集ーーー＞Shugo＜ーーー合

Mokuso and breathing

2011-09-22T12:02:00.003+10:00

Last week I spoke at training about breathing during mokuso. This is a very important topic and you should think about this when you are not at training.

Anatomy of breathing

When we breathe normally, most of us use less than 50% of our total lung capacity. It is said that children under about 2 years of age use much more of their lung capacity every time they breathe, but that we lose that ability as we grow older.

Most of us breathe in a very shallow way, using just the top part of our lungs. When we are asleep or doing very heavy exercise we naturally breathe much deeper. When we yawn it is because our brains are a bit short of oxygen and yawning is the body's way of making us stop what we are doing and taking a very deep breath that fills our entire lungs.

thanks Wikipedia

The part of the body that helps us to breathe is the diaphragm (pronounced - "die-a-fram"), which is a thin sheet of muscle under the lungs. When the diaphragm contracts, it makes the space inside your chest grow larger, which in turn creates suction that draws air into your lungs. People who train to use their voices such as opera singers and stage actors learn how to control this muscle consciously. They learn how to breathe like little children again.

Breathing in mokuso

A simple way to start breathing from your diaphragm is to do what babies do. When you breathe in, push your stomach out. You will find that you take in a lot more air with not much more effort.

When you breathe out, do it quite slowly. The outward breath should last for at least twice as long as the breath in.

Make sure your face is relaxed and calm. Don't think about anything at all. Breathe in and out through your nose. Keep your back as straight as possible without straining.

How long should we do mokuso for?

Mokuso should be done long enough for everyone in the dojo to become calm, and a very deep silence to occur. The Dojo Captain should measure about three deep breaths before clapping to signal yamé. In clock time this might be between 20 and 40 seconds, however clock time really becomes irrelevant during meditation. A good mokuso won't be achieved if someone in the group is looking at the time! You know a deep silence has occured when the Dojo Captain claps and you get a little shock. You might even feel like you have no idea how long that mokuso was.

Why should we breathe more deeply?

The reason it is good to take in more air is it fills your blood with oxygen. This helps to reduce how tired you get, helps you recover more quickly, and helps your brain to work more efficiently. It also helps to calm your mind, and with some practice, can actually change the way you think. Many people also believe it extends your life and keeps you healthy.

It is very hard to breathe like this all the time, so mokuso or meditation gives us the opportunity to concentrate on doing it deliberately.

It is still not very well understood by science, but meditation and breathing can enable people to do amazing things. I believe that it can help to increase our awareness to the point where it is possible to predict the future. Not a long way into the future, just half a second or so, but that's more than enough for kendo.

Other kinds of breathing

There is at least one other kind of breathing you can do during mokuso. This special breathing is designed to increase your ki (気). I mentioned it at training, however I won't go into detail here. If you want to know more, see me at training.

Zokin - cleaning the floor

2011-09-18T00:00:00.000+10:00

We always clean/mop/polish the floor before training. This is partly because it is a big part of Japanese culture, but also because it is good exercise for the lower body and for balance.

Cleaning the floor by hand in such a careful way really helps you to feel like the dojo belongs to you and that the floor is very important. You literally and metaphorically become close to the floor!

When the local church youth group has had Friday pizza night and left ground in pineapple pieces and ham all over the floor (like there was this morning!) then a really good scrub is needed anyway.

Naoki Eiga used it as a way to go back to basics and reconstruct his kendo from scratch.

Start each training session slowly

2011-09-11T23:45:00.000+10:00

Yesterday I observed that everyone went into their first kirikaeshi in a rush. As I mentioned to you all, this had the effect of ruining your kirikaeshi and possibly putting you in a negative frame of mind for the rest of training. Cuts and footwork were not synchronised, cuts were off target and generally the effect was that everyone's kirikaeshi looked terrible and left them feeling like their kendo was also terrible. This can be easily avoided.

It is important to start slowly, even if others around you are rushing.

When you are only training once a week (or less!), it is very important to get the basic movements correct before you attempt to do them fast, each and every time you start training. If you are training three times a week or more then you can start each training at full speed. But less than twice a week and you need to re-learn the movements briefly at the beginning of each training. By the end you will be back "up to speed", but at the beginning you will often be rusty.

In the beginning, do your cuts, and especially kirikaeshi, as slowly as you need to, in order that each and every cut lands on target and your whole body is moving in unison. This takes conscious effort, especially if others around you are going quickly. You will need to force yourself to slow down.

Slow versus sluggish
Going slowly on purpose is different to feeling sluggish. Sluggishness is when your mind wants to move quickly but your body doesn't seem to be responding.

Moving slowly, on the other hand, is when your intention is to move slowly. This is a good way of warming up a sluggish body. Don't try and go fast, but allow your body time to respond.

Slow versus fast technique
Sometimes we feel good in our bodies, and yet our technique seems to be worse than normal. This is also when starting slowly can help. The phrase Shingitaiitchi (心技体一致) means "mind, technique and body as one". So it means getting the technique, the energy in your body and your intention all to match up. If any one of those things is lacking, if one is racing ahead of the other two, then nothing will work. After you have integrated the three aspects together you will be able to speed up your overall movement.

Practice at home
If you practice at home, you improve the rate at which you develop skills at training. Even though you have no training partner, doing suburi or even just footwork drills can help enormously. Then when you are back in the dojo, things will flow much better for you.

Perfect practice makes perfect
It's true. Don't practice mediocre technique. It just means you are training to become mediocre. Make sure when you are doing things over and over that they are the best you know how to do. Even if you are not sure what's wrong, you should ask if you feel like your technique is not working as it should. Check yourself regularly. Imitate the people whose kendo you admire. Aim for the ultimate swordsmanship. That's the way to develop your kendo.

Kendo and geometry: are we robots?

2011-08-18T12:20:00.005+10:00

A geometrical explanation of arc from Wikipedia

I've mentioned this before at training and it may be difficult to grasp at first hearing, so I'll explain it here again for those curious.

The body doesn't like geometry

Most martial arts popular today are unarmed arts. They focus on one fighter using their body against an opponent to gain advantage. This means that it is two human bodies clashing. The human body is an organic, flexible thing, with precise ways it can move and precise ways it can't move. Understanding the difference is very important in arts like Aikido, Judo, Jujutsu and so on. Throws and locks involve one fighter wrapping (part of) their body around the opponent to unbalance or subdue.

In short, there are no absolutely straight lines. Unarmed fighters might talk about the "line of attack" but this is an abstract or imaginary concept like chushin. It is never a completely straight line. The human body doesn't ever fit a completely straight line.

Kendo, of course, is different.

We still have our bodies, which are human and flexible and hate straight lines. But we have our sword, which is perfectly straight, and this is where all the difficulty in kendo begins.

The geometry of kendo

For any attack to function properly in kendo, we have to move the sword according to its nature, not ours. We must think in terms of geometry, in lines, planes and arcs. This applies to both shinai, which is straight when seen from any angle, as well as bokuto and Nihonto (real sword), which are curved in side view but straight when seen from the top or bottom.

The sword will only cut if it moves through the air perfectly straight. Any wobbles or wavering will mean the sword will either not cut properly or will bounce off the target. With the shinai this is seen when the cut slides off or glances the target area. For the cut to "stick", the downswing has to be geometrically straight, moving through a two dimensional plane. Actually it helps to think of the sword itself as a flat, two dimensional object, like a piece of paper, rather than a three dimensional object, which of course it is.

Making theory work

This is fairly easy to understand in theory, but much harder to put into practice. Even experienced kenshi can have difficulty with making every cut land properly. The reason for this is our bodies. We move in three dimensions very easily: up, down, sideways, in and out, around and around, often all at once! Our elbows are simple hinges that move in only two dimensions, but they are connected to shoulders that are ball-and-socket joints, so our arms can move in almost any direction.

But to be able to cut effectively with a sword the way we do in kendo, it would almost be better to have shoulders that were simple hinges which only allowed our arms to move up and down.

To be able to move in this mechanical way takes a lot of muscular training. In kendo, we call this kind of training suburi. It is only through lots of suburi that you can train your three dimensional, flexible body to move in a two-dimensional, robotic way.

Speaking of which, have a look at this video of a kendo robot built by a South Korean University. You might get a better idea of how the human body moves by watching the way the robot's arms and shoulders have been made.

It's not bad at kendo, but it does make the beginner's mistake of using too much right hand!

What about the rest of the body?

It's not just about the arms. Your feet have to get you into the right position and your spine should always be vertical, no matter which direction you cut is moving. These are important principles in kendo.

Another important principle is that the cut should nearly always be done so that your hands finish with a feeling of coming towards your centre of gravity, in other words, your hara. It is a fact of human biomechanics that while it is possible to train your body to do almost anything you like, certain movements are naturally easier and more stable. Try drawing a straight line on a piece of paper. Draw the line coming towards you. Draw another starting close and moving away from you. Which was straighter? Which part of the line wobbled most? I'll bet the line coming toward you was straighter, and the closer your hand was to your body, the less it wobbled.

This same principle works with the cut. The more we can keep our hands moving directly in front of our body, the more stable and controlled our movements will be.

But I don't want to be a robot!

I'm not saying robots would make better kenshi, they wouldn't. But some parts of kendo technique need to be practiced over and over until they are as consistent as a robot would do them. And this practice doesn't stop because our whole lives we need to keep our muscles trained. But when they are well-trained, we can move in amazing ways, using both the body's flexibility and its stiffness for our purpose.

Watch this video below of Indian classical dancer Savitha Sastry from the Bharatanatyam tradition. Particularly watch how she moves from 1:40 onwards. She is always balanced. She can make incredibly beautiful shapes with her arms and legs: sometimes straight and sometimes curved. The extent to which she can bend her wrists would have taken years of flexibility training. She can move her arms to an exact angle and then perform another move before returning her arms to that exact angle again without checking herself. She can accelerate, decelerate, balance, glide or stop on a dime. She makes unnatural movements look strangely natural and yet we can't really work out how she has done it, because her smile makes us think she is using no effort.

My point is Ms Sastry's training would have been just as rigorous and robotic as ours, probably more so. But the effect is far from that of a robot. It has simply allowed her to do things that no person can do naturally. And yet when she does, you can't see the effort so it looks like she's making it up on the spot.

If you can do kendo like this, then you can be my teacher. Seriously.

The 2011 Tour de France from a Kendo perspective

2011-07-30T21:06:00.003+10:00

Cadel dodges spectators on the Alpe d'Huez stage of the 2011 Tour de France

It was very exciting to watch Cadel become the first Australian to win the Tour de France. In the hundred years of the race only two non-Europeans have ever won the race and both of them were Americans. It is a massive achievement.

There have been some parallels between the way Cadel won and what we aim for in Kendo. He was gracious and humble in victory, just like a Kenshi. He did what was required to win and nothing more. And he saw the precise moment when he needed to act and he acted decisively, throwing everything into it and holding nothing back.

For those of you who didn't watch the race or don't know about it, the Tour de France is three weeks of cycling around France with each day representing one "stage": a distance of anywhere between 50 and 200km, through all kinds of terrain. Some stages are short and run as time trials, with each rider starting at three minute intervals and trying to clock the fastest time for the course. Other stages are much longer as the race travels around the French countryside. There is much riding through mountains where the smaller riders generally have the advantage. And then there are many flatter stretches where the big, powerful riders can take over. Racers compete as part of a team, and each team has a lead rider, who is the one all other members of the team are helping to win. A team member who is not the lead rider will never try and challenge for first place, but rather they will work together with their teammates to prevent other teams' lead riders from beating theirs.

At every stage the rider with the most points based on their time so far is awarded the "Yellow Jersey". Very often the rider with the Yellow Jersey is not the same rider who is the winner of a particular stage, but they are the most consistently fast overall. There are other special jerseys representing those who are currently in the lead in different divisions (white for best young rider, green for best sprinter and white with red polka dots for best climber or "King of the Mountain"). But the Yellow Jersey is the one everyone wants.

Throughout the 2011 Tour de France, Cadel never wore the Yellow Jersey. But he was never further back than third place. Then, on the third last day, on the stage to Alpe d'Huez, Cadel saw some of his rivals stage a breakaway. This is where a rider puts on a sudden and sustained burst of speed in the hope of creating such a gap that they can maintain the lead until the end of the stage. Sometimes this leads to victory and sometimes it just leads to exhaustion. It takes a lot of courage, stamina, and knowing your own body as well as the course to stage a successful breakaway.

When his rivals took off, Cadel was left at the front of the 'Peloton'. The Peloton is the name for the main group of riders and it sticks together a bit like a large flock of birds. The reason for this is that it is much easier to ride behind someone else, than it is to ride by yourself. The lead riders carry you along in their slipstream.

Cadel drags the Peloton up the mountain

When Cadel saw the others charge off into the distance, he was wary of wasting effort to chase them down by himself. He waited to see what the rest of the Peloton would do. Everyone just kept to the same pace as if they were happy to let the breakaway group go. This was where Cadel realised he had to act. In his head he did the calculations about the next two days: tomorrow would be a 42 km timetrial and the day after a slow day where the owner of the Yellow Jersey would, by tradition, remain unchallenged all the way into Paris and the finish line. In other words, Cadel knew that if didn't have the Yellow Jersey by the end of the timetrial he could not win. And he knew that there was a limit to how much time he would be able to make up over a 42 km time trial. If his big rival Andy Schleck put on too much of a lead today, he would never catch him tomorrow. Now was the time he had to give chase, and he would do it by himself if necessary.

Which is what he did. He led the Peloton for more than 15 minutes up through the mountains and managed to keep Schleck's lead down to 57 seconds. Being in front meant he was using far more energy than everyone else, and 15 minutes at top speed riding up a mountain is hard at the best of times. But he had to risk exhausting himself if he was to stay in with a chance. Looking back, this was the moment where his victory was set up. This 15 minutes would prove decisive.

The second last, and most decisive day came and Cadel still wasn't in the Yellow Jersey. He would let someone else have the honour and psychological advantage of wearing it. Perhaps being in yellow would give Schleck the edge in the time trial. But Cadel had timed his run well. In not needing to own the Yellow Jersey, Cadel had not overdone it. He used as much effort as he needed to stay in the top three, now second place, and in doing so had left something in reserve. The time trial would be where he would spend everything he had been saving for the last three weeks.

In the end Cadel not only caught up to Schleck's lead but overtook it by a minute or so. He was so fast that he finished the time-trial with the second fastest time, and finished the day being awarded the Yellow Jersey. That meant so long as he stayed on his bike all the way into Paris, he was the winner.

It's nice to have the Yellow Jersey during the Tour de France, but there's only one day where it really matters who wears it and that's the last day. Cadel let others mind it until he needed it, then he made it his.

Humility, no wasted effort, seizing the opportunity: that's Kendo.

The last stage, the ride into Paris, is traditionally a relaxed affair. Cadel enjoys champagne during the race—how French!

How can I perform drills realistically?

2011-06-18T00:25:00.005+10:00

Doing basics realistically is a big part of kendo. If you do not perform them in a way that is realistic, you may be developing habits that will hold your kendo back.

On the one hand if you rush your movements in an attempt to make them fast, you risk distorting your technique so that you may never achieve a winning point, a real yuko datotsu.

On the other hand, always performing waza slowly may not allow you to make the most of the brief opportunities to strike when you are faced with a "live" opponent.

There must be a balance between both sides. Things are made even more complicated when you are performing waza in drills as motodachi. How can you be realistic in spite of the fact that you already know what your opponent is going to do?

What is "realistic"?

"Realistic" means where you are performing the drill or technique under a similar kind of stress to what you would experience in jigeiko or shiai. It means performing at your highest level, and without feeling that the situation is safe or easy. When you succeed with performing a waza done in this way, you should feel a sense of achievement, not just a sense that you've done yet another men uchi.

The main way of being able to do this is from experience. In other words, the more experienced you are, the more easy it is to flick the "realism" switch.

So, yet another reason to get to training as much as possible!

How can I be realistic?

There are two situations to consider in this question.

When you are the one performing the technique (kakarite):

Firstly all the preparation for the cut, what happens at the beginning, should be correct. So, correct kamae, good posture.

Next, you need a big kiai and at the same time, you need to really observe your opponent. What are they doing? What is their build? How should you be attacking them?

Next, seme-ashi and maai: step in to an appropriate distance. This is VERY important. Exactly where you come to before your cut will depend on several different factors (your size, your opponent's size, whether your opponent is standing still, moving towards you or moving away from you, the type of cut you are performing, etc), and will decide whether your cuts succeeds or not.

Next, the cut. If your intention and your technique are in harmony, in other words if the speed you wish to move and the speed your body actually moves are the same, then your technique will be smooth and integrated. In kendo this is sometimes called shingitaiitchi 心技体一致 (mind, technique and body as one).

Next zanshin. Whether or not your technique is smooth or successful, following through as if it has been, without any sense of disappointment or satisfaction. Your zanshin should be big, and a natural result of the power of your preparation and the cut itself. I have spoken at training before about how I feel our zanshin is too weak. Particularly I noticed this about my own zanshin while watching video of my 6-dan shinsa. We all need to work on this.

Lastly, reflect: did you really score the best cut you could? Would that have scored ippon in a match? Did you try your hardest? Yes? No? Why? Think honestly for a moment, find your answer and then move on. Don't be disappointed or beat yourself up if you made a mistake. Don't get too cocky if your cuts are all brilliant. Just reflect, adjust if necessary, repeat.

As the person receiving (motodachi):

When you are receiving it is important first to know what the drill is that you are receiving.

Next you must observe the kakarite's movements.

Do not react until you feel some genuine intention to attack coming from your opponent.

Only then should you show an opening, and then the opening should be clear but not too large.

When you are performing a more complicated drill, such as one where you perform some action first like a men cut, you must know what the drill is going to be. You must also try genuinely to win, to score ippon. This is how you make it a proper practice for your partner, to give them a 'live' partner even though it is a pre-arranged drill.

However you must also then forget it is a drill and just focus on going for the men cut. By that I mean, try to forget that you know your partner is going to attempt, for instance, suriage men. Just imagine it is a match and that there is an opening for men in front of you and you go for it, 100%.

If you do not forget it is a drill to practice men-suriage-men but you try all-out to win, then you will, without meaning to, change the angle of your cut so as to stifle the suriage-waza of your partner. You will certainly win the ippon, but you will have ruined the practice of your partner. This is not good.

It is very easy to do this when you know already what your partner is going to do. It may give you a momentary pleasant feeling to score a nice cut. But it is not real and it is frustrating for your partner and anyone who trains with you.

