From: jon@zeus.med.utah.edu (Jonathan Byrd)
Subject: Re: Question: fumikomi (foot-stamping)
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 18:40:48 GMT
	<gf36Jhe00YUoEuo2F_@andrew.cmu.edu>
Organization: University of Utah

In article <gf36Jhe00YUoEuo2F_@andrew.cmu.edu> Stephen Chan <sc1u+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:

       As my old Karate/Kenjutsu sensei taught it, if you are moving forward to
   attack, what happens is you accelerate your body forward, and then,
   just before you strike, you plant your lead foot into the ground -
   this halts the motion of your body and torso, but your sword {or fist}
   keeps moving.
       The analogy my old instructor made was that you were accelerating
   your car and then slamming on the brakes - anything which wasn't
   fastened down got launched forward.

Very interesting.  I have been taught not to stop, but to accelerate
through.  In fact, I was taught that, at the time the front foot hits
the ground, the front leg's shin bone must be at least vertical, and
it is better if the knee is slightly forward of the ankle.  That way,
you can continue to accelerate forward.  The reasoning is that the
faster you charge in, the less opportunity your opponent has for a
counterblow.  The very last thing I'd want to do is stop right where
my opponent has the perfect distance to hit me after parrying my
strike.  To stop your forward momentum at the striking distance is
like running the 100-yard dash, and trying to stop right on the finish
line.  You'll be much faster if you try to run past the finish line.

However, this got me thinking along different lines, and I believe I
have found my answer.

The crucial question is not "what is the proper timing?," but rather
"where is the finish line?"

My Karate teacher once asked me where the focus point was for a
middle-level reverse punch.  I answered "the solar plexus."  He said
to show him, and I touched the front of his gi, right at the bottom of
his sternum.  He then enlightened me about the difference between
"contact point" and "focus point."

The contact point for a middle-level reverse punch is indeed the
surface of the body, at the bottom of the sternum.  The focus point,
however, is the spine.  You do not want to deliver your energy to the
surface, but rather somewhere deep in the opponent's innards.

One of the problems with Kendo is that a bamboo shinai doesn't cut
very well.  When you strike someone on the head, your shinai does not
continue down through their skull, and into their neck.  It simply
hits the top of the head protector with a nice *splat*, and bounces
off.  Because the focus point is never reached, kendoists are often
fooled into believing that the contact point is the same as the focus
point.  Thus, when they time the foot-stamp with the contact point,
the foot and sword sounds are simultaneous.

In truth, when we hit the top of the head, we should focus on the
neck.  When we hit the right side of our opponent's body, our focus
point should be the left side.  When we hit the top of the wrist, our
focus point should be the bottom of the wrist.  When we stab to the
throat, the focus point should be the back of the neck.

This explains to me why there SHOULD be two sounds: The sword
encounters the contact point (which generates the first sound) before
it can get to the focus point (which is when the foot should land,
generating the second sound).

--
jonathan byrd
jon@apollo.med.utah.edu
Newsgroups: rec.martial-arts