Article By Shidoshi Jay Zimmerman

I would like to share some of the feelings I had training with Shihan Legare while attending the Toledo Ohio USA seminar November 27th 2004. Shihan Phil and Shihan Mike were teaching this year's theme, Roppo Kuji no Biken. So we were doing a lot of taijutsu and daisho. One of the techniques we were studying was tanto against katana. The tori Shihan Phil had the tanto and I (uke) with the katana. I was to cut from daijodan with shomen kiri to the head.

As I took up my kamae I was thinking to make a good cut, the blade moves first and than the body, as this is a much faster attack and more difficult to see. As I was to begin my cut I noticed that Phil Sensei was just out of reach and I would either have to take a large step with my rear foot to reach him and this would over extend me and break my kamae. Or I would have to take a small step with the front foot to get the right distance and this would lead to me having to move my whole body, which is much easier to see for (tori) Phil Sensei. The odd thing was that it happened so subtly that I felt that I could still get him before he could evade the attack, so I made the cut. Remember when being uke it is important not to take falls and to give realist attacks. Needless to say it all ended badly for me. But this was a great lesson in the subtly of distance.

The second thing I would like to share was a technique we were doing where (tori) Phil Sensei was wearing daisho and (uke) me was throwing a fake punch to the head to get into distance to grab the katana in the obi. As you grabbed the katana handle tori would apply some sort of wristlock and take uke down. After we trained in this for a while we switched roles and now uke had the daisho and tori would throw the punch.

Phil Sensei used me as uke again and he was to throw the punch at me and then go for the katana handle. In my mind I believed that he would throw the punch and grab the handle of the katana and I would attempt the wristlock and he would reverse it or stop it and then do some type of counter. What I did not expect was when he started his punch I got this feeling of oh God he's trying to kill me! This feeling was so intense that it took up the space in my mind and allowed him the time and space to do about whatever he wanted to me. I would bet that you would be able to see this in the expression on my face on the video. I have been training with Phil Sensei for along time and have had been very fortunate to have been his uke most of the times I have trained with him. This is however the first time I had ever felt this from him. So I believe the lesson here is that the power of intention can save your life as an attacker or a defender. Best wishes in your training and as Hatsumi Sensei says "Keep Going"!

Nanadan Shidoshi Jay Zimmerman
Bujinkan Goshin Budo Dojo Garrett, In.