Comments for More power in the left hand than the right hand. Why?

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Apr 01, 2009
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starstarstarstarstar 		Thanks
by: soyuz

Thanks for the "leverage explanation". That helped a lot!..

Kendo-Guide.Com: "Leverage explanation" is an excellent post, isn?t it? I think this post helps a lot of people to understand the mechanism of strikes.
Mar 21, 2009
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starstarstarstarstar 		Balance and Leverage
by: Santiago B Tejada

Balance and Leverage

Observation of nature phenomena has been the cradle of many important discoveries in humanity's existence. And as such the application of natural laws of physics have played a tremendous contribution to the development of all kind of Martial Arts. As well as 'balance" is one of those laws of physics, so is "leverage" (from "lever".)

We are told to hold the sword with left hand at the very end of the tsuka or handle, with barely two fingers holding tight to it. This extends to the maximum the length to the point of fulcrum (pivot point) of the sword handling (right hand.)

Based on physics, the longer the tsuka is the better the leverage. That is why you may notice shinai and some swords tsuka have a longer tsuka than other sword, helping this way to develop a more of a "whiplash"-like effect when cutting with a sword and quickly returning it to the original position.

The more stable the fulcrum is (right hand) the better application of leverage. If the pivot point is unstable the force applied will disperse and balance will be lost.

The left hand moves the shinai but the right hand stably bears it and aims its direction.

Kendo-Guide.Com: Thank you for the excellent post. It is very important to know physics of kendo as well. It is not my field at all but I know what you mean. If you are a beginner reading this post, you just have to know about this. Don?t worry about this too much, though.

Some like a longer tsuka and some don?t. I do not use a longer tsuka because I have a shoulder problem. If I cannot extend my right arm too much because it gives a lot of stress on my right shoulder.

Some say the fulcrum should be the right hand and others say the fulcrum should be between the right and left hand.

After all, it is us who control a sword, so as long as we know how to use the right hand the left hand properly, the tsuka length does not really matter.
Oct 30, 2008
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starstarstarstarstar 		Left handed people switch thier grips?
by: Anonymous

Should we then teach the left handed kenshi in a mirror way of the normal positions in order to get balance(i.e. right hand at the end of the tsuka)?

[Kendo-Guide:] No. Even though we used to have kendo-ka who switched their hands (i.e. the right hand at the end of tsuka), we do not do that in the modern kendo. The left-handed people have more advantages than the right-handed people because the left hand is considered to be important in kendo.
Oct 30, 2008
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starstarstarstarstar 		Hand position on shinai
by: Celest Vinck

Is it not also due to the hand position on the shinai? Your left hand is on a totally different position from your right. I think that is the main reason that your kendo has to be left-hand oriented. The fact that mostly the right hand is the stronger one only adds to this effect.

If it would only be a problem of the difference in strength of the hands, then you would have to tell left-handed kendo-ka to use their right hand more. That is wrong, of course. And have you ever seen to much left-handed kendo?

Try to do some suburi with a reverse grip, you will see, if you don't pay attention, your strikes will be left-hand oriented instead of right-handed. It is simply because of the position of left and right hands are changed.

This is just my opinion; please correct me if I am wrong.

(p.s. Sorry for any possible spelling mistakes, English is not my mother language.)

[Kendo-Guide:] You're right. I was talking to my students last night about the positions of the hands. Since the right hand is placed further from our body, beginners tend to pull up their shinai, instead of to push it up with the left hand. This pulling up movement is the start of an unbalanced cut. There are many causes of the right handed kendo. But after all, it is about balance.

Don?t worry about your English. I am not a native English speaker. An important thing is we are communicating. :) I appreciate your comment.
Oct 26, 2008
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starstarstarstarstar 		It's THAT easy?
by: Chris Dalrymple

I have contemplated this question for some time and rationalized many different "answers"... this answer --BALANCE--is great!

As are so many things in kendo, the answer is in front of us all the time, we, often, just don't have the capability to see it.

Thanks for pointing out this elegant, simple, answer!

[Kendo-Guide:] You're welcome! Glad to be a help!

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