Hi all; here is the second last summary for the beginner’s course this term. Well done to all who were at the grading and competition! I hope that you enjoyed yourself. There is little left to talk about that has not been covered previously, so this summary will be mainly consist of a few tips and pointers.
Kotate suburi. (Single-handed suburi) This is a more advanced and difficult suburi, but is very rewarding when practiced often. However, it is also possible to injure yourself if done incorrectly. Kotate suburi swings can be made to kote or men height, either just going forwards, or forwards and backwards. The benefits are in learning to cut with the left hand, relaxing the wrist at the end of the cut, and improved tenouchi. Ensure that the left wrist is turned in such that the “V” between the thumb and forefinger is on the top of the shinai (much like holding a tennis racket) so that the correct tendons and muscles are used. If the wrist is turned out, the tendons on the inside of the forearm will become strained. Additionally, one should build up the strength in the left forearm slowly, until it is accustomed to the strain of weight of the shinai. If it is too heavy, move the hand up from holding it at the end of the shinai towards the tsuba (crossguard). As the wrist becomes stronger, the hand can be slowly moved back to holding it at the end of the shinai.
A few points noted when receiving kirikaeshi:
1. Remember to extend left arm, elbow and wrist at the end of the cuts. This is essential for hitting the top of the men and doing good tenouchi. This applies to all cuts, of course, not just in the kirikaeshi.
2. Start cuts from further away. Extending the arms means that the cutting distance is drastically increased, meaning that cuts should be started from further away. This works the other way too: arms and wrists will have to be extended to make the distance for the cuts. Remember not to lean the body forwards to try and make the distance, but instead push forwards from the hips, keeping the upper body upright.
3. Always aim to cut the correct part of the men, whether or not motodachi is blocking; do not become focussed on hitting the shinai. Motodachi may allow you to practice this or remind you by not blocking for a few strokes; in this case continue the exercise and make sure the shinai is striking the correct part of the men, and attempt to continue cutting in the same way until the end.
Uchikomigeiko is an exercise involving a series of cuts following each other. This sequence may or may not be determined beforehand. On Monday and at the grading, it was a pre-set “Men, Kote, Kote-Men, Men”. There are two main aims to this exercise:
Continuous cuts and readiness: the cuts should be made as soon after each other as possible while maintaining correct cutting, posture and zanshin. This does not mean the cuts need to be fast; just that there is no break in between them. Motodachi will move to a position after receiving each cut such that you will be able to cut immediately: be sure to do so. This teaches one to maintain zanshin after the cut, and good recovery after a cut. It is difficult to do cuts continuously if one is out of position.
Spirit/Will training: As members becomes more experienced, the sequence of cuts may either become longer or be undefined. However, the exercise will rarely last for more than 15 seconds. This means that in this time, one should put in all effort; the time for recovery is after the exercise ends. Attempt to make all the cuts within as few breaths as possible, and push your limits. Of course, if you feel any pain or unusual discomfort, be sure to stop and avoid injury.
Well done again for sticking with the course; see you all on Monday evening for the final session and the results of the grading! We will continue training through the vacation, with the exception of about a week between Christmas and New Year when the sports centre will be closed, if you are in Oxford at any time.
Sunday 29 November 2009
Sunday 22 November 2009
Week 6 (17 November 09) Summary
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.
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.
Wednesday 11 November 2009
Week 5 (10 November) Summary
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!
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!
Friday 6 November 2009
Week 4 (2nd November 09) Summary
Hi everyone! Here's the summary of what we've learned during our previous session!
1. Counting
We count in Japanese when we do our suburi. Make sure to be loud and count in time with the end of your cut so you can keep pace with others. Counting in this manner makes it easier for you to kiai at the right moment for cutting later in your practice.
1 ichi
2 ni
3 san
4 shi
5 go
6 roku
7 shichi
8 hachi
9 kyu
10 jyu
2. Fumikomi
Fumikomi is a special footwork used when making a cut in Kendo. Push your body forward (not upwards) with your left foot, while the right foot floats slightly above the floor in the air, and as you hit your target with your shinai, bring down the right foot flat onto the floor. Bring in your left foot immediately after for tsugiashi, or connective footwork, into chudan position ready for the next move.
Some points to consider when practicing fumikomi to avoid injuries:
a. Do not to stamp too hard with your right foot; this may damage your knee (partly because we practice on a floor not made for kendo) A veteran male can apparently produce force as much as 1t with fumikomi... and there's no action without reaction... start easy on this.
