Beginner's Course Week 3

As described in the overall structure, the next few sessions will be focussing on particular basic technical aspects of kendo. Hence, there will be exercises that are useful for improving what we are practising that week. Please practice these when you have the chance and space. Although you may find these exercises difficult, strenuous, or repetitive and unexciting, practice is essential for the improvement of technique, and movements will eventually become muscle memory.

This week was on footwork and posture. Good footwork allows movement smoothly from point to point without sacrificing posture (shisei), required for balance and readiness. Therefore, when practising footwork, constantly check that the posture is good. Ensure that the upper body is upright, the head up and the shoulders back. When stationary, the feet should be shoulder width apart, pointing forwards, the left foot back with the heel off the ground. Keep relaxed and balanced.

As mentioned before, when moving, always move the leading foot first: this opens the stance, which is more stable. Push off with the trailing foot to move the hips in the direction desired, and keep the upper body neutral. This was the purpose of the lunge exercises. The exercise at the end of the session was to approach a target in kamae, stop at a distance in which the target could be reached, and a execute a strike to the head. The purpose this time was not the cut (although that was the fun bit), but to make sure that the posture was still correct by the time you had reached cutting distance, and were ready to strike. What you are going to do once you reach your desired position should not affect your kamae while you move there.

Fumikomi is the stamping footwork that is used when making a cut. It serves to coordinate the body and allows further cutting distance than sliding footwork (suri ashi). As mentioned in the previous blog entry, do not strike the ground with your heel! The impact will hurt the heel and be transferred all the way up through the leg to damage the knees and the spine, especially if the knees are locked. The sound comes from a slapping of the ground with the sole of the foot, not from the heaviness of the stamp. In this way, it is similar to the impact of the shinai on the target: it is not the strength of the cut but its sharpness and speed. Keep the knees bent when practising and do not try to extend too far, which is likely to cause knee-locking and heelstriking. Impact the ground which the whole sole at once to spread the impact over the whole foot. Practice with small steps or on the spot, so that you get used to the foot positions. The lunges can also be used to practice the fumikomi.

Finally, if you have obtained a shinai from submitting your membership form and payment, I encourage you to handle it, not necessarily for swinging, but just to get used to the weight and balance, and being relaxed when holding it. If you have not yet received the kit but have paid for the course, please be patient; more shinais and bokuto have been ordered and are on their way!

See you all again on Monday Week 4 !

Wei Hao

Beginner's Course Week 2

Hi everyone!

Hope you enjoyed the second session of this term's Beginner's Course.

Last week, our president, Wei Hao, has covered the general and safety aspect of our practice. So this week, I would like to go slightly more technical, and also touch on some of the dojo etiquette.
Please also refer to "Kendo Etiquette" section of our club's "Kendo for Beginners" guide: http://users.ox.ac.uk/~kendo/kendo4beginners/k4b2.html

Posture

1. Stay upright with shoulders back -- don't hunch over even when you are swinging the shinai.
2. Imagine a vertical line that runs through from the top of your head to the floor between your legs. Maintain this throughout.
   
3. Relax -- No point in tensing up. You need to be relaxed to move the way you want to. keep your arms and legs relaxed, and don't lock your elbows or knees.

Footwork

1. Legs shoulder width apart, left forward, right back.
2. Left heel off the ground, weight on the ball of both feet. (right heel should be very slightly off the floor as well)
3. Never cross your feet during movement, no matter which direction you are moving towards. (open and close)
4. Get back to the balanced, even position after each step. This is important because you want to be ready to go whenever you see an opportunity.

Just a small caution: if you are not used to walking or running bare foot, it's important NOT TO land on your heel first. We tend to strike the floor with our heels first if you are used to running with your shoes on, but doing this bare foot may cause problems. Try to delay your landing until your toe is down... it's hard to describe it, but try to think of it as running quietly. Striking with your forefoot will create a smooth and quiet movement.

Here are some videos from Youtube that might help you see what I mean:

Barefoot Heel Strike Running with Force - Slow Motion



Barefoot Forefoot Strike Running with Force - Slow Motion




Movement

1. When you are moving in suriashi (sliding footwork), try not to bounce up and down. Imagine a line horizontal to the floor running along your waist. As you move forword or back, the waistline should stay leveled with this imaginary line.
2. Remember not to let your heels go flat on the floor at any point in your movement! This is to allow agility in your motion, and also to protect your akelies tendon from snapping.

"Rei" at the dojo
When you enter the dojo (in our case, the sports hall), bow (rei) towards the general direction of where we practice. It shows your respect towards the people who use the dojo, and commitment to what you are about to do -- kendo. Don't forget to bow towards the dojo again when you leave: it will become natural after a while.

"Onegai shimasu" and "Arigatou gozaimashita"
We will cover more specific mannerism during kendo practice. But the important thing for now is that you respect the people you practice kendo with. For this, please remember the following two words.

Say "Onegai shimasu" at the beginning of each session and each practice, and "Arigatou gozaimashita" to thank at the end of the practice/session.

• Onegaishimasu is a bit hard to translate... in terms of kendo, it means something like "please teach me" as well as "let's train together". It shows good will and respect to your partner. "
• Arigatougozaimashita" simply means "thank you".

Shinai handling
Treat your shinai as if treating a real sword.
Do not leave them lying around where people may step on or trip over. Similarly, try not to step over a shinai, and NEVER kick a shinai out of the way. Shinai should be handled with care and respect. It will last longer with a bit of care, so you save money, and more importantly, it will be a lot safer for the people who practice kendo with you.

Don't forget to check for cracks or splinters before you start hitting something or someone.

