little finger usage

[will szlemko]

Hi all,

I was instructed, about a year ago, that in striking motions, that the squeeze of the little finger is vital. This is the same as with the ken. I manage to do a fair job of squeezing with the bokken (when I don't space out) but with the jo this actually seems to slow down my strike. So what is the deal here? I feel that this is probably a timing issue as occasionaly I get a much more whipping feel when I sqeeze my pinkie finger. So am I squeezing to early, to late, or do I just lack pinkie finger conditioning? Thanks for any help and insight.

will

[Diane Skoss]

Hi Will,

I apologize for the time it takes for me to organize an answer. I find it extremely difficult to discuss technical issues--partly due to a lack of vocabulary up to the task, and partly because the simple answer is to ask your own teacher.

A couple of thoughts, however, for what they are worth....

First of all, beware of the word pinkie (I do realize that you've specified pinkie finger, and this is wise--this just gives me an excuse to tell a good story on myself). This is an international forum and some of the readers speak a different English than you and I. I once was teaching an aikido seminar at Hendon Police Academy in London. I thought I was doing fairly well. At the break, Rob Lawrance, who was the instructor there, told me that he was quite pleased with the cadets who refrained from giggling when I told them to imagine headlights affixed to their hips--headlamps in British slang, of course, referring to a frontal portion of a woman's anatomy. I was mortified and returned from break vowing not to screw up like that again. I got to an exercise where you raise a tegatana (sword hand) up towards the ceiling. I had always used the image (in Indiana) of keeping your pinkie pointing towards the ceiling. I encouraged them all to "Keep your pinkies up!" This time they did break down, as pinkie refers to a significant part of the male anatomy. Here endeth lesson 1.

Lesson 2: I've been told by several teachers in several arts not to get too caught up in the tightening motion that finishes off a strike (and creates the kime). "It's early days," they said, and advised me to concentrate on getting all the mechanics working perfectly first. Perfecting the tenouchi of the kime is a fairly sophisticated task and requires all the basics to be in place first to work. So, if your grip is absolutely precise, if your hassuji is correct and perfectly straight throughout the strike (and you come back up the same line to the eyes to establish zanshin), and if the timing of your hips is just right, and your hands do not "cross" as you strike the sword (or whatever you are striking), and you've learned to remove all power from the strike, then you can start worrying about the timing of the "squeeze" (which should definitely not be a wringing motion--which is what they teach in kendo to compensate for the unnatural wrist position forced upon practitioners by the kote). It should be (according to my experience and instruction) just a gentle well-timed uniform tightening of the entire grip. Since there's more of the grip in the little finger to start with (the index finger being relaxed, though not sticking out), more tightening occurs there, but I believe it is more useful to think of tightening the entire grip.

Finally, I wouldn't worry too much about the speed of the strike. Hasten slowly. And definitely don't try to work on this doing full force fast strikes. Go slow and feel the entire strike--then you can start to pick up the timing. I sometimes practice strikes in ultra-slo mo, letting gravity and good angles do all the work. This is a good way to work on the "squeeze."

For what it is worth (and I'm just barely qualified to speak on the basics)...


[Edited by Diane Skoss on 06-28-2000 at 05:38 PM]

[Earl Hartman]

Diane:

I am interested in your comment regarding the "unnatural" wrist position in kendo supposedly being a function of the kote. While I agree that new kote take some breaking in, since they are fairly flexible and adapt themselves to whatever position the kendoka puts his/her wrists in, I don't see how the kote by themselves would force the wrists into any particular position. I agree that the wrist position in kendo seems, at first, to be somewhat counterintuitive, but my experience indicates that this is more of a function of kendo technique and the desire to protect the wrist by keeping it behind the tsuba to the greatest degree possible.

Your comments would be appreciated.

Earl

[Diane Skoss]

Hi Earl,

This may not apply to the best educated kendoka, but according to what I've seen and what Nishioka Sensei reports seeing (lots more than I ever would)...

Put on kote, assume jodan. It is extremely difficult to maintain a proper honte grip on the sword--your wrists straighten out (and their precise positioning is hidden by the kote, and kendo instructors don't seem to correct them, thus my blaming the position on the kote). Cut down, and do the wringing motion to get the proper grip at the moment of impact. You don't need a wringing motion if your grip in jodan (or whereever) is already correct--just a slight additional tension at the (to provide the?) kime. Classical swordsmanship versus kendo approach, I think. I do know that my aikido instructors in Japan (as have many teaching sword outside of Japan, I fear) had mistakenly picked up on the kendo approach--and it took me some years to unlearn. We also used to keep our index finger straight out in the air... this may be great in an aikido context, but isn't a great idea when dealing with an armed opponent.