The biggest contributing factor in the sound from the fumikomi is not how hard the ground is struck with the foot but the shape of the foot upon impact. Think of it not so much as stamping but slapping the ground with the foot. In this way the whole of the sole will impact the ground at the same time. This is what allows such force to be used without injury: the impact is spread over the whole area of the foot and not transmitted up through the heel and shin to the knee.
b. Do not raise your foot too high... you will end up landing from your heel, and not only does it not give a nice sound, it hurts. This also kills the forward momentum, so keep your right foot as low as possible, and think of jumping forward rather than upwards! Other things that may cause you to land on your heel are leaning forwards or backwards, trying to cut when not in a position to do so e.g. when the left foot is too far behind, or body not balanced.
c. Make sure your left heel is off the ground when you push forward to avoid injuries to the Achilles tendon. Also, point your left toe forward... this will enable you to push your body forward with the maximum strength from your leg!
3. Kirikaeshi
After suburi practice, we normally practice “kirikaeshi", an exercise in armour. It consists of a series of men and sayu-men with both forward and backward suriashi.
1. Chudan no kamae at tooma.
2. Big kiai. Breathe out with kiai, breathe in, then start.
3. Large men with fumikomi --> Controlled taiatari (body impact).
4. The motodachi, or the receiving side, steps back.
5. Large sayu-men starting by hitting your opponent's Hidari(left)-men (cutting to your right, opponent’s left): four times forward and five backward. Use suriashi (sliding footwork), making sure your footwork and kiai are in sync with your cut (ki ken tai no icchi). With the last cut to the left men, move back to tooma at chudan no kamae.
6. Repeat 3-5.
7. Large men with fumikomi, while motodachi step aside using tai-sabaki.
8. Keep straight and go through, then turn around to tooima with chudan no kamae.
9. Remember to kiai “men” with each cut
4. Posture and movement
A lot of you are improving very quickly on the kendo movements. Please keep some of the following things in your mind when you next practice:
a. Balanced?
Are you in a comfortable posture to move? Do you feel balanced? Your feet should be in comfortable distance apart both vertically and horizontally to move in any direction.
b. Straight?
Is your back straight? Is it hunched forward or maybe arcing too much backward? Are you holding your shinai at the centre of your body, in front of your belly-button? Are you looking straight ahead? Think of having a pole that runs from the top of your head all the way through your back pointing at the middle of your two feet on the floor.
c. Stable?
When you make suriashi, is your body jumping up and down? It is useful to think that when looked from sideways, your hip shouldn't move up and down with your footwark. Also, the straightness should be kept throughout the movement. Are you leaning forward to cut? Keep straight, and keep your movements minimum and efficient.
d. Shoulders, wrists and fingers relaxed?
If the grip on the shinai and the wrists are very tense, the shinai cannot move freely and will be at a fixed angle with respect to the arm. Keeping the wrists and fingers flexible and relaxed, only tensing when executing te no uchi, allows for faster accurate movement and longer reach. Tense shoulders mean swings cannot be full and large, more energy is expended and posture becomes poor. Also results in stiff neck and shoulders after practice!
e. Looking big?
You may think it's a bit silly and too basic, but if you can make yourself look big and confident, it's quite effective against your opponent. Keep good posture, keep tall (but not tip-toe) and pull your shoulders back. Relax and be confident!
Looking forward to seeing you in the next session!!
1. Counting
We count in Japanese when we do our suburi. Make sure to be loud and count in time with the end of your cut so you can keep pace with others. Counting in this manner makes it easier for you to kiai at the right moment for cutting later in your practice.
1 ichi
2 ni
3 san
4 shi
5 go
6 roku
7 shichi
8 hachi
9 kyu
10 jyu
2. Fumikomi
Fumikomi is a special footwork used when making a cut in Kendo. Push your body forward (not upwards) with your left foot, while the right foot floats slightly above the floor in the air, and as you hit your target with your shinai, bring down the right foot flat onto the floor. Bring in your left foot immediately after for tsugiashi, or connective footwork, into chudan position ready for the next move.
Some points to consider when practicing fumikomi to avoid injuries:
a. Do not to stamp too hard with your right foot; this may damage your knee (partly because we practice on a floor not made for kendo) A veteran male can apparently produce force as much as 1t with fumikomi... and there's no action without reaction... start easy on this.
