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**Emedgella** · 08-01-2006, 08:00 AM

very predictable mosquito:

Thanks, this got me thinking (if that's not putting too fine a point on it...)

I agree about high schoolers and think that it might be age or at least some quantifiable maturity in kendo that distinguishes it from a sport. That is, it is topics such as seme and fudoshin that are not typically "covered" in highschool gym classes.

The issue of speed is interesting. Speed can either be doing things faster - the usual American way of thinking about it - or it can be doing things closer. Since the shortest distance between point A (monouchi) and point B (kote, men, etc.) is a (straight) line, the lack of raw speed in an attack from a great distance can be made up by attacking closer. That is, by using seme to cause your opponent to hit men, for example, while you strike kote as s/he moves into jodan. That way, not having to move as far, one is faster. Speed is economy of movement.

I wonder how one can talk about both seme and fudoshin as part of the same thing as seme seems to imply a kind of focus - almost thinking - while fudoshin would not. If I say that seme is some sort of pro-active fudoshin, well I can understand that gramatically. but in practice, I'm clueless. Any thoughts?

08-01-2006, 08:00 AM	#7
Emedgella Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 465 Senior Member	very predictable mosquito: Thanks, this got me thinking (if that's not putting too fine a point on it...) I agree about high schoolers and think that it might be age or at least some quantifiable maturity in kendo that distinguishes it from a sport. That is, it is topics such as seme and fudoshin that are not typically "covered" in highschool gym classes. The issue of speed is interesting. Speed can either be doing things faster - the usual American way of thinking about it - or it can be doing things closer. Since the shortest distance between point A (monouchi) and point B (kote, men, etc.) is a (straight) line, the lack of raw speed in an attack from a great distance can be made up by attacking closer. That is, by using seme to cause your opponent to hit men, for example, while you strike kote as s/he moves into jodan. That way, not having to move as far, one is faster. Speed is economy of movement. I wonder how one can talk about both seme and fudoshin as part of the same thing as seme seems to imply a kind of focus - almost thinking - while fudoshin would not. If I say that seme is some sort of pro-active fudoshin, well I can understand that gramatically. but in practice, I'm clueless. Any thoughts?
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