Jukendo: Basic Exercises, Chokutotso Tsuke San Bon (銃剣道: 基本)

Most of our Jukendo classes start and finish with Chokutotsu San Bon (Direct Thrust, three times).

• Starting 4 or so steps further apart than Issoku
• Sensei yells "Chokutotsu San Bon"
• Rei and take Kamae (this is sometimes yelled by the sensei and sometimes by the person that will receive first and sometimes not at all, may as well take any opportunity to yell I figure though)
• First receiver of  each pair takes two smooth steps forward to Issoku
• Receiver makes a slight opening for the basic tsuke strike
• Receiver yells Tsuke
• Attacker hits tsuke (suite) with a single step forward
• Attacker withdraws the strike (nuite) standing still but moving balance back to vertical
• Receiver then makes two teeny tiny steps back to Issoku, ideally of about the same size for each step
• Receiver yells Onagi (repeat / the same) and so it repeats. 3 strikes are made.
• After the last strike and 2 step withdrawal by the receiver the little shake of the gun is made indicating time to change roles
• Entire process is repeated with roles reversed
• Once the final issoku is taken the final receiver takes two smooth steps backwards and someone (see above) may or may not yell Naorei
• Do naorei

Important Points:

• When the strike is made a good receiver makes the tiniest backwards feet movements to absorb the blow. Someone told me you can get to 5th dan just by being good at receiving, they were probably being slightly facetious but it illustrates the point.
• When, and it will happen, the distance is too great for the attacker to do a perfect strike without reaching it is preferable to miss by an inch or two and be perfect rather than connect at the cost of posture and so on
• If that happens a good receiver adjusts the distances to try and get good connection along with the perfect posture.
• The timing of the opening and the yell of tsuke is, I think, Open, pause, yell. Not open as they come in and not open as you yell (I don't get told off too much about this so it might not be too important at our level).
• The yell by the receiver is very important! Your yell should put fire in the eyes of the striker. Not hearts. Ewa finds this hard because I am just sooo damn pretty, I try to yell better. It isn't so much the volume as the downward inflection and intensity. Basically don't be casual about it and you should be fine for a while.

My thoughts:

• The receiver doesn't have to go back to chudan I don't think, they can just stay open while stepping back, I still do because I suck at the distance gauging.
• The opening is tiny to my eyes, Basically I ignore the opening and just strike trusting the receiver to sort out everything.
• When striking try to look the opponent in the eyes rather than looking at the target and the bits you are trying to fix about your posture, with practice you can feel where everything is and the eyes focus gives you bonus points that will make up for a lot as a beginner
• When receiving I think the best footwork for me is just to move the back foot a little to absorb impact, anything else and I am off balance for the next few steps. Realistically I am the big person so I haven't been forced to learn this very well yet, Look at Ewa's absorbing rather than mine
• Even though barrel angled down is okay in some scenarios this is not one. Mokuju barrel must be horizontal. Lower your body (and if you are like me, your back hand) to ensure this criteria is met
• Shime and Hanmi are crucial and obvious here. You don't want wobbling or pushing. The strike should land where it lands and everything stops at that moment.