The biggest contributing factor in the sound from the fumikomi is not how hard the ground is struck with the foot but the shape of the foot upon impact. Think of it not so much as stamping but slapping the ground with the foot. In this way the whole of the sole will impact the ground at the same time. This is what allows such force to be used without injury: the impact is spread over the whole area of the foot and not transmitted up through the heel and shin to the knee.
b. Do not raise your foot too high... you will end up landing from your heel, and not only does it not give a nice sound, it hurts. This also kills the forward momentum, so keep your right foot as low as possible, and think of jumping forward rather than upwards! Other things that may cause you to land on your heel are leaning forwards or backwards, trying to cut when not in a position to do so e.g. when the left foot is too far behind, or body not balanced.
c. Make sure your left heel is off the ground when you push forward to avoid injuries to the Achilles tendon. Also, point your left toe forward... this will enable you to push your body forward with the maximum strength from your leg!
3. Kirikaeshi
After suburi practice, we normally practice “kirikaeshi", an exercise in armour. It consists of a series of men and sayu-men with both forward and backward suriashi.
1. Chudan no kamae at tooma.
2. Big kiai. Breathe out with kiai, breathe in, then start.
3. Large men with fumikomi --> Controlled taiatari (body impact).
4. The motodachi, or the receiving side, steps back.
5. Large sayu-men starting by hitting your opponent's Hidari(left)-men (cutting to your right, opponent’s left): four times forward and five backward. Use suriashi (sliding footwork), making sure your footwork and kiai are in sync with your cut (ki ken tai no icchi). With the last cut to the left men, move back to tooma at chudan no kamae.
6. Repeat 3-5.
7. Large men with fumikomi, while motodachi step aside using tai-sabaki.
8. Keep straight and go through, then turn around to tooima with chudan no kamae.
9. Remember to kiai “men” with each cut
4. Posture and movement
A lot of you are improving very quickly on the kendo movements. Please keep some of the following things in your mind when you next practice:
a. Balanced?
Are you in a comfortable posture to move? Do you feel balanced? Your feet should be in comfortable distance apart both vertically and horizontally to move in any direction.
b. Straight?
Is your back straight? Is it hunched forward or maybe arcing too much backward? Are you holding your shinai at the centre of your body, in front of your belly-button? Are you looking straight ahead? Think of having a pole that runs from the top of your head all the way through your back pointing at the middle of your two feet on the floor.
c. Stable?
When you make suriashi, is your body jumping up and down? It is useful to think that when looked from sideways, your hip shouldn't move up and down with your footwark. Also, the straightness should be kept throughout the movement. Are you leaning forward to cut? Keep straight, and keep your movements minimum and efficient.
d. Shoulders, wrists and fingers relaxed?
If the grip on the shinai and the wrists are very tense, the shinai cannot move freely and will be at a fixed angle with respect to the arm. Keeping the wrists and fingers flexible and relaxed, only tensing when executing te no uchi, allows for faster accurate movement and longer reach. Tense shoulders mean swings cannot be full and large, more energy is expended and posture becomes poor. Also results in stiff neck and shoulders after practice!
e. Looking big?
You may think it's a bit silly and too basic, but if you can make yourself look big and confident, it's quite effective against your opponent. Keep good posture, keep tall (but not tip-toe) and pull your shoulders back. Relax and be confident!
Looking forward to seeing you in the next session!!
Sunday 1 November 2009
Week 3 summary
Hi all, apologies for the lateness of the 3rd week summary. Hopefully there has not been too much to think about and digest. It is natural to feel slightly overwhelmed by the amount of things to bear in mind simultaneously while practicing kendo; however these things eventually become familiar and the movements natural. Of course, this does mean that bad habits can also grow, so it is important to keep an eye on what one is doing in practice and consider feedback given!
On to the points focussed on this week.
First of all, a few points on reigi, or etiquette, described at the end of the session. At the beginning and end of each exercise, we rei (bow) to each other. The shinai is held at waist height, with thumb on the tsuba (guard), edge up (i.e. string down). Keeping the upper body straight, bend from the waist, between 15 to 30 degrees, depending on the situation. Do not allow the tip of the shinai behind you to rise above your hand and the handle to tip down. Additionally, at the beginning and end of the session, as well as before and after each jigeiko (free sparring), one does sonkyo. This involves, from chudan, twisting in the rear heel, and then bending the knees to go into a squat, all the time keeping the upper body straight and maintaining posture. You may find that members who have knee troubles may instead bring back the rear foot and point the shinai to the ground in a deeper rei.
Flow of the practice. Practice generally begins with a warm up, followed by suburi then group rei. In the case of these two, if there is a sensei present, members form into a line (or multiple lines if the number is greater) in grade order. If there is no sensei, they are done in a circle. Then, basic and technique practice and jigeiko are done, with everyone in two lines. After each set of exercises, everyone moves one space either clockwise or anticlockwise in the rows, in order to practice with a new person. If there is an odd number or participants, there will be an odd person out at the end, who will rotate in. If there is an even number, one sempai (senior grade) will stay in the same place while everyone rotates around. This procedure means that in one full cycle, one gets to practice with every other member of the club. Therefore, get used to the movement and be aware of your position in the line-up. Finally, there will be group rei again to finish.
