How not to hit kote too hard

by Chris
(UK)

I find it really hard to hit someone for some reason. I fear that I might actually hit too hard whilst receiving a nice bruise as a gift from everyone else I'm training with. Do you have any tips and advice as to how to hit kote?

Answer: You are very kind. Some people hit too hard and they think we should take the pain :)

It should hurt a bit if not too much until you get the right tenouchi.  Motodachi (receiver) knows that you are a beginner so they know you might hit hard. If it hurts too much, they will tell you what to do.

And when you become advanced, new beginners will hit you hard, so it goes around.

It is said that you need to use 30% of your full strength to strike kote because you are just cutting a wrist. For men you use 70% and for do you use 100% of your strength.

Thus, you do not want to hit kote with 100% of your strength.

With good tenouchi, it still hurts sometimes because good tenouchi makes your strikes very sharp.  However, you cannot just get that tenouchi after a few years so just try to do your best to learn how to strike nicely.

There is a brief video talking about kote strike.  Take a look and you may find it useful.