The power of Kiriotoshi in the Japanese Sword Arts
To date, the Kiriotoshi is a movement that belongs to the arts of the sword. It is taught as a technique to open the opponent. Considered a rather heavy technique, it can be also extremely efficient if performed with consistency and technical criteria. However it is necessary to differentiate some technical aspects between Kiriotoshi, Makkogiri and Kirioroshi.
In the Japanese language, Kirioroshi would translate like cutting while ducking without interruption. Technically, it means that this cut should start with the Kisaki, unlike Kiriotoshi and Makkogiri, where the Kisasi is the part to be used once the wielded impact reaches first the front part to the sheet ' s Kisasi.
This cut, the Kirioroshi, starts at the head and finishes at the navel ' s height, at most to the hips level. Within the features of this cut, passing this height would be considered an error, taking into account the position of Tori.
Kiriotoshi, which in turn means " let fall, tear down ", refers to a technique that ends with Tori on his knees, so that the cut line be complete to the ground. For this, the cut starts at the head and extends throughout the body extension, forcing Tori to kneel down at the end of the movement. There is a difference between the first and the second form presented. The consequences of each one differ too. Japanese mystic states that a well trained Samurai was able to split a man in two halves. Surely Kiriotoshi would provide this more readily. While Kirioroshi, having its source of cutting impact scarcely on Kisaki, is described as a powerful technique, but not very deep, the Kiriotoshi differs by having a greater impact power. That impact, enhanced by a proper hand position, coupled with Tori ' s hip movement-a downward movement- allows the continuity of the cut impact power in maintaining the firmness of the sword, due to the condition that accompanies the force applied to the body.
Although both types of cutting are fatal, it ' s inevitable to highlight the differences between them. It is worth remembering that in a battlefield, a Samurai was heavily protected by wearing a Yoroi and a Kabuto, which, surely hindered the implementation of any of these cuts. The Kabuto used on the battlefield had itself a high resistance, a fact which proved its efficiency in protecting the Samurai.
It is understood that violent forms as the Kiriotoshi, represent a technique of clearing the way off with the sword to find the body, althought with a high degree of difficulty.
If we think like in the Middle Ages, when the constant wars forced the warriors to be unique in the ways they presented, in this movement, the first impact the sword would find would be the skull bones and then the sternum, to go through the ilium.
Hard, don ' t you think? Imagine how would it be the placement of Ki directed toward the hands to be able, in harmony with the body, to go down to the bottom without interruption. Let ' s analyze, therefore, the bony structure that encloses and protects the brains in humans and vertebrates, located in the upper transversal plane.
The bones of the head are 22, eight of which being closely linked to each other; joined together( fixed), they form the skull or cranium which protects the brain. These bones are: the frontal bone, parietal bones( on the upper side part), temporal bones and the occipital bone( in the back of neck), the sphenoid( in the skull base) and the ethmoid( between the latter and the frontal bone). The face bones are: maxilla bones; zygomatic bones; nasal bones; lacrimal bones; the vomer; conchae bones and the mandible( used for chewing and the only mobile bone of the head). And on the inside of the mouth are the palatine bones.
Frontal bone- Brow bone with brain protection function.
Parietal bones- Pair of bones forming the sides and roof of the skull.
Occipital bone- Forms the bottom back of the head; occiput.
Temporal bones- Relating to the temples of the head. Each of the bones of the head, of irregular shape and inferolateral situation, containing the organs of hearing.
Sphenoid bone- Odd bone located between the bones of the skull base.
Zygomatic or Malar bones- Pair of prominences of the cheeks of the face and part of the side wall of the settlement of the orbits.
Maxilla bones- Each one of the bones in which upper teeth are implanted. They articulate with the lower jaw.
Jaw bone- A unique bone, horseshoe-shaped, which is the lower jaw of man, and where the lower teeth are implanted.
Vomer bone- Flat and odd bone constituting the back and bottom part of the wall between the nostrils.
Ethmoid bone- Cranial bone located between the frontal and the sphenoid bones, and is part of the base of the skull, of the orbits and of the nostrils. Through one of its sheets pass the olfactory nerve terminals.
Palatin bones- Bony portion that forms on the upper part, the two anterior thirds of the palate.
Nasal bones- Bones that form the tip of the nose.
Lacrimal bones- Small bones, two in number, each located within each orbital cavity in the anterior middle wall.
Auditory ossicles:( bones in odd number):
Malleus bone or Hammer- Hammer-shaped small lateral bone of the middle ear.
Incus bone or Anvil- Small bone of the ossicles of the middle ear, between the hammer and the stirrup. Stapes bone or Stirrup- Ossicle ear next to the sagittal plane. Lower Nasal Conchae- Pair of bones that form the posterior nasal cavity between the maxilla and the pterygoid processes of the sphenoides.
Upper Nasal Conchae- Pair of bones forming the anterior nasal cavity.
To get through this fortress that is the skull, we must first consider whether the opponent is wearing or not the kabuto- helmet. If so, it will be impossible indeed to cut through all of these structures. Therefore, we start from an analysis without the kabuto.
The hara of the Kenshi or swordsman should be flat so that as he lowers his body, he can discharge his attack at once, aiming first toward the hips, to quickly direct his blow to the shoulders. Only after this trajectory, with the chest muscles contracted and giving subjection to the arms, which will serve to pass the ki, we could make such a move.
In the past, teachers liked to imagine all the energy of the sky coming through the sword, so that, in a supposed magic move, it would cut the opponent ' s armor. They truly believed that the mind could dominate the body to the extent of turn it into something capable to carry out