Neko Ryu General Principles: Balance – Part 5 – Causing Uki to Move Predictably

You can put your opponent off balance, kuzushi, by forcing his center of mass past the edge of his balance zone or by extending his voluntary movement out of his balance zone. You can also off balance him by causing him to react in a predictable way and extending his reactive movement out of his balance zone.

Causing a predictable reaction from your opponent (uki) is also known as adversarial psychology. It takes advantage of your opponent’s mentally setting himself up as your opponent. As such, he wants to control you and he wants to not be controlled by you. So, when you act in a way that threatens to control him he naturally opposes your threat.

If you want uki to back up, pull him forward. If you want him to rise up, pull him downward; to go left, push right; etc. The objective is to apply enough force to convince uki that your threat is real so he will generate an opposing force. When uki exerts himself to oppose your force he is trying to move in exactly the way you want him to go – so you simply let him. You stop applying your initial force, you allow his force to move him, and you apply your preplanned real attack taking advantage of his movement.

A variation of this principle is the use of feints and combination attacks.

Feints are attempts to cause uki to react in a predictable way without applying force to uki’s body. Instead, you convince his mind that force will be applied in a certain way, expecting uki to defend against the threatened attack and give you an advantage – an opportunity to use his response directly or to quickly attack an opening created when he committed his body to defend the feint.

Similarly, a combination attack is an intentional but real attack with a planned follow up technique, or a drilled contingent technique to be executed if the original is unsuccessful. In either case, the follow up takes advantage of uki’s defense to attack an opening created by his movement.

Causing uki to move in a predictable manner is an effective way to set up your kuzush. When he moves as you predicted, and you are prepared to extend his movement or apply force in a way he does not expect, you can take his center of mass out of his balance zone. And, when his balance is gone, almost any technique will defect him.

Link to other topics in the Special Report: Balance and Kuzushi