letting go your left hand after hitting doh

[kanyil]

just wondering whether it's acceptable to let your left hand go and pull through with just the right hand after hitting doh. the senseis at my dojo do not seem to have formed a consensus on this topic and it's getting a little confusing.

[KingCanute]

I have been encouraged to slide it up towards my right but it is very rarely advisable to let go completely. I was sparring with a japanese visitor a few weeks a go and he knocked my shinai clean outta my hand because I was only holding on with one.

[YAMAFELL]

I would also say to just slide your hand up if you are a beginner. But if you are stong and confident and have a good grip with your right hand after hitting do then you can take off your left hand, but I advise only to snap the shinai quickly through.

it is very difficult to know what is right, because many people do it many ways. I have asked many people and they have all taught me differently. So figure out what works best for you, and just keep with the basics as much as you can, because the basic is the base of all good hits. ^_^

[Neil Gendzwill]

I assume you're talking about doh going through to the right, you should have no problem when going left.

For going right, we have two options - either hit with normal grip, or slide your left hand up into your right as you attack. The second makes it a little bit easier for some people, but you definitely give up some oomph. In neither case should you let go.

[JSchmidt]

I've been taught all 3 version; using normal grip, shifting left hand up & letting go with left hand.
Last 6 months I've been letting go with my left hand, since tearing a tendon in the left wrist (which also happened whilst cutting do) but are slowly trying to get back to using normal grip again.

Jakob

[Lloromannic]

Sensei discussed this with us yesterday and he said that while hitting with the right hand only was definitely not valid hitting Do and then letting go was acceptable, but only when you have made a very clear cut ad that it wasn't adviseable yet.
Here is a clip from the downloads page of Kendo World with a kenshi hitting (and scoring) Do letting go his left hand

[Neil Gendzwill]

Yeah, you can get away with letting go after the hit, but why?

[Kirin]

I think in case of shikake-waza, tobikomi-do or hiki-do, there should be no reason to let go left hand... plus there is no need to slide left grip to right.

But for ouji-waza, nuki-do or kaeshi/suriage-do, 'letting left hand go after the hit' can be acceptable, because of your opponent's forward momentum.
(also sliding left grip toward right can be acceptable depending on maai)

As long as you strike do with proper maai, ha-suji, and both hand, letting left hand go can be valid strike, unless no zanshin (some take block/defence position raising shinai with only right hand)

[mingshi]

...quite recently I cheat by releasing the left hand grip BUT with the thumb still attached to the tsuka... So it *looks* like I am still holding the shinai with both hands. The trick is to push down with the left thumb as well. It helps keeping the shinai going forward (and pointing below horizontal) after passing through the opponent.

Katate do looks a bit too weak from a spectator point of view. You know, you are rotating your grip AND cut with the same hand...hmmm

[JSchmidt]

But for ouji-waza, nuki-do or kaeshi/suriage-do, 'letting left hand go after the hit' can be acceptable, because of your opponent's forward momentum.

Yups..that's how I damaged my wrist...we were practicing kaeshi-do and opponent came forward a lot faster than I expected and I didn't let go with the left hand...and couldn't practice for two months.

Jakob

[Nanbanjin]

I haven't got much time so I will break this up. I thought this was interesting....

It seems that for shinai kendo "nuki-do to the front" didn't originally exist.

My instructor, the late Watanabe Toshio-sensei and the old instructors at my previous dojos would use hiraki ashi after hitting do and would relaese the right hand, not the left hand. They would turn around to face the opponent while avioding the men, and while keeping the shinai in contact with the do after the hit. Men-oji-kaeshi-do" was performed in the same manner. There was no movement of the position of the left hand's grip.

[slidercrank]

I haven't got much time so I will break this up. I thought this was interesting....

This was indeed interesting!

I once played against a sensei whose sensei (supposedly) was trained in the pre-war period. As such, this sensei (the one I played against) had some interesting moves. For one, he would strike dou while sinking his left knee to the ground. And I have heard from a different sensei who remarked that it was a pre-war style dou uchi.

[Hai_hai]

... For one, he would strike dou while sinking his left knee to the ground. And I have heard from a different sensei who remarked that it was a pre-war style dou uchi.

I have never seen this. But, if you perform a do-uchi just like you do in nanahonme, kata #7, then there should be nothing wrong technically-speaking? Why it's not applied/practiced like that in keiko or shiai, I don't know.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Why it's not applied/practiced like that in keiko or shiai, I don't know.

Kotaka-sensei's Classical Kendo Federation folks do this. For shiai, it leaves you in a pretty bad position if the judges don't take your point. The whole point of the exit footwork and finishing kamae is to leave you ready to defend yourself and continue the match. Down on one knee facing away you're a dead man.

[Curtis]

Nakauchi Sensei in California uses the drop knee doh. This how he beat Konno Sensei from our area in the first US tournament.


I like to use it once in a while for fun. I have never used it in tournament though just for the reasons Neil outlines. If you do not score it you are kind of screwed.