Giho 63 Tengen Nuki Brush up 1/ 天元貫ブラッシュアップ1
Tengen’nuki brush-up I
This time will be a brush-up on 天元貫 (tengen’nuki).
Explanation
This time, we’re going to do some brush-up on the 点抜 (ten’nuki) of 天元貫 (tengen’nuki).
Important point #1
About the jumping of the kissaki
Let’s get to the detailed explanation.
First, let’s talk about the kissaki jumping up.
In the 点抜 (ten’nuki) of 天元貫 (tengen’nuki), many people let their kissaki jump up like this.
When performing 天元貫 (tengen’nuki) rapidly, it’s fine if the kissaki jumps up a little bit, but when practising 守 (shu) of 天元貫 (tengen’nuki), please make sure to let the kissaki go straight from the koiguchi to the target along a horizontal line.
Important point #2
About the positioning of the right hand during the battou
So, you might wonder, how do you manage to draw the sword without the kissaki jumping up? I would like to answer this in the following.
First a few words about the right hand’s positioning.
If you raise your right hand up high like this, the kissaki will naturally jump up.
Therefore, you have to move your right hand to the side when drawing your sword.
However, if you only move your right hand to the side just like that, it will naturally go up again as you can see here, which would make it impossible to draw the sword horizontally.
The important thing here is leaning forward.
Important point #3
About bending the body forward during the battou
Please watch from the side.
If I move my right hand to the side without leaning forward, I won’t be able to draw my sword, much less horizontally.
However, if I lean forward here and move my right hand to the side, I can perform 天元貫 (tengen’nuki) while keeping my sword horizontal.
Right hand to the side, lean forward while drawing the sword to the side.
If I keep this posture and undo my body’s inclination, I’ll be drawing my sword upwards like this.
Adding the forward inclination here will enable me to keep the kissaki on a horizontal trajectory and reach my target with it.
Please pay attention to these points when practising.
Important point #4
About turning the saya during the battou
In order to draw the sword without the kissaki jumping up, there is more important thing which is drawing the sword while slightly turning the saya.
With this explanation numerous people turn their saya and blade completely sideways to draw the sword, but instead of that please make sure to keep it only at a slightly turnt angle.
Important point #5
About the left hand when turning the saya
When slightly turning your saya, if you bend your left hand to the inside, your left elbow will go behind your body during the sayabiki, which will have harmful effects on your body.
When drawing your sword, please make sure to move your left elbow in your saya’s direction, diagonally backwards to your left. At this time the back of your hand and your forearm should stay straight. Please use this as a reference.
Important point #6
About both hands’ positioning during the battou
The next important point will be about both hands’ positioning after drawing the sword.
Caught up too much with the thought of doing a stabbing motion, a number of people throw out their hands to the front like this.
Assuming a posture like this will make it significantly more difficult to perform a follow-up attack or an evasive movement.
In Tenshinryuu, we call this posture 死気体 (shikitai).
Important point #7
Not assuming 死気体 (shikitai)
死気体 (shikitai) is spelt with the kanji 死 (death), 気 (spirit/mind/mood), 体 (body) (rough translation: “the body that wants/expects to die”).
Semantically it indicates a weak state in terms of both mind and body.
Of course, in Tenshinryuu we put a lot of emphasis on cutting as far as possible whilst keeping our maai, however, all that is under the presumption of not assuming 死気体 (shikitai).
The thoughts regarding 死気体 (shikitai) are not limited to the 点抜 (ten’nuki) of 天元貫 (tengen’nuki). This time I would like to use the 動抜 (dounuki) of 天元貫 (tengen’nuki) as an example to explain this.
If I think too much about stabbing my enemy in the far like this, both of my hands will go too far off to the front and I’ll end up in 死気体 (shikitai).
Doing so makes it much harder for me to perform a follow-up attack from here.
Bad example: positioning both hands too far off to the front and thus ending up in 死気体 (shikitai).
Good example: appropriate positioning of the hands, therefore no 死気体 (shikitai) and easy follow-up movements.