Kote-Men speed...

[Lloromannic]

I think he is saying that he has to seme the other into attacking, or he'll lose kote, which makes hitting Men irrelevant.
At a recent taikai (where I got 2nd in Youth), I lost a match to ai kote men. My opponent attacked Koteand caught me by surprise, I did Kote Men, and I thought I had countered the Kote (the Men slid off), but the shinpan gave him the point. After the match, one of the shinapn called me over and said that they had given the Kote to my opponent because my attack was merely a reaction and I did not provoke it. So maybe speed is not the most important thing.

[Ignatz]

So maybe speed is not the most important thing.

That is what I am suggesting. Please forgive me if I have the terms wrong but I remember being told in judo and jujitsu that the opponent is vulnerable when he is thinking about attacking (sensen no sen), when he decides to attack (sen no sen) and at the instant he launches his attack (go no sen) and also at the instant he completes his attack (and I can't remember the term for this).

I am not good enough to read minds (yet) and I am only now starting to learn to see when the opponent has committed his mind to the attack but seeing the beginning of the attack (especially when you provoke it) is not too hard at all once you know what you are looking for.

So translating that to kendo you can beat a much faster opponent, an important skill when you reach geezerdom.

[mark]

First off let me say this, most of the people I train with regularly are very fast. If you wait for the other person to attack, unless you are very, very fast, you will lose. If you pressure him into attacking first you can often beat him.

Yet.

Thanks! Now I understand what you were saying