Pre-emption is better than cure
Last night I re-learnt the valuable lesson that if you don't do anything for long enough on the piste you will no doubt be hit. In two matches I was someone else's "rope-a-dope"* and allowed them to do what they wanted and hit me too many times. I get in this mode sometimes, concentration on stop hits to the wrist when really an attack on the preparation would do it..... Ah well, always learning......
* Ah... he truly IS the greatest
* Ah... he truly IS the greatest
posted by Dave at
7:26 PM
2 Comments:
A good post reminding me of my favourite uttering from the Hagakure (which is of dubious worth, I have been told). Goes something like; 'in attack one must never forget to wait for the right moment. However, in waiting for the right moment, one must never forget the attack'.
I think this is a common fault for most thinking fencers, and I beleive that the more intelligent and thopughtful a fencer you are, the harder it is to overcome. Could be trying to reassure myself there though!
Jai
Hagakure is an interesting book. It was dictated by Yamamoto Tsunetomo in the latter years of his life and compiled in 1716. It is probably most well known for it's passage starting "The way of the samurai is found in death..." and it was featured in the film 'Ghost Dog; Way of the Samurai'. Tsunetomo was a mid-rank samurai who was forbidden the act of junshi or suicide on the death of his lord. As such some reviewers see him as quite an embittered man railing at the samurai of his generation, while others see him as a last bastion of a fading era of honour and service. Whilst much of Hagakure is obscure to the modern western mind it does seem to contain many fascinating historical stories and some good insight into the mind of an 'average' samurai of the period. Some of the aphorisms are still appropriate today and as such it is well worth a read, with a discerning eye.
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