#76: Suriage Kote

Paul Rixon Sensei visited the other week during Womens Training, and took us fellows left.  We worked on Suriage kote.

The principle of the suriage is to deflect the opponents shinai away from the center, opening the kote for a cut.  This is achieved using a circular movement while maintaining your own center.

The break-down of the steps, as I understand it from the exercises we practiced were:

1. Seme into striking distance on your ura side
2. Duck your shinai underneath to your omote side and re-establish shinai-shinai contact
3. Sweep your monouchi in a clock wise direction a full circle
4. Strike the kote

Points to note

• When seme is applied, you must move in firmly/decisively, like any other cut
• It is vital to maintain the shinai-shinai contact in 2.  If this contact is not present when you make the sweep action of 3. it is easier for someone who has a soft chudan no kamae to return to center as you end up "hitting" their shinai away from center rather than sweeping it.
• The circle in 3. is a small controlled circle, it is not maki-waza as you are only brushing aside instead of binding up the opponents shinai.  The circular action generates an increased angle for the kote to cut
• After the cut in 4. ensure your footwork continues forward by rushing either into the opponent or through to display proper zanshin.  Should your footwork stop on the strike, it indicates incorrect application of footwork and followthrough for the cut.