Fumikomi Drills

[mark]

My fumikomi sucks and I am looking for new fumikomi footwork drills. Does anyone have any sugestions? :alien:

[Neil Gendzwill]

Are you looking for fundamental drills, or something to help you with combinations, or what? What's your problem, aside from it "sucking"?

[mark]

I am starting to get the hang of single hit fumikomi although I am not satisfied with the sound of the slap, and forget it completely from time to time in shiai. Part of my problem is that I still tend to hit with the heal before the meat of the foot.

I understand that I will need to drill until it becomes second nature. The drills I currently use are 1) shinai behind back fumikomi steps lenght of dojo, 2) fumikomi steps lenght of dojo with shinai in kamai, 3) men with fumikome on ghost opponent lenght of dojo, and 4) men with fumikome on real opponents lenght of dogo. Can you suggest any others?

In addition, I would like to find additional drills for multiple hits multiple fumikomi such as kote-men with a fumikomi on both strikes.

Lastly we just started doing multiple hit single fumikomi such as a kote-men where the foot is in the air during kote and lands fumikomi with the men strike.

Best regards,
mark

[Neil Gendzwill]

Originally posted by mark
Can you suggest any others?

If you're just getting the hang of fumikomi, try some of these:

Just standing without shinai, pick a spot on the floor that is further away than you think you can stretch to. Now try to fumikomi on that spot, but leave your left foot back. Check that your back is straight. Make sure to keep your right foot low during this drill (and every drill). It should only be a couple of inches off the floor.

With a partner and shinai, stand with tips just crossed (closer if you're short). Now hit men but leave your back foot behind. Again, check for straight back and correct feet, and this time also for the timing of your men with the foot and correct arm placement.

With multiple partners, form a large circle. Each person should present a men target with their shinai, the kind where the shinai is held to the side at head level. All tips should be pointed toward the middle of the circle. One person starts and hits men on each target. After he passes the first target, that target person turns and starts hitting men. When you get to the end of the targets, stop and be a target your self. We call this "leapfrog men". Don't go fast, make sure each men is correct with correct fumikomi.

All of the above exercises are with a large, basic men swing.

When you're ready for multiple practice, line up a bunch of partners in a straight line. They should line up so that they can touch the shoulder of the person in front of them with their hand (ie one-step distance between each). Have them each offer a target with their shinai to the side. The targets can be all men, all kote, kote-men repetitively or a mix. Now hit all the targets, using only one step each time. Make sure each hit is correct timing. You can only do this with a straight back and if you draw your left leg up promptly each time. If you have a quick swing you can do this with a large swing but most people do this exercise with a small men. After you have nice timing going slow, speed it up and see how fast you can go while still maintaining correct form. Then just for fun go as fast as you can.

Lastly we just started doing multiple hit single fumikomi such as a kote-men where the foot is in the air during kote and lands fumikomi with the men strike.

I've never seen this. The 3 variations I know are: 1. individual action on each cut 2. double fumikomi but draw the left foot up only on the 2nd one 3. suri-ashi on kote, fumikomi on men.

[mark]

Fantastic! Wow new drills! I look forward to trying them out.

I have never seen your variation 2. I will give it a try.

With the double hit single fumikomi, the first hit serves to open the oponent, the second to score a point. During the first strike either the right foot is in the air, or both feet are in the air depending on timing, distance, and target.

There are a number of tricky issues 1) shoulders remain straight after the first hit, 2) enough hang time to properly make the second hit 3) all the forward inertia enters the fumikomi, and 4) no overhang when landing the hit. I currently fail miserably at all four. With practice...

Even though most senior members of our dojo master this strike, I have never seen it successfully used in shiai. Perhaps it is because once you start the technique you are commited to a very long straight line and the double cut. It makes you a sitting duck if your opponent reads your intent.

Our sensei trained in pre-WWII kendo, perhaps it is a remnant of his initial training? I will ask around.

[ben]

Mark: "Lastly we just started doing multiple hit single fumikomi such as a kote-men where the foot is in the air during kote and lands fumikomi with the men strike. "

Neil: "I've never seen this. The 3 variations I know are: 1. individual action on each cut 2. double fumikomi but draw the left foot up only on the 2nd one 3. suri-ashi on kote, fumikomi on men."

Neil, I too have never seen your "no. 2" technique (no sniggers please :) ). Wouldn't taking two steps without bringing your back foot up leave you leaning forward rather precariously? OTOH kote-men with fumikomi only on the men is the other basic timing for kote-men IME.

I always tell my students not to try too hard to make a sound with their fumikomi - this indeed leads to bruised heels. To land the foot flat on the floor don't think of throwing the right foot out towards your opponent. Rather, think of pushing your right KNEE towards them as you step, allowing your lower leg to hang vertically and relaxed below it (don't let your foot drop however, just hold it at in same position as when you were standing on it). This is how I visualise allowing the right foot to land flat.

As for kote-men: Using the index finger of your dextrous hand, how fast can you tap twice distinctly on the desktop? ...<pause music>... This is literally how fast kote-men can be. To achieve this, don't think at all about your upper body when you attack, but put all your strength into driving forward with your legs. Your hara makes the opening and your legs do the technique. Your shinai simply "dots the i's" as it were.

b

[Neil Gendzwill]

Good advise on the sound of fumikomi, I also tell my students that. The sound of fumikomi is the result of you driving your body forward and down. It isn't the goal. The goal is to get to the opponent quickly and translate body motion into the cut. Deliberately going for the sound tends to promote goose-stepping and injury.

Hitting kote-men while leaving the left foot in place is a competition-style technique taught by several sensei I've met. It doesn't leave you leaning too badly, because if you think about it you can generally hit men from the same place you start your kote-men at. Unless you're far outside, in which case use two steps. Case by case. I've also met one or two sensei who advocate strongly against it and advise always to make each point distinct.

At any rate, it will let you hit faster, and also shortens up the distance so that if your opponent is coming forward you don't overshoot the men. This footwork is useful for example if ai-kote happens. The advice usually given is to turn ai-kote into kote-men and win the men point. But it's all happening fast and your opponent is closing. Some people find the timing works better in this case if you leave the left foot in place for kote, then finish the men normally.

People under 3 dan ignore the following advice: Personally, I like using suri-ashi for the kote. As I get older I like that footwork more and more :). Works nice for sagari-men too. You don't need the stomp to score, you just need the body timing.

[Steve]

We do a lot of fumikomi here at our club. All of our Ni-Dan fumikomi strikes (kote-men, kote-do, tsuki-men, etc..) are done by not pulling up the hind leg as Neil was describing. They are great drills for shaping up your footwork. Focusing on your hip motion, and posture during those drills is the key to doing it correctly. Once you can do it well in the drills, it'll soon become a part of your "regular" footwork.

They are also great drills for learning "the stomp". As posted above, it is a result of your foot landing properly. (Try clapping your hands and see how much noise you make by just your finger tips, or the heel of your palm connecting. Same thing with "the stomp" in Kendo.)