This is why being a motodachi is usually the job of a senior grade, because it requires maturity and some experience to be able to perform the motodachi's role correctly so that it is both realistic, and is also a benefit for your partner. By maturity I mean it requires someone who is able to put their partner's need to train above their own need to win, to think of someone else before themselves.

We can all start thinking about this and trying to put it into practice no matter where we are in our kendo journey.

Hiki waza　引き技

2011-02-26T19:46:00.003+11:00

In kendo, hiki waza are techniques performed going backwards. Usually they are performed from the position called tsubazeriai.

Hiki waza need to be practiced to be really understood, but there are a few simple ideas that can help you to perform hiki waza more easily.

What hiki waza are there?

There are basically three kinds of hiki waza:

hiki-men,
hiki-kote
hiki-do

When to perform hiki waza

Hiki waza must be performed when you are at a distance that is too close to be able to cut with the monouchi (top one third) of the shinai's blade. Usually this means when you are close enough for your kote and your opponent's kote to touch.

Hiki waza cannot be performed if you have moved forward towards your opponent in order to close distance and attack. In other words you can't run in, attack and run back out again. If you run in, you follow through forward. If you are already in, you may cut and retreat.

Basic pointers on how to perform hiki waza

Hiki waza should be performed with a single step backwards. This step can either be a fumikomiashi (stamping step) or suriashi (sliding step). Beginners in particular should start by using suriashi. Experienced kendoka who are having trouble with correct striking distance should return to using suriashi as well, so as to fix their retreating movement.

Ideally, hiki waza should be performed with as straight a posture as possible. This helps with accuracy of the cut, especially for hiki-kote, and with overall body timing and movement (that is, getting everything to happen at once) and zanshin (following through).

Zanshin is performed moving backwards, away from the opponent. As with kihon waza, you should keep the finishing position of the cut after hiki waza as you retreat. Then at a safe difference return to chudan no kamae. The one exception to this is where, after a small, fast hiki men, it is acceptable to lift the sword into a furikaburi position. This is where the sword is held straight up above the head at a 45 degree angle.

Seme for hiki waza

Like all techniques in kendo, opportunities don't just happen, you need to create them, using seme.

Seme for hiki waza is created using both your hands and the movement of your body while still in tsubazeriai. This is a situation in kendo where circular movements become as important as straight ones.

To create an opening from tsubazeriai you need to combine both the pressure of your hands on your opponent's hands as well as the rotation of your body from the hips to create a new chushin (centre-line). Prior to attempting hiki-waza, try to brush aside your opponent's sword by controlling their hands. You can also push down to induce a counter-movement, e.g. push down on their hands, when you release their hands will naturally spring up a little showing an opening for hiki-do.

In fact there is almost as much variety in these shikake (attacking) openings for hiki waza as there are for kihon waza going forwards.

As Musashi might say, you should practice this well!

Ki-ken-tai-itchi and unweighting or "How to get your right foot and cut to land at the same time".

2011-02-12T22:26:00.016+11:00

At Nanseikan we often use the term kikentaiitchi (気剣体一致) to refer to the timing of the right foot with the moment of striking the opponent with the sword. It is one of the most difficult aspects of kendo technique. Many people spend a long time trying to achieve it. I spend a lot of time trying to explain it, but I never feel like I can do so in words. It is something that just needs to be practiced with the body to be able to understand.

However there are a couple of important points worth thinking about when it comes to KKTI.

Suburi timing vs sho-men uchi timing

One of the difficulties comes from the the fact that we teach beginners one kind of timing when they first learn suburi, then expect them to learn a completely different and contradictory timing when they start to hit their opponent.

Suburi timing involves lifting the hands for the upswing as soon as the front foot slides forward, with the downswing coming as the back foot slides into place.

Sho-men uchi on the other hand requires no movement of the feet or body with the upswing, but then a co-ordinated lunge and step forward with the whole body when you strike. The stamping step is called fumi-komi ashi. The action of kicking off with the back foot to drive your body forwards is called fumi-kiri dosa.

Being able to do both these two conflicting timings whenever you choose is quite difficult but will come with practice.

Weighting

No, I don't mean "waiting"! I mean how you weight each foot when you do kendo. Many people say you should have your weight a bit towards your back foot, say 40% front, 60% back because you cannot move your front foot when you weight is resting on it. That's wrong for two reasons. Firstly you can't move your front foot when there is any weight resting on it. Secondly it means you are starting by leaning backwards with your body, which doesn't fit with the kendo mindset of always attacking forwards.

There is a very clever way of getting around this problem of "un-weighting" the front foot without having to lean backwards first. It is clever because it also helps us with achieving kikentaiitchi, and even many other shikake waza such as harai waza, ose waza and makiotoshi waza.

You fall forwards.

With your weight evenly on both feet, apply a small amount of extra pressure with your left heel (which as we know is always slightly raised in kamae).

This will cause your centre-of-gravity to move forwards. In other words you will start to lose your balance because you body is moving forwards but your feet are staying still. At the same time as you apply this pressure with your left heel, push your left hand forwards. This starts your backswing.

Just as you reach the point where you are really about to fall over, your swing should be at its apex (highest point, which is 45 degrees above your head for kihon waza). At this point your feet should not have moved, which means your shoulders will be closer to your opponent than your front foot, not a position you can stay in!

So before you fall flat on your face, kick off with your left foot.

At the same time, bring your sword down to cut the target area. Allow the sole of your right foot to land flat on the floor, which is the fumi-komi ashi.

Then bring your left foot up and continue to follow through using okuri ashi.

When the cut and the right foot are in unison, this is the basic achievement of kikentaiitchi.

Cross-training 2: extra training

2010-12-31T02:11:00.008+11:00

Members of the Butoku Washinkai who visited Nanseikan in Oct 2010,

practicing a special drill we use to develop upright posture. It was a lot of fun as you can see!

Cross-training is where you regularly do some other kind of exercise in order to help your main activity, in this case kendo. Usually it means doing something completely different such as weigh-training, running or swimming. However I think extra solo training in kendo movements such as suburi and footwork can also count as cross-training.

Why do cross-training?

In previous generations it is likely that people were, on average, physically stronger than we are now. They may have not lived as long due to poor diet and lack of modern medicine, but generally they would have done more physical exercise either because they walked more as transport, or they did more physical labour because they didn't have machines to help them. They also didn't have so much free-time.

In the case of Japanese people, they would have been very strong in their legs and lower body from sitting on the floor. A lifetime of sitting right down on the floor rather than half-way down onto chairs and couches can make a big difference. This is one of the reasons why kendo has evolved the way it has. There is a great emphasis on legs and feet in kendo, maybe because this was naturally a strong point of the Japanese. This difference has been noticeable even up until recently.

Different reasons for cross-training

Basic — If you find that your natural strength or energy levels are always being tested by kendo training, in other words, if training leaves you feeling wrecked, then it can be helpful to do some other kind of exercise to build up your basic fitness. This is for people who are fairly new to kendo and who maybe have not done any other sports or martial arts before.
Technical — Another reason may be to help with technical issues, such as using too much right hand when cutting. This kind of training uses kendo movements done by yourself to help develop strength and skill, e.g. left-hand only suburi to develop left hand and arm strength.
Elite — Lastly, if you are aiming to improve your level of kendo and feel you are ready for intensive training, such as if you are preparing for a high grading, or if you want to do well at a major competition. This kind of training is for people who are already quite fit and ready for kendo, but want to be even more powerful and be able to develop stamina to last for a greater length of time. This is kind of training is similar to that used by elite athletes.

Principles of cross-training

If you want to get really serious about cross-training there is a lot of info on the net such as Caleb linked to in his previous Shugo-Nanseikan article on cross-training.

In the meantime, here are some basic pointers as to what to consider before starting a regime.

Age

(5-11 y.o.) Cross-training does not really help you if you are still in primary school.

(12-14 y.o.) If you are in year 7-9 then some cross-training can be useful, especially if you are a bit unfit and having trouble lasting until the end of training. But in general just regular attendance at training is enough. You may find that some basic training, or some technical training might be helpful.

(15 y.o. +) If you are in years 10-12 in high school or at university, all three kinds of training can be beneficial, depending on what your needs are. It is at this stage that elite training really becomes possible for the first time.

Working out a program - amount

Exactly what you choose to do depends completely on what you want to get out of your cross-training, your age and your current level of fitness and experience. This needs to be worked out between you, your sensei, and in some cases a qualified fitness consultant

In principle, someone with little fitness who is new to kendo does not need to do very much extra training to notice a big difference.

On the other hand, someone who is quite experienced and who is already quite fit will need to do a great deal more cross-training than the beginner in order to see a difference. However at this level, the difference between winning and losing is tiny, and almost entirely dependent on how much you train. There is an old saying used by sports coaches, "When two competitors of equal skill meet, the winner will be the one who has done the most training."

What to do?

This is a question that can only really be answered in talking with your sensei, however I have some personal guidelines that might be helpful.

One thing to keep in mind: it is necessary to exercise the right muscle groups. Exercising the wrong ones can have at best no effect and at worst, actually be bad for your kendo. For instance doing chin ups to make your arms stronger won't help your kendo as your biceps (muscles on the front of your upper arms) are not so important for swinging the shinai correctly. You might even start swinging your sword like Arnold Schwarzenegger—eurgh!

Lower body (legs, stomach and hips) - in my opinion, developing fitness in these areas is most important for most people. This is why all Nanseikan training starts with zokin. If you come to training you will know already what that is! Running (as Caleb mentions in his original post) is very good of course, as is cycling, my personal favourite. Other static exercises (ones you can do in one spot) like lunges and burpees are also very good, and there are many, many different kinds. Also swimming that focuses on kicking can develop overall leg strength. Finally, practicing ashi-sabaki (kendo footwork) in your own time is definitely good, as it develops the correct muscles.
Upper body (shoulders, arms, chest and back) - in my opinion the best upper body exercises are all based on kendo movements. Weights should only be used by those aged 16 and over. Free weights are best so that you swing them like a shinai. However shinai or suburi-to (extra heavy bokken) are best. Hand-grips are good for improving hand-strength but again, only for upper high school or uni students and older.

Non-strength training

So far all my cross-training tips have been to do with developing strength and/or fitness. But there are other kinds of less physcial cross-training you can do.

Meditation - helps to calm and focus the mind. The benefits of meditation are hard to describe, perhaps because they are a little bit different for everybody, but it is certainly very beneficial for kendo. If you do it, you don't have to do it for long. A solid 5 minutes is enough at first. But you must do it regularly. Every day, and at the same time each day, is excellent. Just do the same as mokuso. The aim is not to think about anything at all. If you find that hard (and you probably will!), try listening to every sound around you, no matter how small and hear the direction that it comes from.
Tai-Chi - this is an ancient form of Chinese exercise that is a bit like moving meditation done standing. The focus is on breathing and moving the whole body in harmony and the movements are based on kung-fu (or is Kung fu based on Tai Chi? I'm not sure... :D). Of course you need to have an instructor for this, but it is probably the single best martial art to cross-train in for kendo.
Yoga - is an ancient Indian form of exercise that's very popular and like Tai-Chi focuses on breathing and harmonious movement of the body into many different positions that stretch the muscles and stimulate energy. Again, you would need to go to separate classes for this.
Image training - this can be done anywhere and you don't need to go to separate classes for it! You simply imagine yourself doing the kind of kendo you want to do. A good way to start is think of someone whose kendo you admire and then imagine yourself as that person, doing that kendo. This is sometimes called visualisation. You might already do it and think of it as day-dreaming! Well it's pretty much the same thing.

So, a pretty long post, I hope you made it to the end. Happy cross-training!

Kiai 気合

2010-12-27T12:24:00.010+11:00

Kiai 気合 is a term used in a lot of Japanese martial arts. Ki is a difficult word to translate but it can mean both energy and also spirit. Ai means meeting or harmony. In kendo we usually think of kiai as being something to do with the voice, but that is not strictly what it means. Kiai is a form of communication with your opponent, letting them know your intention to give everything to the match. It is possible for kiai to be completely without sound.

The AJKF Kendo Dictionary defines kiai as:

"The state where one is fully focused on the opponent's move (sic) and one's planned moves. Also refers to vocalisations one produces when in such a state of mind."

So we do use our voice to express kiai but kiai is not just the voice. In Japanese the shout itself is called kakegoe 掛声. The voice is how we begin to understand kiai, using our shout very carefully and deliberately to show our intention. This is why we say ki-ken-tai-itchi is:

ki 気 (energy) = the shout
ken 剣 (sword) = the cut
tai 体 (body) = the right foot
itchi 一致 (as one) = happening together

Different kinds of kiai

There are different kinds of voiced kiai in kendo. They include:

kiai that tests your opponent
kiai that creates an opportunity
kiai that expresses your intention to cut

Kiai that tests your opponent

This is the kiai that you produce as soon as you stand up from sonkyo when in a match or keiko. It announces your resolve, your courage. In a sense it asks a question of your opponent: "Are you ready? Because I am!"

This kind of kiai is also used throughout the match as the two kenshi vie for supremacy from the distance of to-ma.

There are no set words or sounds for this kind of kiai. Everyone eventually develops their own sound with their own "words" (which of course aren't words at all). Often one's kiai will change over time, even after it has reached 'maturity'.

Kiai that creates an opportunity

The previous kiai can easily lead to this kind of kiai. There is an old school of naginata that has a specific word for this kind of voiced kiai, and that is yagoe 矢声, or "arrow-voice". It means sending your voice out like a weapon that strikes your opponent even before your attack does.

This kind of focused kiai is not an easy technique to achieve each and every time, but we could say it comes from a very powerful intention to overcome one's opponent. Usually the opportunity that such a kiai gives us to attack is extremely small, especially with experienced opponents, so there is no time to sit back and watch for their reaction. You step in with your body and your spirit, confident that you will overcome them, and then you attack with confidence immediately.

Kiai that expresses your intention to cut

This is the kiai that happens when you cut. It must be in unison with your cut and your body movement. It is either "MEN!", KOTE!", "DO!" or "TSUKI!"

In the beginning it can sometimes be difficult for shinpan (referees) to detect an inexperienced person's intention through their attitude, especially since kyu grade matches can become very messy. So it is necessary for the kiai of junior kenshi to be very clear as well. As they become more experienced it is easier to tell what their intended target was and whether they have achieved their aim, so this is when the actual sound of "men", "kote", etc, becomes a little blurry. It is not so necessary for a senior kenshi to pronounce the words properly, or even at all, for the shinpan to know when they have scored correctly.

However even if your kiai is not clear in terms of what it sounds like, I believe it should still be loud, it should be long and it should start at the moment of cutting, not after or before. Lately there has been a fashion for Japanese kenshi of university level (sometimes as high as police level) to produce their kiai quite a moment after their cut has been made. Personally I believe this is a kind of affectation and should not be imitated.

What is a good sound to make?

Apart from the names of the datotsubui (target areas), the best kiai sound I believe is "Yaaa!" With experience you will find a sound that fits, not your personality, but your body. But you will come up with it naturally. In the meantime, "Yaaa!" is a very good start. It is simple. It prepares your body for action. It can be projected easily and forcefully. And it doesn't mean anything embarrassing in any language that I know of!

Zanshin 残心

2010-12-22T06:26:00.005+11:00

Zanshin translates as "remaining mind". In basic terms its kendo meaning is follow-through. Zanshin in its fundamental form means moving forwards after completing one’s attack and hence passing by one’s opponent, then at a safe distance quickly turning and taking up kamae ready to continue, regardless of the success or failure of one’s previous actions.

In other words, you follow through the same whether your cut scores or not. It is the readiness to follow-through both with your body and your mental attitude.

Zanshin is a natural by-product of one’s commitment to, and momentum from, the attack. It cannot be added if/when one sees one’s attack has been successful. If you do try to add it on after you've seen that your attack worked, then it only shows that the attack itself was a fluke.

Kiai in the form of a sustained, powerful voice should be used to assist zanshin:

ME~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NNN!!!!!!

Zanshin is expressed in the Bokuto Kihon not as follow through, but as a mindful drawing back to distance, maintaining focus on the opponent by keeping the kensen pointed at their throat. Your threat is not lowered until you return to kamae.

Zanshin is expressed in Nihon Kendo no Kata in various ways appropriate to the techniques employed in each kata: sometimes following through (sanbonme, nanahonme), sometimes drawing back (gohonme), sometimes taking a new kamae such as jodan (ipponme, ropponme).

Zanshin and sutemi are inextricably linked. Your commitment to your attack results in a momentum that cannot be stopped and must be expressed somehow. This expression is zanshin. It also can refer to a kind of "situational awareness". This is a term used in Military and Law Enforcement training to describe a mind that in always alert for danger.

Seme - overview

2010-12-09T11:35:00.013+11:00

Seme 攻め means to attack, in the sense of 'to storm a castle'. When I was first learning kendo it was translated as 'pressure', that you put pressure on your opponent. I think it is that too, but it is more than just pressure.

How does it work?

I have spoken about seme a few times in different articles, and very often in the dojo. It is one of those things that is easy to talk about but hard to put into practice!

Seme is a force which creates the opportunity for you to strike your opponent.

Seme does not happen accidentally, it happens because you make it happen. In English we usually say that someone 'creates seme'.

You create seme by convincing your opponent that you are about to do something that they will not be able to stop.

So you have to be able to threaten your opponent convincingly. There are several ways that can happen. The first group are physical threats:

you threaten them with your size
you threaten them with your speed
you threaten them with your appearance (how you look in their eyes)
you threaten them with your kiai
you threaten them by closing distance
you threaten them by knocking their shinai off-line
you threaten them with your attacks

There are also non-physical threats, known generally as kizeme 気攻 which are much more subtle and come mostly through experience. These are outside the range of this article. However in principle they have a lot to do with knowing your opponent and being able to stifle their plans, creating a sense of threat with little or no physical movement on your part.

But to return to the physical actions above, let's look at them one-by-one.

Threaten with your size

This is easier for big people because they are used to seeing others react to their size all the time in everyday life, but it is still possible for everyone to create a sense of size to their kendo. To do this you need:

good posture, so that you are as tall as possible
a well-shaped men, to create an imposing shape
well-looked after dogi, especially a hakama that is straight and the right length
self-confidence
the feeling that you are looking down on your opponent, even if they are taller
an enormous kiai – there are no height limitations to this!

