Bujinkan Kick: 蹴り虚 Keri Kyo Preview

From https://www.rojodojo.com A preview of my Bujinkan video exploring Bujinkan kicking. We warmed up with 八方蹴り happō geri.

I began class with a type of 廻し蹴り mawashi geri. You might normally think of this as a crescent kick or circling. But it can also refer to a kick that changes during its delivery.

In fact, we did three kicks in one. The first target is 水月 suigetsu, then 摧 sai, and 扼 yaku or 時 toki to finish. This all happens in one circling motion and before you set the foot down. The opponent is broken and on the ground after this.

Next, we examined how to expose these kyusho. As the attack comes in, your receiving hand can make subtle adjustments to the opponent’s attack. These adjustments cause him to respond. His response creates 隙 suki, or openings. When you influence the opponent’s structure this way, the kick is much more devastating.

Hatsumi Sensei told us to attack the unseen. This means the kick is a form of 虚実 kyojitsu. While the opponent is dealing with this danger, the real threat may be elsewhere.

The kick becomes a placeholder, holding the opponent’s mind and attention. It is like a Trojan horse, hiding the real attack. This might be elsewhere on the body, or even with a hidden weapon.

Hatsumi Sensei also told us to kick without a target in mind. If you have a target preselected, that becomes a trap for you. It becomes a place where your opponent can evade or counter. If you kick with no target, then he cannot evade or counter. And when your kick strikes something anyway, he will be shocked by the impact.

This is an example of 空間の九勝 kukan no kyūshō. Sometimes the kyūshō is on the person, other times it is within the kukan itself. When you attack that perfect kyūshō within the kukan, the results are more powerful than any normal attack.

We finished with knife disarms. The kick is kyojitsu that controls the weapon. While the opponent attempts to deal with that, we can take the knife. He won’t even realize you have it because it happens while his mind is elsewhere.

Of Note: bush stalker