Holding shinai to receive cuts. When giving the opportunity for your practice partner to cut a target on your shinai, hold the shinai only slightly above your head in order to make the target as similar to a men position as possible. Also, hold it slightly in front of the head, too, in order to prevent a cut that is too short catching you on the face. Finally, the shinai should be held with the string (tsuru) pointing downwards so it is not struck and damaged.
Ki ken tai no icchi. This is the aim of spirit (ki), sword (ken) and body (tai) acting as one. In practice, this means that all three must arrive at the same in making a cut: the shinai must impact at the same time as the body and fumikomi (foot stamp), together with the kiai expressing the spirit. Successful and correct ki ken tai greatly amplifies the effectiveness of the cut and is one of the requirements of scoring a point. Since different parts of the body will take different times to move to the point of impact, the movements must be started at different times. For example, when cutting a large men, the arms will need to move for longer than the body, and so their movement must start first. With practice, the timing will become instinctive.
This summary has been a bit less focussed on the technical aspects, as many of those used in the last practice have been mentioned in earlier posts, so please take a look at them again if there are things that are still unclear, or ask a more senior member of the club. Also, although these points have not been so much on the physical aspects of the session, they are still important parts of kendo, as a smooth running practice means more can be covered in the time we have. Additionally, it also raises the spirit and motivation of those involved, and people push themselves harder, leading to greater improvement.
We look forward to seeing you at the next session!
On to the points focussed on this week.
First of all, a few points on reigi, or etiquette, described at the end of the session. At the beginning and end of each exercise, we rei (bow) to each other. The shinai is held at waist height, with thumb on the tsuba (guard), edge up (i.e. string down). Keeping the upper body straight, bend from the waist, between 15 to 30 degrees, depending on the situation. Do not allow the tip of the shinai behind you to rise above your hand and the handle to tip down. Additionally, at the beginning and end of the session, as well as before and after each jigeiko (free sparring), one does sonkyo. This involves, from chudan, twisting in the rear heel, and then bending the knees to go into a squat, all the time keeping the upper body straight and maintaining posture. You may find that members who have knee troubles may instead bring back the rear foot and point the shinai to the ground in a deeper rei.
Flow of the practice. Practice generally begins with a warm up, followed by suburi then group rei. In the case of these two, if there is a sensei present, members form into a line (or multiple lines if the number is greater) in grade order. If there is no sensei, they are done in a circle. Then, basic and technique practice and jigeiko are done, with everyone in two lines. After each set of exercises, everyone moves one space either clockwise or anticlockwise in the rows, in order to practice with a new person. If there is an odd number or participants, there will be an odd person out at the end, who will rotate in. If there is an even number, one sempai (senior grade) will stay in the same place while everyone rotates around. This procedure means that in one full cycle, one gets to practice with every other member of the club. Therefore, get used to the movement and be aware of your position in the line-up. Finally, there will be group rei again to finish.
Holding shinai to receive cuts. When giving the opportunity for your practice partner to cut a target on your shinai, hold the shinai only slightly above your head in order to make the target as similar to a men position as possible. Also, hold it slightly in front of the head, too, in order to prevent a cut that is too short catching you on the face. Finally, the shinai should be held with the string (tsuru) pointing downwards so it is not struck and damaged.
Ki ken tai no icchi. This is the aim of spirit (ki), sword (ken) and body (tai) acting as one. In practice, this means that all three must arrive at the same in making a cut: the shinai must impact at the same time as the body and fumikomi (foot stamp), together with the kiai expressing the spirit. Successful and correct ki ken tai greatly amplifies the effectiveness of the cut and is one of the requirements of scoring a point. Since different parts of the body will take different times to move to the point of impact, the movements must be started at different times. For example, when cutting a large men, the arms will need to move for longer than the body, and so their movement must start first. With practice, the timing will become instinctive.
This summary has been a bit less focussed on the technical aspects, as many of those used in the last practice have been mentioned in earlier posts, so please take a look at them again if there are things that are still unclear, or ask a more senior member of the club. Also, although these points have not been so much on the physical aspects of the session, they are still important parts of kendo, as a smooth running practice means more can be covered in the time we have. Additionally, it also raises the spirit and motivation of those involved, and people push themselves harder, leading to greater improvement.
We look forward to seeing you at the next session!
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