The Center

[stuartwilson]

One of my sensei has told me that I need to concentrate on "gaining and keeping the center." He is referring to the both position of my kensen and general orientation of my kamae. If you don’t have the center, you can’t launch an attack. If you have it (and keep it), your opponent won’t succeed in an attack against you.

I have had a number of problems in this area, for example, losing the center (and exposing kote) when swinging up. I have found that striving to achieve Jodan (if only for a brief instant) instead of just swinging up, keeps my kensen from going off-center.

I am enjoying some success with the concept and hope that it will take me to my next plateau. Has anyone else used a similar technique?

[JSchmidt]

Footwork and left hand.
You need to make you that you are moving straight that the opponent with your feet and that the left and is in the center at all times.
I think striving to achive jodan kamae at the top of the cutting action is a bad idea as it can very easily lead to a 2 step cut, rather than one action.

Jakob

[Musha]

Hi stuartwilson,

I don't think that you should be too desperate to keep the centre. If you push against your partner's shinai to keep centre he can lift it and easily strike Kote.
I am more concerned now with keeping my Shinai on my Shouchusen, Centre line running down my body. Not on his or her's .

[sminki]

Well, while keeping the shinai on one's own centerline is important, "keeping the center" generally refers to the mutual center. Just as pushing against the opponent's shinai too hard causes loss of center in case of the opponent lifting the shinai out of the way (although one can and should practice to keep the shinai even if the opponent suddenly clears his/her shinai out of the way), too much concentration on keeping the shinai on one's own centerline can also cause loss of center. In this case, if the opponent sidesteps to his/her left, even if one has kept the shinai on his/her own centerline, the mutual centerline has shifted and he/she would be completely vulnerable. So I'll contend that fighting over the centerline should be over the mutual centerline as opposed to one's own centerline. During keiko, centerline itself is a fluid, shifting plane and is not defined with respect to one participant. But provided that one's own centerline is in-line or on the same plane as the mutual centerline, musha is right about keeping the shinai on his own center.

Now, add to this the fight over optimal distance/maai and you got a real complicated recipe here...

[Kingofmyrrh]

seichuusen, not shouchuusen