"Look up and forward Joe..."
It must have been the twentieth time that Sensei had said it during this class.
"Don’t look down… There's no money on the floor... (laughter) You have to direct your attention towards your opponent and use the “thrust” from your eyes to influence both him and yourself."
"So how are we supposed to do that then Sensei? This isn't some of that mystical "chi" stuff is it?
Sensei laughed. "Your eyes direct and reflect your intention, looking at the floor is negative body language, it signifies submission - and makes you feel submissive!"
"Yeah but Joe could've been using it as a strategy to 'lure' his opponent in and then hit him!"
"He could... but what do you think?"
"Nah,,,," Everyone laughed,
"Then if he was, he was very convincing!
Ok… So when you move, which part of you moves first?"
"The eyes Sensei?"
"Nice try.. actually its your body centre, the Japanese call it the 'Seiki Tanden', it's located about two and a half inches below your navel and in the centre of your body. This is why we use the maxim of 'body moves legs'.
Which part of you arrives first?”
“The ‘Seiki Tanden’?” Joe had tried to emulate Sensei’s Japanese pronunciation and failed miserably causing ripples of laughter through the class.
“Nope.”
“The part of your body that is going to strike the opponent?”
“No. It’s the eyes. We ‘thrust’ our intention through the eyes and direct our power – this is called ‘metsuka’ – to ‘thrust with the eyes’. Let me explain……
In Iaido, we usually learn the basic or “Seiti” forms first, in these we learn to turn our head, look first towards the opponent to direct our intention and then follow our intention with our physical movement.
Then we learn the more advanced “Shoden” forms, where we look only with eyes first and don’t turn the head and then turn both head and body into the direction of the opponent.
Then we learn the “Okuden” or “hidden” forms, the most advanced, where we only direct our attention toward the opponent and turn eyes, head and body simultaneously toward the opponent.
Some styles of Karate will use the basic form and some the most advanced, I’ve never known a karate school that teaches it in the same way as in Iaido. We belong to a style that uses the most advanced according to the Iaido sequence.
So it’s important to “sequence” your body and use it skillfully. Your intention goes toward the opponent first, then you begin moving with the body centre, getting your eyes and intention to arrive first. Your centre and technique should arrive and finish at the same time to give you “kime” (stop point) or focus.”
“Yeah, some people can killerise ya stone dead with just a look!” He looked so serious that Sensei couldn’t help laughing…
“Well I don’t about “killerise”… but… what I would say is that as your eyes show your intent, and if your intent is strong, then it will show in the way that you look. As you extend your mind and intent through your eyes, then it will influence those around you, thus the term “metsuka” meaning to “thrust with the eyes”.
“What about those guys with the “staring eyes” aren’t they frightening?”
“You might find them intimidating, but in fact the intention is “blocked”, thus the staring… it’s if the eyes are animated and focused that you should worry….”
“Yeah but can’t someone hide the power in their eyes?”
“That’s right, we have to do it, otherwise we’d burn out and be scaring everyone! It’s known in Japanese as “masking your wa” (hiding your power) but you can usually tell this by watching the body language.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“If they are “masking their wa” their aura generally and their physical attitude will betray their confidence. These are the guys you’ve got to be most careful of!”
“So how can we practice this eyes thingy then?”
“You should practice all the time that you are doing your Karate, by directing your intention then enhancing it with your eyes, the role playing that we do in our self defence sessions helps you to use this skill along with the use of your voice and physical attitude. Put into your Kata, vocalize your kiai along with the eye usage…”
“How else?”
“Study those that are good at it. Look into the eyes of the predatory animals and copy the “feeling” that they have. Put it together with their “animation” like the ancients did to get “Tiger style” or “Eagle style”. See how they use the eyes to perceive rather than see, open the right side of the brain as opposed to restricting it to just the left. Look for the techniques that open vision for multiple attackers so that you can “listen with the body” instead of just relying on vision…..”
“You mean like get the “eye of the tiger”….. he started prancing around like “Rocky”
“Yeah…. That’s a start I guess……”