right foot fumikomi from jodan

[Halcyon]

I was watching a DVD of the 53rd All Japans last night and I came across something that I found intriguing.

One of the jodan players (sorry, the name escapes me at the moment) was having some trouble making good contact because his wiley opponent would step back, block, etc. So a number of minutes into encho, the jodan player (in hidari jodan), takes a step in with his right foot, and then again with his left foot, and then gets an ippon as he does fumikomi with his RIGHT foot. At first glance, I was like, "Woah! What just happened?" because the motion looked a little weird to me. It wasn't until I watched it in slow motion a couple of times before I realized why it looked unusual.

Has any jodan player out there tried this move? Looked like a good method against someone who likes to step back.

[JSchmidt]

Yeah, it's Sekei and I did notice that. I think it was a men-misete-kote where he changed plans and continued for the men and more impromptu than a planned attack.
For us mortals, I don't think it's worth practicing and I would rather work on improving my 'normal' fumikomi.

Jakob

[Halcyon]

Yeah, it's Sekei and I did notice that. I think it was a men-misete-kote where he changed plans and continued for the men and more impromptu than a planned attack.
For us mortals, I don't think it's worth practicing and I would rather work on improving my 'normal' fumikomi.

Was Sekei the guy with the shaved/bald head?

Talk about thinking on your feet, I don't think my mortal brain could come up with something like that on the fly. The only time I use right-foot fumikomi from jodan is when I'm doing a nidan waza like harai-morote-men, which comes in handy against opponents who like to hold their kamae very low.

[samurai999]

Ayumi ashi? Well its kind of a "cheater" step. I've seen ppl doing this during tournaments as well to get just a bit more distance. Kihon-wise, you are supposed to use okuri-ashi as a normal stance. But in tournaments, I've seen ppl bring the left foot up almost even with their right and launch that way. This seems to give them more distance when they launch. Although the guy was in jodan and perhaps there some intricacies of jodan that required him to use that step in that situation, I really can't think of anything other reason why he used that step.

Tim

[sainueng]

I haven't seen the clip in question and I'm no expert in jodan, but I've seen plenty of examples of strikes w/ ayumi ashi out of jodan. For example, do. Another one would be kote men. Ayumi ashi for the kote and then okuri ashi for the men. (2 hands, not kata te.) Ayumi ashi can also sometimes be used for gyaku (hidari) do from chudan.

I believe I've also seen a thread on the forum where a sensei advised switching footwork going for a men towards the left.

[Halcyon]

I haven't seen the clip in question and I'm no expert in jodan, but I've seen plenty of examples of strikes w/ ayumi ashi out of jodan. For example, do. Another one would be kote men. Ayumi ashi for the kote and then okuri ashi for the men. (2 hands, not kata te.) Ayumi ashi can also sometimes be used for gyaku (hidari) do from chudan.

Yes, true. But all examples of morote waza. I'd never seen anyone do ayumi ashi for a katate men.

[The great I AM]

Having read an interview with him in kendo nippon a few months back, he actually does it for a practical reason: he once broke the achiles in his right foot, and so had to adapt to switching his feet over. Nothing cheater or left field for you guys I'm afraid.

Now that Seike, he's a funny guy. Anybody who can read japanese should read his interview. I read the whole thing with a smile on my face.

[eric]

Halcyon,

That sounds amazing. I can not even comprehend the ability to do that without morote or falling on my face. Nice observation that I will have to rewatch to see. I haven't watched that one in some time now. My biggest concern would be with the weight being shifted and then the hand movement remaining similar. I will have to try this and see what happens. Cheers!