Watching your opponent

[Doug Marnick]

Thank you all for taking the time to post your ideas. It seems we have some conflicting results, so perhaps we should leave it at, "Try different approaches and see what works best for you".

[Karen Rose]

I'm a newbie to this also, but I've learned a couple of things just through life experience. My old tai chi instructor had us practice 'soft eyes'.....meaning what you've heart many of the more experiened members speak of as 'looking through'. 'Hard eyes' gives tunnel vision....'soft eyes' opens up the vision to all movement.
Now this is a little silly, but if it pans out I'll go back and kiss my old basketball coach. He said to never watch the ball, the eyes, or the feet.....they can fake and change direction in a flash. What can't lie is the torso....it can only go where the legs take it. We'll see how many times I get bopped on the noodle for this one....lol.

[Casper Bradak]

I haven't been following this thread so sorry if it's been said. Supposedly we pick up and react to motion in our peripheral vision more quickly than what we're focused on, and I know looking past or through your opponent works for a lot of people.
Ed Parker taught about 2 kinds of focus. White dot focus, and black dot focus. Imagine those dots on their opposite backgrounds. Black dot focus is what you want, being aware of not only your opponent, but possibly others, and your environment. White dot focus is basically just tunnel vision.
I have a question for anyone. When fighting in a closed helm or one with the visor down, with narrow sights, what do you focus on then?
I find myself often looking past my opponent in blossfechten, but in harness with narrow sights, I find that I tend to focus only on their weapon or upper body.

[Shane Smith]

I tend to look to the middle of the opponents torso when engaging in harnessfechten as well. Doing so allows me to see as much of him as I'll ever be able to see at one time through that narrow window on the world provided by my pigface visor and the few ventilation holes on it's right side <img src="/forum/images/icons/wink.gif" alt="" /> Even then,visibility suffers tremendously in a closed helm.I think this may explain why many source-texts show open helms in their pages on armoured combat.

[Mark Peters]

Nice answer Jake
and backed up by the masters. This is one of those things you start to think about during drills because you can - and perhaps one of the things that make drills more abstract from combat - good points i'm going to try to "not" keep this in my mind and try that approach
Thanks !

[Jake_Norwood]

"Not keep this in mind..."

Cool. It's like the Japanese "no mind" thing, but it's western.

Sort of.

Jake

[JeanryChandler]

Speaking of the inscrutable Japanese, here is what Musashi says in the 5 rings:

"The Gaze in Stratgy

The gaze should be large and broad. This is the twofold gaze "Perception and Sight". Perception is strong and sight weak.

In strategy it is important to se distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things. It is important in strategy to know the enemy's sword and not to be distracted by insignificant movements of his sword. You must study this. The gaze is the same for single combat and for large-scale strategy.

It is necessary in strategy to be able to look at both sides without moving the eyeballs. You cannot master this ability quickly. Learn what is written here; use this gaze in every day life and do not vary it whatever happens."

He actually seems to be saying the same thing, only he makes it sound so much more profound... <img src="/forum/images/icons/wink.gif" alt="" />

JR

[Jake_Norwood]

He actually seems to be saying the same thing, only he makes it sound so much more profound...

This is common with the Asian writing style of the period, it seems. Especially with Musashi, who has been used for a business manual for the last two decades...wierd.

Incidentally, I ran across a Japanese "fechtbuch" from around 1600 the other day, and I was *throroughly* unimpressed by the advice contained within.

Jake

[Erich Wagner]

Any examples of what it contained?

[Jake_Norwood]

Well, not much. I don't have it on hand. The gist of the maybe eight pages of technique I read went like this:

***
[illustration of two samurai in their stances or with crossed swords]

When you stand in the godan stance and you opponent stands in the jo position, squint your eyes at him and show your teeth, then looking one way strike low, so that you hit him.

***

I'm really doing my best not to exaggerate here, too! I'm a nut when it comes to 17th century Japanese books on samurai stuff, but I found this to be deflating. For all interested parties it's in the back of the new translation of Yamamoto's Fencing Book by Wiliam Wilson (not of Tattershall). I don't recall the title he's given it.

Jake