Threaten with your speed

Of course this works for people who are naturally fast, but speed is not just how quick you move, it is whether you can move before your opponent. It means being first by seeing the opportunity to act before your opponent does. Everyone can improve their speed by:

regular suburi at home
other exercise, especially for the lower body like running, bike riding or soccer
getting to the dojo before training and being ready at the designated start time (not arriving at the designated start time and being ready 10mins later)
being first to understand instructions and act on them
being first person to put on men and be ready in line
being first to do keiko with sensei or experienced visitors

Threaten with your appearance

This relates closely to 'size', and many of the points are similar. If you have clean and well-maintained bogu and dogi (including tenugui that is washed and ironed before each training) you will make an impression on your opponent as someone they should take seriously. The way you act when not training is also important: no chit-chat during training (before and after yes, during - no.), no chewing gum, no leaning, no sitting down with legs outstretched, no leaning against the walls or furniture, etc, etc.

When fighting, your face gives away a lot about you and your intentions. Keep a calm and emotionless face – it's more threatening and less tiring than a war-face.

Always keep the best posture you can. Pull your chin in, shoulders down and back, tilt your pelvis back slightly, weight even on both feet, glide lightly across the floor. The way you stand should show a sense of grace and dignity. It will make you seem tall, whether you are or not.

Threaten with your kiai

When each keiko starts, you must begin with your best kiai. This is the first waza (technique) of any keiko.

Over time, your kiai will naturally become stronger, more impressive. This is not just about how loud you are but about your character. You kiai tells your opponent that you will never give up, and that you are confident in your abilities. It is an upward spiral – your kiai will also give you that confidence. As you say it, at that very moment it becomes the truth.

Threaten by closing distance

Being the first to close the distance to your striking distance (uchima) is the way we train basics (kihon) at our club. From far distance (to-ma), step confidently in to striking range (uchima) and kiai "YAAA!". Then cut men and follow through. This is our normal sequence.

So this closing of distance should be familiar. The main points are:

do not step in unless you have a strategy
step in with utmost confidence and decisiveness always
always aim to step in straight and take control of the centre-line (chushin). Never go around your opponent's kensen!
step in and quickly come to a position from where you are balanced, ready, and can strike. This means stepping in without crossing your feet.
bring your back foot into position with lightning speed

When the tip of your sword crosses that of your opponent, it is like invading another country. Be ready to go all the way to the capital city and capture it decisively without hesitation, then you will have conquered your enemy competely!

Threaten by knocking their shinai off-line

This is not just a technique for creating an opening, it can also be research into your opponent's mindset and how they react. Do they flinch? Do they start to attack as an automatic reaction? Is their grip weak or strong?

Done at the right moment and with enough tenouchi, a slap of the shinai can also have a strong psychological effect, worrying or distracting your opponent enough that they forget their strategy for a moment. It can be done with or without kiai, with or without fumikomi. But it should be done no more than about twice in any keiko or shiai. It must always have a purpose—either to create an opening to attack straight away (as in harai waza) or to observe your opponent's reaction—otherwise it becomes a sign not of your confidence but of your nervousness.

Threaten with your attacks

This is what it all comes down to – will you follow through with your threats?

"OK", says your opponent to themselves, "they look confident and they sound pretty loud. Are they really that tough? Oh, they've stepped in to range... what are they going to do about it?"

If your opponent is thinking that way, this is good. But if they get to have that whole last thought, then you haven't acted, but have just stood there looking impressive when actually you're just a paper tiger. Pretty soon your opponent will know they can control and dominate you mentally without too much trouble. No matter what you do to try to create seme, it won't have any effect, because it carries no threat. They know that nothing's going to happen. This is where seme becomes difficult.

This is how it should sound in your opponent's mind:

"OK. They look confident and they sound pretty loud. Are they really that tough? Oh, they've stepped in to range... wha--"

PON!

Just as they start to wonder, you cut off that thought with your attack. Even if it doesn't score, you've now got them on the back foot. They know you will attack if you need to, that your seme has a real threat to it, and that you are now controlling their thought process, not the other way around.

This is the beginnings of seme.

Sumi sensei seminar notes - 23 Oct 2010

2010-11-01T12:19:00.015+11:00

角正武先生の剣道講習会

Kendo Seminar
with Sumi Masatake sensei
hosted by Mumeishi Kendo Club Australia

23 October 2010
Kenshikan, Melbourne

Notes

First session

Suburi training method

To avoid excessive lever action being applied during suburi, start practice with hands together on the tsuka near the tsuba.

Practice –

• joge-buri
• naname-buri with hiraki ashi
• renzoku sho-men
• renzoku sayu-men with hiraki ashi
• hayasuburi

Then repeat this sequence of suburi styles with hands in normal position on tsuka.

Kihon practice
(men o tsuke)

1. Start by practicing cutting men with no follow through. Stop at fumikomi. This practices balance and posture.

2. Then change to cutting and following through to tsubazeriai but no taiatari, just come to a point of touching opponent’s kote in tsubazeriai. After 3 times, on the last time follow through as normal.

3. Next, cut men and follow through but opponent retreats, remaining in front of you. The opponent then does the technique. One for one. “Endless!”

4. Next is men and coming in to taiatari. Practice one for one also. “We must remember to do these step-by-step…” (increasing in difficulty with each drill, the last one the hardest).

Repeat steps 1—4 this time focusing on kote.

TIP
After cutting kote come to taiatari, but be sure to bring shinai back to omote (right) side of opponent’s shinai when in tsubazeriai. This allows you to keep your hips straight on to your opponent, and allows you to effectively control their shinai.

Repeat steps 1–4 with do. Think of do as being up-down, same as men and kote, not up and around-and-down.

Next, practice men-kaeshi-do, starting by cutting and moving to the left of your opponent using hiraki ashi, no follow through. Then practice men-kaeshi-do stepping away to the right, hiraki ashi, no follow through.

Kiri kaeshi - Sumi style

Perform kirikaeshi to this patterm with no follow through.

Men ------------------------→taiatari, 5 x sayumen (cutting on the spot)
last men cut and draw back to distance

←--------------------------------------------

Men ----------------------→ follow through

Do sequence in one breath.

Try increasing to 7 x sayumen in one breath

Seme

This sequence of drills looks at seme and it’s application to shikake waza (attacking waza).
1. From to-ma, close distance to your issoku itto no maai (IIM). Then from there, seme.

2. Seme with either you head or your front foot in order to create a change in your opponent’s mind and posture.

3. Then attack with the whole body: sutemi 捨て身 (“sacrifice everything”) .

This is the basic practice of seme. It is an ideal situation, not the reality of a match.

Hikiwaza based seme exercise:

1. Both sides cut men (ai-men),

2. one side does hiki waza – either hiki men, kote or do, whichever they prefer.

3. Then both sides come back into IIM, look for the opportunity, and attack.

The important aspect of this exercise is to continue kiai all the way from the hikiwaza through the final technique. “Don’t cut your spirit!”

(NOTE: This exercise was quite tricky for many people because it appears that one person is the motodachi but in fact both are participating equally. Steps (1) and (2) are simply a way of creating a higher level of anticipation and energy prior to the actual seme exercise. In particular it is important for the two kendoka to examine the difference in the intensity of their preparation before the cut, whether they are the one who has done the hiki waza or the other one who has not. The one who has done the hiki waza should have a slight edge in terms of their preparation and energy level, which their opponent must be careful either to match or exploit in some way).

For the first set of this hikiwaza based exercise, the final attack should be just men.

For the second set, use any target.

Third set should be ni-san dan waza. Don’t just choose conventional combinations like kote-men, kote-do, etc, but explore less common variations such as men-kote, tsuki-men, tsuki-kote, etc

Fourth set should finish with a perfect* attack.

Next, the whole sequence can be repeated starting with both sides striking kote instead (ai-gote).

*Sumi sensei means that after starting with the most simple variation, then building up to very complex ones, to come back to executing an ideal waza, but one which now has a greater intensity and realism as a result of the dynamic drills completed just prior. This is a basic principle of his teaching method.

Oji-waza

This sequence of drills looks at seme and ojiwaza (counter-attacking waza).

Starting at tsubazeriai:

1. perform hiki waza of your choice

2. offer men to your opponent (should include a small seme step in)

3. counter attack with oji waza of your choice

“Hiki waza. Stop. And then invite—step in, and keep balance!”

Second variation, repeat steps (1) to (3) but offer kote instead and counter to kote.

These oji waza drills starting with hiki waza work on the same principle as the previous seme drills focusing on shikake waza: to examine the way that intensity, preparation and initiative vary between opponents according to the situation. Always starting drills from a static position allows you to train only an ideal kind of waza, whereas a more dynamic starting point allows you to train for not only more realism but also how to capitalise on, or neutralise the ascendancy

Kirikaeshi – Sumi style

Men -----------→ taiatari then 3 x men

←--------------------------------------------

back to distance

men -----------→ opponent absorbs

Change over.

When receiving, block only one or two of opponent’s cuts randomly. If opponent does not strike your men properly, they must repeat the sequence.

Tsubazeriai

Tsubazeriai is performed with the tsubas locked together.

Like this…

Not this way…

Performed correctly, tsubazeriai allows you to stifle attacks on both omote and ura sides of your shinai.

Second session

Bokuto Kihon

Sumi sensei led the team that devised the Bokuto ni yoru kihon waza keiko ho, or “Sequence for practicing basic technique via use of the wooden sword”. Sumi sensei calls this “Bokuto kihon” for short. The basic nine kata should be familiar to most by now.

While this exercise is usually done without bogu and using the bokuto it can also be practiced with the shinai and using full bogu. In this case, full contact is made when performing the exercises, including tsuki.

Opening rei for bokuto kihon with shinai:

1. Rei and Sonkyo as normal
2. Kamaete
3. Kamae o toku (lower the sword in the ‘truce’ position as for kata)
4. One, large step back.
5. Kamaete

For kihon ichi, take care to observe that each cut has a different starting distance.

You must be careful to come to the correct distance for the next technique of kihon ichi when finishing the previous one.

Motodachi receives kote but lifting their kensen straight up.

"Fast backswing is important for a correct cut.
A fast backswing leads to completing a cut in a single movement ('ichibyoshi')"

When receiving kihon ni, ni-san dan no waza (kote-men), motodachi receives kote lifting straight up, then steps back and pushes kensen down to point at four o’clock so as to receive men on the omote side. Motodachi should have a brisk rhythm, not

“kote....... men”

but

“kote, men”

Motodachi, when receiving kihon san, harai waza: after crossing swords and making ‘mind contact’, then looses power in their kamae so harai can take place. Harai-men should be one action not two.

Kihon yon, nuki do: the footwork for the nuki do is not just sideways but diagonally forwards. Backswing for the cut only needs to be in front of your own face (not above your head), then the feeling is cutting forward, with a feeling of “throwing off” or casting the kensen forwards.

Kihon go, hiki do: kakarite strikes men, motodachi blocks (similar to kirikaeshi), then both step into tsubazeriai (see diagram above). Kakarite pushes down on motodachi’s tsuba and then cuts do.

Kihon roku, suriage men: suriage kote handwork is forwards, footwork is backwards.

Kihon nana, debana waza: Motodachi lifts straight up to receive kote.

Kihon hachi, kaeshi do: important to consider that kaeshi is not blocking but that kaeshi and cut are a single movement.

“Kaeshido”

not

“Kaeshi. Do.”

Kihon kyu, uchiotoshi do: kakarite must use feet to change direction of hips when receiving motodachi’s do attack.

You can also do Bokuto Kihon as uchikomigeiko. Use continuous kiai and suriashi, (but no follow through).

Jigeiko

Jigeiko contains many different forms of practice. When doing jigeiko against motodachi for instance, jigeiko should start as gokakugeiko, or practice between equals. This means the motodachi fights the student with complete intensity and both try to find the opening by unbalancing their opponent.

After a short time, the motodachi will change the training to either hikitate-geiko (training where they try and draw the best techniques from the student) or kakarigeiko (repetitive attacking practice).

Kakarigeiko should not be attacking willy-nilly, but creating a connection before attacking with sutemi.

Jigeiko format – Sumi style

1. Standing up from Sonkyo, student gives a big kiai.
2. Motodachi responds with their own big kiai.
3. Student kiais .
4. Motodachi kiais
5. Student gives a final big kiai and then cuts men following through
6. Student does five men following through
7. On the last men, student comes to taiatari
8. Student cuts sayu men five times on the spot. Motodachi blocks and also receives on their men randomly. If student misses on of the strikes to motodachi’s men, must repeat that sequence.
9. After last cut student draws back to distance.
10. Repeat steps (7) (8) and (9)
11. Student cuts men following through.

12. Student and motodachi commence jigeiko.

These notes are an incomplete record of the day’s instruction. Any errors or omissions are my own. b

Solo training: variety

2010-09-13T11:53:00.005+10:00

One of the most important ways for really developing your kendo is the training you do by yourself. This training falls into two main categories: fitness training and technical training. With either kind, the thing that will keep you doing it is variety. Solo training can get boring, so it's important to work out how to give yourself some variety to keep it interesting.

Sometimes that variety can be quite a small change, but it might be enough to help you reach the end of the routine you have set for yourself. Let me give an example.

You have set yourself a target of 500 hayasuburi everyday. OK so 500 all at once is maybe a bit tough in the beginning. What do you do? Do you say, "oh that's too hard, I think I'll update my Facebook profile instead"? Of course not.

Start with a small amount, e.g. 50 hayasuburi.

Have a short break and then another 50.

Rest.

OK, now you're feeling good, you've got some energy back. The next 50 will be easy... But at around 39-40 you really start to struggle. Don't get discouraged!

Rest.

Now break them up.

Do 20 shomen, 10 sayumen and 20 shomen...

Done! Easy.

That little bit of variety helps distract your mind from thinking about getting tired. Instead, even as silly as it sounds, you can look forward to the change from straight cuts to diagonal cuts. I guarantee you'll finish the set much less tired, and looking forward to the next one.

So instead of doing your suburi with thoughts in your head like, "oh man! this is so hard!", you do them thinking, "Ok only 10 more then I can change." Negative thoughts tend to tire you as much as the physical exercise itself. Probably more so. Positive or neutral thoughts allow you to just do what is necessary.

My pattern is to count in sets of 20. That means I think of 100 suburi as being not 100 movements but 5 sets. If I think I only have to do 5 rather than 100, already that makes it seem easier.

Then I think of them as being one set straight, one set diagonal, one set straight, one set diagonal, one set straight. So three sets straight and two sets diagonal. Thinking of it as 3 and 2 is even less than 5! Even though I still end up doing 100 suburi and my brain knows exactly what I'm doing, it's still possible to "trick" myself into thinking the exercise is easy rather than hard.

So either 100 (sounds hard!).

Or 5 sets of 20 (sounds much easier!)

Or 3 sets and 2 sets (easiest of all!)

Try this yourself and let me know how it goes. Let me know what patterns and variety you end up thinking for yourself. b

Make your own isotonic sports drink

2010-07-29T22:14:00.006+10:00

Antioxidant balls growing on a tree.*

Save yourself money, plastic bottles and being ripped off by big business!

OK, so what's this got to do with kendo? Plenty. As the northern hemisphere swelters through a hot summer you'll be needing a good way to rehydrate. Here it will be our turn soon enough!

At the Kitamoto Summer School for Kendo it's nothing for some people to lose up to 7 kg of their body weight in the course of a day's training. As 1 litre of water weighs 1 kg, that's 7 litres if water coming out as sweat!

Of course water is good for rehydration, and 麦茶 (mugi-cha or cold barley tea) is great, but both do pass through your system quite quickly. Isotonic sports drinks have been shown to re-hydrate the body more effectively through the addition of electrolytes. The theory, as far as I understand it, is that the addition of these electrolytes (i.e. salts) encourages the body to retain a higher percentage of fluids. In other words you don't go to the toilet as much!

Years ago I heard a story that athletes at the 2004 Olympics in Athens were responding to the extreme heat and shortage of sports drinks by emptying sachets of salt into their water bottles. Whenever I buy a sports drink I always feel ripped off at how little 'content' there is. Basically water, sugar and salt. And for that you pay a premium for the privilege of adding another plastic bottle into the recyclosphere.

Recently I was bed-ridden with a bad case of gastro. My wife bought me some bottles of sports drink and I had time to read the label. This New Zealand-made brand was thoughtful enough to list all of them in detail (Australian labelling laws allow for the use of substitute code-numbers). From that, and some trial and error of my own, I came up with this recipe. Fine tune it to your own taste and save a fortune!

Ben's isotonic wonder drink (makes 750ml)

2-4 heaped teaspoons of sugar

3 drops apple cider vinegar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tbs lemon juice (or lime, orange, mandarin, etc, or any combination)

hot and cold water

Method

Dissolve the dry ingredients in 1/2 cup hot water. Then add vinegar and lemon juice. You can experiment with honey instead of sugar if you prefer. Add remaining cold water. Voila!

As you can see there is indeed very little 'content'. It's 99% water. The electrolytes are just sodium chloride, a.k.a. salt. The secret ingredient is the vinegar. The right amount helps to combine the taste of the salt and the sugar, making them palatable without the vinegar being noticeable itself.

This drink contains everything the commercial drinks contain:

carbohydrates (sugar),
electrolytes (salt),
antioxidants, Vitamin C (a.k.a. lemon juice)

—everything except for one thing, the added B-group vitamins. And there's an easy way around that, just eat a Vegemite sandwich with your drink! b

* (Yes, they're just lemons really).

Is kendo fake?

2010-07-09T00:23:00.012+10:00

The answer is yes, absolutely.

Whaaaa~?!
Kendo is not real swordsmanship. It is an art based on swordsmanship.

If that sounds harsh then let me say that kendo is to fighting for life-and-death with real swords what a Van Gogh painting of sunflowers is to real sunflowers. It is not the real thing, but it is a wonderful substitute, a work of genius.

Van Gogh, Vase with Fourteen sunflowers

Let's go back a bit...
Before kendo, some styles of swordsmanship used sparring with bokken, or with early shinai. Some developed armour. But most did not.

When Japan opened up to the West in 1868, many teachers of swordsmanship fell onto hard times. Japanese culture was out, Western culture was cool, and not many people wanted or needed to learn how to fight with swords. (Later there would even be Imperial decrees banning first the wearing of the samurai topknot, and then the wearing of swords in public).