Practicing at home
Remember what you were told at each kendo session; especially the safety aspects. Stretch well, and make sure that your surroundings are safe. Check the height of the ceiling, conditoion of the floor. Make sure you are not close to things or people when you swing your shinai. Not just in front of you... your shinai naturally falls back when you are swinging over your head!!

Stay safe, and be responsible!

That's it for this week: hope to see you again next week! ;)

--Naoki

Beginner's Course Week 1

Hi all,
A warm welcome to all beginners who have joined us this week! The purpose of this blog is to support the training sessions on Monday evenings, explaining a bit more about what was taught and practised that evening. Also, the previous entries, written for the beginner's course last year, may also be helpful and give an idea of what was done in the last beginner's course, if you would like to do some reading beforehand. For these first two weeks, in which an overview session is given, this blog will cover more general issues. This week, a few points on safety and training.

Hydration
Kendo can be physically demanding and tiring, involving a lot of moving around. Even in cold weather, it is common to sweat while practising. It is therefore important to keep well hydrated; drink fluid before and after exercise, and during water breaks. Also, if you feel that you are in need of water, tell a senior and stop to get the drink. Water or isotonic drinks are recommended; high sugar drinks can make you dehydrated, and sometimes carbonated drinks might not sit well in the stomach when moving around.

Warm-up/stretch
Again, as with all strenuous exercise, it is important to warm up properly to avoid injuries. Tense muscles and tendons are prone to injury when put under strain, such as during sudden movement in kendo. We perform a combined warm-up at the beginning of each session, but if you arrive late, make sure that you warm yourself up before joining in.

Injuries
There are a number of other points in the prevention of injuries to yourself. The most important is to keep the rear ankle off the ground at all times. This cannot be stressed enough. The most common serious injury in kendo is the snapping of the Achilles tendon. This happens if the calf is not warmed up enough, and too much strain is put on it when trying to push off on the rear foot. This excessive strain occurs when the foot is flat against the ground and so the ankle cannot flex. Hence, it is important to keep the heel off the ground. This will occur naturally if the posture is maintained correctly and will become automatic in time.

Relaxation/Control/Strength
Excessive strength is not required in the swinging of the shinai, and it is in fact counter-productive. Using arm strength makes the arm move more slowly, and results in loss of control: attempting to increase the speed of the cuts by swinging the arms makes them tense. Focus on keeping the arms and upper body relaxed, without attempting to cut quickly. This will also improve body posture. Finally, using arm strength when cutting will mean that when you are hitting a live target, the strike will really hurt, even with the armour on.

Equipment check
For the moment, the only equipment that you will be using is the shinai, the bamboo sword. It is important to check that this is safe to use; it undergoes a lot of stress as it strikes targets and get hit. A damaged shinai can send sharp and potentially dangerous pieces of bamboo in all directions. Avoid hitting it on the side with the string; this is what holds the leather caps together, which contain the bamboo slats. (Also, it is the side that represents the blunt edge of the sword, so there's not much good trying to cut with it.) Check that the string is tight so the caps cannot come off. The cap at the tip should not be damaged (so don't lean on your shinai!) The leather around the centre of the shinai should be tight. Check that there are no splinters or cracks in the bamboo.

Personal Limits
Finally, the person that knows your limits best is yourself. If at any time you are feeling unwell, do not hesitate to make this known to a senior and drop out; join back in if and when you feel you can carry on. Also, if there are any injuries that may interfere with training, please also make this known!

Beginner’s Course Michaelmas Term

Here is an outline of the beginner’s course, running the 8 weeks of Michaelmas term.

This is intended as an introduction to kendo for total beginners, but the exercises used should also be beneficial to advanced kendoka in improving kihon (basics). The aim of the course is to teach all the basic movements so that the shinai can be handled competently and exercises can be carried out safely on live targets.

An overview of everything on the course will take up the first two weeks, to give an idea of what will be achieved over the term. Following this, the next few weeks will revisit each aspect, using exercises intended to polish them. Finally, in week 8, a grading will be held in the same session as the Oxford Winter Cup.

The course is structured such that each session builds on what is covered the week before. The purpose of this document is that if you are unable to make a session, it is possible to check what was covered here. Also, this blog will be updated weekly for duration of the beginner’s course, will describe the exercises used in detail and the points covered that week.

Beginners can join any time in week 1, 2 or 3; however, membership forms must be in and paid for by the end of 3rd week in order to cover insurance with the British Kendo Association (BKA).

Week 1: Overview I
An short crash course quickly covering all that will be done over the next few weeks. There will
be a demonstration of a tournament (shiai) environment match at the end.

Week 2: Overview II
Continues from Overview I. The demonstration at the end of this session will be Kihon and practice exercises.

Week 3: Footwork, Posture, Kiai
A session focussing on the footwork and posture used in kendo. Suri-ashi, okuri-ashi, ayumiashi, hiraki-ashi, fumikomi. Smooth movement with correct posture, with and without shinai. Kiai (shouting).

Week 4: Shinai Handling
Correct holding and swinging the shinai (bamboo sword). Arm, elbow, wrist and finger action. Te-no-uchi, suburi.

Week 5: Ki-Ken-Tai no Icchi
Correct timing of movement and impact. Coordination of body, sword, and kiai.

Week 6: Men and Kote
Cutting of the head (men) and wrist (kote) targets. Use of te-no-uchi and ki-ken-tai no icchi.

Week 7: Kirikaeshi
Execution of kirikaeshi, an exercise involving a set pattern of cuts.

Week 8: Grading
Beginner’s grading. Testing of suburi, striking and kirikaeshi.