(1808 posts)
Oct 28, 2008 10:42 pm
Fixing the honte-uchi collapse
With honte-uchi, my current pet problem is the front hand after drawing the jo. This hand should stay extended forward, and act as a fulcrum for the jo as you move forward. I have a tendency to allow this front hand to collapse to my center. Not a complete collapse, but not maintaining a feeling of everything moving forward either. My center moves forward, but that new front hand tends to move back. This creates disharmony and instability in the movement, but also reduces maai by several inches.Here's a great drill to help with this. You'll need a partner, whose job is to stand beside your front hand, and apply a slight amount of tension/pressure with his finger. This serves as a diagnostic on the hand collapsing. Executing honte-uchi this way feels very different.
Thanks to Nick & John Winter for helping me out with this. This may require Apple's Quicktime player for viewing.
http://www.kazeutabudokai.com/LOTW/jyodo/071507-jyodo.MOV