"Sashi" and "Defence techniques"

by Jatupol K.
(Thailand)

Some of my biggest concerns are "sashi" and "how to defend my self."

Firstly, in Japan, do people feel appropriate with sashi techniques? Most kendo-ka in Thailand like to use it as much as they can. There are only few groups that are unwilling to use, and sometimes they blame everyone who uses sashi. So is this an appropriate technique in worldwide?

Secondly, I have done kendo for two years. There are some problems that I have not been able to solve, which are defence techniques.

I tried to study waza to defend myself from the opponents. What can I use? There is a technique called "San-Chim", which is “to hit and run forwards”. How I can make it better?

Answer: First of all, we have to be careful with the word, "sashi". We have to know what it really means so please read this article what sashi means. It explains what it means and how people use the word, "sashi".

About defence techniques

I was taught to strike before defending. And I was never taught how to defend or how to block. But instead, I would like to share some techniques that you could use. Remember that we must learn how and when to strike more than anything first.

There are many techniques to counterattack, suriage, kaeshi, nuki, amashi, and uchiotoshi. These are the techniques that have defending and attacking movements in one action. Learn these and forget about defending techniques.

And also it is good to know these terms, sen no sen and sen sen no sen.

I am sorry but I do not know anything about "San-Chim" and not too sure what you mean by "to hit and run forwards". Please give me an example or two so that I know what you mean.