Never retreat. If you're stepping in, you should be ready to strike and if you have time to step back, you have time to strike.

@@gluebox1 In principle I absolutely agree. However I think in order to do that you first have to understand the maai and you need to be able to understand where they will miss from to be able to use the Nuki men for instance. Also you need to know you can move in any direction. So while its all well and good to say never retreat as the ideal, in practice, most of us mere mortals will have to retreat to some extent in order to learn more precise control of the distance. A sort of "learning to walk before you can run". Its a similar situation with blocking in Kendo I find.

Yeah, retreat is far from ideal. The idea is not to become stuck in one spot and to be as mobile as possible. If you can understand the maai to the point where it's tempting for them to strike but not easy, then you can apply your waza more easily. The ideal situation is to enter issoku itto and not have to step out of it. However you shouldn't simply stand there and be struck either. I think once you know you're maai with precision, you can bait with the kote more successfully. At first for many people they use the Nuki men, but once you're confident you find yourself going forward more. So like Chiba Sensei would say, be prepared for the aiuchi (same time attack). It's very difficult to fence against a Jodan who seldom backs off. Its much easier to beat one that has weak Ashi sabaki and is fixed in one spot or that fences from too close. Maybe I'll do a follow up video to clarify this,because people's level will vary who watch this. Thanks for the feedback.