Seme and Footwork

Text forwarded from Marleen's Facebook:

Sato Sensei, Kitamoto 2014 

Utsunomiya sensei & Sakimoto San, Tokyo 2014 

＊

I asked Sato sensei after Farewell Party @ Kitamoto Camp a question about Seme.

I said, "Sensei, is there anyway we could train to make stronger Seme?"

Sato snesei gently held my hand and told me, 

"NO. strong Seme comes from good Suri-ashi".

One day later, I had the honor to obtain Mutsumi Utsunomiya sensei's instruction. He showed me how it works.

Since then, footwork means more to me.

我在北本外國劍道指導者夏令營最後一個晚上，問了佐藤老師一個盤據在我心裡很久的問題。我問：「老師，有什麼方法可以訓練出很強的『攻』？」老師溫和地拉起我的右手拍一拍並說：

「沒有這樣的方法。在劍道裡有效的『攻』來自於腳步... 

放鬆妳的手跟肩膀，練習腳步是唯一的方法」

二天之後，我有幸可以得到宇都宮老師的指導練習。他充分展示了如何運用腳步進的攻法。

從此，「腳步」對於我有了全新的意義。

Some following conversation on Facebook ...

Utsunomiya 
Important point is not breaking down kamae, any time.
But in fact, it is very difficult.
 · 5 October at 22:14


Marleen
Dear sensei, I couldn't agree with you any more about "not breaking down kamae any time". 
There is a instance from training yesterday. I get to the point I can strike but I was not able to do as I was at the moment of breath in. Thus, I found breath control needs to match with seme.


Marleen
Sensei, 
I was too rush to tell you about the instance, forgot to say THANK YOU to your kind reminding 
I will try my best not to break down my kamai 


Utsunomiya 
Dear.Marleen
Don't worry. I'm happy heard that you got another important thing, breath control with seme.
"Not breaking down kamae" is too seriously. 
When one's kamae is effective, another one is not in mai.
And a waste action is not appeared, so we are moved by the way (behavior ).
Let't try!


Marleen
Thank you Sensei for the clarification 
I will try my best to learn to manage both (Kamai & breath) while seme in to my opponent every time in training