Kamae
Originally posted by Hotsuma
I was wondering about something I read in History and Tradition. In the section about kamae, Stephen Hayes splits them into specializations (i.e. offensive, defensive, recieving.) I was wondering if there was any truth to this? Is jumonji really an offensive kamae while hira is a recieving kamae?
From what I've seen over the years there is nothing remotely defensive about anything in Hatsumi sensei's budo. Kamae appear to me to serve these functions in particular:
-- at the most basic level, they're mnemonic keys to keep you aware of where all your body parts are at any given point in time
-- they're ways of positioning the body and limbs to be "ready to do something"
-- they're ways of "inviting" an opponent to attack along particular paths and/or in ways which appear to him to be easier, so that you can more easily exploit his efforts (comparable to, on a larger scale, advantageously channeling an enemy force's advance and disposition through proper use of key terrain augmented by such things as obstacles and mines)
-- they're ways of ensuring your own structural stability versus that of the opponent, within the execution of a technique
One who claims to have thoroughly learned his master's techniques while disregarding his master's teaching, relying instead on his own talents, is worse than a fool.
-- Yamaoka Tesshu