Topic: Southpaw

[Moley]

I like Joan Chen..  Loved her in "Salute of the Jugger" saw her again in "The Hunted" last night on DVD.
(She's gorgeous)
Anyway, back to the point..
In the Hunted it states that :
"No left hand in Japanese swordsmanship"...I checked up on this and apparantly "It's true"  All Kendo, Iai-Do, Iai-Jutsu etc postures are for right handed persons.
Checked up with Mrs Moley, and there are many "left handed Japanese"
so it's not that all Japanese are Right handed...
In karate..I sometimes turn "Southpaw"  something I could never do when I was Boxing.
Ah - So

Why is Sword taught as a Right handed art ?
What about Karate ?
Is there an advantage here ? ? ? ?

I have already come to my conclusion.....

PLEASE DEBATE  


Osss

Moley

[Lloydie]

I need to think about this one a bit.  

First thoughts are about whether Karate is taught as a R handed art.
If we think of Kihon then the answer is "yes" and can be seen from the nature of the drills:  eg starting off gedan barai in dari ashi mae.  However, if we look at the "database" of karate i.e Kata then we see that moves are very often required to be performed on both right and left , suggesting at least that equal attention should be given to both sides.

Perhaps individual tuition (as was the case in early martial arts history) would take into account the person's natural handedness.  However, once you bring a group together it is advantageous to have everybody moving in the same direction (especially with 3 foot long razor blades!!!) As R handedness is more common than L, perhaps this accounts for this leaning towards right-handedness in martial arts?

lloydie

[Huw]

I agree, this is a tricky one.

My initial reaction is that, like footballers, we should be able to use both sides of the body with equal effectiveness. This is why kata have moves repeated for both sides. Having said that even pro footballers have stroger and weaker sides so I guess this a goal to aim for rather than a requirement.

As for swords ...... I really don't know !! I can't think of any examples of samurai swords being worn on the right .... even in the most craptastic B-movies I've ever seen.

[gizmo]

I don't know about Japanese swordsmanship but here in Britain a left handed swordsman would be at a distinct disadvantage when defending a castle.
The spiral stairways were constructed in such a way as to favour the right handed defender hacking away whilst travelling downwards.

[Julian]

saw this on an article on the web.

the samurai sword was worn in the belt on the left side. Etiquette required it to be kept away from oncoming travellers, which produced a practice of walking on the left.

Don't know if it is the right reason but etiquette may be the reason why ?

[Huw]

Keith tipped me off about this on Monday ....

"Ferniehirst Castle as well as other Kerr homes were designed for left-handed folk. The stairways of most castles spiral clockwise, Ferniehurst's spiral counter-clockwise, giving the advantage to left-handed swordsmen if they were forced to fight as they retreated upstairs."

More about the Kerr Clan of southpaws here

http://www.users.qwest.net/~arleighkerr/ArleighsWorld/Kerr.htm

[Moley]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4073775.stm

[KeithH]

I get a nervous twitch when ever the topic of left-handedness rears its head. From primary school where I had umpteen clips around the ear for smudging my exercise books with a fountain pen, to scissors which worked perfectly well for every kid except me. A couple of years ago I completely lost it with  the counter staff at Foyles bookshop in London for fixing their creditcard swiper in such a position that it was practically impossible to use for a left hander!

Its not all doom and gloom though as there are advantages.  I console myself with the knowledge that left-handers represent a disproportionate number of gifted and crative individuals past and present and the edge it seems to have given me in a number of sports. I think that quite often the 'south-paw' has the edge in initial encounters such as boxing, karate fencing etc, all else being equal of course.

 In the sixties I was a keen fencer and represented my unit on a number of occasions. Our instructor looked upon left handers as awkward buggers and suggested that we were difficult to handle, this I thought was great news and did wonders to my confidence, so much so that I fought my way through to the western command championships only to come to grief at the blade of another south paw! There is no justice!  Until recently I was a keen squash player and I found that being a left hander gave me a slight edge for a little-while until my opponants got the measure of me.

Does this theory hold true in karate, I dont really know. Time for an indepth study I guess can the social scientist amongst us step forward.

Merry Christmas to you all

Keith

[siwan]

ok, im left handed too, but Im so used to training with the left foot in front that when it comes to kumite, being left handed doesn't make a difference.When I play football I kick better with my right foot, but some of my karate kicks are much better with my left. So really I dont care if im southpaw or north paw or west paw!

[Mushin]

When you fight, adopt the posture to overcome your opponent.
Left , right , no matter.
Adapt