The theme of striking "small-men"

Joyce's first time led the warm-up, Saturday 10 Sep 2011.

Time flies! I have been back to NZ and led the training for more than one month. While the spring is coming, I still remember how cold the NZ temperature was few weeks ago!

First of all, I am glad to see we have few more members achieved the Dan grades in the National Seminar and Grading held at Auckland Kendo Club on 20, 21 August. It shows the great commitment and efforts from themselves and the Dojos during the Kendo journey! Personally, I am proud of them and would like to invite them keep the enthusiasm of training hard and learning more!

Secondly, In the past few training sessions, the "small men" technique has been our central theme. I would like to drop few notes here for the purposes of review and reflection:

1. Striking Power: The power of small techniques should not be smaller than the big techniques. While the big techniques (kihon) build the proper body movement and te-no-uchi, the small techniques is based on these but perform a faster strike. So, it is important that we won't get confused by the literal meaning of "small".

2. Three Points Coordination: The coordination of left hand, Tan-Dan and right knee is essential to perform small technique. However, before striking, the good posture of chudan kamae is important (please refer to Morioka sensei's three check points).

3. Kensen: Do not let the power of right arm to interfere the central line. Also, be aware that the timing of lifting kensen is key factor to the risk of debana-kote.

4. Central Line: The study of ura (inside, right) and omote (surface, left).

5. Renzoku waza: Based these basics of small-men, we continue to the most basic renzoku waza: small-kote-men. Two important tasks need to be mastered: (1) tenouchi - the tightening and relaxing of strikes, and (2) zanshin - the follow-up of left foot (body).

6. Harai waza: Extending the small-kote-men, harai-men is the following waza.

Based on these techniques, we started the small-kote and (kote-)ai-kote-men waza yesterday. These would further enhance the learning and experience of tenouchi, center, rhythm of kote-men.

Finally, as we have more experienced members now, more shiai-geiko and ji-keiko is important for us to accumulate experience and more advanced study of Kendo. We will continue the shiai-geigo on Saturday afternoons and organise a new session for ji-geiko soon.

Best wishes for those who got flu and injuries. Hope you will get well soon!

Comments

How do you practice seme?

Kobayashi Hideo Sensei – How to Seme (w/English CC) 小林英雄先生 - 攻め方 How do you practice S eme ? Very early on, I have heard of the “Three Opportunities to Strike”: strike when your opponent’s technique is about to start, strike when your opponent’s technique ends, and when the opponent is mentally and physically depleted. Since then, this line of thinking has given me a direction in how to train. In 2017, Utsunomiya sensei, 7-dan kyoshi, came to visit us and taught me the concept of “okori”. That reminds me of the conversation that happened 8 years before that in 2009 with Morioka sensei, also 7-dan kyoshi, who asked me: “What is the timing or reason of your strike?” I think most people are familiar with the idea that you should “ seme then strike ”. However, when do you strike after seme has been a source of struggle for most kenyu. That’s why when I saw the video from Kobayashi Hanshi where you seme for the purposes of creating “okori” , I felt this added a whole other d

Ji-ri-ichi - practice & theory combined into one 事理一致

Wednesday 19th April 2023 Keiko Reflection by Janet Tonight’s Keiko is a timely reminder of the importance of training in Ji-ri-ichi (事理一致, practice & theory combined into one). While we are constantly receiving knowledge & theory passively from Senseis, one must also be actively applying the theories learnt into action to make it their own through repeated practice. We must also be proactive in our own learning by actively seeking more knowledge such as observing other kendokas keiko ( mitori-geiko ), reading books, asking questions when in doubt, & constantly reflect & ask ourselves why do we do this? what are we doing wrongly or correctly? This way we can better understand our bodies, the mechanics of each movements & the purpose behind each individual action, therefore maximise our learning outcome by improving productivity & quality of our practice or Keiko. Remember Kendo is a martial art that descended from Japanese swordsmanship or Kenjutsu, so it’s no

Kendo Journey: A "Travel Guide" from Shodan to Godan-and-a-Half

Waikato Kendo Association Grading (2009) Kendo Journey: A Travel Guide from Shodan to Godan-and-a-Half （中文） by Sam Tsai December 27, 2017 Those that know me should know that back in 1998, Marleen and I moved to Hamilton, New Zealand and ended up being the only two people that practiced kendo within the 100 kilometers radius. In the following year, the stars were aligned as we formed the Waikato Kendo Association and I found myself shouldering the responsibility of being a kendo instructor. Practicing kendo myself and teaching others how to do kendo are totally different things! About half a year after we established the dojo, Hsu Heng-Hsiung sensei , coach of Team Taiwan, led a delegation of more than 20 kenshi to come visit us in New Zealand. About a year after their visit, I was in Taiwan visiting sensei. The first thing he said to me was, “Tell me, what are you having trouble teaching?” I could not help myself but laugh out loud as I replied, “Coach you are wise

Waikato Kendo Club

Search This Blog