I've been practicing more regularly now that the Christmas holidays are well and truly over and that work has settled back down.

Unfortunately my laptop is broken and I've not been able to buy a new one just yet. I've borrowed an old Mac from a friend though, so should be able to post more updates and photos soon.

I've been told I have a good Kamae, and posture, so I'd like to talk about it here!

I've followed the advice of three Sensei for my Kamae in the last year.

Left leg is dead straight and hips turned up to the back. (Akiyama Sensei)

Left and right foot placement is extremely important, place both together, pivot the left foot on its heel to the left 90 degrees, and then on the ball again by 90 degrees. (see pictures at the end)
Tuck your chin in and imagine someone is holding you up by a string that comes from the crown on your head. (Torikai Sensei)

Relaxed arms and shoulders, if they are relaxed you can strike quicker. (Kubota Sensei)

Yanai Sensei has also had a huge influence on my Kamae as he has been tweaking and correcting it ever since I started coming to practice with him in Japan.

I had been holding my left hand just at the level of my navel, and maybe around two fists from my body in imitation of some university students.

Yanai Sensei said that I should instead hold my left hand lower and closer to my body.

Place the left hand one fists distance from your body and at a height just below your navel (belly button).

He said my cuts were a little light and that it's because of the height of my Kamae. With the Kamae held out like I had it, there is not a lot of room to generate power while striking men.

By bring the hands closer and lower, I will be able to use my wrists better and put more power into the cut.

I tried it out during keiko last night and found a marked difference in my cuts. I was able land much more solid hits and made more Ippon during Debanna men practice too.

I've added the photos of the foot placement, this is not an uncommon method of placing your feet, I've been thought it before in Europe, but Torikai Sensei makes a point of doing it every time before he joins in practice

Start with both feet together.

Pivot on the heel the left foot by 90 degrees.

Finally pivot the left foot another 90 degrees to the correct position.

Thanks for reading,
hope you enjoyed my feet!

At a recent practice at Mitsubishis kendo dojo, I was extremely lucky to get an extended keiko with a Sensei and received a ton of advice and feedback from him.

We began by exchanging a few cuts, Sensei taking first chudan and then jodan (which is his preferred kamae)

Sensei then stopped and began to address my problems. He said my Kamae was good, but to be sure to always keep checking and correcting everything;

Distance between left and right feet, width between them, hips straight, strength in the left wrist, right hand and arm relaxed, shoulders relaxed, chin tucked in and head not leaning back.

I was letting my chin push out at the very last second, just as I was making the cut, a sign that I was attacking from my upper body rather than hips and legs.

Sensei then said that I didn't have enough power in my left hand, not too much in the right, just not enough in the left.

He asked had I ever practiced in jodan, and I said only for motodachi purposes. What followed was one of the most difficult 15 minutes of my kendo career!!

Sensei had me take jodan and strike men repeatedly, stopping after every few to correct my kamae a little or explain about how to strike katate (one handed) men.

The combination of pushing from the right right and stamping with the left was confusing, along with making katate strikes and trying to digest the advice being given in Japanese made the whole experience very tiring!

For those who do jodan I'm sure this is very basic but I'll mention a little of his cutting advice.

1. Bring the shinai to the centre before cutting, pushing with the right while whipping the left forwards

2. Extend the left wrist so the shinai hits the top of the men.

3. Keep your feet close together and push off with them in the correct position.

He said that if your katate men is quick, strong and has good snap, then your morote (two handed) men will also be greatly improved.

We then had a short keiko with both in jodan, Sensei telling me to push forwards making seme and attack men when he gave a slight opening.

Once it was starting to improve in jodan, Sensei switched me back to chudan, checked my kamae and had me attack men. There was a marked improvement in cuts, they were more powerful with more snap and pop at the end.

His main points to focus on

1. Each cut should be treated like Ippon. Make seme, move, your kensen, make an opening, attack the centre and then strike.

2. Practice kihon and keiko with the feeling of shiai. Shiai and keiko are the same.

3. Keep your chin tucked in. I could hear him telling people both before and after me that they were pushing theirs out.

It was fantastic to practice with a Sensei who gave so much feed back, despite having a long que waiting for him. He gave advice to everyone, keeping some longer than others but always giving something unique to each person.

So I need to practice more katate men at the dojo and at home!

From my own experience having mental check lists during kihon keiko is a great way to improve. My Senpai drilled things into my head each practice when I was a beginner, each time I cut men I would go through the check list;

Kiai, step into your distsnce, weight on the left leg, head tucked in, body and shoulders relaxed, push from the left leg, swing BIG, strike without over extending, fumikomi and instant hikitsuke (drawing up the left foot) push through with large quick steps turn and repeat.

Over time it became natural and I didn't have to think about it, I could just do it. So maybe for someone who is struggling with men, break it down, make mental notes of the parts of the cut and keep it in mind while you practice kihon. After a while it will click!

Thanks for reading!
Check out the Facebook page!
www.facebook.com/DoryokuKendo

One of my biggest faults is that I step back far too much. I have tried to make it my new years objective to step back less.

I think it's a common thing among kendo players at certain levels, the fear of being struck by your opponent possibly being a cause of it.

I've had a lot of Sensei scream it at me over the last year, and recently had a chance to listen to a very high level Sensei talk about it to a large group.

Tokyo's Yano Sensei took charge of the kangeiko I attended this year at Komazawa University, while I didn't get the chance to practice with him I was lucky to hear him talk about stepping back after the keiko.

Sensei talked for over 20 minutes about how we should NOT step back.

