Men cut timing (cut or foot, which comes first?)

Someone mentioned they were taught as "cut & land at the same time" which is the standard teaching mantra, it's everywhere even in textbooks.



I've spotted a Japanese article which is kinda moaning about the fact that there's a discrepancy between the existing teaching mantra and the actual cut by experienced players.


Ideal basic Men cut (L-foot remains on the floor at the impact).

It is not wrong to *be able to* sync cut and land, but (and this is a big BUT) teach beginners in this way could cost them a lot.

Initially I was also taught to "sync" cutting & landing, but recently I was given an alternative theory that there's no benefit in syncing landing & cutting.

Contrary to the widely-accepted teaching method, the experienced players' cut usually reach the opponent before the foot touches the floor. It is required in order to benefit from the momentum of the person & shinai as one travelling object - a bit more scientific take there.

Teach beginners to sync the cutting and landing would - due to their limited ability - resulted in their foot landing before the cut, what then follows is that the beginners ended up re-learning the timing as they make progress.

It seems redundant at best and not conducive if they failed to adjust to the correct order later on. Even if they are trying to re-learn, it's always harder to go against the habit than to adjust the existing habit to tone it down.

While ability to sync cut & land is all well and good, teaching beginners with conventional "sync" method could lead them into the wrong habits which could haunt the rest of their kendo lifespan.

If the foundation is questionable, building up skills on top of it would still have the same effect, the amount of hours, sweat and the range of techniques you can perform doesn't *override* the issue stemming from the habits you learnt at an early stage.

Unless you come clean and do something about it, the dead albatross will be around your neck indefinitely.

This is why leaning correct kendo is very important.

Given the risk of gaining the wrong habit by trying to sync cut & land, the exaggerated "cut then land" method is better as it's hard to gain bad habits like the R-foot landing before the cut reaches the target.

[Photos borrowed from Nara Photo-Studio Dojo]

12-15yr group

 

6-12yr group

 6-12yr group

6-12yr group

 12-15yr group

Photos at a local competition in Nov 2011 Nara Japan.

War and Peace

I reckon peace is more fun.

A Palestinian boy in Gaza City [30 Jan 2015]  Pic: Suhaib Salem/Reuters

inset: a child in kendo armour

Grateful for the circumstance that allows to practice kendo.

a British kendo joke

The Two Ronins.

Clean basic cuts practice in pair

http://youtu.be/9JG7AijRd3c?t=3m34s

Content:

Standard Kiri-kaeshi (in turn)
Double switch Kiri-kaeshi
Fast Kiri-kaeshi

Long distance big Men (twice & switch)
Long distance small Men

Normal distance small Men
Normal distance small Kote
Normal distance fast Kote-Men

Reactive attack against Men
Reactive attack against Kote

Hiki-Men, Hiki-Dou
Hiki-Men (heads-side), Hiki-Men (tails-side)

[12:50-13:06] 1 person
(Long-distance)-Men
Kote-Men
(Tsuba-zeriai)
Hiki-Dou
Men-Taiatari
Hiki-Men
Kote-Men
(Tsuba-zeriai)
Hiki-Dou
[1 missed Men]
Men
Hiki-Men
Men
…in succession (15 sec)

[13:41-13:52] 1 person
Men
taiatari
hikimen
kote
men
taiatari
hikidou
kote-men
taiatari
hiki-dou
kote-men
taiatari
hikidou
kote-men
taiatari
hikidou
men
(11 sec)

Chasing big Men
Chasing small Men
Chasing Switch L-R cuts & Men

Binary Kirikaeshi

[End]

Bamboo Blade fallacy!

It is inevitable that some people are introduced to Kendo via mass-media entertainment such as Bamboo Blade.

But by the look of the screen shot I found in their *official* web site, I can tell that many production staff for this title don't know the basic etiquette of kendo.

In the cases above, the biggest offence is the one resting hands on the tail of a shinai as if it's a walking stick.

As the title Bamboo Blade suggests, you should consider a shinai as if it's a real sword with razor-sharp blade, and always treat it as if your life depends on it.

