AGE-EMPI UCHI – Upward Elbow Strike or Rising Elbow Strike. If you were to say Rising by itself it would be Ageru. Needless to say the right foot should never come very high off the ground and you should always strike the ground with the whole right foot flat when you do fumikomi ashi. Remember if you have been away from training you might need to go back to short fumikomi while you get your strength back. Then gradually lengthen your fumikomi until you can both cover a lot of ground and also follow through smoothly. Go back to only doing short fumikomi and you will find it easy to link it with your zanshin. If you are having real difficulty over a long time with this, it may be because you are trying for too big a leap with your fumikomi. If you can quickly bring your left foot up, you will be able to stop yourself 'falling in a hole'. With fumikomi ashi the main difficulty lies in smoothly linking the big fumikomi step with the continuous okuriashi steps of your zanshin. The secret is again the left leg and foot. However thinking through the basics and practicing them carefully will help you learn the correct way. This is an area that a lot of people have trouble with, even after they are confident with the rest of their footwork. However it is a good thing to think about. This is a very difficult thing to explain and can only be learned through your own practice. Whether that makes sense to anyone else I'm not sure. In my own words I would say your knees should be "braced but not locked". This is what creates the appearance that you are being overwhelmed by your opponent, and indeed this is exactly what is happening!īoth knees should be slightly bent, relaxed and ready to move, but not about to buckle. Bending the left knee when in kamae will cause you to lean backwards. A weak left knee will bend when your opponent applies pressure or seme. The left knee should be slightly bent, relaxed, but filled with power. 
Therefore it is important, as you and your opponent move around in shiai or jigeiko, always to keep your left knee pointed at your opponent. In kendo it is said that, "wherever you point your left knee, that is where you will go".
When you face an opponent in kamae, the left knee is very important. In both cases we say it is the trailing foot that is provides the power.
When going backwards it becomes the right foot which drives you backwards. The engine in the back drives you forwards. I think of it as having a rear-engined, rear wheel drive car, like a Porsche. The left foot is very much the driving force in propelling you forward. If you can bring the left foot up quickly to the start position, you will be ready more quickly to take the next step. The secret to achieving excellent footwork in kendo is the left foot. At that moment the footwork is called fumikomi ashi. As you know also, the heel is not used in kendo except at the moment of cutting. Both use a kind of suri-ashi or sliding action across the floor. There are two main kinds of footwork as you know: ayumi ashi and okuri ashi. For this reason I strongly recommend cycling or running as important training for kendo development. Personally I believe it is more important to have a strong lower body (which includes stomach, hips and lower back) than a strong upper body (chest, shoulders and arms). To have good ashi-sabaki, you must develop strong legs and feet. Without good footwork, you cannot get better in kendo.Īctually in Japanese ashi means leg as well as foot, so we could say it's called "leg-and-footwork".
Footwork diagram from Boston Kendo Kyokaiįootwork is the base of kendo.
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