Controversial Kote kaeshi Men - Technique

Kote kaeshi Men is a technique I introduced previously.

In Japan, this technique is in fashion, although it is controversial.

In this method, first one player hits Kote, and then opponent player blocks and immediately strokes unguarded Men.

Schematic picture is following.

  Why is it controversial?  

Because Kote is not completely prevented in some cases, which means Kote hits faster than Men.

The problem is this Kote is incomplete in terms of right posture and proper sword track.

But, some judge admits this Kote as ippon, especially Kote has good enough speed and powerfulness.

Therefore, about Kote ippon, there are pros and cons depend on judges and way of thinking.

  Who uses this technique?  

The well-known young player who use this technique is Takenouchi (Previous article of him).

He is a winner of 2014 all Japan Kendo Championship.

And in semifinal match of the tournament, he used this technique and got ippon.

Recently, many youtubers open their ippon omnibus video.

I found the one, which is focused on this Kote kaeshi Men.

This video is just collecting Kote kaeshi Men ippons, so always Men wins.

  Note  

But, remember Kote’s momentum occasionally outreaches Men and Kote becomes ippon.

So, again this is by the skin of one’s teeth technique.

And from a standpoint of successful Kote kaeshi Men, there is one interesting finding.

Skillful players narrow down the space just a moment Kote hit.

This makes Kote impression weak and Men impression strong, so it has more chances of Men winning Kote.

  Pros or Cons?  

Personally I dislike it, if anything.

I don’t use this often because I have not 100% confident I am able to fend Kote.

But, it seems lots of especially young players come to use this stroke these days.

How do you think of this technique?

Distance between feet - Footwork practice

Today, I would like to talk about distance between feet.

The topic is mainly about front and back position of feet (Kamae).

(In terms of right and left distance, placing similarly to width of shoulder is proper in general.)

In the following article, you can see player with long distance between feet, especially white player of first movie (Amazing gyakuDo - University13).

It is said that wide distance of feet has advantage of reacting and counteracting opponent player.

(longer distance between feet compared with above picture)

On the other hand, short distance of feet has advantage of preemptive attack.

Young players tend to choose longer distance, while senior players tend to choose shorter distance.

This might partly because younger players have stronger muscles to jump into distance.

Which to choose is a controversial issue.

It is depend on how you want to play, and whether it matches with your body nature or condition.

If you do not have somebody to ask detail, one idea is to try both.

And the one easier for you to play is proper at present.

Hope you find appropriate distance for your playing style!

New generation battles started, at 2019 - Highschool 36

These days after bon festival (mid-August), high school students starts new generation lines lower than 2^nd grade students, because largest all Japan championship finishes early August.

In the following youtube, new teams matches at Oasaki championship, one of championships held in this season from 1979.

Both teams are from Fukuoka, which is just a coincidence this case. They are all 1st or 2nd grade students. At first, after senpo and jiho matches, score was shown at 1 (2) – 0 (0) from red to white team.

Red team is Ohori high school and white is jyouyou high school. This is quarter final match and I note time line in this team match as follows,

(Chuken match is going from first)

At 0:22, white player hiki-Men becomes ippon.

At 1:10, white player hit hiki-Do at good timing.

At 2:56, white player gets Kote ippon.

(Fukusho match starts at 3:15.)

At 3:57, white player hits good hiki-Men, but not ippon.

At 4:47, red player stroked Kote, 1/3 empire admitted but not ippon.

At 6:22, white player’s gyaku-Do is also good hit.

(Taisho match starts at 7:45.)

At 7:48, red player gets gyaku-Do ippon at a surprise attack. This kind of attack is useful once, but not twice. Because second time, everybody becomes cautious usually.

At 10:19, white player gets Men ippon and tied back the score at 2 (3) – 2 (3).

At 11:04, red player stroked hiki-Kote, but not becoming ippon.

In the video, it finishes tie score, so there is an extra team representative match after this to decide win. But, unfortunately, video end here, meaning conclusion is missing. If I find ending part of this team match, I will introduce sometime later.

Today, just I wanted to say new high school teams started now.

Twin players - highschool 35

In last article, I mentioned a little about twin players. So, I introduce them today. There are strong twin (probably identical twin) players in Fukuoka prefecture this year. They both belong to Fukuoka Ohori high school.

The name of older brother is Ryunosuke, and the name of younger brother is Toranosuke. The names are represent dragon and tiger, respectively.

So, it sounds strong, isn’t it?

Yes, they are actually strong. And even though they belong to the same high school team, they are good rival. Toranosuke became champion in all Kyusyu region tournament and Ryunosuke became champion of all Japan high school tournament this summer.

So, both of them sometimes won up the tournament, and I know one match was occurred in preliminary individual match in Fukuoka. Unfortunately, it was semi-final, meaning only one of them was able to proceed to all Japan high school tournament.

Following is the youtube video, red side is Ryunosuke, and white side is Toranosuke.

Their playing style is somehow similar. But, there are several differences.

For example, the distance between feet is wider of Toranosuke (white) than Ryunosuke (red). And white player leans forward a bit. White takes posture more stable and aggressive, whereas red takes posture more natural.

Both of posture have advantages and disadvantages. So, why they chose so? I have no idea and maybe be due to their personal preference.

In the match, I feel red player played more relaxed. From natural posture, it is sometimes difficult to predict next movement. So, it is good for tricking and confusing opponent players.

On top of that, red player had technique to hit wide range of target places, so it makes more difficult to predict next stroke.

His serial movement is interesting to follow.

At 2:42, red player showed as if he went forward, but stopped suddenly. And in the next movement, when white player came to stroke Men, he dodged backward and stroked tricky hiki-Men.

At 5:00, red player tried to counterattack Do against Men attack at interesting timing.

Finally, red player stroked straightforward Men at a moment white player tried to approach, and finished the match.

From their play, they are actually rival, and this time elder brother won the match, but sometimes result was reverse. I think it is interesting to follow their plays in next several years (perhaps in university).