The way I understand things, in SMR, the goal is to eliminate any unnecessary movement. Wringing is big; slight tightening is nearly imperceptible and is more easily seen in the overall quality of the cut than in the hands themselves (in my experience).

Hope this helps!

[will szlemko]

Hi Diane,

Your advice helped to clear up another issue I was having but was not quite what I had in mind, let me try to clarify. Let's use hikiotoshi (with left side forward prior to strike). The basic sequence I was taught was as follows.
1) Throw the butt end of the jo (left hand) up and forward.
2) Right hand does same motion as left at same time.
3) Just as you start to bring jo around vertically the little finger on your left hand squeezes, to help accelerate the jo.
4) Finish strike by rolling hips and sinking.
5) concurrent with (4) slightly tighten grip on jo. This is, I think, the part you were addressing. My question is on step (3). Thanks.

will

[Diane Skoss]

Hi Will,

This is why I hate technical questions!!!! :)

I'd approach the whole thing quite differently (and the way of teaching hikiotoshi uchi is one of those things that differs among different menkyo kaiden lines--this is the way I was taught and teach it--for what it is worth).

1. Squeeze the front hand (in this case left), beginning with the little finger, and shift the hips, turning the body to face forward. Don't move the front hand at all from it's position in the upper front (in this case left) quadrant of your torso (moving it forward even slightly puts you in range of the swordsman--believe me, it can get cut. This is not a desirable result :) ).

2. This movement of gripping the jo and turning the hips naturally throws the jo up into the air and the right hand just slides up and back along with it. At this point, your front hand is fairly close to the chest, with the hand centered in your body, your hips are facing straight forward. Your upper hand is up and back a bit, and the arm is fully stretched. The jo is already on the proper angle for the trajectory, which is approximately the same as the collar line on your opponent's uwagi.

3. Finish the strike by moving this whole assemblage, continuing the hip movement, with the tip of the jo following a trajectory that goes through just above the temple and through the miken (point between the eyes), and straight down. Power is in the back (which was the front, and in this case left) hand; the front (which was the back, in this case right) hand provides stopping power only as it slides down to its final position. The line of the jo shouldn't ever have any bends or curves in it. This strike will intersect the sword.

But as you can see, words just won't do it. It's quite possible that you are doing exactly this but using different words to describe it.

At any rate, to address the question of the little finger squeeze, I would say that it and the hip movement should initiate the strike--the arm movements come after and are a natural extension of the initiating move (i.e. move squeeze to step 1). Squeeze and turn your hips to start and see what happens.

However, here's the BIG caveat: this is the way students of Phil Relnick and Nishioka Tsuneo understand hikiotoshi uchi. Those training in lines under Kaminoda Sensei or Matsumura Sensei or Matsui Sensei (to name the most well known) are taught differently (no value implied here, just that there are definite stylistic differences). My advice may not be worth much if your instructor is teaching you in one of these other ways. It is definitely a bad idea to mix and match unless you are a very very very experienced student, and even then I wouldn't recommend it, except perhaps on an experimental basis.

Hope this helps....

[will szlemko]

Hi Diane,

Thanks so much. Your advise helped tremendously and is actually closer to what I was doing than what I wrote/was attempting to do. I gues at this point the trick is just to keep training and it will start to feel more correct. Thanks again.

will

[Tim Atkinson]

Diane,

Your hard-learned lessons on the wringing of the hands "rings" true with myself. When I was first learning Kenjutsu I was instructed to wring the hands at the complition of a cut. I went away and trained hard always being mindfull of wringing the hands. Sometime latter I was pulled up quick smart and asked why I twist my hands so at the end of a cut. I was then told that one must have the feeling of wringing the hands which happens naturally with momentarily tighting the fingers. Again it one of those things that is very hard to put into words, and if someone does has a different understanding or useage of the same word, then all hell breaks loose.

Is this in line with your own understanding?

[Diane Skoss]

Hi Tim,

That sounds about right to me. The important point is to not change the way your hands are holding the jo/bokuto--the angles and pressures and hand position should not change. The grip merely tightens at the proper point.

By the way, I've got one of your sempai out on the deck--Warwick Hooke rolled in late last night. It is a small world; he and I have trained together on three different continents. We met in Japan; I've been to Australia, and he's been here to the U.S. The jo world is rather fun in that way.

Cheers!

[Tim Atkinson]

Diane,

Pass on my greeting to Warick for me please.

I wish I could be at the SMR get-togeather, but it conflicts with work and my study at this stage.

When and where will the next get-togeather be held, if it has been desided that is.

I would like to meet the extended SMR family so-to-speak, as the Sydney family is a great bunch, I learn just as much at the coffee shop after training as I do during the class.