So a man named Sakakibara Kenkichi (sitting down on the right in the picture above) organised exhibition matches between different styles of kenjutsu using armour and shinai. Even though the styles used different techniques, some common ground could be found. Perhaps it was like a kenjutsu version of the UFC... These exhibition matches drew large crowds and for a while made enough money for some of the participants to eke out a modest living. For that reason alone, many other teachers of swordsmanship looked down on these competitions, called gekken kogyo, as crass commercialisation. But after a while the people grew tired of them and they closed down. What no-one realised then was that a new artform had been born.

Is kendo some kind of WWE?
Kendo has its origins in the entertainment industry as much as on the battlefield. But that was only for a short time. It left the world of vaudeville and entertainment behind. Something new had been created, a way of testing the effectiveness of sword techniques in a non-lethal setting, and in a standardised way.

Some senior teachers of swordsmanship were still troubled by the fact that Japan's sword heritage – all the knowledge and skill amassed over centuries – would be lost. They applied to the Education Department to have this new artform, gekken (later to be called kendo), made an official part of the high school curriculum. Eventually they succeeded. At around the same time the Imperial Police force was having trouble with several rebellions by disgruntled samurai who didn't like the way Japan was headed. It was decided that as a result all police would need sword training as well.

To this day, high school and universities on the one hand, and the police force on the other, are the places were kendo is practiced most intensely in Japan.

It is sometimes said that kendo turned a way of death into a way of life, but perhaps it also produced something real from something fake. b

Intention: the difference between kendo and pillow-fighting

2010-07-04T08:45:00.017+10:00

A mass pillow-fight in San Fransisco found at laughingsquid.com

One of the most important things about kendo is intention. You can't score a point if the shinpan think that you accidentally hit the target area. An intention is an aim or plan. You have a plan to do something then you carry it out. In kendo there are no accidental cuts. We would say that all cuts in kendo must be deliberate, which means something done consciously and intentionally; fully considered, not impulsive.

Why is it so important?
Without intention, kendo would become wild and chaotic. There would be no need to train because a beginner would be just as likely to score with a 'fluke' shot as would a more experienced person. This would make kendo about as meaningful as a pillow fight: lots of fun for a short time, but not something you would spend your life studying.

How do you show intention?
In kendo there are several ways we show intention:

yelling the name of the target area when we strike
co-ordinating the timing of the right foot, strike and kiai
following through without hesitation

One of the ways that the rules of kendo guarantee our cuts were intended is that these three aspects must take place together. When this happens we say there is yuko datotsu, or the requirements for a valid strike. In a competition this leads to being awarded ippon.

But what are the nuts and bolts of 'intention'?

Sutemi
捨て身 Sutemi or to "sacrifice yourself" is an important kendo concept. It means that once you have made up your mind what you are going to do that you throw everything into your attack; holding nothing back in reserve, not even the slightest shred of doubt or desire to protect yourself from any counter attack. This is how we practice kendo until the level of about 3rd dan, with great vigour and energy, not worrying too much about anything but our own commitment to our attacks. From 4th dan onwards, a different approach is required, but one that requires a solid basis in training with sutemi in order to be successful.

Katte utsu
勝って打つ Katte utsu or "win first, then strike" means that you should create the opening in your opponent's defenses before cutting. It also means not having a strategy of just charging headlong at your opponent with a barrage of attacks and hoping that one of them gets through. Katte utsu is not something we can achieve every time. It is something to strive for, like mushin, and sometimes we get a glimpse of what it means in practice.

Katte utsu is a direct contradiction of sutemi and seems to cancel it out, but kendo we know is full of paradoxes. Katte utsu requires the ability to apply convincing seme (attacking pressure, threat) to your opponent in order to make them hesitate. Without a solid grounding in the practice of sutemi, which you could call "the ability to attack 100% no matter the odds", your seme will lack sufficient threat and your opponent will not be put off. When your seme does have this authority then you will be able to control your opponent.

It should be mentioned that you will naturally find you can apply katte utsu against those less experienced than you most easily, those with the same experience only sometimes, and those with greater experience almost never. From 4th dan onwards, katte utsu should become central to your kendo, replacing sutemi but still informed by it. And even if you are a long way off reaching 4th dan, it may be helpful to know a little of what lies ahead.

Conclusion
Intention means having a plan of what you want to do. Obviously in kendo it is then necessary to put that plan into action. In the beginning you might be happy to seize opportunities that come about by themselves. In English this is called being opportunistic. But as you progress, you learn how to make those opportunities happen. In effect you are no longer a passenger in the car, you are now the driver who decides which way to go.

This article has been a brief look at the idea of intention as it applies to kendo, and some methods of applying it. However it is a very subtle idea and requires practice and your own research in order to understand it for yourself. b

Kendo strategy 3 - the scientist

2010-06-21T11:26:00.010+10:00

To recap what I spoke about last Saturday, here are some thoughts to take with you into next weeks shiai at Melbourne Uni.

How is it that some people enjoy shiai and some do not? Recently we had a woman named Christina training in Melbourne. She is from Europe and in her country she is national women's champion. She is also a scientist. That fact got me thinking about why she might be so good at shiai: perhaps she looks at shiai like science. Rather than feel like she always has to win, maybe she thinks instead that she always must collect data, information. A scientist never expects every experiment to work. Most of them fail. But every experiment tells the scientist something important, even the failures. In that way there really are no failed experiments, they are all useful.

This is the way we should look at shiai. Be curious about finding out information about your opponent. If something doesn't work, make a note of that and then try something else. If you can have this open-minded approach, you will be able to perceive a lot more about the situation. On the other hand if you are only interested in trying not to lose you will become fearful and nervous. You will get tunnel vision and may miss opportunities. You will also tire more quickly.

You can either see the world like this:

Or like this:

Be like a scientist. Be curious. Be logical. Always look for the most up-to-date information to help you make your decisions. I think this is the more enjoyable way of approaching shiai. b

Why is kendo called kendo?

2010-06-10T22:28:00.028+10:00

This is a Nihonto (日本刀), a Japanese sword.

image (c) Miyako Budogu

刀 means sword. This character is also pronounced katana.

This is a ken 剣. It's a Chinese sword.

This kind of sword is used in Tai Chi Chuan.

You can see that it's a straight sword and that its handle is only big enough for one hand. It is also double-edged, not single-edged like a katana. Not very much like the swords we use is it?

So why are we learning kendo 剣道 and not todo 刀道?

Well as far as I can work out, there are two main reasons.

In English, if we want to refer to something in general, we can say "a sword". However if we want to talk about something specific, we can say "the sword". Japanese does not have "a" and "the" like English does. We say "Do you own a sword?" and "Yes, the sword over there is my sword." In Japanese you would say, "Sword have?" and the answer would be "Over there's sword is", or more simply, "Hai."

This is all well and good if talking about concrete objects: actual swords. But what if you want to talk about the epitome of all swords, an abstract, ideal or conceptual sword? In English we solve this by using capital letters. We talk about the swords we use in kendo, and then we talk about The Way of the Sword. Notice how both "Way" and "Sword" have a capital letter. This means we are talking about not just any old way, not just any old sword. Japanese does not have any capital letters so they have to find another way to talk about the 'mother of all swords', if I can put it like that!

China's is a much older culture than Japan's, and China gave Japan so much: writing, tea, Buddhism, etc, etc, etc. The Japanese therefore feel deep down that China is, in many ways, the source of things. This is much the same as how European cultures think of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. When people want to describe something almost beyond words in English, they might use Latin or Greek to explain it.

So the Japanese refer to a sword that came from China, a very old design, maybe older than Japan itself: something from the mists of time, almost magical.

Most Japanese would think of this fellow when they think of someone wielding a ken.

His name is Fudo Myo-o and he is one of the Buddhist protector deities.

His ken is used not used to kill things, since he is a Buddhist, but rather to "cut off delusive thoughts"

which means thoughts that are silly or a waste of time.

A to/katana is something you use in battle, a real thing you can hold in your hand. But to the Japanese, a ken is an idea, a myth, something that exists only in the mind. This is perhaps why we call the Way of the Sword kendo, and not todo. Ken is how you say "the Sword" with a capital "S", in Japanese.

So to recap: 刀 is a sword.

剣 is the Sword.

This is one reason.

The other reason is much briefer and I came across it today in a new book. At the end of the book the author, Mr Toshinobu Sakai, says that with the double-edged sword:

"One blade edge points towards the enemy, and the other edge always at the internal Self."

By that he means that the ken reminds us that the sword has a dual purpose: we must try and defeat our opponent, but we should also try and improve ourselves, always. b

Welcoming an attack

2010-05-30T15:19:00.007+10:00

irasshaimase! (welcome!)

Yesterday we practiced oji-waza (counter-attacking techniques) and in particular different kinds of nuki-waza (escaping/evading techniques). The waza we practiced were men-nuki-men, men-nuki-kote, and men-nuki-do.

First we practiced the timing and distance against a suburi-style straight men cut with no follow through. Then we practiced against an opponent who was trying to cut a conventional men-uchi with follow-through. This second exercise required us to use seme (attacking pressure) to induce our opponent to cut men.

In the beginning it was hard to perform the seme and then wait for the opponent to start their attack. Most people did the seme and then rushed, willy-nilly, straight into performing nuki waza. This caused their counter-attack to fail because it was too early, or occasionally it succeeded but was so early that it became debana waza (forestalling techniques). Of course there is nothing wrong with scoring using debana waza in a match. But during training we are trying to perfect all our waza, not just repeat the things we are good at.

With practice it became easier to induce the opponent's attack using seme, then with courage, allow them to start their attack and choose the right moment to evade and counter with nuki waza. The important thing here was having the courage to let the opponent attack, then use footwork to evade their attack while staying in a good position to deliver the counter-attack.

It is important to remember that we can't stop our opponent from attacking us, but by welcoming (迎え - mukae) their attack and observing what they do, we can easily counter any attack.

Kuzushii 崩

2010-03-16T13:22:00.005+11:00

Don't worry, everyone was evacuated before it fell.

There is a word for what high level kendoka do to create an opening, and that is kuzushii. It is often translated as unbalance, or unsettle, but it can also mean demolish, give way, break, cave in, etc. It's a very cool looking kanji as well, made up of a mountain sitting on top of two moons.

崩

Exactly how you create this kuzushii in your opponent is what kendoka spend their lives studying. But I think the image of something like the picture above happening inside your opponent is a good one to have. b

Shikake waza and centre

2010-03-15T22:51:00.010+11:00

Why a broom? Well, harai means 'sweep'...

Shikake waza are the techniques in kendo where you attack your opponent before they move. Usually this means moving their shinai off the centre-line (chushin) first. We recently practiced the main shikake waza:

Harai - usually a "J"-shaped sweeping movement from below.

Ose - pushing down on your opponent's shinai from on top with the feeling of "riding" it.

Makiotoshi - a spiralling movement of your shinai that finishes by flinging your opponent's shinai into the ground.

Uchiotoshi - striking down strongly on your opponent's sword from above.

All these waza can be done on both sides, omote (forehand) and ura (backhand).

This is what they look like, but how do we make them actually work?

To be effective the following points need to be kept in mind:

In the case of harai and uchiotoshi, you should use the monouchi (top 1/3 of the shinai) to strike with, and you should strike your opponent's sword around the halfway point or even closer to their tsuba.
In the case of ose and makiotoshi, your sword should not make contact with just one part of the opponent's sword but should slide along it, getting closer to their tsuba as you do the technique.
In all these shikake waza, your body should be moving towards your opponent as you are doing the technique.
Most importantly, and as Fujiwara sensei noted, your own sword should stay close to (or immediately come back to) chushin once the waza is finished and just prior to the cut.

Why come back to centre before the cut? Shouldn't I just do the waza and then cut?

Many people, especially beginners make the mistake of making a large movement that takes their shinai off the centre-line so that it ends up pointing at the ceiling or the wall. They then have to bring their sword back in line before they can cut correctly, or worse, cut from an off-line position so that their technique becomes wild and undisciplined.

If you concentrate on bringing the tip of your shinai back in line with your opponent's throat as soon as you finished any shikake waza, you give yourself the best chance of then being able to make use of the opening you have created.

The feeling is a bit like how you have learned to snap your left foot into place as quickly as possible. So you should have the feeling of snapping the kensen (tip of your sword) back to the centre line as soon as possible.

When do I use these different waza?

If you go to this post on Shugo-Nanseikan from a while back, you will find some of the different situations when particular shikake waza are most useful.

Defeat

2009-10-19T22:16:00.013+11:00

Being defeated, being beaten by an opponent, is one of the hardest things to deal with in kendo*. Sometimes, when we have tried really hard and we still get beaten, it makes us want to give up kendo. Some people do.

It is because it is so difficult to bear that being defeated has the most to teach us about our kendo, and also about ourselves. Someone who has learned to come back from defeat in kendo will be able to deal better with hardship outside of kendo, because they know defeat is only temporary. They also know that today's defeat contains the seeds of tomorrow's victory.

As a result, being defeated becomes a precious and valuable experience because it shows us our weak points. If we are humble and dedicated, we can use that knowledge to develop our weak points so that they become our strengths. This is how we improve as kendoka. This is why there is a saying in kendo, "When you are defeated, give thanks." Your opponent has just shown you what you need to know to win next time.

But it still hurts...
Then think about this:

The Shinkage Ryu was developed from the Kage Ryu by Kamiizumi Ise no Kami.

Yagyu Sekishusai was already an experienced samurai when he first met Kamiizumi. Sekishusai had first led troops into battle when he was only 15 years old, and many times since then he had been singled out for praise for his bravery in war. This was the Sengoku Jidai or 'Warring States Period' in Japanese history, when the many small domains that made up Japan were constantly fighting each other. In other words, Sekishusai knew what real fighting was and he was pretty good at it, good enough to survive.

In 1564 the Shinkage Ryu founder and some of his students were in the area where the Yagyu family lived. It appears that Kamiizumi asked around as to who in the area was a worthy swordsman. Sekishusai's name came up and so a match was arranged. History is sketchy about whether it was Kamiizumi himself who fought Sekishusai. More likely it was one of his senior students (perhaps Hikita Bungoro, another famous name in Japanese swordsmanship). Whoever it was, the outcome was the same—Yagyu Sekishusai was soundly beaten.

Even though he was already a successful and highly-respected samurai commander, Sekishusai's response was to become Kamiizumi's disciple**. It was this decision that put Sekishusai, and his entire family, on the road to greatness. He studied Shinkage Ryu under Kamiizumi intensely until he finally received the seal of full transmission of the school from Kamiizumi. Yagyu Shinkage Ryu went on to become the personal school of the Tokugawa family, after Tokugawa Ieyasu became the first Shogun, or Supreme Military Ruler of Japan. Many of the most important philosophical ideas in Japanese swordsmanship come from the Yagyu Shinkage Ryu. And the school still exists today, still headed by the Yagyu family.

All thanks to Sekishusai swallowing his pride and begging Kamiizumi to teach him everything he knew.

"If this person can defeat me, then I want to know what s/he knows."
This is not the thinking of a wishy-washy person or a weak person. It is the thinking of a humble person, someone whose drive to be better is bigger than their ego. A great person doesn't just stick to their guns, they know when they have seen something extraordinary and then quickly grasp the opportunity.

*It's also one of the great things about kendo. When someone beats you there is no arguing. It's clear. You have to deal with it. No half-points. No variation in rules from one dojo to the next. Some martial arts do not give you this kind of clear feedback, and I personally believe this is why these martial arts sometimes end up with people at the top who are very egotistical and yet who never allow themselves to be challenged by their students. In kendo two things keep us honest: sweat and yuko datotsu (successful scoring cuts).

**What is the difference between a student and a disciple (弟子 deshi in Japanese)? A student may study hard, but their life is otherwise pretty normal. A disciple is someone who is willing to give up everything (family, friends, possessions) if necessary so as to follow a particular path or a particular teacher.

正面 Shomen

2009-10-01T23:18:00.011+10:00

Like a lot of kendo terms there is at least two meanings to shomen: a simple one and a more subtle one.

The simple meaning of the term shomen refers to cutting the centre of your opponent's head. It is the first cut everyone learns. To be precise this is called shomen-uchi 正面打.

The more subtle meaning is to face something head-on. This is why it is so important in kendo, because kendo is not about learning how to defeat another person but to develop your self. So in kendo you need to practice facing things head-on, not shying away or making excuses.

Shomen uchi
The basic technique in kendo is shomen uchi. Using a straight backswing and a straight cut, you aim to strike your opponent's men (helmet) right above the tate-gane, or vertical bar of the mengane (helmet's steel grill).

A UMKC student asked me recently, "when should you use sa-yu-men?" (left or right diagonal men cuts). This made me think and I realised something about shomen.

It is often said that all the techniques in kendo comes from shomen, and that if you can execute shomen confidently you will be able to master all the other techniques. Why is that? Well, because if you see all the different techniques in kendo as separate you will learn them all separately, and they will remain separate for you. As a result you will probably specialise in just one or two techniques that you can do really well, because trying to learn all the others just takes time away from perfecting your 'preferred waza'.

This is the wrong approach.

You should see shomen as no different to all other techniques. Sa-yu-men, kote, do and, later on, tsuki, are all just variations of shomen. If you perfect shomen you can perform all the others as variations of shomen. You adapt shomen on the spur of the moment to become kote, for example. Seen in this way, when you practice your shomen, you are also practicing all the other techniques, and vice versa: when you practice the other techniques, you are also practicing shomen.

How and why does this work?
As I mentioned earlier, the term shomen has the feeling of facing things straight on. In kendo if you face your opponent straight on without flinching or backing down, you will eventually break through. If you face them with a single-pointed focus, and a completely empty mind, then if the opportunity arises for kote instead of shomen, you will perform kote easily. If, on the other hand you have practiced kote as a separate technique to be used in certain situations, then your mind will have to sort through all the waza you know and choose the right one before you can act. In kendo, this is too slow.

Simple shiai guide

2009-07-23T21:09:00.006+10:00

You've probably seen this video before, but pay attention to the first 10 seconds for a good example of shiai etiquette.

Some of you are new to shiai, so here is a basic guide to the main things you have to remember.

