Slow slow slow

[KamuSan]

Cool, so much to learn, so much to try :-))
Can't wait for my next training!

[Yowai]

When I said strength is an advantage in tsubazeriai, i didn't mean pushing people off balance. Because, an experience kenshi will always use your strength to his advantage and strike you while you push, because when you push, you can't attack.
What I meant was, that, if your opponent pushes you, and if you are strong, you don't really have to push back to resist his push. Like, if you do hiki do, you would push the opponents hand down so when they try to push up, you hit the do. If you're strong, you won't have to push up to resist him. Then again, if you're strong and the opponent is weak, and he knows it, and you try to push his hand down, he'll probably try to push up since he's afraid you'll do a hiki men, then you can go for the do. Or if he doesn't push up, go for the men. The opponent is at your mercy if you're stronger, i think. I hope this makes sense... This is what I think, anyways, I'm always open to comments and criticism, since I'm still relatively new to kendo.

Then again, if an opponent pushes your hand down at tsubazeriai, you can always go down with him and back up and do a really big men. I've done that many times myself... Kendo is so complicated...

Pushing your opponent's hand up or down to get an advantage in tsubazariai is a foul. The two shinai should meet just above the tsuba and the angle between the shinai and the vertical should be equal to your opponent's angle. (creating an equal X)
If 'struggling' at tsubazariai is allowed, what is there to prevent 150kg Joe from putting his hands above 8th dan old man's hands at tsubazeriai and push down to rip his arms out of its sockets.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Pushing your opponent's hand up or down to get an advantage in tsubazariai is a foul.

Show me the rule on this one. Pushing your opponent's hands up, down or sideways is standard technique to create openings from tsuba-zeriai. I know there are some recent changes to do with how you make contact there, but from the standard tsuka-crossed position there is lots of room to move your opponent around.

As to size being an advantage: absolutely it is an advantage. Of course small and quick can defeat big and slow, but when you run into big and fast then you're in trouble. I can think of quite a few people that use their size to good advantage. Being tall makes it easier to hit men, being strong makes it easier to control your opponent from tsuba-zeriai, being heavy and strong makes your taiatari stronger. I agree with you that hitting harder isn't one of the benefits, it's rather a weakness that nearly every big guy has to overcome - the tendency to overmuscle the swing.

[Shazzanzzz]

I'm sure you are an experienced kenshi who knows a lot about kendo. But, I really don't know if pushing your opponent's hands up and down and to the sides is a foul. I mean, you're still allowed to move your hands around, aren't you? at tsubazariai? I guess it's not really pushing, but redirecting your opponent's hands if you rather me say that...

That technique which you push down then go for the do doesn't really work against people with a lot of experience, since they never push back. But, if you mix it up a little bit, could still work. It's all about the strategy.

I've seen people getting fouls for hooking people at tsubazariai, but not for what what I'm talking about. I'm pretty sure what I'm talking about is legal, maybe it's just hard to see what I'm talking about. I've read the thing I talked about on books...

Trust me, if a 150kg joe try to lock down a sensei's hand, the sensei will beat him up... I would think there would be like a million ways he can think of to deal with it. One of them I wrote in my previous post. Anyways, out of respect, no one should ever do that to a hachidan!

[Neil Gendzwill]

Anyways, out of respect, no one should ever do that to a hachidan!

If you're playing someone like that, they're not interested in tsuba-zeriai. Back out to normal distance and try again.

[alexpollijr]

There has been a recent change over tsubazeri-ai rules.
Willian Fujikura, a brazilian player on the last WKC, got 2 hansoku when fighting Ando (JPN) because of illegal tsubazeri. It seems that now you have to stand knuckle-to-knuckle, 'knuckle-over-knuckle' is not allowed.

So it seems that use of brute strenght when in tsubazeri-ai will give you a foul now.

Anyone can confirm this?

- Alexandre

[jmarsten]

This is not a new rule, it has been in affect for the last two WKC's. It just takes the world kendo community awhile to absorb it. Then of course there are those who don't listen or observe very well at the shimpan seminars. The gist of the rule is that tsuba-zeriai is defined as being tsuba to tsuba/fist to fist. This means you may not get on top of the other persons tsuba with your fist and hold them down. You may not reach in behind with the tsuka and hold, you may not use the blade portion of the shinai to hold down a persons wrists. You may still push and use waza of this type (spinning) to initiate a waza such as hiki-men, etc...
You may not lay the blade portion on the persons shoulder when at tsuba-zeriai. In all of this, incidental contact is allowed, blatant man-handling of the opponent will get you a hansoku. If you watch the 50th AJKF Championships or the 12 WKC you can see that the waza are allowed.
This is not to say that are not a few zealous shimpan out there, I have seen a few that over enforce the rule. There are also the ones that are oblivious to this rule and to obvious stalling which is a hansoku.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Thank-you, Marsten-sensei. That makes things much clearer.

[Shazzanzzz]

Neil, I do back away most of the times when I get to tsubazeriai with a hachidan sensei. It's not like I can do anything from there anyways against him. I do do some simple hiki wazas, like hiki men sometimes though, so he can tell me if I'm doing anything wrong.

[Shazzanzzz]

Yea, thank you Marsten sensei for clarifying everything.