Another good article - but it shares one common misconception on fighting in general. Defence is always the main priority of a real martial art. It is only in sport that scoring becomes more important, because there is no real threat anymore. So, this should not be the most destinctive feature of Soresu (basically, every form teaches a different way of defending - Form IV by continuous movement, Form V by deceiving or overpowering, ...).
To me, Form III teaches the most obvious way of defending oneself: Blocking/parrying any incoming attack. Once the student has got this right, he can learn to counter by using the movement of the attack to place his hit.
This implies also that Soresu teaches to provoke an attack to place a counter.
I'm not sure where everyone gets these misconceptions of sport combat methods - defense is a HUGE aspect in sport fencing at the very least. People seem to think "right of way" applies to all weapons, and somehow allows both combatants to attack with reckless abandon. It's there to train good combat habits, like defending an attack in progress or using good form in the attack.
To give an idea of defensive methods in fencing alone, you have basic parries, counterattacks, dodging, distance parries, and point in line. That's not counting the uses of defensive techniques in offensive ways, like second intention. All these things could be used by a fencer in a manner consistent with Soresu, to feel an opponent out and see what his or her tendencies are.
Just figured I'd set that straight. I'm not trying to point the finger at you specifically, but you reminded me of misconceptions I've seen all over. I did make a video recently for TPLA to try and address those, so I should probably post it on this forum.