Reiho 礼法

Start just outside the shiaijo (court). When the shinpan (referees) are standing ready, you must face your opponent and step into the shiaijo. You will not be given a command to do so because you must make a connection with your opponent. Do not be the last to step in, but neither be the first. Step in such a way as you make your opponent follow your lead.
Come to a point about a metre inside the shiaijo. Bow silently to your opponent without taking your eyes off them. Do not say "onegaishimasu".
Take three decisive steps forward to the shiaisen (white line) and draw your sword. Again do not race your opponent but move so that they follow you. Sonkyo so that they do it at the same time as you.
Wait for the shushin (head referee) to call "hajime!"
Stand up promptly but do not rush. Always step slightly forward into chudan-no-kamae, never backwards. Kiai strongly. Use your kiai to tell your opponent that you will never back down.
Fight and take shodachi 初太刀 (the first point)

During the match
You already know that matches are the best of three points. Here's a reminder of the shushin's calls:

hajime! yame! These two are self-explanatory. They will be accompanied by strong flag movement by all shinpan.
men ari! do ari! kote ari! A point has been scored. You must stop fighting and return your shiaisen (white line).
nihonme! Begin! (fighting for the second point)
shobu! Begin! (fighting for the final point)
shobu ari! There is a winner! (the match is over). The shushin will call this after you are both returned to your shiaisen and waiting in chudan-no-kamae. As shushin calls it, s/he will lower the flag of the winning kendoka. You and your opponent must sonkyo together at the same time as the flag is lowered.

End of match
Do the normal movements: sonkyo, o-same-to, five small steps back, lower the sword and rei without saying "domo arigato...". Take a few steps backwards out of the shiaijo. Once you have crossed the line you can turn and walk away normally.

These are the basics aspects of shiai. There are many others, but if you can learn these, then you can participate in shiai.

勝負 – Winning and losing

2009-07-11T14:35:00.005+10:00

pic (c) All Japan Kendo Federation

勝負 shobu refers to a match. It is also what the shushin calls out before the deciding point of a match. The word shobu is made up of the two characters sho 勝 (victory) and fu 負 (defeat).

In term 3 our focus will be on shiai, or competition. We will practice various waza, as well as how to enter and leave the shiaijo correctly.

We will also think about what winning and losing means in kendo. Often we are told that competition is not the main point of practising kendo, and this is true. But we still need a drive to win in order for there to be some point to our training. This is called a paradox, a situation where two opposites are true at the same time.

What is the difference between wanting to win and not wanting to lose? They are sort of similar aren't they?

This is what we will be investigating through practice in the coming term.

溜める　To build up your spirit

2009-06-28T23:23:00.008+10:00

from Okinawa Soba's Flickr photostream (CC)
Follow the link to see quite a few good kendo pics from more than 100 years ago.

溜
溜める (tameru) means 'to build up' or 'to accumulate'. It is not mentioned in kendo as much as 残心 (zanshin) which as you know refers to the follow through after an attack, but the two are directly connected. You can't follow through without something to start you off in the first place.

So what is it actually?
The best description of tame (pronounced tum-eh) is to imagine you are like a bow. Your attack is the arrow. And your tame is the bow-string. If your tame is weak, it is as if you have not pulled the bow-string back very far and so the arrow will not fly very far. It will probably fail to reach the target. Your tame, your build up, must be like drawing the bow as far as it can go. The power is then almost too strong to hold, the bow vibrates with energy and the arrow strains to be released. As soon as there is an opening, your attack flies and there is no stopping it. When you think of it this way, zanshin is just a by-product of tame. And so it should be. Zanshin should not be artificial (such as forcing yourself to do extra footwork to pass your opponent), it should just be a natural part of the attack.

How do you develop tame?
There are two ways to develop tame. The first way is with kiai. When you kiai at your opponent, even before you have any idea of your first attack, the purpose is to build up your attacking spirit, in other words, tameru. You must always kiai strongly, and notice the effect it has on your opponent: did they kiai back? Did they flinch? What was their kiai like?

The second way is through attacking practice like uchikomigeiko and kakarigeiko. People who have trained regularly and hard, especially in these exercises, find it easier to have powerful tame. It is like they have found the tame switch in their body and in their kendo.

Pre-war kendo

2009-06-22T22:59:00.008+10:00

I sometimes mention during training how kendo was different before World War II, e.g. being able to trip, wrestle and/or choke your opponent. Always sounds like fun doesn't it? ;)
Of course I only know about it from hearing stories from Nagae sensei. But finally one of the most important pre-war kendo books is being translated chapter-by-chapter into English by Mr Kent Enfield.

So far there are four articles describing men, kote, do and tsuki. They can be found here. Keep checking back from time to time as he may have added new chapters.

These articles are translations of a work called Kendo Kyohon (Kendo Instruction Manual) by Takano Sasaburo (pictured above), one of the legendary 10th dans of kendo.

The thing that will hit you first as you read is how many techniques Takano sensei describes - 50 different techniques in all. Some of them are no longer practiced, no longer called by that name, or are simply too advanced for most of us to grasp without instruction from a very senior sensei. But as you read, I hope you are able to imagine what most of the waza look like and then picture yourself doing them. This is also real training. b

Many of you will have seen this before. It is a video of two famous Japanese-American kendoka performing on US television in the 1950s which is just after the War ended. Watch closely and you will see many attempts at ashi-barai or foot-sweeps, which throw the opponent to the floor. Notice also how the ashi-barai is used, really as an opening to strike with the sword straight away, not as a signal to start grappling on the ground.

Kihon waza backswing - how big should it be?

2009-06-16T17:58:00.005+10:00

Another thing that I spoke about last class, and which I often remind people of, is their backswing.

Most people who have a problem with their backswing, tend to swing back too far. When most people do a large backswing, they swing back much further than 45 degrees for men, and vertical or 90 degrees for kote. Often they swing back to 0 degrees, meaning totally flat behind them, or even further. There is no real problem with this, other than it means your shinai has to travel further than necessary.

In kendo, 45 degrees and 90 degrees are considered a kihon backswing. Your backswing never needs to be bigger, and in certain situations can be smaller than this.

Again, for visual learners especially, please consider the diagram below.

The test of whether your backswing is big enough, is whether you can see your opponent's target area (datotsubui) beneath your left hand.

Being Dojo Captain

2009-06-06T22:17:00.012+10:00

When you have as many members as this, you need to know exactly who is Dojo Captain!

Today at training I spoke about this issue, and also promised to blog it for future reference, so here it is.

The Dojo Captain's role is to be the second-in-command. They are directly below the instructor in importance. At Nanseikan, this means that the Dojo Captain is the oldest member of the club and the one with the most years continuous training.

When that person is not at training, the duty (and honour) of being Dojo Captain falls to the next most senior person present. In case the day comes when that will be you, dear reader (and it will!), I have written below the basic commands and tasks that need to be memorised. All of them are what you will know from training every week. Here is a chance for you to study them a little in preparation.

Taiso
There is no real set plan for warm-ups. So long as all the major parts of the body get covered, there can be a lot of variation. However this can be a hard thing to know when it comes to your first time running warm-ups, so here are a few tips:

Start with simply moving the major joints of the body. Start with the ankles and work upwards, finishing with the neck. Always move the neck gently and try to avoid full circular rotations, especially fast ones: these can lead to injury.
The sequence of movements counting to eight cover a lot of the major warm-up needs. So use them.
Don't forget the wrist, calf, thigh and achilles exercises.
If it is cold, try including star jumps, and/or jogging/sprinting/hopping/jumping on the spot.
Don't encourage ballistic stretching. This refers to stretching where you bounce in the stretch to try and achieve a greater range of movement. This can lead to injuries.

Suburi
Unless I say otherwise, suburi should not go on too long. The usual pattern of 20/20/20/20 is plenty.

Don't crticise
Please don't use warm-ups or suburi to examine everyone's technique and give them tips. Only if there is something seriously wrong, such as someone obviously not knowing what naname-buri is, should you stop and explain. In this sort of case, it's also best to give a brief demonstration.

Commands
There are slight differences between how different dojos run the zarei (seated rei) at the beginning and end of training, but mostly it is the same. Below are the terms in order and their meaning.

Start of training

Seiretsu! .................... line up!
Chakuza! ..................... kneel down!
Ki o tsuke! ..................... be ready! (literally "switch on!")
Some dojo use "seiza o tadashite" ("make your sitting correct!")
Mokuso! ........................ meditation!
*clap!* or yame! .......... stop!
joseki ni... rei! ................ bow to calligraphy at front of dojo!
sensei ni... rei! ............... bow to sensei!
"Onegaishimasu!" ......... please help me to train!

End of training

Seiretsu! .................... line up!
Chakuza! ..................... kneel down!
Men o tore! ................... take off men! (and kote)
Ki o tsuke! ..................... be ready!
Mokuso! ........................ meditation!
*clap!* or yame! ........... stop!
joseki ni... rei! ................ bow to calligraphy at front of dojo!
sensei ni... rei! ............... bow to sensei!
"Domo arigato gozaimashita!" ......... thank you for training!

Please take some time to read through all this and think about it.
To help those like me who are visual thinkers/learners, here is a little picture guide for each step:

Seiretsu!

Chakuza!

Ki o tsuke!

Mokuso!

Mokuso hand position (called the Hokkai-jo-in)

Joseki ni...

Rei!

Sensei ni...
(when there is more than one sensei, the command is "Sensei-gata ni...")

Rei!
(close up of correct hand placement for kendo zarei)

Some dojo also like to do "otagai ni... rei" meaning a bow to each other as equals. b

Ice

2009-05-07T22:47:00.013+10:00

source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Icecube-detail.jpg

[Before I start this article I must say this: if your injury does not improve quickly, or if you have any worries at all about it, see a doctor.]

Ice is a kendoka's friend!

Whenever we get any "soft tissue" injuries, in other words strains, sprains or bruises, the best treatment is to apply ice. A good example is if your wrist is bruised because your kote are too soft or your training partners are too hard. When you get home you should apply ice to the bruised area. It is amazing the difference it makes. Without it, the soreness can last for days, and even worse, it comes back very quickly the next time you get hit there.

If you ice the injury, the next day all the pain will have gone away. And by next training, if you get hit there, it won't be any worse than before*.

So do I just get an ice block from the freezer and put it on my wrist?
No. You can use ice from the freezer, but put several blocks in a plastic bag to stop it getting messy as the ice melts. Then use a damp tenugui or wash-cloth around the bag to stop the ice from burning your skin. Yes, ice can burn you! If the cloth is damp it helps to transfer the coldness to your skin, but protects your skin from burning.

When should I ice my injury?
You should ice your injury as soon as possible after training. But even if you forget, using ice the next day will still help.

How long should I use it for?
You should hold the icebag against your injury for as long as you can stand it. Usually 5-10 minutes, depending on your age, and the size of the body part (your finger will get cold much quicker than your thigh, for instance). If your whole wrist (or whatever part of the body is involved) starts to ache from the cold, just stop, put the ice bag back in the freezer, and let your wrist/finger/ankle/etc warm up again for about the same time as you had the ice on it. Then apply again, e.g. ice for 10 mins, rest for 10 mins, ice for 10 mins, rest for 10 mins, ice for 10 rest for 10. Let's call this "one cycle".

Do one cycle as soon as you get home. Then leave it for a few hours, then do another cycle. Leave it for a few more hours, then if you still feel a bit sore, do one more cycle. The next day you should feel a great improvement. You should continue to rest from kendo, but you probably won't need to keeping icing your injury.

Be careful not to leave the ice on too long. It's safer to stop, rest, and do it again, than to keep it on for a long time.

Why does ice work so well?
The cold effect of applying ice slows down blood flow to the affected area and also reduces the response of nerves in the area. This does two important things:

It instantly reduces the pain (a kind of anaesthetic).
It reduces swelling, which in turn helps the injury to heal more quickly.

What else should I do to look after my injury?
The basic way to look after all soft-tissue injuries can be remembered with the word RICE. The word RICE is a mnemonic, in other words a device (a word or a rhyme) for remembering something. It stands for (in order of importance):

Rest - stop the activity that caused the injury

Ice - apply ice to the injury

Compression - use a strong, elastic bandage wrapped tightly around the ice-pack to help reduce swelling.

Elevation - Keep the affected area raised to reduce blood-flow.

But if you can't do all of these, the most important one, aside from rest, is ice.

Is there anything I should avoid doing?
Yes, several things. These can be remembered with the mnemonic, "No HARMS".

Heat - no heat packs, hot water bottles, hot baths or hot showers.

Alcohol - none of this of course!

Rubs - no medicated rubs like Tiger Balm, Deep Heat, Liniment Oils etc.

Massage - no massaging the affected area

With the exception of alcohol, most of these things are usually good things. But not for the first 72 hours (3 days) after a soft-tissue injury. There is one thing they all do, and that is they all increase blood flow. This will slow down healing and actually increase the pain, inflammation and swelling of your injury.

So for three days after the injury, no HARMS, just RICE! Oh, and did I mention to see your doctor if you're not sure? Yes? Good!

Are those gel-filled cold packs worth getting?
I was going to say they work quite well, although not as well as ice.

That was, until I found this product recall!

It seems many of the common brands of gel-filled hot/cold packs contain a toxic substance, ethylene glycol, otherwise known as anti-freeze for car radiators. This is a highly poisonous substance.

So I would say NO! They are not worth getting. And further, if you have one, contact your local council or your local chemist about how you can dispose of it safely.

Surgipack, one of the most commonly available brands of gel-filled hot/cold packs.
These have been found by the Australian Gov't to contain ethylene glycol, a toxic substance.

*It's a very good idea to mention such injuries to me, or whoever is taking training where you are. If your opponent is hitting too hard (even if that person is me) you should tell them. You can also find another pair of kote with a firmer datotsubui (striking area), or wear some padding underneath.

Speed

2009-03-21T23:34:00.012+11:00

Teramoto vs Takanabe in 2007 All Japan C'ships. Go here for the video of this men-uchi.
Photo by Tyler Rothmar

A lot of people new to kendo see more experienced kendoka and all they see is speed. "If I can move as fast as that then I'll be as good as them."

True, being able to move quickly is part of it, and that does come with practice. But there are many other aspects to what experienced kendoka do, more important than simple speed, that allow them to be effective.

Relaxation
How does one get faster? The most basic way is to be able to perform the techniques of kendo in a relaxed manner. This means not being tense in your muscles as you swing, or as you step. The tricky part is that in order to not be tense, you have to stop trying so hard to go fast.

Another way to become relaxed in your movements is to train them. A LOT. Do suburi until you can hardly lift the shinai, then you will know what it means to really relax. Go to a lot of different trainings and train hard: uchikomigeiko, kakarigeiko, again until you can hardly keep going.

Co-ordination
Being able to perform the basics of kendo with a unified body also helps speed up your movements. Co-ordination is helped by using kiai, which both prepares the body and helps launch it.

気剣体一致 Ki-ken-tai-itchi: the kiai, the cutting action and the footwork together as one.

Opportunity
The real secret to how great kendoka are able to cut with such apparently blinding speed in this: perceiving the right opportunity or kikai. When your opponent finds an opening in your kamae, it may seem fast to you but to them it may be like they've got all the time in the world.

This comes only with much practice and experience, although most people with only a few years kendo experience will have had the occasional experience of what this is like. Though some people seem to be able to do it more easily than others, everyone can improve their ability in 'seeing' the openings.

Here is a simple diagram that shows some of the different moments of opportunity in kendo, and two different ways to refer to them.

Speed Game Test
And finally, here's a little online game for you to test and train your reflexes

http://reflex.sosocial.net/colour.php

Don't worry if your first few results are bad. If you practice you will get faster: relfexes are not set at birth (like height or other physical attributes) but respond to training. Apparently the absolute fastest anyone can be is 0.2 of a second...

The basics of ma-ai

2009-03-12T13:52:00.001+11:00

Another important concept in kendo is ma-ai (pronounced with a short pause in the middle, or sometimes "mawai").

It is used a lot in the dojo by instructors and is usually translated simply to mean 'distance'.

Ma'ai between you and your opponent
This distance is broken down into three basic kinds:

1) to-ma: far distance, where there is a gap between your kensen (sword tip) and your opponent's　[below]

http://members3.jcom.home.ne.jp/souchikan-k/page031.html

2) issoku-itto-no-ma-ai: "one step-one cut distance", where the two shinai
are crossed just past the tip

http://www.pref.chiba.lg.jp/kyouiku/taiiku/kyougiryoku/080721ken/10.jpg

3) chika-ma: close distance, where shinai are crossed at between one third and
one half of the way down the blade

http://to4hi5.meblog.biz/image/071129_10.jpg

In the beginning we need to use the shinai to measure the distance between ourselves and our opponent. Even with this very obvious 'measuring stick' it is still easy to lose track of the ma'ai during keiko and allow your opponent to get too close without realising.

With more experience one becomes more aware of ma'ai and in fact it is possible to develop very strong instincts where it becomes almost a sixth sense.

Ma'ai in the dojo
We always train in the dojo along the centreline, coming back to the centre after each drill before we sonkyo with our opponent and part. Developing instincts about where you are in the dojo: how close you are to the wall behind you, how close you are to your training partners next to you, and so on, these are important distances to become familiar with as well.

Before we even start training we need to be able to judge kyuho no ma'ai (nine steps distance) so that we can bow, take three steps in to sonkyo and know we will be in the right place. When we do kata, a sense of where we are in the dojo helps us to stay near the middle and not 'drift' to one side as we perform them in sequence.

In these cases we don't have the shinai to use as a measuring stick, but we do have the fact that we train in the same way over and over. This helps to hone our sense of where we are in the dojo at all times.

Metsuke

2009-03-11T20:22:00.008+11:00

Metsuke means "gaze" and in kendo it means where you look during keiko. Metsuke not only helps you see what your opponent is doing or going to do, but it also gives your opponent information about you. Even if you feel scared on the inside, you should have a steady, confident gaze that doesn't give anything away to your opponent.

Suburi and kukan datotsu During suburi and kukan datotsu (practicing cutting and following through without a target) you should always imagine your opponent and look at where their eyes would be. In other words you shouldn't be looking at the ground. Occasionally look at your feet to check your footwork but other than that, look straight ahead.

This also applies to kyu gradings where you might be asked to perform techniques in front of the grading panel. Just look straight ahead at your opponent, not at the floor or the grading panel. This will give a very good impression.

Against an opponent
In this case you should look straight at your opponent. This shows confidence. If you look away or at the ground, your opponent will gain confidence because they know their presence is having a strong effect on you.

Many sensei say you should look directly at your opponent's eyes. Other sensei warn that looking at the eyes can be mesmerising and that you should look at the whole person from head to toe. As you practice you must think about what works best for you.

Metsuke and facial expressions
As I said above, metsuke can give your opponent important information about your state of mind, how you are feeling, and so on. The other thing that can give your opponent information about your state of mind is your facial expression.

