Tsuka-ate
柄当て
Literally: hilt strike
Strike with the pommel of the sword hilt to the opponent's solar plexus; the 4th kata of the ZNKR seitei iaido set bears the same name.
Quick Facts
Katas containing this technique
About
Tsuka-ate (柄当て) is a strike with the pommel of the sword hilt (tsuka-gashira) to the opponent's solar plexus. The same name is borne by the 4th kata (yonhonme) of the ZNKR seitei set, which the All Japan Kendo Federation (ZNKR) standardised in the second half of the 20th century as a unified set drawn from traditional iai schools. So the technique is not exclusive to Muso Jikiden Eishin-ryu but shared across iai schools. The kata starts in tate-hiza; rising onto the left knee, the practitioner strikes the solar plexus of the kneeling front opponent with the pommel. He then draws, thrusts backwards at the standing opponent, turns on the left knee and delivers a downward cut to the stunned front opponent. The kata ends with shaking the blood off to the side (yoko chiburi). Unlike the simpler single-cut kata of the set, it combines a pommel strike, a thrust and a cut against two opponents and shows close-range defence against several attackers from kneeling. The iai tradition behind ZNKR seitei is linked to Hayashizaki Jinsuke Shigenobu in the 16th century, founder of Hayashizaki Shin Muso-ryu.