Beginner's Course Week 7

Hi all,

Well done for getting to the end of the training sessions for the beginner's course in Michaelmas Term 2010! The only thing left is the grading this Saturday. Make sure to practice the suburi and learn the counting used in the kiai. The counting can be found on a previous blog entry here, the types of suburi described here, and more details on the kirikaeshi can also be found here. As always, reading of previous blog entries is encouraged and should be useful.

There are a few additional points to those made in previous entries.

I observed in Monday's session was that cuts, posture and footwork for kirikaeshi were all excellent when practised without a target, but once there was someone to be hit, the shoulders and upper body hunched, arms tensed and feet became unsynchronised from the cut. The purpose of suburi is to practice the cutting, and so the point is that the strikes should be the same with or without a target. So, when practising suburi, visualise a target in front of you, and when practising on a target, try to cut as you do in suburi.

If the motodachi (person receiving the cuts in practice) is much taller than you, it is still possible to hit the correct part of the men, but it is essential that the shinai be extended and the wrists and shoulders relaxed. If not, the angle of the shinai will be too close to vertical and will hit instead the mengane (bars of the men). As always, use the shoulder rotation to control the height, instead of trying to reach with the upper body or jumping higher.

Each cut in the kirikaeshi, the first cut, the diagonal cuts, and the final men, must all be complete cuts, with te-no-uchi, large swings, and ki-ken-tai no icchi. Do not throw away any cut just because it is part of a sequence; each cut should be strong enough to score on its own. This is practice for sequential cutting.

Finally, the grading will involve suburi, a sequence of cuts, and kirikaeshi: effectively what we have learnt over the term, so there should be no nasty surprises! It is natural to become tense and nervous when grading or doing kendo in front of many people; in these cases it is even more important to keep everything relaxed. Remember that this is just a way of seeing how much your kendo has improved, so just do your best and take in the experience!

See you Satuday!

PS. location of Cheney School. Number 15 goes straight there from Castle Street via High Street. The grading will be in the sports hall.