Giho 64 Tengen Nuki Brush up 1/ 天元貫ブラッシュアップ2
Tengen’nuki brush-up II
This time will be part 2 of the brush-up on 天元貫 (tengen’nuki).
Explanation
About stabbing the 丹田 (tanden)
In 天元貫 (tengen’nuki), in the exact moment the opponent lays their hands on their sword, draw your sword and stab their 丹田 (tanden) with your kissaki.
In general 丹田 (tanden) refers to an upper, middle and lower spot (forehead, chest and lower abdomen respectively), but here we’re referring to the lower abdomen’s 丹田 (tanden).
As a basic rule, in both 天元貫 (tengen’nuki)’s 点抜 (ten’nuki) and 動抜 (dounuki) we stab the 丹田 (tanden). In actual combat, against an opponent who puts their hands on their tsuka we want to pin down their forearm, or we charge at them first and aim for their centre.
However, in actual combat we might get under pressure so our kissaki jumps up like this, potentially making it impossible to stab the spot we intended to, or resulting in our kissaki missing our opponent entirely.
If the kissaki jumps up, it will be right in their face making them feel the danger and triggering their reflexes, which in turn makes it easy for them to dodge.
Therefore, properly stab the spot you were aiming for, and, stab a low spot where the opponent will have it harder to react – in order to learn these two things, beginners should always start from practising to stab the opponent’s 丹田 (tanden).
Training method to correct the kissaki jumping up
Let me introduce a training method to fix a jumping kissaki.
First, please watch.
In this training method we prepare an obi or a rope and then stab with 天元貫 (tengen’nuki) beneath it.
What you have to avoid here is, like this, first drawing the sword and then stab beneath the obi.
This occurs with any drawing method.
In one go, pass beneath the obi and reach with the kissaki to the front. Please pay attention to this when practising.
Furthermore, please be sure to place the obi lower than your navel.
About how to open up your legs
Next, I will talk about the legs’ work and the knees’ orientation.
Many are prone to opening up their knees and toes like this, consequently leaving their legs wide open.
It’s rather difficult to explain, but please be sure to have your knees’ orientation like this when practising.
This has been the brush-up on 天元貫 (tengen’nuki).
Although I have explained a multitude of important points, please make sure to carefully check them one by one and practise them repeatedly.