wrists

Right, well thats all done and dusted. Felt amazing at keiko tonight, so relaxed, completey stress free, I can now focus on enjoying myself before the WKC nerves kick in!

I have been working on using my wrists more ever since my first practice with Yanai Sensei in Japan, The main sensei at his dojo gave me great advice on cutting men. I have made some great improvements to my suburi, but in Keiko I still find it difficult to appply correctly.

Two people gave me hints and tips tonight, Kanai Sensei's daughter (who is just back from tearing her cruciate ligament) and Matsuzawa sans younger brother.

First, Kanai Yuriko: When doing suburi, hold the shinai with the right hand a little closer to the left. Let the wrists bounce slightly when cutting men. Obviously you dont want to loosen your grip too much, and you should still cut with proper speed and "shikari" (the Japanese for solid/firm/stable, I think it means to complete a cut, in kendo terms...) This will help loosen the wrists before keiko and allow you to learn propper tenouchi. Also extend the arms fully for each cut. The kensen should bounce similar to Chiba Sensei's style of suburi.

Matsuzawa Kouji:
His kendo was great, only 17, really upright body and straight shoulders. His advice was to grip the shinai with both hands on the end, and make a figure of 8 around the body, keeping the hands roughly around the same height as in normal Kamae. He said to do this every single day. Hopefully this will loosed my wrists up, which despite me being able to relax my shoulders, I lack flexibility in!