Last Saturday we had a nice group. Several of us got together in the chilly dojo to receive instruction. We spent most of the evening practicing various shomenuchi techniques. The sensei went through several wazas all using the sword hand attack.
The natural response to the sword hand (手刀) is to block in an X-form. This is incorrect and quite painful, resulting in bone-on-bone clashing. Instead we should circle our arms up and move slightly to the side of the opponent. This deflects, rather than blocks, the attack.
My first big error of the evening was how I first touch the opponent's arm. I had a bad habit of pushing against his arm when I made contact. We should twist our arms slightly and plant the soft, fleshy part of our forearms on our partner's arms. Remember that, plant NOT push. This allows us to continue the waza without greatly disturbing our movement.
When practicing shomenuchi nikkyo ura, another mistake became apparent. As I was spinning, my hand was bent towards my center. This leads the aite into me and messes up the technique. The shihan explained that I need to keep my hand pointed out and away from my own body to guide my partner in a wider circle and then bring them down.
There were other mistakes, of course, but I am too tired and embarassed to write them all here. Don't worry, true believers, I promise to make more mistakes and post them here.
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Hi Steve,
A few months ago I visited the dojo and Sensei explained these principles well. It helps very much if, when moving yur hand up deferring the opponents hit, focus on exposing the side of his chest for a punch or a stab with a knife with your second hand. That's the original idea of the waza. You will see that you can't properly punch or stab with your second hand if your first hand keeps pushing forward. The only thing you can do with the first hand is rotate it back to your center (as you should). Sensei also stressed the importance of doing that towards the ground besides your knee (your center-side, away from the opponent)and not in front of your knee, so you can put all the strength of your legs (actually entire body) into it.
Hans
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