How to fight an opponent who takes gedan-like kamae?

by Jeong
(Unknown)

I was sparring with an opponent who lets his guard down for a while (by having the shinai down diagonally). I at least sparred with him twice.

And I'm still unable to at least find a good counter against it besides tsuki (I’m still 1 kyu). Could you tell me how to fight against this guy?

Answer: Interesting. If you are 1 kyu, you don’t really want to tsuki anyone. But it should be a good technique against such kamae.

I don’t think he can do much from that kamae. Get in and strike. Don’t worry about his kamae.

If you get it a little closer that your normal distance, you should be able to see how he moves against your seme.

Take a step onto the right foot diagonally to get closer to your opponent. Don’t forget to keep your shinai in your opponent centre. And execute a strike on his shinai near the tsuba, and strike his men like you execute a kote-men strike.

I don’t know if it works or not but try that.

Also he probably wants to counterattack. So let him do what he wants to do. And you strike more sharply and a lot. He won’t be able to counterattack you.

My students also ask me what to do against jodan, nito and the other kamae. My answer is

Just strike and see what happens. You will learn what to do really quickly that way.

Hope this helps.

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