Hi! Apologies for the late update of last week's summary.
Last Monday, we practiced Kirikaeshi.
I've explained the steps involved briefly in one of previous summaries, so do take a look at it, but I'll go into more detail explaining each step today.
Kirikaeshi is an exercise that is intended to cover many aspects of basic kendo techniques.
It's also a good warm-up exercise.
If you struggle to remember what you do, try to remember the rythm.
Yaaaaaaah,
Meeeeeen, men men men men, men men men men meeeeeen,
Meeeeeen, men men men men, men men men men meeeeeen,
Meeeeeen.
You'll know what I mean if you listen to the seniors doing kirikaeshi in your next session.
You have to perform kirikaeshi for gradings up to 3rd dan. So you should learn to do it correctly.
The sequence goes:
1. Kiai
2. Seme
3. Shoumen & taiatari
4. Renzoku sayu men (4 forward, 5 back) & break-out
5. (repeat 2-4)
6. Shoumen & go through (with good zanshin)
1. Kiai
Kiai is very important before you engage yourself in kirikaeshi.
Give loud long kiai from lower belly (normally "yaaah") at tooma (far distance) with chudan no kamae (middle stance). Both Motodachi (receiving side) and Kakarite (attacking side) should give out a kiai, but it's more important for kakarite to give a good kiai.
Breathe out with kiai, then breathe in (this should happen naturally, if you kiai properly).
Then hold in your breath. One set of kirikaeshi should ideally be done without taking another breath. But as a beginner, you don't have to worry too much about it.
2. Seme
After kiai, advance yourself to issoku-ittou no ma (one step/one cut distance) and get ready to start your cuts.
The point of your shinai should continue to point at the opponent's throat.
3. Shoumen & taiatari
The first cut to men, should be a big cut. Raise your arms high above your head, then drawing a large arc, hit motodachi's shoumen (Straight at the top of the head).
You may find big cuts slightly exaggerated, but kirikaeshi should ALWAYS be BIG cuts.
Shoot yourself forward, with fumikomi. Ki-ken-tai no icchi is very important; Your kiai, fumikomi and the cut, should be heard at the same time (for all the subsequent cuts as well).
Control your forward momentum by keeping your posture straight. It's ideal you stop just before you have an impact with your partner (motodachi), but if you do taiatari (body impact) lessen the force by relaxing your arms in front of your belly and chest.
Please be extra cautious if you are not wearing your kote, because you may hurt your hand by crashing into motodachi's tsuba.
Wait for the motodachi to step back to a distance you can comfortably hit.
4. Renzoku (continuous) sayu men (4 forward, 5 back) & break-out
Once the motodachi is in a comfortable range, which is closer than normal issoku ittou no ma because you will be cutting with suriashi (sliding) footwork and not fumikomi, raise your shinai high as the first cut, and then hit opponent's hidari(left)-men (which is to your right).
Aim for the men-himo (string) tied around motodachi's men.
As a beginner, the motodachi may let you hit his/her men without blocking your cuts with the shinai.
This will make it easier for you to cut in the correct angle to a correct target.
Make sure you are cutting with the correct part of your shinai. It's no good if you are cutting with the tip of your shinai or very close to your tsuba.
Motodachi will be helpful in keeping pace with you, but you will also have to think about how much to step forward or back when making each cut.
Suriashi forward 4 times, then 4 times backwards. The 5th men to motodachi's hidari-men is like hikimen (pulling-back men) so you hit while stepping backwards and continue the suriashi back to tooma.
5. Seme, Shomen & taiatari, Renzoku sayu men (repeat 2-4).
6. Shoumen & go through (with good zanshin)
From tooma, BIG shoumen, keep your forward momentum and suriashi through while motodachi give your way with taisabaki.
You SHOULD NOT break your concentration until you suriashi to far enough distance, so when you turn around, you are at least at tooma from your partner motodachi, who turned around (and possibly have chased you from the back) as you passed through.
Turn around, make sure you are at tooima from your motodachi; only then you have completed kirikaeshi.
The aims of kirikaeshi are, in decreasing priority,
Accuracy: hitting the correct part of the men and not the mengane or missing
Hasuji: hitting with the right part and orientation of the sword
Flow: movements should flow into each other and be continuous
Speed
It is important to achieve each one in order before moving on to working on the next; i.e. make sure you are hitting with the correct part of the sword before moving on trying to make the movements continuous. Also, while improving each aspect, do not sacrifice any of the earlier. Note that speed is the final aim; only attempt to do kirikaeshi more quickly after everything else is done well, as it is easy to lose all form when trying to make the cuts fast: cuts become small, are no longer made with the body, arms tense up and posture poor. As an indication of the scale of importance, in 1st and 2nd dan gradings moderate speed is acceptable; for 1st Kyu slow is ok. However, missing the men in kirikaeshi, particularly the first and last men, is automatic failure.
Please take a look at the following youtube video:
Chiba-sensei's instructions
It's in Japanese, but it will be good to watch kendo cuts done correctly.
Kirikaeshi section starts at 6:45 in the video.
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