Post by Admin Kendo on Aug 18, 2009 9:52:55 GMT 7
For any of you struggling with the idea of seme, much like I do, here are just some thoughts.
Seme is as much a physical presence as it is a mental one. Sounds confusing? In a basic sense, your physical presence (not size mind you, although that helps) is a most basic form of what we know as seme. Physically you are always able to intimidate your aite. This is very basic; if you're aite is afraid of you, then you have won.
Mentally you must be strong - in it's most basic sense, if you believe you will win then your mental state of mind will translate into your physical presence.
This, at least, is what I understand. You must not think of losing or trying to defend, but of winning and forcing your presence upon your aite.
Hamada-sensei makes an interesting statement about this. He says that try to think of defending your space. Don't retreat, but keep your ground and move forward. He makes an analogy of standing at the edge of a cliff and you have but 1 of 2 choices, keep your ground (which gets you nowhere) or "invade and conquer" your opponent's space by moving forward.
The most basic sense of seme is to move forward. Try it during practice; invade your opponents space and make your men cut. Just remember this is not a 2 step process and any delay in actually making that cut is just going to give you a headache.
And remember, don't be scared to fail because it's the only way you will learn. Just don't be afraid to do your best.
This is of course just my own thoughts on the subject, so don't quote me or anything like that. You will make your own judgments over time and are, of course, free to share them.
Seme is as much a physical presence as it is a mental one. Sounds confusing? In a basic sense, your physical presence (not size mind you, although that helps) is a most basic form of what we know as seme. Physically you are always able to intimidate your aite. This is very basic; if you're aite is afraid of you, then you have won.
Mentally you must be strong - in it's most basic sense, if you believe you will win then your mental state of mind will translate into your physical presence.
This, at least, is what I understand. You must not think of losing or trying to defend, but of winning and forcing your presence upon your aite.
Hamada-sensei makes an interesting statement about this. He says that try to think of defending your space. Don't retreat, but keep your ground and move forward. He makes an analogy of standing at the edge of a cliff and you have but 1 of 2 choices, keep your ground (which gets you nowhere) or "invade and conquer" your opponent's space by moving forward.
The most basic sense of seme is to move forward. Try it during practice; invade your opponents space and make your men cut. Just remember this is not a 2 step process and any delay in actually making that cut is just going to give you a headache.
And remember, don't be scared to fail because it's the only way you will learn. Just don't be afraid to do your best.
This is of course just my own thoughts on the subject, so don't quote me or anything like that. You will make your own judgments over time and are, of course, free to share them.