Generally, people who pull exaggerated faces during keiko are not that scary. The most effective facial expression is just your natural, calm face. No matter what happens, your face stays serene. This is much more unsettling for an opponent than an angry war face. And it is much less tiring for you. If you have a calm face it helps you to stay calm, and this in turn helps you to observe your opponent, because you are not busy with trying to rev yourself up.

However if your are strongly intent on cutting your opponent, your calm face will naturally take on a piercing and intense quality, like the snow leopard above. She is not putting on an act. She really is intently focused.

Metsuke is a very important part of all Japanese swordsmanship and there has been a lot written about it over hundreds of years. I will leave it up to you to investigate further if you are interested.

Uchikomigeiko

2009-03-06T22:15:00.011+11:00

picture (c) Richard Stonell

Uchikomigeiko is a drill where the motodachi shows various openings to the student or kakarite, who does their best to cut and follow through as quickly and as correctly as they can.

After a while, motodachi sometimes get lazy or forget their job, and they show the openings to the student before the student has entered ma'ai. This makes the student's job much easier and they can come into ma'ai recklessly and without stopping. This helps create the false feeling that the uchikomigeiko is flowing smoothly.

I say false because to enter ma'ai recklessly, just assuming or trusting that your opponent will show an opening is not good kendo strategy. Even when training fundamentals, we should be developing a sense of what really works.

The motodachi plays an important role here. They should always make the student seme strongly before showing them the opening. If the student ignores this, the motodachi should keep their shinai in the centre and allow the student to run onto the kensen (according to the experience of both partners, the strength of this mukaezuki should be modified, i.e. kyu grade motodachi may allow the kensen to touch their opponent's body but then should quickly remove it. Experienced motodachi can keep the kensen there and really stop their partner in their tracks, provided their partner has the experience to receive it properly). They will then get the message and be a bit more wary.

To find a balance between recklessness and waryness is what training in uchikomigeiko is all about. The student steps in and shows good seme, not knowing how their opponent might react, but ready for any opening. Being able to improve this kind of all-around readiness is the great benefit of uchikomigeiko.

Remember: to the casual observer uchikomigeiko should look like it is flowing, but to each of the two people doing it, there should be: 1) seme-> 2) opening-> 3) seeing the opportunity and taking it.

Gradings

2009-02-22T15:40:00.008+11:00

I just posted the list of requirements on Dojo News, but the list doesn't tell you how you must do what is listed. Here are some tips to remember in order to help you pass your next kyu grading.

Dress
How you wear your hakama and kendogi, and at higher levels, your bogu, tells the grading panel a lot about your kendo. Make sure you ask a fellow teammate or another kendoka (preferably someone who is more experienced) before your grading to check whether your appearance is correct. Sometimes because of nerves or lack of experience you might tie something incorrectly. You should also be comfortable, without feeling like your uniform is too tight or too loose.

Don't!

Wear t-shirts or anything else visible under your kendogi (including necklaces)
Wear a kendogi that shows your leg through the side vent of your hakama
Wear your hakama so that it drags along the ground, or sags down at the back
Wear jewellery (including wrist bands of all kinds) or a watch
Wear a hakama and kendogi that is worn out or torn

Do!

get a senior person to check how you look before your grading
wear a clean uniform, with a hakama that has been pressed carefully (or at least kept folded between trainings)
make sure the back of the kendogi is stretched flat across your back
make sure the hakama himo have been tied properly and are flat

Reigi Saho
The single biggest impression you can make on the grading panel is the way you perform rei, sonkyo and kamae. Take time to practice the movements at home by yourself. Handle the shinai likes it is a sword and always picture your opponent clearly.

Especially practice sonkyo, at home if you have trouble doing it properly. You must be able to lower yourself down into sonkyo and stand up into kamae with a straight back all the way.

Practice sonkyo as part of your warm-up when you get to the Kenshikan, so that you can do it without wobbling in your grading.

General advice
Remember, even though you feel nervous, that the grading panel is not there to try and trick you into failing. They, and everyone else, want you to have the opportunity to show your best kendo. If you are not sure about what you are being asked to do, then you might make a mistake that affects your performance. So if you are not sure, put up your hand and ask the Dojo Steward who is giving the commands to repeat his or her instructions and also demonstrate what is required. You cannot fail your grading for asking for an explanation to be repeated.

I'll say that again...

If you're not sure what you are supposed to do, ask! You cannot be failed for asking for instructions to be repeated.

Having said that, make sure you watch the gradings before yours, so you can learn what to do before you are asked to line up.

Future gradings
After your grading has finished you'll probably be a little relieved and exhausted. You might want to have a bit of a rest. But make sure when the gradings for the level above yours are due to begin, that you spend some time watching them. That way you will know what to expect for next time. Also observe those whose kendo seems to be a cut above the rest and try to work out what it is that makes it better. This is called mitori-geiko, learning by careful observation.

Tenouchi - the grip

2009-02-08T23:21:00.010+11:00

Tenouchi in kendo means the swordsman's grip on the sword. Literally translated it means "the inside of the hand", in other words, the palm of the hand. When referring to the bogu it means the leather palm of the kote. In Japanese generally it can simply mean "skill".

There are many common mistakes people make when holding and swinging the shinai.

Holding too tightly with the right hand.
Opening the grip of the left hand to increase the size of the swing.
Holding the shinai with the wrong part of the left hand

Maintaining the correct tenouchi is part of suburi practice at home. This is why it is important to make sure that your tenouchi is correct before you spend time practicing by yourself: you don't want to practice bad habits!

Strength at the bottom, softness at the top
I was taught that you should hold the shinai mostly tightly with the fingers at the bottom of the shinai handle, in other words the little fingers of your left hand. Then your grip should be slightly less with the thumb and index finger, a bit less with the little fingers of the right hand, and softest with the thumb and index finger of the right hand.

Eventually tenouchi becomes so quick and efficient that even though you train all the time, you no longer get callouses on your hands. This happens at around 7th dan I believe...

Holding too tightly with the right hand
People who hold the shinai too tightly with their right hand find that:

Their cuts are not as accurate
Their cuts are slower
They tire more quickly
They develop blisters on their right hand

Below is a picture of someone holding too tightly with the right hand. There is quite a sharp angle in the wrist as a result.

incorrect

The correct way is to hold more lightly with the right hand. You can see this by less of a bend in the wrist. The fingers appear a little more open, with the index finger reaching forward to just touch the tsuba.

correct

Holding the shinai with the wrong part of the left hand
The first picture shows the shinai being held with the wrong part of the hand, with the tsukagashira (end of the handle) lying between the two bumps on the heel of the palm.

incorrect grip

The second picture shows the correct way to grip the tsukagashira, with both bumps of the heel of the palm on top of the handle.

correct grip

Opening the grip of the left hand to increase the size of the swing.
This is pretty self-explanatory. The top picture is the incorrect way. This is a hard thing to be aware of by yourself. Usually it takes a sensei or senior student observing you to let you know if you are doing this wrong during suburi.

incorrect

Below is the correct way. In kendo, the little fingers of the left hand should never release their strong grip on the tsukagashira. This means that your wrist has to provide the flexibility and strength for the cut. Chiba sensei's technique for developing this strength and flexibility is to perform kirikaeshi with horizontal men cuts.

correct

Tenouchi and strength
There is undoubtedly a connection between good tenouchi and strength in your hands. Next time you train with an 8th dan sensei, have a good look at their hands. You will most likely notice that they are pretty strong, with what looks like bicep muscles on each finger. This only comes from lots and lots of training.

This takes us back to the importance of suburi. Even if you don't do 1000, daily suburi will definitely make it easier to strike sharply.

Bokuto training sequence

2009-02-06T22:02:00.009+11:00

image from Mushinkan Kendo and Iaido Dojo

The bokuto ni yoru kihon waza keiko ho is a set of 9 "kata" designed recently by the All Japan Kendo Federation to help teach kendo basics. At Nanseikan we have practiced these for a period of time every year for the last three years or so. Still, we do not practice them all the time, so a little reminder in black and white will be handy.

Purpose
The purpose of the bokuto keiko ho is to give an introduction to the basic techniques of kendo, both shikake and oji waza, and at the same time an experience of handling the bokuto. It has been formulated especially for beginners so that they can practice something fundamental even before they are able to wear bogu. And it is a sequence that can be useful for all kendoka to practice from time to time.

Roles
In the bokuto keiko ho, there are two roles. They are the kakarite: the person who is practicing the techniques, the attacker, and the motodachi: the person receiving the techniques. The role of the kakarite is a bit like the role of the uchidachi in kata, only much less active. For all of the shikake waza, the motodachi just shows the correct opening and receives.

Order
The order of the keiko ho is this:

kihon ichi: kihon men, kote, do, tsuki
kihon ni: ni dan waza, kote-men
kihon san: harai waza, harai-men (from omote)
kihon yon: hiki waza, men-tsubazeriai-hiki-do
kihon go: nuki waza, men-nuki-do
kihon roku: suriage waza, kote-suriage-men (from ura)
kihon nana: debana waza, debana-kote (also called degote)
kihon hachi: kaeshi waza, men kaeshi do
kihon kyu: uchiotoshi waza, do-uchiotoshi-men

There is a little rhyme in Japanese for remembering the order. It goes:

ichi, ni, hari, hiki, nuki, sure, ba, kaeshi, uchi

A detailed description of the actions, as well as video for the entire sequence are readily available on the net. Just google "bokuto ni yoru" (or click on the photo above).

Zanshin
Zanshin is particularly important in the keiko ho. For example, in the four kihon waza contained in kihon ichi, there are two steps back by the kakarite after every technique. At the first step back the kakarite must be aware of demonstrating zanshin by pausing for a brief moment to hold centre and threaten the motodachi's throat. The helps to prevent the keiko ho from becoming just an empty set of movements. Like kata they must be performed with the feeling that you are actually using these techniques to defeat the motodachi.

Distance
Like kata, the distance is very important. When you perform a technique, it should reach the target area so that if you wished you could physically strike the correct part of your opponent's body. Naturally your well-practiced tenouchi stops this!

The only exception to this is the fourth part of kihon ichi - tsuki. In this case, as you know, the motodachi takes a step back at the moment kakarite delivers the tsuki in order to guard against accidents.

Format
The way the keiko ho is perfomed is very like kata, with largely the same reigi saho (performance of etiquette) as kata, the same starting from kyu ho no maai (9 steps distance), taking three steps in, etc. When using the bokuto it should be performed with the same feeling as kata.

The keiko ho can also be run as a sequence where both sides are wearing bogu and using shinai. In this case, full contact can be made and the instructor may decided that you not perform all of the reigi saho each time but instead use it as the basis of training drills at full-speed.

Ashi sabaki - footwork

2009-02-03T23:06:00.007+11:00

footwork diagram from Boston Kendo Kyokai

Footwork is the base of kendo. Without good footwork, you cannot get better in kendo.

Actually in Japanese ashi means leg as well as foot, so we could say it's called "leg-and-footwork". To have good ashi-sabaki, you must develop strong legs and feet. Personally I believe it is more important to have a strong lower body (which includes stomach, hips and lower back) than a strong upper body (chest, shoulders and arms). For this reason I strongly recommend cycling or running as important training for kendo development.

There are two main kinds of footwork as you know: ayumi ashi and okuri ashi. Both use a kind of suri-ashi or sliding action across the floor. As you know also, the heel is not used in kendo except at the moment of cutting. At that moment the footwork is called fumikomi ashi.

The left foot
The secret to achieving excellent footwork in kendo is the left foot. If you can bring the left foot up quickly to the start position, you will be ready more quickly to take the next step. The left foot is very much the driving force in propelling you forward. I think of it as having a rear-engined, rear wheel drive car, like a Porsche. The engine in the back drives you forwards.

When going backwards it becomes the right foot which drives you backwards. In both cases we say it is the trailing foot that is provides the power.

The left knee
When you face an opponent in kamae, the left knee is very important. In kendo it is said that, "wherever you point your left knee, that is where you will go". Therefore it is important, as you and your opponent move around in shiai or jigeiko, always to keep your left knee pointed at your opponent.

The left knee should be slightly bent, relaxed, but filled with power. A weak left knee will bend when your opponent applies pressure or seme. Bending the left knee when in kamae will cause you to lean backwards. This is what creates the appearance that you are being overwhelmed by your opponent, and indeed this is exactly what is happening!

Both knees should be slightly bent, relaxed and ready to move, but not about to buckle. In my own words I would say your knees should be "braced but not locked". Whether that makes sense to anyone else I'm not sure. This is a very difficult thing to explain and can only be learned through your own practice. However it is a good thing to think about.

Fumikomi ashi
This is an area that a lot of people have trouble with, even after they are confident with the rest of their footwork. However thinking through the basics and practicing them carefully will help you learn the correct way.

The secret is again the left leg and foot. With fumikomi ashi the main difficulty lies in smoothly linking the big fumikomi step with the continuous okuriashi steps of your zanshin. If you can quickly bring your left foot up, you will be able to stop yourself 'falling in a hole'. If you are having real difficulty over a long time with this, it may be because you are trying for too big a leap with your fumikomi. Go back to only doing short fumikomi and you will find it easy to link it with your zanshin. Then gradually lengthen your fumikomi until you can both cover a lot of ground and also follow through smoothly. Remember if you have been away from training you might need to go back to short fumikomi while you get your strength back.

Needless to say the right foot should never come very high off the ground and you should always strike the ground with the whole right foot flat when you do fumikomi ashi.

Chushin 中心 - the centre

2009-01-01T22:18:00.017+11:00

Ishizuka Yoshifumi sensei (Kyoshi 8-dan, on left) demonstrating where you should point your kensen.

As I write about basic strategy, there are many concepts that come up that need more explanation. Chushin, or the centre, is definitely a very important one and deserves its own article. Understanding chushin is the key to knowing whether there is an opening, an opportunity, to cut your opponent.

Meaning
Chushin is written with two kanji: chu (middle) and shin (heart/mind). It means the core, the focus, the pivot. We might say in English, "going to the heart of the matter." This is a good way to think of chushin in kendo.

How big is chushin?
Chushin is partly real and partly abstract: partly a thing you can touch with your hand, and partly an idea.

The idea part is this: chushin is sometimes called "the centre line", an imaginary line between you and your opponent. When you face your opponent, only one of you will be able to point the kensen (tip of the shinai) at the other's throat. Chushin is an imaginary line between the two of you, between your throat and your opponent's. Chushin is difficult to perceive because it is dynamic, it never sits still.

The concrete, or real, part is this: chushin is exactly as wide as the tip of the shinai. The actual tip of the shinai, the leather cap that can wear out and needs to be checked regularly, is called the sakigawa. The sakigawa is about 3cm wide. Hence chushin is 3cm wide.

...although sometimes your opponent's kensen can seem HUGE! hehe!
pic (c) George McCall

How can something that is an idea also have such a specific size?
If you think about it, it becomes clear. Only one person can control chushin at a time. The sakigawa is 3 cm wide. Therefore if your sakigawa moves away from the centre by 3cm or more, your opponent can now point at your throat, controlling chushin, the centre. Therefore chushin = 3 cm.

A quick but important exercise

Go get a ruler and a shinai.
Have a look at how long 3 cm is.
Hold your shinai in chudan no kamae and practice moving the tip side to side, but make sure the movement is less than 3 cm.
Take notice of how small a movement it is. Think about how often you might wave your kensen around more than that when facing an opponent in jigeiko.

Chushin and openings
An opening is when you perceive that your opponent's kensen is not pointing straight at your throat. Being able to perceive chushin accurately, and especially, being able to know whether you or your opponent is controlling it is important. Not only that but being able to be aware of this all the time is the key. This is very difficult to do.

At the beginner levels, people use shikake waza like harai-waza or ose-waza unecessarily because they don't realise that they are already controlling chushin. If your opponent's kensen is slightly to one side, or slightly high, then you can often cut them without any prior waza. If your opponent's kensen is too high for example, then they have opened their kote.

Next time you are facing an opponent, whether it be during kihon practice, uchikomigeiko, or even a match, pay close attention to whether their kensen is pointing directly at your throat. This kind of observation of your opponent is vital if you wish to develop strategy and learn how to overcome them.

Remember: only one person can control chushin at a time.

Kendo strategy 2 - shikake waza

2008-12-31T01:25:00.031+11:00

Ishihara sensei (Hanshi 9-dan) from Okayama Prefecture finds a beautiful opening for men against his opponent
(from the 9-dan competition, Kyoto Taikai).

Continuing on from the previous post on strategy, the other main area of waza is shikake waza or techniques that you initiate: in other words, attacking techniques.

The most basic shikake waza involve just cutting when you perceive an opening (suki) in your opponent's kamae. An opening is when your opponent is no longer aiming their kensen (sword-point) directly at your throat. This includes basic men and kote (but not usually do, due to the fact that it is nearly always covered by the arms except when executing a cut).

Shikake waza
However openings will often require some effort from you to create them. There are a variety of ways to achieve this. These are:

harai-men*/harai-kote (sweeping the opponent's shinai off the centre-line)
ose-men/ose-kote (pressing down on the opponent's shinai so that their kensen leaves the centre-line)
uchiotoshi-men/uchiotoshi-kote (striking down the opponent's shinai)
makiotoshi-men (using a wrapping or winding motion with your shinai to rotate the opponent's shinai off the centre-line)
ni-dan waza (two step waza where the first cut creates the opening and the second scores the point, e.g. kote-men, tsuki-men)

* note that when each waza is named, only the waza and then the target area are named, which differs from oji waza where the opponent's waza is listed first. Of course with shikake waza, there is no technique coming from your opponent to begin with.

The secret with all shikake waza is make sure the waza and the cut that follows it are a single technique. Don't just move into your opponent's ma'ai (that is, move in closer than issoku-itto-no-maai) without having a technique ready. And don't create an opening without moving in to capitalise on it (in other words, cutting).

Sometimes during training I use the analogy that performing shikake waza such as harai waza is like opening a spring-loaded door: you can't just push the door open and then stand there or the door will close on you. You must open the door and then straight away walk through it. It is the same with shikake waza: create the opening in your opponent's kamae and then immediately make use of it.

In fact with most shikake waza, your technique will not be successful if you are not moving towards your opponent as you are performing the technique. Do not wait to see whether your opening has been successful before launching an attack. For instance with harai-men, you should be moving towards your opponent as you sweep their shinai aside: sweep and cut in one smooth motion.

