There are a lot of things that make jissen a fun and challenging game, but the biggest thing that makes jissen difficult is that we must make our movements respond to those of our opponents. I’ve covered how to practice the individual unsoku and unshin movements elsewhere — these drills are designed to teach you to move around someone else.…
These basic kobo drills are designed to on work on specific weapon deployment and defensive response. The drills on this page build on the abilities to implement unsoku and unshin in relation to your partner (these come from practicing the Drills for Unsoku and Unshin). You will refine these abilities as you integrate them into…
After mastering the basic forms of a few kobo routines, you are ready to work with some advanced alternatives. The variations below build off of the basic kobo drills, but offer choices to one or both partners in how to respond to the other. Essentially, we are gradually removing the training wheels that separate kobo from…
This drill set straddles the line between kobo and jissen, and I would suggest you practice them with both attitudes. In kobo, you are trying help your partner improve his skills; in jissen, you want to defeat your partner’s attempts to use his skills. Both are valuable practices, so decide with your partner beforehand whether you…
Maybe I’ve gone kobo-crazy, but I believe intelligent and creative use of kobo-derived drills can have incredible potential for improving students’ Taido skills. This isn’t necessarily a new development, but it’s something that I have used successfully with students in a number dojo now, so I am convinced that it works. In this article, I’ll describe a method for making kobo progressions…
