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- Newsgroups: rec.martial-arts
- Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!cbnewsc!cbfsb!cbnewsb.cb.att.com!osan
- From: osan@cbnewsb.cb.att.com (Mr. X)
- Subject: Re: Kotegaeshi (wrist/forearm technique)
- Message-ID: <1992Dec30.160622.10791@cbfsb.cb.att.com>
- Sender: news@cbfsb.cb.att.com
- Organization: Twilight Zone
- Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 16:06:22 GMT
- Lines: 48
-
- In article <1hpqd6INNon2@master.cs.rose-hulman.edu> acharya@HYDRA.ROSE-HULMAN.EDU writes:
- >a few posts ago, andy says:
- >"kote gaeshi is NOT a wrist technique, but one for the forearm"
- >
- >could you expand on that? do you mean that the arm should be straighter,
- >i.e. the effect is more a 'shearing' rather than bending effect on the
- >wrist?
-
- Kote gaeshi was originally intended as a method to evade, intercept
- and control a thrusting attack (with sword). The technique involved
- trapping the offending forearm by grabbing the wrist such that you
- cause it to flex (i.e. bend inward, palm toward the inner forearm).
- Holding th wrist such that the forearm is more or less parallel with
- the ground, you guide the hand rearward, fingers pointing upward,
- toward the attackers armpit. When the geometry is right, the attacker
- will be commutatively locked from the wrist to the base of the spine.
- At this point a drop of body weight will put the attacker on his
- back right off.
-
- A primary purpose of this technique was to gain control of the sword.
- Without such control, the defender (or attacker) could be cut to pieces
- since you'd have a long and sharp object swing around every which way.
- Please also note that when the hand is so flexed, as per above, the
- grip of the hilt becomes extremely weak. This is a reality of human
- anatomy (at least in most people, though there are probably a few
- exceptions out there). This allows the sword to be easily taken from
- the attacker and used to skewer him (why dirty your own blade if you
- do not have to?). Also note that when the wrist is positioned like
- this, the sword is pointing outward and away from both combatants,
- which is about as safe as you can get under such circumstances.
-
- So Kote gaeshi does involve wrist manipulation, but it is not a throw
- from the wrist. The effectiveness of the technique relies on a
- commutative lock to get control over your opponents center of gravity.
- The primary lock is on the cg, not the wrist and this is achieved via
- the forearm manipulation. Likewise, the throw is from the cg and
- not the wrist. The wrist acts only as a convenient handle.
-
- Kote gaeshi, as widely practiced, relies on pain and a fairly hard
- cranking effort, which is indicative of inferior technique. Find
- a person with, say, a rubber wrist, and I'll bet dollars to donuts
- that the KG as commonly practiced will not succeed, leaving the
- practitioner in an unenviable position :(. When executed per a
- proper commutative lock, it is virtually impossible for it to fail,
- all other things being equal (which they rarely are :)).
-
- -Andy V.
-
-