Application of various shikake waza
As with oji waza, there are some basic rules about when a certain waza is most appropriate. Knowing these basic rules is important in order for you to develop your own sense of strategy.

harai-kote, harai-men - are used against an opponent whose kensen is high, or against someone who is taller, and whose grip is slightly loose.
uchiotoshi-men - this is used against someone whose kensen is low, or someone who is shorter and again, whose grip is loose.
makiotoshi-men - this is used against someone whose grip is alternating between firm and loose.
ose-men - this is a more subtle technique, useful against experienced opponents

Feeling out your opponent's tenouchi
Above I mentioned that makiotoshi is best against someone whose tenouchi or grip on their shinai is firm. What does that mean and how can you work that out?

You can feel with your own shinai whether your opponent's tenouchi is firm or soft. Do they try and keep their shinai stuck to yours when in issoku itto no maai? Or is it easy for you to move their shinai with sharp slaps from your own?

When facing your opponent with shinai crossed, you should take note of how your opponent is holding his or her shinai by how it responds to your own.

Applying shikake waza against firm and soft tenouchi
Just as certain waza work best against certain height of chudan no kamae, so they also work best against various degrees of firmness or softness in your opponent's tenouchi.

harai-waza - best against soft tenouchi
uchiotoshi-waza - best against soft tenouchi
ose-waza - best against soft to medium tenouchi
makiotoshi-waza - best against medium to firm tenouchi

Against very firm tenouchi
Perhaps your opponent has a very firm tenouchi. They may have realised that you are feeling them out in order to apply some shikake waza and so they have made their grip very firm, making it impossible to apply harai, makiotoshi, etc.

In this case you can use their tension against them. Here are some scenarios that may work for you. You can also experiment with discovering your own.

ose-waza - resist your opponent's strong pressure with a sideways pressure to the left, then lift and immediately strike their kote when their shinai springs back too far the other way
uchiotoshi-waza - strike down on your opponent's shinai from above, then straight away cut their do while they rebound against your uchiotoshi
harai-waza - use the normal action for harai-kote, then immediately follow through with men as they lower their kensen in reaction

Sutemi
Sutemi (pronounced s'temi) is written in Japanese with the two characters "to throw away, to discard", and "body". It means to sacrifice, in this case, yourself, your whole body. In kendo it is almost impossible to score yuko datotsu (all the requirements for a winning point) without this sutemi. In the early stages of learning kendo, this "throwing away" must be practiced carefully and deliberately. It takes a while to realise exactly what really giving 100% effort feels like. Later it becomes second nature. Experienced kendoka, especially shinpan (match judges) are expert at seeing it and know just by looking if it is present in your kendo.

Sutemi means putting 100% into your attack, not holding anything back. It also means showing confidence, believing in yourself, not hesitating. It also means not caring about whether your attack is successful or not, whether your opponent cuts you or not, but caring only about doing your VERY best.

"This is the last act I will ever undertake in this life. I cannot guarantee its success. But I can guarantee that I will do my absolute best, giving everything I have. Because of this I can die with no regrets", this is how the samurai used to prepare for their duels with real swords, and it is the essence of what sutemi means. Of course we no longer need to be prepared to die in kendo! But the feeling that every time you do something you are showing your absolute best is still possible. Understanding and developing sutemi is one of the most important goals for your kendo in the first years of training.

In relation to shikake waza, sutemi will help you break through after the intial waza creates the opening. Sutemi will mean you do not hesitate even for a nanosecond to make use of the opening you have made and crush your opponent. It will mean that you score cuts where previously you were unable to.

Strategy in kendo 1 - Oji waza

2008-12-28T23:06:00.026+11:00

Strategy in kendo can be a very complex area. Every experienced kendoka will have developed their own strategies against different kinds of opponents and different situations. Sometimes these strategies are deliberate and consciously thought-out, sometimes they are instinct, or unconscious. Generally strategies that are not conscious I would say are more part of an individual's 'style' rather than real strategy and this tends to be the norm with less experienced kendoka. This means that whether something is working or not working against their opponents, the less experienced kendoka usually can't say why.

At a basic level however, kendo has some simple rules about strategy, and many of these I have talked about during training. So here I will take the opportunity to repeat what I have already said in the dojo.

Shikake and oji: attack and counter-attack
As you all know, kendo waza can be divided into shikake waza and oji waza. Please note that shikake refers to attacking waza and oji to counter-attacking. The opposite of attack in kendo is NOT defence, but counter-attack. It is a very important thing to understand the difference between the two. Put simply, defence just means stopping the opponent cutting you. This keeps you alive but does not produce a victory. Counter-attack means stopping them cutting you and then straight away cutting them. This is what you need to do to be successful.

Oji
In this post I want to briefly mention strategy as it relates to oji waza only.

Often we practice drills in training for oji waza. Often I get you to name all the oji waza that you can so that you remember them consciously. This is the first step to being able to think about your personal kendo strategy and make it more than just 'your style'.

But more than that, it is important to be able to think about each waza and to what situation it is best suited. For that reason we divide oji waza training into two basic groups: men-ni-taishite waza (techniques against men) and kote-ni-taishite waza (techniques against kote).

Men-ni-taishite waza
When naming these waza I always include as the first part, the target area of your bogu that your opponent is trying to cut, followed by the name of the technique that avoids or blocks their attack, and then the target area on your opponent's bogu that you cut in reply. This is to reinforce the important idea that you should always aim to have a counter-attack ready for whatever your opponent does. This is the second step in developing your own strategy that is conscious and well-thought out. If you do this you will automatically develop an attacking mind, one that is ready and active even while your body is waiting.

This class of waza includes:

men-debana-kote (cutting kote as your opponent starts their attack)

men-debana-men (cutting men before your opponent finishes their attack)

men-kiriotoshi-men (similar to debana men, but using your downward cutting action to knock the opponent's shinai off line before cutting their men in the same action)

men-nuki-do (slipping past your opponent's men to cut their do, without blocking their shinai)

men-suriage-men (receiving your opponent's men with an upward-sliding movement of your shinai, before cutting their men)

men-kaeshi-men (receiving your opponent's men attack on the omote side of your shinai, then moving your shinai so you cut them on the ura side, and vice-versa)

men-kaeshi-do (receiving your opponent's men attack on the omote side of your shinai, then moving your shinai so you cut their right do, passing by their shinai on the ura side)

You may have noticed that I have put them in order from the 'earliest' waza to the 'latest'. You may have also noticed that they sound very complicated, perhaps unnecessarily so. My apologies for my wordy descriptions, but I believe it is important to be able to describe each waza clearly in words. This is perhaps the third step in helping you think about your technique and hence, your strategy: not just doing it automatically as you have been taught (although this is also very important), but thinking about it clearly outside of training in the dojo.

Application of men-ni-taishite waza
Of course the obvious answer to this is, "when your opponent is going for men." But more broadly, this class of waza will be most useful against an opponent who is taller than you. Knowing this, you will be able to face such an opponent with more confidence, knowing that you already understand the kinds of waza that will help you win against them.

This is the fourth step in thinking through your personal kendo strategy: understanding in broad terms the different situations, and opponents, you will face, and having a plan to deal with them.

Kote-ni-taishite waza
The next class of waza are against kote, and are:

kote-nuki-men (avoiding opponent's kote attack by stepping back and raising arms, then countering with men)

kote-suriage-men (similar to men-suriage-men)

aikote-men (cutting your opponent's kote at the same time as they cut yours, but following up with men)

kote-uchiotoshi-men (stopping your opponent's kote with a downwards strike and then following up with men)

kote-kaeshi-kote/kote-kaeshi-men (similar to the men-ni-taishite kaeshi waza)

Application of kote-ni-taishite waza
Generally speaking, these waza are often used when the opponent is shorter than you. This is not just because, as with kote-nuki-men they are waza that suit a taller person's physique, but because a shorter kendoka's basic strategy will often be to cut your kote quickly as it will be easier for them to reach.

Shorter kendoka often focus on developing fast waza so as to make up for their lack of reach against taller opponents. The fastest possible waza is kote as it is the closest target, hence this is will be a strategy often used against tall opponents. If you are tall but not fast, you may find such opponents a little daunting. Armed with this information, you will be able to develop a strategy that gives you confidence against them.

Conclusion
These strategies don't yet take into account the individual differences in strength or style of tall or short opponents, but they do give you a head start. Once you understand the basics of strategy you can then think about your actual experiences in sparring or competing against different individuals and develop more detailed strategies against these individuals. The more kendo you do, the more you start to notice different 'types' of kendoka, as well as different 'types' of kendo and your confidence will increase against whomever you encounter.

b

Postscript: What about mushin?
Perhaps you already know about mushin (translated as 'no-mind', 'empty-mind' or 'clear-mind'). In that case you might be a bit confused - all this talk of strategy sounds like you should be thinking a lot during your jigeiko and shiai. The concept of mushin says your mind should be empty of all thought in order to perform the perfect technique in any situation.

This is indeed the ultimate state, to fight like this 100% of the time. However most of us know mushin only sometimes, and never, it seems, when we need it. The highest level sensei may be able to reach this state at will, but only after they have understood the ri (logic) of their kendo thoroughly. They have been through this process already: of thinking about their technique and how best to apply it in all situations. Then they have tested and tested it through many, many keiko.

Mostly I am after you to think about your kendo when you're not at the dojo. In the dojo just focus on doing kendo with your whole body, mind and spirit.

The importance of suburi

2008-11-20T22:50:00.017+11:00

Kendo is an artform that requires a partner. However there is a lot of time when you can't train with a partner but you can still help your kendo improve by training by yourself. Suburi is the main way of doing this.

Suburi is shinai-swinging practice and can be done in the air or with a target to strike. Most kendo dojo start training with some form of suburi. Some dojo just do a few quick repetitions and others spend a long time on it. Some sensei find suburi very useful, others feel that it emphasises the wrong aspects of the cut, especially if done without an actual target.

Although it is great to have a target to strike (like a hitting dummy or uchikomidai), I am going to focus here on kuukan datotsu, or striking empty space. This is by far the most portable kind of training you can do by yourself, you can do it anywhere and it has a variety of purposes. You don't even need a shinai or bokken.

Inside
If you live in an old house with high ceilings (and no low-hanging lights!) then you can easily do suburi inside, standing up with a shinai. Just be careful of vases and people... If you live in a newer house with low ceilings then you can still practice suburi a couple of ways.

1) With a shinai: sit in seiza and do sets of sho-men uchi and sayu-men uchi. Increase the difficulty by sitting in sonkyo and performing suburi that way. Alternate katate (one-hand) and morote (both hands) suburi.

2) Without a shinai: you can use a well-stoppered champagne bottle filled with sand to practice katate suburi standing up and using normal footwork, even in a house with low ceilings. This is also an excellent form of strength training as a bottle full of sand is very heavy! (Caution: this is not something you should try until you've been doing regular suburi for a number of weeks).

Outside
Outdoors offers more options with your swinging weapon: extra-long suburito can be used if you have one, and the ground surface does not matter too much. Hayasuburi (jumping men) is also possible now. Normally a fairly even surface is best, however it can be useful to do suburi on uneven or sloping ground from time to time.

Gaze
Even though you are just striking the air, you should always focus on your imaginary opponent (gasso teki). Try not to fall into the habit of looking at the ground when you practice, but look up, as if at someone who is about the same height as you. Performing suburi in front of a full-length mirror is a good reminder of this.

How much is enough suburi?
There is an old adage that if you cannot train with a proper teacher, then 1000 suburi by yourself every day will still see you become a good swordsman. A thousand suburi every day is certainly a very good target to aim for, but build up to it. Don't set yourself the task of starting at 1000. You will just give up sooner.

If you are new to kendo, or have not done many suburi for a while, start off with a small number, but do them EVERY DAY. If you do, you will naturally build up the number of repetitions as you feel your arms, shoulders and wrists getting stronger. Start with fifty or less (per day) in the first week, a hundred in the second week, two hundred in the second week, and so on.

How much is enough also depends on your age. I would say for primary school aged kids, 50/day is plenty. For junior high school kids 100-300 is enough. And for senior high school kids and adults 300-500 is probably plenty to maintain good kendo strength.

You don't have to increase the number of suburi to get more benefit. There's a big difference between doing 1000 suburi in lots of 100, 200, 400 or all in one go. You will find you maintain your interest if there is some variety. So alternate between one hand and both hands, joge, sho, sayu, hayasuburi (jumping men).

It's easiest if you think in sets of 100. After a while it becomes quite easy to keep count, but at first you might find you keep losing track. Keep at it and when in doubt, add an extra 10 or 20 for good measure.

The importance of the left hand
If you only have time for 100 suburi per day (and that only takes about 2 mins, so everyone can do that much if not more), I would strongly advise that those 100 be left-hand only suburi. As most people in their first 3 years of kendo have a fundamental flaw in their swing based on using too much right hand, left hand only suburi is the only way to remedy this situation. Never, in your first 5-10 years of kendo, practice right-hand only suburi (people specialising sei-nito are an exception here) only left-handed katate suburi. The reason for this will become clear to you if you do the practice.

Also, practice your katate suburi straight up and down: sho-men uchi is the best suburi for the left hand. Keep a close eye not only on how straight your cutting action is, but how straight your backswing is too. Again, a mirror is excellent for this. If you don't have a good mirror but you do have a digital camera, recording yourself in movie mode from the front is almost as good (a mirror is better because it's instant feeback).

Why do suburi?
Suburi is good for building and maintaining strength in your kendo muscles, especially in your left hand and arm. For children a little bit of strength training is a good thing but don't overdo it. Teenagers who are not naturally strong, particularly girls, will really find their kendo improves from a technical point of view. They might also find kendo becomes more fun because they achieve more winning cuts by having a sharper cutting action.

As you get more experienced, strength becomes secondary. Suburi becomes more like what practicing scales is to a musician: they keep you in touch with your instrument. Even if you can't get to training, you will notice a big difference in your kendo if you do suburi in between trainings, as compared with if you do nothing.

Keep checking with your sensei that your technique is good. Doing regular suburi at home is only useful if it is correct suburi.

(The yellow circle represents the end point of the cut.)

How much is too much suburi?
There is such a thing as overtraining, but most people are so far from that they need not worry. Kendoka preparing for the All Japan Championships regularly do 2000-3000 suburi every day, on top of their regular dojo training schedule. If you can maintain a reasonable number, say between 300 and 800, every day, then there is little chance you will pick up an injury, especially if you vary the suburi, vary the weight of the shinai or bokken, vary the number of suburi with you do without a break, and so on.

Of course if you do notice pain in your shoulders, arms or wrists, and it seems to get worse the more you do suburi, then stop. See if the pain also stops. Listen to your body and if you think there's a problem, go see a doctor or physio whom you trust.

Suburi is a simple, repetitive excercise. It's not very interesting by itself. But then it's not the reason most people do kendo. What is fun is seeing how your own kendo improves through regular suburi practice.

b

A Way of Life

2008-08-18T20:32:00.014+10:00

A Way of Life

by Ben Sheppard

(Author's note: This article was written to promote the 32nd Australian Kendo Championships, Melbourne 2007. It went unpublished and so appears here for the first time. I came across it recently and found it quite readable, so it is posted here as a handy explanation to all my non-kendo friends and kendo students as to why I study kendo).

I was delighted to read Dr Jeremy Moss’ article on fencing in a previous edition of A2 (The Age, Melbourne). As a bit of a martial arts geek, I enjoy reading about almost any martial art, especially when the article appears in the mainstream media and is written by someone so erudite (most martial arts magazines I see have articles but I suspect they are there mainly to keep the Protein Supplement adverts apart). Fencing is not my art, but it shares a lot of similarities with the one I practice: kendo, the Japanese “Way of the Sword.”

When considering the martial arts, especially the Eastern ones such as kung fu, karate, tae kwon do, etc, many people mistakenly conflate the two concepts of self-defence and martial arts. I am often challenged with the philosophical chestnut of, “but it’s no good for self-defence because you don’t always carry a stick around with you.” Aside from the fact that I could relate many stories of incidences averted by the quick-thinking, humility, or self-confidence gained from kendo, the shortest reply is that kendo is not a form of self-defence. Kendo presupposes that you are deliberately engaged in a duel with someone who understands as you do the rules and consequences of what you are about to do. The kendoka, or kendo student (most don’t like the term ‘player’) is encouraged to approach the duel with a do-or-die attitude which in Japanese is called sutemi, or willingness to sacrifice everything, including one’s life.

Unlike modern fencing, where the right-of-way rule encourages a gentlemanly conversation of parry and riposte, in kendo, attacks are made to be devastatingly effective in a single blow.
"One cut, one life", as the Japanese saying goes. In former times it was not unusual for both duellists to be killed as a result of aiuchi, or a mutual strike. The mindset that has evolved as a result is every bit as gentlemanly and chivalrous as European fencing, with one difference: a Japanese swordsman had no exit strategy. Their only wish was to die having done their absolute best, without having held anything back. To survive was considered a bonus, not an outcome to be sought. "Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it." This was not a symbolic text for the samurai, it was practical advice.

And so every training encounter in kendo has inherited this mindfulness. Do everything as if it was your last act on Earth, from the way you bow at the start of training to the way you fold your hakama (culottes) afterwards. Indeed this way of thinking handed down from the samurai has famously permeated nearly every aspect of Japanese life: from the way a service station attendant remains bowing until your car passes out of sight, to the shop assistant who patiently and immaculately wraps your $7.99 imitation rice-straw thongs in the midst of a busy department store. The result is that they can make you feel like you are the only person in the world who matters.

From its origins on the battlefield of the 13th Century, the Way of the Sword became more codified as the Tokugawa military Government enforced 250 years of peace. Members of the samurai caste who were now experiencing their longest ever period of under-employment focused more and more on refining sword and other combat techniques within their own ryuha (schools). These schools established the practice of kata (pre-arranged sequences of techniques) and the tradition of passing their techniques down through the generations with little or no innovation. In the 17th Century, armour and swords that allowed the samurai full-contact practice without injury were developed. This is largely the same equipment used in modern kendo: the bamboo sword, breastplate, gauntlets, apron and the distinctive, metal-grilled helmet.

The reinvention of Japan that occurred in the 19th Century threw the country into turmoil—anyone who has seen the Last Samurai knows the basic story. The samurai were now truly unemployed, and had to get creative about finding new careers. Many went into education, creating the conditions for the martial arts or budo to become pathways to physical and spiritual development. At the same time as the first VFL footy clubs were being incorporated, kendo was making its debut as a part of the Japanese high school curriculum, a place it still holds today.

