I agree about it confusing inexperienced competitors
and its a good way to stretch a shoulder without
totally compromising ones self. i am no expert in
bartitsu but i do know about baiting. I still feel
that when an attack is predictable as far as its path
goes It is completely handelable. if you take the
time to twist your wrist or anything or pause for
even the slightest of micro seconds against the guys i
fight, you will get one off the mellon. I also feel
that if you stand there like a pylon , i dont care
what stance you are in, I will hit you . I'm not smack
talking I'm just conveying what the many years of
doing this sport has taught me.( Let a thousand
flowers bloom)

--- Rabid Weasel Lawson <lawson@...> wrote:


---------------------------------
> a simple compass strike would probably be decently
> effective to either side of the head in the stance I
> see in the picture.

That would put you in imediate jeopardy of a thrust to
your face with
greater reach. Further, it's pretty easy to
transition this into a
hanging guard and a simple block to either side of the
head/torso.


> I'm not too familiar with
> bartitsu, so I could be missing something. However,
it
> seems to me with a little rotation of the wrist, you
> could make a fairly strong strike to that side of
his
> head and if you did it right, you could fool him
into
> guarding the wrong side of his head. Then if he
didn't
> fall for it, you could pretty easily change your
> target and strike at his left side. Or on top of the
> head, if need be.

Like Tony said, this particular variation of the
stance is intended to
bait your opponent into attacking your unguarded front
hand/arm.


> Does that make sense? just pull the
> end of the stick up or to your left about a foot or
> so, then bring it back around toward his skull, on
top
> of his skull, or around his skull. It'd be hard for
> him to detect which way you were going until you
were
> about to hit and if you don't move forward until
right
> before the strike lands, he can't do any sort of
> unviersal block to stop you. you might not even need
> to move your body at all, but instead just twist
your
> right side closer to bring you in range.

Well, as far as those things go, no this guard isn't
foolproof. It does
protect the top of the head pretty well though. It's
more complicated if
the attacker doesn't play your game and refuses to
take the bait and
attack the open front (left in this case) side. You
can't hang out in
this guard forever. Either the attacker takes the
bait and you clobber
him or you have to move on.

It's also good for confusing people who've never seen
it before.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk



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