in your situation. I could be totally in left field though.

William

[Yowai]

Lower is better. The tare was developed to decrease sexual harrassment suits against males during tsubazeriai between two sexes. Anyhow, blood is needed elsewhere.

[ALI G]

Lower is better. The tare was developed to decrease sexual harrassment suits against males during tsubazeriai between two sexes. Anyhow, blood is needed elsewhere.

Diss muzt B from experiez den....Tankz 4 sharingz wut happend 2 youz....

But den again....Youz muzt not needz a Tare den...becuz darez nothingz 2 hidez....nothingz 2 cutz off....