Over the past few weeks in my classes, I have been pointing out to students the importance of guarding the center line. It does not seem to matter what genre of budo we are talking about - guarding the center line is the key to good technique, both offensive and defensive. Speaking just in terms of jodo and iai, we are constantly paying attention to the placement of the jo or katana to make sure the center is covered. In iaido and kendo, kenjutsu, etc., the sword, shinai or bokuto is held in the center of the body, protecting the practitioner from attack. Many partner kata are predicated on the idea of provoking the aggressor into attacking in order to move his weapon away from this defensive position.
In jodo, sune no kamae is a basic position in which the jo is held at one's side, but - importantly - the tip of the jo is pointing in the swordsman's face. The jodoka often steps slightly off the center line in order to defend oneself from the swordsman, but almost immediately takes the opponent's center from an oblique angle. In taiatari, for example, the jodoka steps off to catch the opponent's sword, then swings into his center and pushes him back. Jo kata end with the opponent staring down the length of the jo, which is pointed in his face. The jodoka has taken the center line, and is not giving it back!
There are techniques in iaido kumidachi that are specifically designed to invade and disrupt the opponent's center. Some of these resemble advanced techniques in kendo, where the "winner" of the kata drives his bokuto down the other person's center line. In others, as noted above, the "defender" in a partner kata "provokes" an attack in order to use a counter technique to "win" the engagement. Frequently, the "winner" drops to gedan - giving up the defense of one's own center in order to bring an "opponent" to attack. Using bokuto, in 2012, this does not seem like much of a big deal, but if we were to imagine, for a second, that someone would deliberately drop his guard in front of another's razor-sharp katana, it seems very close to a crazy idea. I sometimes wonder if some of my more scaredy-cat students are imagining a real encounter when they get freaked out by kumidachi practice? In that case, their impulse is correct, though in order to effectively practice, it needs to be overcome.
Even after an imaginary encounter, whether in partner kata or solo kata, zanshin demands that the center line be covered - the jo ends in the swordsman's face, the chiburi (even though it is decorative) ends with the sword covering the center line, just in case.
The protection of the center line can be seen in lots of other places. Obviously, humans' vital organs are all at the center of the body, and the arms and legs can be used to protect these areas. Arms and legs are even considered expendible if absolutely necessary in order to protect the vital center. On old-fashioned battlefields, tactics were designed to protect the center, and a battle was lost if the center could not hold. Sometimes these ideas could be used contrarily, such as luring an enemy army to attack what it might think was the center of the opposing army, only to have it drawn in and surrounded. In a way, it's almost like deliberately going to gedan in kumitachi in order to defeat an opponent.
The contrary point of maintaining the center line, of course, is location, location, location. If something is centrally located, it is relatively easy to go anywhere else. But once you get there, (with a cut, for example) it is still important to be able to get back to the center with relative ease. Proper kamae are great illustrations of this. Even if I am not familiar with a given style, I can tell if a kamae is bogus if it does not potentially protect the center line. A cut is overdone if it passes through the target and ends somewhere outside. Forgive me for saying it, but I have seen any number of photos of people with a great deal more experience with cutting targets than I have, but who nevertheless end up with their sword totally out of line to a potential opponent. My teacher used to say that anyone can evade at least one cut; if the swordsman is not prepared to make a second one if necessary he will lose sooner or later.
Zanshin is just another way of saying "backup plan."
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