How to defeat Nito?

by Mithcoriel

I'm somewhat inexperienced at Kendo, and my teacher is using Nito, short and long sword. How can I stand a chance against him? (I'm too inexperienced to do tsuki).

I try to hit his right kote (which is holding the short shinai), but I don't seem to be able to get the right angle. Hitting the other kote seems a possibility, as is hitting the do on the side where he doesn't have the shoto, but it's pretty hard to be fast enough.

And how do you hit the men, with the long shinai in the way? Also, in particular: What should I do when I see him edging closer and closer to me? I have to react somehow, but it's hard to find an opening in time.

Thanks.

Answer: Thank you for your question.

What can you do against nitō?

• Just strike instead of thinking to get a point.

Keep striking and see what happens. If you keep striking, nitō cannot really strike back. Of course, this is a theory and you should have an ability to keep striking without disconnecting your ki.

• Execute 2 or more strikes continuously instead of executing just single cut.

You have to know how nitō reacts to your strikes. When you are against someone who are more experienced than you, executing a single cut is not a wise idea. You must execute two or three continuous strikes such as kote-men, men-men, kote-men-dō and men-kote.

• Tsuki is the most effective against nitō but if you are not confident you should not do that.

• You are right about that daitō being your way when striking men. That is why you have to execute more than a single cut so there is a possibility that daitō moves somehow. Debana men (you strike when your opponent is just about to make a move to strike you) is also good but this is very hard to do.




• Use your footwork. Move a lot. Knock the kodachi down or off the centre.  Then strike.

This is what I say to my students.  “If you don’t know what to do, just strike and see how your opponent will react to your attack. Then change something so you see what happens then. That’s how we learn what to do against different types of kendō”.

Oh, by the way, you must have a lot more kiai than your opponent especially your sensei. Kiai improves your kendō immediately!

Hope this helps.

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