Sharing By Kendo Practitioner

Today, I had a chance to listen to a bit of sharing by a kendo practitioner. It is about the value of defence. He was advocating the value of waiting for your opponent to make his attack. When you face your opponent squarely, with the right posture (upright), with awareness of your own weaknesses and ready for your opponentn to make the first move, somehow, he will feel compelled to move (otherwise we will just be two persons standing and staring at each other) and may even fidget a bit. When he does move, his movement will appear in slow-motion, allowing you to instead move in with your preferred attack. This sounded to me like what taiji advocates about following your opponent, which basically means allowing him to make the first move.