FULL AND EMPTY?

 By Phillip Starr

You square off with your opponent with the intention of delivering an effective blow, one way or another. But before you do something foolish, you must determine if your intended target is xu or shi (in Japanese, kyo or jutsu). I see some of you raising your eyebrows...let me explain.

If your opponent is physically, mentally, AND spiritually prepared, he is in a condition known as shi (実jutsu), which means “reality”, but which I prefer to translate as “full.” That is, he's:

• physically stable and poised to attack or counter-attack easily and quickly.

• mentally focused on you and the task at hand.

• possesses the will; the determination to engage and defeat you.

To attack such an opponent would be foolhardy. Even if he is a novice with minimal fighting skills, he can quickly evade your attack in some fashion and cause your attack to fail. If he's a skilled fighter, you're betting that you're faster or stronger than he is. And that is a bet that seldom brings victory. Why on earth would you attack someone who is fully prepared? Yet, this is exactly what most practitioners do.

The terms kyo and jutsu are most often heard in the practice of kendo/kenjutsu (Japanese fencing) but are seldom used in the practice of other martial disciplines. They should be.

The opposite of shi is xu (虚 kyo), which means “unprepared” but I often refer to it as “deficient” or “ko” (a “hole”). This is also known as “tsuki” in Japanese (隙, which is “gap” in Chinese), but still pronounced “xu” in Chinese. It refers to a “gap”; a chink in your opponent's armor, a window of opportunity, a moment of vulnerability that leaves him exposed and in an untenable position. If he physically, mentally, or spiritually “off” (or a combination of any of these three), he is xu:

• physically unprepared or vulnerable. He may be out of position or unstable.

• mentally unprepared for battle. Perhaps he is distracted...

• spiritually unprepared. He becomes frightened or loses the will to fight.

The window of opportunity may be small and your timing will likely have to be razor-sharp to get through it, but it can be done. For instance, an analogy that is often used is that of tossing a coin in the air. When it reaches it's highest point, there is a momentary pause before it begins to fall. That moment is akin to what we call xu. The window is rather small...

In the system that I teach (yiliquan), we recognize 9 types of xu, each of which must be studied very carefully. And there are two methods of dealing with xu; active and passive. The passive method is simple...you wait for the opponent to become xu. Sooner or later, he'll do so (unintentionally). For instance, every time he takes a step, there is a moment of xu (when he has no balance), It's very small, but it's there. If he attacks, there is a moment of xu (so we say that all attacks are inherently flawed because to attack is to momentarily produce a vulnerable opening). Even his breathing pattern provides small moments of xu.

The active method requires you to induce the opponent to become xu. The use of a feint is the most obvious and easily understood method. Other methods are very subtle and the opponent is often completely unaware that he is vulnerable...until it's too late.

Warriors of the past reasoned that they had only one chance in three of surviving a given encounter; if the enemy's skill exceeded theirs, they'd likely be killed. If the enemy's skill matched theirs, one of them would be killed on the spot and the other (if there was a survivor) would probably die later. Only if their skill exceeded that of their foe could they be assured of a good chance of survival. So they would train to get “that extra edge”; find thing(s) that could provide them with an advantage in a life and death struggle. Studying shi and xu could provide just that.

This is also why warriors of the past didn't engage each other by bouncing around like rabbits on amphetamines. To do that places you in the condition of kyo almost constantly and if your opponent is skilled, he'll bring you down in the blink of an eye. Nowadays, however, fighters with that kind of skill are very rare. In times past, swordsmen faced each other with very little (if any) movement involved. They extended their minds to FEEL the enemy's spirit; to FEEL kyo if and when it occurred. One of them would inevitably err (sometimes the opening was all but invisible to the eyes) and in a flash the conflict was over. The “Hollywood versions” of such encounters that involve numerous clashes of steel and deft maneuvers to evade the enemy's blade are just that; celluloid fighters acting for the sake of thrilling audiences. This is a far cry from the real thing, the way it was. It's a very far cry from what we see in contemporary competitions...

My book, MARTIAL MANEUVERS covers this subject is detail