We moved into the 地略の巻 chi ryaku no maki with 破術九法 hajutsu kyūhō. When I studied this in Japan with Hatsumi Sensei, we were training in the forest with the Japanese maple leaves falling around our heads. He told us that hajutsu was kihon for ninjutsu.
We began with 手解 tehodoki. The first kanji mean “hand”. The second comes from 解ける hodokeru which means to to come untied, to come apart, or unravel. But we normally translate tehodoki as wrist escapes.
First we did 片手捕 katate dori, 片手内回 katate uchi mawashi, 片手外回 katate soto mawashi, and 片手捕本逆 katate dori hon gyaku. I taught these as pure escapes. A big clue is to flip the concept of being held or trapped, to that of the attacker trapping himself. When he grabs he is also trapped.
Each of these has a specific way to hold your hand that makes the proper structure for the release of the attacker's grab. In some cases you flex your hand by making a fist then 手を開く te o hiraku... open it with a snap like じゃんけんぽん jankenpon (rock, paper, scissors).
Next I showed how to use these for control. Katate dori became omote gyaku. uchi mawashi became ura gyaku. Soto mawashi turns into musha dori or oni kudaki. And hon gyaku is just painful.
I showed how important these changes are for weapon retention. I did each with a 本手 honte and 逆手 gyakute grip. When I was in Japan last month, Hatsumi Sensei would often show us the knife almost like a lure. Just putting it out there to draw a response. This allowed him to discover the 中心 chūshin, or center of the opponent’s heart and balance before destroying it.
Of Note: dérailleur