Last time, I wrote a little bit about how the different ways you know of striking imply differing levels of power application. The "executive summary" on that one is: your open fingers are weaker than your closed fingers (or, as the kids like to call it, "a fist") which in turn are weaker than something like your elbow. But there's a place for everything.
Now that you've mastered that, it's time to add another layer onto it. On top of knowing a dozen odd atemi strikes, we have varying levels of initiative (or timing). For today's discussion, I'll be talking about go no sen, sen sen no sen, and tenchin. I'll start with what I think is the hardest to understand - sen sen no sen.
At its core, sen sen no sen is a preemption. That is, your opponent begins his/her attack and you beat them to the punch (literally). Assuming that your opponent is savvy, s/he is attacking because they've evaluated your position and believe they have a shot. Which is what makes this initiative so difficult; they've had time to plan their attack and wait for just the right moment to strike. Your job is to thwart that in the time between when they start the attack and when it gets so powerful that it overwhelms your defense. All of this is a long winded way to say that sen sen no sen favors speed over power. Chances are really good that you're not going to have time to chamber your strike properly. Or, at least, it's not going to look the same as the same strike thrown from tenchin or even go no sen.
Tenchin, by contrast, is the slowest initiative. Which isn't to say that the strike itself is slow in absolute terms, but relative to the other two initiatives. Especially when you consider the narrative above where there's a period of evaluation, opening, etc that comes along for the ride. But if it's slow, what's the benefit? The devastating power of it. Because you're taking your time, you have the benefit of a grand wind up. That is, you can incorporate more of your body.
Lastly, go no sen. Just to be clear, this is the least desirable of the three initiatives we're talking about today (though it sure beats getting punched in the face). If you're using this, it means that you were caught enough off guard that sen sen no sen wasn't an option and that you're responding to someone else's plan instead of having one of your own. But you play the hand you're dealt. Go no sen strikes can afford to be slightly slower than sen sen no sen because the opponent's initial attack has completed (as opposed to your trying to interrupt it). But it needs to be faster than tenchin because chances are pretty good that s/he isn't going to stand around while you get everything together. That is to say that the window of opportunity closes rapidly. And so, because the timing is between the other two initiatives, so is the power.
Now of course, you could try to take this and the previous post together and try to come up with some sort of grand hierarchy with sen sen no sen nukite uchi on the fast/least powerful end and tenchin seiken uchi on the other, but I don't see a lot of value in that personally. It implies a quantification of these things that, to my knowledge, doesn't exist. But you surely can compare things on the same axis. For instance, for any given strike, sen sen no sen is the fastest/least powerful and tenchin is the slowest/most powerful. So, if you want to show your sensei that you understand, practice this way when you're doing your forms. For example, don't chamber your punch when speed is of the essence. Similarly, don't throw little jabs when you intend to destroy your target. Again, a time and place for everything.
As this applies outside of the dojo, think about how you could apply this at work. If something with a tight deadline comes up, you might have to do the vocational equivalent of a sen sen no sen to get things back to a more manageable situation. Or maybe you see an opportunity coming and wait for just the right time to tackle it. That would be tenchin.
To summarize, inasmuch as there are "levels" of power and speed, they are inversely proportional. That is, when one goes up, the other goes down. And for those of you feeling robbed about the missing forty-seven shades of grey alluded to in the title… come and get them.