He made the point that when he was a young man, his dojo was so small, you could not step back. Only 3 pairs could practice at a time, the Sensei would push and push but he couldn't go back further than 3 steps or to the side, so he had to push forwards.

He talked about how now days we practice in wider and longer dojo with some kendo clubs even practicing in large school gymnasiums. Players have more space to step back and even to the side to avoid opponents attacks.

Sensei said that it is vital to remove stepping back for the purpose of avoiding attacks from your kendo.

Sensei showed a number of ways in which we could attack rather than step back under pressure from your opponent.
Using harai, maki and kaeshi waza we can turn an opponents attack into one of our own.

If your opponent steps in to attack,

1. Step forward your self taking the centre and attack with kiriotoshi men.

2. Make harai, either on the omote or ura side striking men or kote.

3. Use maki waza to roll the opponents shinai out of the centre and attack the open target.

If we learn not to step back, we will begin to develop and immovable spirit.

Taking Yano Sensei's advice on board and combining it with Kubota Sensei's advice of pushing the right foot forward as an opponent moves I hope I will be able to attack more rather than stepping back.

Instead I will try to make it a chance for my self, push the opponent back, take the centre from them using harai or maki waza, If my seme has been putting pressure on them, make debanna or other oji attacks.

--------

From my own brain and advice from other Senpai.

Stepping back usually gives your opponent the advantage, an opponent who likes to use ni-dan or san-dan waza will destroy you if you just step back to avoid their attack.

Especially bad is leaning back; bending your left leg and pulling your head back to avoid the strike does absolutely nothing other that leave you wide open for a follow up attack, or encourage your opponent to make his next attack more than one strike.

There are times when stepping back is of benefit, creating distance for an attack like nuki men against a taller opponent, or to make a hiki men against someone who only attacks once before "resetting" for example, but this post is more about stepping back just to evade an attack and how we should try to avoid doing it.

I really want to try to remove this aspect from my kendo and hope that with practice and effort I'll make an improvement on it this year.

Thanks for reading!

Please like the Facebook page!
www.facebook.com/DoryokuKendo

I'm with-out a laptop at the moment so pictures and other things are difficult to post.

Wow. Nearly a month since my last post!!

I'm extremely sorry!

In December I've been busy with the end of school term, Christmas and relaxing on my winter holiday. So haven't had much to post about.

I'd like to say a massive thanks to the people reading this blog however, because despite my lack of content I have managed to reach 10000 views!!

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!

I'm currently not practicing while on vacation. I'm giving my body a little break before the new year, next year will hopefully be as much of a success for me as 2012 and I hope I can continue to shared kendo experiences with you!

It's too late to say Merry Christmas, but Happy holidays and Happy New Year to one and all!

I joined a junior/senior high school keiko kai this month where students from both schools practiced together with past graduates and the high school kendo teacher.

My Japanese Senpai from Ireland, Takenaga San asked me to join in with his high school Sensei and some of his class mates and kohai.
I traveled to kanagawa Budokan and practiced for about 3 hours with students from Asano Gakuen (combined junior and senior high school). Keiko was lead by Maekawa Sensei, who was my sempais teacher in high school.

The class was split into kihon, oikomi, and jigeiko.

There were a lot of great ideas but my favorite was the hiki waza practice which I'll describe below.

Make groups of three people. Have them
line up with the first person (attacker) at one side I the dojo, the second (motodachi 1) in the middle and the last person (motodachi 2)on the other side of the dojo.
Have the second and last person face the first.

The first person is the one doing the exercise, he begins attacking the person in the middle completing a set of forward attacks followed by hiki waza, a men strike takes him past the person in the middle and he then alternates between the two motodachi doing another set of attacks.

It sounds difficult, and it is! But with practice it will be easy and a great way to build speed, stamina and waza

The first set of attacks is

Men, hiki men
Kote-men, hiki kote
Men, hiki do
Kote-men, hiki do
And then men, passing through with zanshin.

The attacker pushes past the first motodachi and is now in the middle facing the other motodachi, he immediately begins attacking. After each hiki waza he turns to face the other motodachi.

The sequence is

Men, hiki men (turn after zanshin)
Kote-men, hiki do (turn after zanshin)
Finish with men or kote men

The first motodachi now becomes the attacker, and the set is repeated.

This was a great exercise to do and would work well with most levels.

You could make a variant where after passing the first motodachi, the attacker. Has to perform oji waza instead of hiki waza.

Great fun all round!

Happy new year to one and all, I hope you all had a great last practice in 2012 and have an even better first practice of 2013!

I worked off my holiday belly this morning by joining Kangeiko at Komazawa University. Since its holiday season in Japan, the dojo was packed with people of all ages taking part in the first keiko of the new year.

Kangeiko is the first practice of the year, the name means cold practice or winter practice, it has a reputation of being tough, and I'm happy to say it didn't disappoint!

Keiko kicked off early (before the stated starting time of 10am) with plenty of kirikaeshi followed by mowarigeiko (practice with everyone just rotating between fights) at about 10:20 the drum rang out to stop mowarikeiko and begin queuing for the Sensei. There were a lot of people and a lot of Sensei, but I didn't get to practice with many!

I practiced with one Sensei who absolutely battered me, he was lightning fast! He put me on my back side too! It took so long to que for him that I decided to try the shorter lines further from the top end. I got two more keiko before the drum signaled the end.

So if I can get away with it I'll go to kill this evening too, but if not its back to business as usual later in the week

Roll on EKC 2013 in Berlin!