Originally Posted by JSchmidt
No, that most definitely isn't the key. There's many answers to this, but that one isn't it.
There is an awful lot of 'depends' attached to this. What's your level? The opponents? Is he just stiff-arming it or is he actively defending the center (and then stiff-arming it when you attacks).
Basic starting points could be using kote-men or harai-men. Osae-men if you have a half-decent small/medium men-cut. Tsuki is fraught with etiquette issues, but is another useful tool.
Improving footwork is usually step one.
Regardless, all of those guys can be hit when they try to hit you. The more stiff-armed they are, the easier they usually are to pick off when they try to attack.
Thats sort of strange, fundamentally having better basics than the other guy (or having a better understanding of the body) tends to give one an advantage, doesn't it? For myself personally, I don't just want to take center when dealing with an opponent, I want to effect kuzushi and break their posture so that even if they have fast reactions, they will be unable to respond because the opponent is off balance and can't hit with broken posture. Like you said, depends on your level and that of your opponents.
You're advocating at the most basic kote men or harai men, both of which, if you can get more energy into the tip of the shinai (not swinging harder mind you with the upper body) can break the kamae. I don't disagree with using either waza, but waza alone isn't the only way. Certainly if you know how to use the body and put a lot of weight into the cut (not swinging hard, but relaxed, coupled with a physical weight drop or "internal" if you know how, proper use of the hips to transfer weight forwards, combinations there of etc) you can kiri otoshi someone's shinai, or just cut on through to a kote, or even knock them off line not only breaking their kamae, but breaking their posture.
The "Sticky" strong kamae is harder to deal with because the opponent's arms are more relaxed. Now you still should get more weight into your attacks, but you can of course try and preform the shibori motion later than your opponent. You can off course fight more for center, with the power not originating the arms, but in the lower body. Ideally with a "Sticky" kamae, I try and get under their shinai, not moving my shinai underneath their shinai, but I use my hips to push down into the ground, which causes my opponents shinai to float upwards (this is "Jin" in chinese martial arts) and really gives the opponent no way to feel your center as. This is of course predicated on being able to connect to their opponents center, and not just pushing on their shinai as well as spending a ton of time working on this sort of thing.
A more basic approach which works often works for both types is to simply pressure your opponent with the left hand. Don't push towards the left with your left hand, but push forwards and slightly left, so that you are pressuring into them. When you raise your shinai your opponent's kensen will shift over in the opposite direction (dramatically so if you have someone with a stiff kamae, since a lot of those people push back all the time with their arms). It does not work as dramatically with the sticky kamae, as someone with a sticky kamae isn't pushing/pressuring with the right hand. There is usually some movement however, and may be enough if you can continue on in utilizing the hips and weight to just drive on through mainting control of the center.
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