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All the proper and allowed Do strikes

by George
(Wales)

I always assumed that Do had the intention of cutting someone in half (kind of), so any proper Do must be executed diagonally (same applies to both ordinary and Hiki techniques). Am I mistaken?

Answer: You are right about the idea of do strikes even though it would be probably pretty hard to cut a person’s body in half with one strike. However, we must strike do very hard.

It is said that we need 20-30% of our power to cut a kote, 60~80% to cut a men, 100% to cut a do. That is why we need a good aim too. You do not want to miss a do strike with your full power on your training partner.

Do strikes (including hiki do) should be diagonal. That is what we learn at the very beginning so it is the basic do strike.

It is because the diagonal cuts are more logical. You bring your shinai up above your head and strike the right do of your opponent. To strike the right do, the blade should be diagonal.

Hope this helps.

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All the proper and allowed Do strikes

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Feb 25, 2009
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Follow up Question
by: George

Thank you for your helpful reply!

Though, just for clarification, other do strikes exist, on the advance level, that does not necessarily have to be executed diagonally?

The reason why I was interested in this was because I was told not too long ago to practice a do strike that is cut on the same side as the side that I pass afterwards, that is, not diagonally. I have never done or been taught this before so I was just confused.

Thank you again.

Kendo-Guide.Com: You are very welcome. OK. Yes. There is such a technique. After we strike the right do of our opponent, instead of going to the left side of our opponent, we pass through the right side of the opponent.

Probably this is a controversial technique.
- Some would say,
"it should be a proper technique if the do is struck in the right angle of the blade and strongly enough".
- Others would say,
"the cut should be fatal and to make it fatal you have to go to the left side of the opponent after striking the opponent's right do."

To be able to strike the right do and keep going through the right side of your opponent, you need a good footwork and strong cut. Besides, you really have to step in. You have to throw your body at your opponent. If you miss the cut, you will be hit, i.e. you would be killed.

You do not have to practice this, but it is a good idea to know such a technique exists.

Hope this helps.

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