Hi again! It’s now week 5 and we are past the halfway mark for the beginner’s course. Well done on sticking with it; a lot of the cuts I received on Monday were well made and there has been much improvement. Remember that the grading and competition will be on the 28th of November, so take some time to consider and inwardly digest the points taught!
Group Rei: This was mentioned briefly in the week 3 summary, but here are the details of the rei itself. At the beginning and end of each practice, if there is a sensei present, the dojo forms into lines depending on the number of members present. The line is formed in grade order, with the most senior on, in our case, the right. This will vary with dojo and is dependent on the position of the entrance. The most senior senpai will call the commands for the line-up:
“Seiretsu”: the call for the line-up
“Seiza”: go into seiza (kneeling position). Kote are placed in front and to the right of yourself, thumbs together, pointing right. The men is placed on top of this, with the men-himo tidily inside. The tenugui (the cloth placed on the head under the men) may be placed inside or over the men, depending on the senpai. If you have a shinai, place it on the left, if holding a bokuto, put it on the right. If holding both, put them on the left. Always have the edge pointing towards yourself.
“Mokuso”: Meditation. Place both hands in front of the navel, palms upwards, left over right, thumbs touching. Lower eyelids and clear the mind, concentrating on breathing.
“Mokuso yame”: Finish meditation
“Sensei ni rei”: bow to the sensei
“Otagai ni rei”: bow to everyone. Usually one says “onegaishimasu” when bowing at the beginning, and “Arigatou gozaimashita” at the end.
“Mentsuke”/ “Men tore”: Put on/remove men and kote. In the ending group rei, this will be done before mokuso.
Motodachi-geiko: Practice is carried out like this when there are much fewer seniors that juniors, or if there is a lack of room. In this case, seniors (motodachi) line up at one side of the dojo. Everyone else distributes themselves into lines in front of the motodachi. If you are on the kakarite (student) side, after finishing the practice, join the back of another line. Move to the shortest line quickly and without confusion. Watch the person in front of you so that as soon as their exercise has finished, step up to do yours immediately.
Footwork and renzoku-waza: Renzoku-waza are more advanced techniques which involve more than one action. On Monday, the example of this was kote-men, in which kote was cut, followed by men. Posture and footwork are particularly important for these techniques, as good cuts can only be made when the body is ready and balanced. Hence, the main aim is to be at good posture as soon as possible after the end of the first cut.
To achieve this, make sure cuts are made from the hips, pushing forwards with the rear foot, upper body upright and arms relaxed, without leaning too far forwards or back. At the end of the cut, the body will already be upright. Te no uchi is vital to prevent the shinai from swinging past the target point and pulling you off position. Finally, in order to recover to a position when the body is ready to cut again, bring up the rear foot quickly in preparation to push again.
Finally, remember that although two swings are made in succession, they must both be cuts that would, even standing alone, score. Do not sacrifice the quality of one cut for the other in order to try to make the whole action faster. With good posture and footwork, renzoku-waza naturally become smoother.
Zanshin: Before attacking, one does kiai to declare intention to fight, and to focus mind and body. However, this focus must not be lost as soon as the cut is made but should continue until ready to start again at tooma. This is another requirement for a point, and is displayed by a variety of things. The list below is not exhaustive!
1. Breaking to safe distance quickly after the cut. To begin with, safe distance will generally mean going through after the cut to a distance the opponent cannot attack you at.
2. Kiai should continue after the cut until turning around into tooma
3. Spirit and cutting should be moving forward, not recoiling from opponent defensively, even on hiki (backwards) waza.
That’s it for now, except one last tip: if you want to practice at home but the ceiling is not high enough or there is not much space to move, an exercise is to swing an empty wine bottle in the left hand, standing or sitting. Good for learning to keep the left wrist flexible. Just make sure not to hit anything. Or anyone. See you all next week!
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