Shinko-ryū is an art that achieves effectiveness by minimizing the number of tempos or intentions required to enter the opponent's space for a decisive strike, employing feints to create 50/50 situations that condition and confuse the opponent, and also effectively leverage the curvature of the katana to slip past any of their attempts to parry or block.

Our instruction constantly reminds us of our distancing from our opponents. There are 3 major distances called kyori that are laid out in kendo: tōma (far distance), issoku-ittō-no-maai (one step, one cut distance), and chikama (close distance). We have developed strategies for each of these distances, and will continue to add more as we evolve.

Also drilled in our practice is to adopt defensive posture or retreat after dealing a blow to the opponent, regardless of success or failure of an attack. This ensures that preventing doubles (being struck back after successfully connecting an attack on the opponent) is ingrained into our engrams much like how many Tier-A fencers practice.

The sections below breakdown our basic approach to penetrating the opponent's defense.

Please be mindful of the fact that the Japanese enforces the right dominant hand, so the techniques will be explained from the context of the right hand being dominant.

This is an important concept in understanding your opponent's strong and weak side. Omote means the front side while ura means the back side. But the front and back sides are interpreted differently in the case of holding the sword forward in chūdan kamae (middle stance). The the left hand is gripping the tsuka (handle) near the end of the kashira (pommel cap) while the right hand is gripping the tsuka about two to three fingers above the left hand, closer to the tsuba (sword guard) but barely touching it if at all. Think in the context of the right hand: if you were to slap someone with the back of the hand (towards the ura side), it will not be as strong as slapping the hand toward the palm side (towards the omote side).

In Japanese terminology, techniques aimed at the ura side of the opponent are sometimes labeled as gyaku (opposite, unorthodox). Ura side techniques usually involve crossing the right forearm over the left, thus straining the muscles and contributing to weakening the parry or striking technique of the attacker. Techniques executed towards the omote side do not cross the arms, therefore are performed usually at optimum strength and speed.

That being said, approaching your opponent must be done with caution because they will be on equal footing with you when you find yourself clashing with them omote-on-omote side or ura-on-ura side.

On your opponent's ura side, their right hand will be closest to you for a kote strike. You can often clash with their blade on the omote side, then kaeshi (return [cut]) pivot your blade around their blade for a kesa (angled cut) or yoko (horizontal cut) strike to their right hand on the ura side. On your opponent's omote side, the path to their head is most clear. This is where you can often parry and strike straight into their head or torso with single tempo attacks like suriage-waza, mune-mawari-zuki or kaiten-kasumi-zuki.

When facing the opponent, we break down the opponent into a grid of four quadrants. This helps us better visualize where we should be applying pressure to the opponent.

Quadrant 1 is positioned on the omote side of the opponent. This is the quadrant where you will typically apply the most pressure with your opening attacks, as it feels the most natural. You will often be in a neutral stance, gripping your sword with open arms and your right foot forward in chūdan, jōdan, seigan, or seigedan, or with your left foot forward in wakigamae or hassō.

Measuring kyori is especially crucial when engaging your opponent before initiating the first intention. You must be ready to respond the moment you or your opponent enters striking range. Keep in mind that when both you and your opponent are in mirrored natural stances, you each hold equal advantage. If you can lunge for a kote strike, so can they. The interplay of seme (pressure) and debana (striking the moment of their intent) is most critical in this space.

You can employ various tactics at this stage: initiating an attack, targeting their intent to strike, feinting to provoke a premature parry or block, intercepting their incoming attack, or allowing them to commit fully. These strategies are continually studied, refined, and tested before being formally integrated into our curriculum.

Shinko-ryū emphasizes an aggressive approach and favors preemptive attacks. The techniques in our curriculum are designed to break through the opponent's defenses using feints, misdirection, or by exploiting the katana's curvature to bypass parries and blocks. Even if the opponent anticipates your movement during debana and initiates a strike first, our techniques are designed to intercept and deflect their attack in motion.

When entering the first intention, several angles of attack are recommended. You can initiate a binding engagement using shōmen-giri, kesa-giri, or yoko-giri. The goal at this stage is to snipe the opponent’s hands, which often forces them into a defensive posture. If you choose to maintain the bind, you enter what we call the "feeling game", a dynamic similar to Wing Chun's "sticky hands," where you roll and maneuver your blade around theirs to probe for openings.

However, it is strongly advised not to remain in the bind for more than a second or two. As with saber fencing, extended binds are disadvantageous when using a curved blade. Once in chikama range, you should continue pressing into the opponent's space to keep them off balance and retreating.

After the bind concludes, either because you detect the opponent releasing pressure or you choose to disengage and launch a parry-riposte, you enter the second intention.

These two quadrants are usually where the follow-ups occur after the first intention. The fights usually end either on the first intention or second intention. If the fight happens to carry over in the third intention and beyond, all quadrants become targets at that point.

Most of the techniques found on the waza page describe what techniques you can employ to attack at the first intention, then strike into the two quadrant 2 zones for the second intention. For instance, you can penetrate with a low over-the-shoulder kesa strike to quadrant 1 like longsword Zornhau, only to quickly follow up with a kesasengiri (pivoting angled cut) to snipe the hand from the bottom quadrant 2. You can alternatively follow up with a yokosengiri (pivoting horizontal cut) to snipe the hand at the ura side quadrant 2. (Kesasengiri and yokosengiri are akin to longsword Zwerchhau.)

If they manage to block your 2nd intention, just repeat a yokosengiri or kesasengiri again at the opposite side and throw in a barrage of attacks after. The key is to aim for any part of your opponent's body while maintaining renzoku (continuous attacks) pressure in chikama range.

Most important of all, make sure to retreat out of range while in kasumi, torii, or seigan block to prevent getting doubled after landing a successful attack on your opponent.