If you put the tip of a razor-sharp blade on the ground like above image and put a pressure, the blade will be damaged. Practically you are compromising your own fighting ability.

After all, kendo derived from a training technique for real sword combat, and only used bamboo sword for practical reasons (not to kill/be killed during the training phase) but the leaning objectives remains the same - to become an accomplished swordsman.

If your shinai handling is not the same as handling a real sword, in olden days you'd lost fingers with your own blade even before reaching the battle field, and in modern practice it shows that you don't appreciate its historical significance.

The bottom line is, learning the etiquette doesn't require special skill or physical strength, and if you can't be bothered to learn such non-demanding basics, your attitude is unsuitable for leaning kendo.

Yes, it's all pretend, but that's the point. Go with it.

The 2nd offence is the one holding a shinai on the right hand. It's not that you should never touch a shinai with the right hand, but in a standing posture like that you should always hold shinai in your left hand.

I think the image was done just for an aesthetic reasons. I'm sure it annoyed the hell out of many kendo people.

3rd, once again, shinai is not a baseball bat. Also posing with such swagger is not the attitude kendo would promote in the first place. Kendo is not for street-fighting riffraffs. Sophisticated mannerism matters.

FORGET the fact that many people handle shinai like that. REMEMBER just because other people around you are doing that doesn't make such handling of shinai acceptable, it just shows the lack of awareness.

Attitude aside, holding shinai over the shoulder can cause danger to other people. Imagine you turned around with your shinai resting on your shoulder and accidentally hit someone in their face, who was happened to be a visiting sensei, for example? Accident happens when you are least expecting, prevention is the best cure.

So, it's a good habit to keep the tip of your shinai always below your hip and lift it only when it is required.

The moral of this article: Never, ever, ever confuse an entertainment material for the real stuff. Always enjoy them with a very big pinch of salt.

9th Jan 2015 Keiko Log

Beginners group - 9 ppl

Menu:
- forward/backward footwork
- formation footwork & turn
- 10 x stand still cut + Yo!Sushi rotation
- 5 x men-cut uchi-komi going through
- kiri-kaeshi
- uchi-komi to a moto-dachi

Very glad the regulars retained most of the basic movements surprisingly well, and everyone was able to add something onto what they had at the beginning of a session.

Some bits and bobs of old habits came back to some people but the overall performance was not undermined by it.

My Memo

A: tend to open the L-hand (need correct grip), lifted hands remain too long above the head. Think the rhythm of kicking a football. The leg doesn't stay at the flung-back position, the same logic to the lifted hands. Lift up & cut down is in one flow.

C: after cut give wider buffer before the turn, can swing harder. Still tuning with neck, try open-chest posture so that cannot use neck when turn.

E: come in dead straight, facing partner's shoulder tips in align. Swing in straight line, can cut heavier.

F[n!]: good distance for Dou, need to explain basic footwork, gait too wide.

G: cut & voice at the same time (closely followed by landing). Good distance & posture. Need landing with the sole parallel to the floor.

H: cutting position tend to be wee bit too close in general, esp. Dou. Awareness of 'Mono-uchi' on a shinai.

M[n!]: footwork need explanation, cut swing should be straight, good strong swing

Tmc: good turns both L/R, good energy and fast cut, reasonably straight swing

Tw: shoulder tension definitely improved. Cut seems a bit heavy, sharper grabbing after the impact.

-------------

- Next time -

Basic footwork

Acoustic forward march: on the spot -> small gait (L-ft catch up) -> wider gait (catch up)

Cut-n-land [QUANTITY]: small hop in front -> medium leap in front -> small hop going through

R/L Dou x 5 going through

Kiri-kaeshi

Moto-dachi Men uchi-komi

---

Long term:

I'd like the beginners to be able to perform 'kote-men-dou' combination with equal quality to each cut. Then stable Kiri-kaesh for both being a receiver & attacker.

If they can perform these key sequences, there's no reason why they shouldn't join the armour group.