Chapter 4: How You Shall Recognize the Near and Wide Measure (Plates 6, 7)
Commentary
Jonathan Allen
This is a foundational drill from which many of the drills in chapter 7 derive.
Each step should be small as to minimize the duration of your tempo. For the fist step into wide measure, only advance the length of your foot. For the advance into narrow measure, step forward the length of your foot and to the right the width of your foot. (This is shorter that the illustrations depict, but for the beginner it is advantageous.)
The small step to the side allows for a stronger constraint and further removes the body from the opponent’s line of attack.
For the strong constraint, plate 7, notice that the point is somewhat offline. This is acceptable because dominating the opponent’s sword is more important than the tiny movement needed to bring the sword online. Though of course you can take this too far. The point should be allowed to drift to the left slightly, not forcibly pushed far offline.