In the 1930s, the martial rather than the educational aspect of kendo was emphasised to help bolster Japan’s imperialist ambitions. Kendo played a part in the creation of a culture of ruthlessness and cruelty in the Imperial Japanese army, an army that would commit war-crimes against the peoples of Korea, China, Taiwan, and of course our own servicemen and women.

And yet this was also a golden age of mastery in the art of kendo: a handful of kendoka reached heights of technique that we may never see again. The last of these kengo (giants of the sword) was Seiji Mochida who was ranked 10th dan, a rank that no longer exists in kendo. Mochida-sensei trained constantly until his death in 1974 aged 89. Imagine if it were possible for Bradman to have done the same, always learning, always improving.

The resonances of war meant that Australian government recognition for kendo came slowly. As recently as the 1980s, the Australian Sports Commission would not recognise an art where the Japanese sword was the focus. But in the space of a single generation there has been a massive change in the way we see Japanese culture. The nori roll is the chiko roll of the 21st century, and Australia now boasts some of the finest kendo talent outside of Japan.

But what, after all this time, is the true value of kendo? How can an art-form that has lost its raison d’etre, to kill, have anything to offer a peaceful and humane society? The short answer is this. As Dr Moss said of fencing, so it is true of kendo. There is no sledging. In fact in kendo even the thought of sledging doesn’t exist. Posture, appearance and deportment as they reflect a swordsman's sincerity are so important that you can fail a grading exam based on those factors alone, even before you’ve demonstrated any technique. And perhaps something to do with the fact that you bow dozens of times every training to your various opponents also mitigates against pettiness and name-calling.

Sports which place great store in aggressive, in-your-face conflict and high levels of physicality seem to use sledging as an audible trope of their combative nature. Whether this is supposed to be seen as a sign of these sports’ intensity, or whether the players simply reserve the right to engage in tactical mind-games, it interesting that martial arts such a kendo and fencing that are truly descended from fatal violence rather than its pretence are much more protective of the sanctity of good manners. It reminds me on the one hand of the idealistic and puffed-up enthusiasm of young men who go to war, and on the other of their insights into the futility of it when they return.

This is the true value and paradox of the martial arts, and especially for me, of kendo. From trying to destroy another human being we realise, amongst many other things: the preciousness of the present moment, the importance of respect in human relations, and the stark emptiness of our own incorrigible hubris. Somehow, what began as a way of death has been transformed into a way of life.

June 2007

Cross-training for kendo

2008-07-11T21:34:00.004+10:00

Caleb running up Tiger Head Mountain in Taiwan.

Why am I running up and down a mountain in that photo? (I usually go up and down five times each way, plus I have to hike to and from those stairs.) Check out this article on cross-training:

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-263--7420-1-1-2,00.html

There are three main reasons I cross-train:
1. The first won’t really apply to you, but because I’m older I have to vary my training so I won’t get worn out and/or injured so readily from doing the same thing over and over. Physically, I simply couldn’t do kendo every day.
By hiking, mountain-biking/cycling, surfing and working out, I’m able to exercise every day (actually more than once per day sometimes), and thus, attain a level of fitness that would be impossible if I only did kendo. To give you an indication of this, between a better diet and more exercise, I’ve lost more than seventeen kilos in the past eleven months in Taiwan and I can out-last most of my friends ten years younger than me on a big hike. A few months ago, one of my best friends here (who is fairly fit) and I hiked up to a temple on the outskirts of Taipei. We wanted to see how long it would take us to get to the top of the 1,200 stairs. Time: 14 minutes. That’s 1.43 steps per second. I don’t work out in the conventional sense (with metal weights), but instead, I go for really short, intense training sessions that will build practical fitness (as opposed to gym strength), and really get me huffing and puffing (which mimics what you’d need for kakari-geiko, for instance). Check out these videos:
http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=6yboEs7w5F0 (That guy has a lot of great videos.)
http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=eDh1Cspl0jI
2. I’ve been dealing with a really annoying thumb/wrist injury for the past few months. Again, if I only did kendo, I simply wouldn’t be able to do kendo because the weakest link would prevent me. As it is, I’m able to hold off on going like a bull at a gate a bit at kendo and be more sensible in my training, and work on my fitness in other ways. If I get an injury in one part of my body, I can change the emphasis of my training. Shoulder injury? Do more hiking or cycling. Ankle injury? More upper-body and core work.
3. Finally, motivation is a big factor for me. I’m someone who gets bored doing too much of the same thing. I simply couldn’t do kendo every day from a psychological point of view. By doing a lot of other things, I manage to keep myself really fresh mentally, and my enthusiasm for kendo is sky-high right now. It also means that if I’m going through a bit of a rut with my kendo, I don’t feel like everything really sucks. It’s hard to feel that way when you’re on top of a mountain, or speeding down it on your bike, or catching a wave. A lot of the time, cross-training doesn’t even feel like training (even if your lungs say otherwise!) because it’s so much fun.

Of course, one final factor, which is probably most relevant to most of you kids, is accessibility of training. Maybe your parents don’t have time to drive you around to a whole bunch of different kendo dojos all over Melbourne. That doesn’t mean you can’t get on your bike or play soccer with your friends in the park. That’s cross-training too. Be imaginative. If you can’t train for kendo for some reason, such as being on holidays, it doesn’t mean you can’t become a super fitness beast by running up and down the local hill and freak everyone out with how hard you can go the next time you do kakari-geiko. Everyone else will be thinking, “Gee man, I just want to get through the next kiri-kaeshi, but look at this guy!”

Caleb

掛稽古　Kakarigeiko

2008-06-24T14:00:00.009+10:00

pic by Steve

Firstly kakarigeiko is "attacking practice". It is designed to build stamina and the ability to break through against a powerful opponent. It should only be practiced once you are completely warmed-up, as the intensity of it can cause injuries if the body is not ready.

Generally kakarigeiko is performed in such a way that the motodachi holds centre and the kakarite 掛手 (person who is attacking) must create an opening before attacking. Kiai should always be very loud and extended, continuing with the zanshin: no short yelps or grunts. This helps open up the lungs and increases cardio-vascular (heart and lung) fitness.

It should be done will nothing less than 100% of your energy and willpower. This 100% will increase as you go through repetitions, because kakarigeiko creates its own kind of warm-up. Imagine a battery that, the more you use it, the more power it can store: that's the human body. Subsequent repetitions will be performed at higher intensity, so that your initial energy output will seem small in comparison. Of course after enough repetitions this energy curve will start to dip rapidly. It is common for kakarigeiko to be used in Japanese uni and high school training as an especially severe training method, where kendoka are driven to complete exhaustion and even collapse.

In the early stages kakarigeiko is primarily a fitness-building exercise. That means it should be performed at your maximum energy level. As you get fitter over time, that output level will increase. Emphasis is on using your lower body to drive through and beyond your opponent, turn quickly and commence a new attack without stopping or pausing. Motodachi should encourage mostly atttacks moving forward: men, kote, do, ni-san dan waza. At this stage motodachi should not deliberately hamper their training partner.

Later, when fitness and skill levels are higher, motodachi can perform some actual blocking of cuts. Motodachi can also block their opponent with their body forcing taiatari and hikiwaza. This is a higher level of kakarigeiko where the kakari-te has to overcome the frustration of being hampered, or of their attacks miscarrying. Mukaezuki,(迎え means 'to welcome') where the motodachi holds centre so that even when kakarite thinks there was an opening, s/he runs into the tip of motodachi's shinai, can also be used by motodachi but it is potentially dangerous and should only be used by experienced dan grades.

More difficult still is ai-gakarigeiko 合掛稽古, where there is no motodachi and both kendoka attack simultaneously. Without a high level of regular training and skill, this drill can be ineffective.

The main mental benefits of kakarigeiko are: 1) to instill a spirit of perseverance ("knocked down seven times, get up eight"), and 2) to enable us to realise a state of mushin during training. Obviously in order to make a successful and appropriate attack there is some degree of planning and analysis required. However during kakarigeiko we learn to trust that this can still happen outside our conscious thinking processes as the sequence is too rapid for these processes to occur. So usually it is during kakarigeiko that the kendoka first has an experience of mushin 無心. They find themselves doing something correctly first, then only think about it later.

Yoshiyama Mitsuru sensei, who has written an excellent guide to passing high-level kendo gradings, says he feels kakarigeiko is of more benefit to one's kendo development than even jigeiko.

Kakarigeiko is the last drill before jigeiko. It has almost all the dynamism of jigeiko, and the least structure of all the drills. The main thing people find difficult, apart from the huge amounts of energy required, is the improvisational nature of it. When you get it right, it's like all your cuts are predestined. When you don't, it's like you can't put a foot right. But it takes some trust in yourself and your training to allow yourself to find rhythm. The best way to find that rhythm is to go all out and hold nothing back. Put most of your power into your legs, and keep your upper body relaxed and your cuts light. And sound like a homicidal maniac. Really.

Fujii sensei Lecture

2008-06-24T09:34:00.015+10:00

Kendo Lecture by Minoru Fujii sensei,
Kendo Hanshi 8 dan,
Standing Committee member of All Japan Kendo Federation,
Shihan (Head Sensei) of Hokkaido University Kendo Club
Lecture given at: Kenshikan Melbourne, Sunday 4 June 2006

The lecture is made up of six sections:
1 History of kendo
2 Characteristics of kendo
3 Value of kendo
4 Effect of doing kendo
5 Concept of kendo
6 Attitude of instructor*

If I start to feel tired I will simply stop the lecture early. [Note: * In fact this section was omitted due to the lecture running almost an hour over time.–BS] In the All Japan Kendo Renmei, lectures of this sort are attended standing. Those in the audience are not permitted to sit! However I will let you all sit today!

1) History
Kendo is a unique product of Japanese culture. The first origins of kendo were for the purpose of hunting and killing animals for food. Much later the Warring States Period (Sengoku Jidai 戦国時代) led to swords being used for political purposes. From this, swords, spears, the staff, etc, were developed with a view to killing other human beings.

Later, during the Tokugawa Period (徳川時代) the concept of bushido (武士道) was developed. The sword was no longer used for war but schools developed for their use, based on killing. At one point there were between 400 and 500 different schools (ryuha 流派) dedicated to swordsmanship and related arts in Japan.

Kendo developed from many of these schools, such as the Itto Ryu (一刀流), the Yagyu Shinkage Ryu (柳生新影流), the Ono-ha Itto Ryu (小野派一刀流 ) and so on. Tokugawa Ieyasu chose the Yagyu Ryu because the emphasis was not on the killing aspect of swordsmanship, but on the spiritual or human development aspect.

In the Yagyu Ryu there were two key concepts: satsuninto and katsujinken.
satsuninto 殺人刀 literally, the “killing people sword”
katsujinken 活人剣 literally, the “life-giving sword” or “sword for developing people”

So the sword for killing people became the sword to develop life, or people’s life. The Tokugawa clan ruled peacefully for 300 years, largely due to this concept of katsujinken. Today’s kendo continues this tradition, where the point is not strength or conquering others. It is to develop people and human society.

2) Characteristics of kendo
Age doesn’t matter in kendo.
Gender doesn’t matter in kendo.
Weather doesn’t matter in kendo (because we train indoors).
People don’t die any more in kendo.
Kendo is a lifelong activity. The senior senpai here today is Nagae sensei. How old are you sensei? 85 years old! Many of the sensei here in this delegation are in their 60s. You don’t have to be impatient for progress. Just aim to be still doing kendo at 80 years old.

The purpose of kendo practice is to improve your techniques, your mind and your physical fitness. Things learned in the dojo you can use to benefit society.

3) Benefits of kendo
Concentration (kiryoku 気力)
Observation
Speedy judgement (as in the case of shinpan practice)
Abdominal strength (tanryoku 丹力)
Manners
Fairness
Perseverance
Broadening of the mind
Sympathy, generosity
Modesty

4) Value of kendo
Artistic nature of kendo. Beauty is very important in kendo and it is this aspect that is closely linked to etiquette. Yesterday I showed you how important it is to take off your men neatly, placing your men himo carefully on the floor next to your men. This is an expression of your awareness of beauty. Actually, etiquette is nothing more than the appreciation of beauty in everyday actions: for instance not loudly blowing your nose opposite someone at the dinner table but first removing yourself and doing it away from view is an appreciation of beauty, and at the same time an appreciation of the feelings of others.

Martial nature of kendo. This aspect was discussed above in regards to the history of kendo.
Educational aspect of kendo. Kendo’s aim is to develop people who can contribute to society.
The competitive nature of kendo. (As an aside, Fujii sensei said he was dismayed at how many instructors were teaching their kendo students only techniques useful for winning, and neglecting the other aspects above, especially the importance of beauty and etiquette).

5) Concept of kendo
In the year Showa 50 (1975), the All Japan Kendo Federation published the Concept of Kendo (剣道の理念 Kendo no rinen)
“The concept of kendo is to discipline the human character via the application of the principles of the sword.”

The All Japan Kendo Federation (全日本剣道連盟) badge is based on the circle, with three partial circles of different colours contained. The three colours are red, blue and white: red=knowledge (chi 智), blue=sympathy (jin 仁) and white=courage (yu勇). Courage is this case represents courage against evil.

The circle represents the totality of the whole world. It also represents peace [wa 和 means both ‘peace’ and ‘circle’]. The circle also represents the cycle of the four seasons, of birth, growth, decline, death and regeneration. The circle is also linked to the concept of katsujinken. Finally, the symbol of the circle representing the four seasons is the secret teaching (okuden奥伝) of the Itto Ryu.

礼に始まる、礼に終わる rei ni hajimaru, rei ni owaru
In kendo we say “Kendo begins and ends with courtesy.” This means that manners are most important. A kendoka should not be proud of victory, not disappointed in defeat. Self-control (kokki 克己) is important. Respecting others is also important.
Eventually the spirit of budo links to developing the human being.

Seme
I would now like to talk about the specific aspect of attacking known as seme
(攻め).
First of all there are two concepts that relate to the completion of an attack: shin ki ryoku itchi (心気力一致) and ki ken tai itchi (気剣体一致)
Shinkiryokuitchi describes the necessary condition of readiness in order to make a successful attack, that is, that your intention, your energy and your physical power are all in accord.

Kikentaiitchi refers to the action of making the cut, whereby all aspects of the cut come together as one, that is the shout, the sword and the footwork or body movement.

In producing seme, there are several stages. Firstly, the meeting of the two swords. At a slight distance apart this is where seme starts. Then when the two kensen touch, this is called shokujin (触刃). When the two swords cross over each other, this is called kojin (交刃). see fig.1

fig. 1

There are many kinds of seme leading to the cut. My teacher was Sugawara Keisaburo. His motto was:

勝って　打つ
katte utsu
“Win (first, then) strike”

This means you should win the point first, using seme, then follow through with a cut once you have already defeated your opponent. But what is seme? How do you use it?

There are three kinds of seme:
1) seme against your opponent’s ki 気
2) seme against your opponent’s kensen 剣先
3) seme against your opponent’s waza 技

What does “seme against your opponent’s waza” mean? It means to get in first. Don’t let them express their technique. Debana waza is an example of this. see fig. 2

fig.2

In kendo there are what we call the four sicknesses: fear, doubt, surprise and captivation 驚懼疑惑 (kyo ku gi waku). When you see any one of these in your opponent, you strike. When the opening is there, you give 100%. Don’t hold anything back, or think about what your opponent might do as a counterattack. Just put everything into your attack. Also, we train to eradicate these sicknesses from our kendo. Yesterday when I was doing jigeiko against one of the other Hokudai sensei, he showed seme towards my kote and in response I raised my shinai. This I considered a losing point, even though yuko datotsu did not actually occur. Just the fact that my opponent was able to arouse one of the four sicknesses in me was enough. This is the reason that I train with a shorter than normal shinai. When I have trouble with my mind, I use a very short shinai [shorter than a size 34 shinai—BS]. With a very short shinai, I must have a strong centre and mind in order to overcome the disadvantage of the short shinai. This is the way I have developed to help me train my mind.

When using the shorter shinai however, it is like using the kodachi (小太刀). A slightly higher kamae can make up the difference in length, so that there is almost no difference in maai. see fig. 3

fig.3

The left hand is your mind. A constantly moving left hand shows a disturbed mind [‘disturbed’ as in ‘not calm’—BS].Fudoshin 不動心, an immovable mind. This is the ideal. If the left hand is your mind, then the right hand is your technique.

In Japanese it is said that “bad technique comes from a loose armpit”, meaning a gap between the arm and body.

If your kensen is raised, then your kote is open.
If your kensen is lowered, then men is open.
If kensen is lifted in a technique, then do is open.

Kensen movements should always be subtle. Don’t show your eagerness to attack. Don’t be greedy to get the point. On the other hand, the character mu 無 on my tenugui does not mean “do nothing”. It means don’t have an idea in your mind to do something.

6) Breathing technique
Breathing is important in kendo. Of course. If you stop breathing you die! So we do it all day and all night. But would you like to know how to increase your tanryoku through breathing? It’s very simple and you can practice anywhere. Put one hand on your tanden 丹田, which is the lower part of your abdomen, about 2 inches below your navel. Breathe in quickly and fill your lungs. Now breathe out as slow as you can, feeling your hand move. Practice to increase the length of time you can spend breathing out. In kendo breathing is linked to the moment of attack. It is very hard, perhaps impossible to attack while breathing in. In fact the moment of breathing in is an opening to attack. In Japanese we call the in-breath kyo 虚 (falsehood) and the out-breath jitsu 実 (truth). The outward breath creates strength and has no weakness. The inward breath creates 隙 (suki) or weakness.

Conclusion
The important thing in kendo is to take sen 線 (the line).
Kendo is not to exercise technique.
Kendo is not to strike.
Kendo is not to wait.
I read recently that someone said “kendo is eyelashes.” I thought about this for a long time. In the end I came to the conclusion that he meant that it is something that is right in front of you, but you can’t see it.

We have gone over time. I was going to say something about the role of the instructor but I find it is not necessary because you have Nagae sensei. In Japan these things I have told you are not talked about. They are not sharedwidely. But I am just a fool. I tell you all everything!

Thank you very much!

This transcript is based on notes made by me during this lecture. It is not meant as comprehensive translation of Fujii sensei’s lecture. It is merely meant to serve as a reminder for those who were there, and an ‘informative taste’ for those who weren’t. These notes were made after the simultaneous translation into English by Yano Yoichi sensei. Any mistakes are mine. Any corrections or additions from others who were there are welcome.
Ben Sheppard, Melbourne 2006.