Shinai has sides

The 'sides' on a shinai - think it like the sides of a coin. The Japanese term Ura (reverse) / Omote (front) collates nicely with such concept.

You need to be able to distinguish each side when you do below techniques:

1. 'Harai' (knock away)
Self-initiated, straight-line horizontal slap (to create an opportunity)

2. 'Suri-age' (slide up)
Reactive, upward curvature slap (to counteract already-happening attack)

Understanding the meaning 'Front (Men-side)' and 'Reverse (Kote-side)' may become relevant when you apply these techniques with subtly, such as the opponent's built & habit.

If you know the meaning 'front' or 'reverse', you can reason your tactics better because the muscle required for the 'front' side and 'reverse' side action are different.

Ideally you should be able to perform above techniques from both sides, but the Men-side tend to work better in certain circumstance and the Kote-side in another, and you need to figure out by yourself what works best for you, because aside the opponent's habit, you have your own habit/strength for each side and you need to know your own forte in order to make split-second decision for the best possible outcome.

Some opponents hold shinai tilted towards Kote (to guard), then slapping from the reverse (Kote-side) is easier as the distance to catch the opponent's shinai with yours is shorter, whereas if the opponent is holding the centre very strong, slapping from the front is effective to 'break' the defense and get that ippon with Men.

So, be aware of the both side and try to figure out which combination (opponent's attributes + your own habit/ability) works best, the strategy is effective only for you.

Basic cuts order 'wrist-face-body'

Often you would practice basic cuts in a certain way.

It's: Kote - Men - Dou

In English it's: wrist - face - body

And this order normally stays as is because of the simple fact that each target gets progressively further from the attacker.

Wrist - nearest, compact footwork
Face - median, normal footwork
Body - furthest, deepest footwork

This is the reason why we practice these 3 cuts in a particular order and it rarely changes, now you know why.

Aim

Wrist (kote):
the forearm near the wrist where the cylindrical protector is, never hit the hand (risk of injury)

Face (men):
the upper boundary of the forehead or the hairline, not the top of the skull

Body (dou):
just below the right ribcage (from the opponent's view), not the waist on the side

Alternated cut (Kiri-kaeshi) basics

Tips for beginners:

The quickest way to learn Kiri-kaeshi is to memorise the sequence by saying the steps out loud while doing Kiri-kaeshi i.e.

Big Men - cross - 1-2-3-4 (back) 1-2-3-4-5 [continue]
Big Men - cross - 1-2-3-4 (back) 1-2-3-4-5...Men going through + sign-off (zan-shin)

As you see, a standard Kiri-kaeshi comes in two identical units, just the finale at the end of the 2nd unit requires going through & sign-off (zan-shin).

The reason for the backward steps being one extra from the forward steps is because the forward steps is natural to human body by design, whereas doing back steps is awkward and tend to be narrower compared to the forward steps, therefore the back step requires one extra step to compensate this tendency in order to come back to the same spot where you started.

Context:

The alternated cut sequence called 'Kiri-kaeshi' is bread and butter (as well as the Holy Grail) of Kendo practice.

ki.ri = cut
ka.e.shi = flip / alternate (in other context 'kaeshi' could mean 'returning')

There is a saying that "when you mastered Kiri-kaeshi, you mastered Kendo".

Virtually every session at any club in the world come with Kiri-kaeshi exercise, and yet mastering Kiri-kaeshi elude most of us throughout our lifetime.

You should not kid yourself by getting complements from others on your Kiri-kaeshi (consider they're just being polite), as it takes a long time to achieve even a vaguely acceptable Kiri-kaeshi, and you should definitely be suspicious of someone who is overly confident about their Kiri-kaeshi quality.


Importance:

Once you learnt the basic Kiri-kaeshi sequence, in theory you could practice with anyone regardless of their grade, be it a beginner or a 8th-dan sensei.

And not only you can practice your own Kiri-kaeshi, for the first time you can mutually benefit other people by taking the lead (receiver) role during Kiri-kaeshi practice.

Although there are myriad of variations of Kiri-kaeshi, these still retain more or less the same structure. Learn the one your club uses first and be flexible when you practice Kiri-kaeshi with people from other club.

Valid score (Ippon) - without hitting the target?

Yes.

Is the short answer.

Of course it is absolutely ideal if the shinai hit bang on the target and the flags go up, but it is also quite common that a player is awarded an Ippon even though their shinai is clearly not hitting the target.

Why?

It is down to "how convincing" their Spirit-Sword-Posture (Ki-Ken-Tai) was in the right moment of a given combating narrative.

The referee will award an Ippon for the demonstration of the prowess in the tactical judgement & execution of the technique, (crucially) in the *given* combating context.

The idea is that, the player don't need to provide a physical evidence (hitting) in a close match, but the one who can demonstrate their prowess better than their opponent will get an Ippon.

If a strike is launched in the right context with convincing enough power and form, that counts as an Ippon, even if the shinai is not physically touching the target.

Hence the same strike with different opponent - or even with the same opponent in a different combating scenario - may not bring the same result.

And remember, this criteria applies to everyone; this may benefit your opponent one time but it might benefit you in another.

The best (and perhaps the only) strategy to avoid such a 'phantom-Ippon' taken from you, is to make your Kendo totally convincing.

The phantom-Ippon occurs only when your performance is not convincing enough in contrast to your opponent. Maybe it's the strategy or the timing, or poor Zan-shin. So never take it out on the referee.

Yes, there are inexperienced referees, but they have to start from somewhere, also you might be refereeing one day and other people may not agree with you. What goes around, comes around. We're all leaning.

If you cannot convince inexperienced referees, you just got to make your Kendo totally unarguable even for the inexperienced referees, that's all.

So, no "booing" please during the up coming 16th World Kendo Championship.

Such unsophisticated behaviour should remain inside you. It's OK to feel the high spirit, but you really don't need to share it with people around you as Kendo is not a spectator sports (though often misunderstood so).

If a match developed in a certain way, players and the audience should calmly take it as is. That's part of self-control.

If simply 'hitting' is paramount, that's a stick fight which is nothing to do with the swordmanship that Kendo is aiming to promote.

Yes, it might feel unfair sometimes, but you need to be disciplined to take it on the chin and focus on making your Kendo totally convincing.

Keiko Log 13 Feb

Beginner group:

- Footwork only, to and fro
With Cyu-dan, big slow forward step across the Dojo to the end, then maintain the same posture and go backwards from the L-foot to the other end. Be conscious about the number of steps, ideally the number of steps should be even in both directions, but usually going backwards takes more steps than going forward (as going backwards is unnatural movement for human body).

- Footwork with big cut (scissors-like movement), to and fro
The timing of the cut and footwork need to be synchronised, the posture should remain 'sliding', not bobbing the head. "Step-n'-cut"

 - Basic swing
Pint-glass method: imagine you are holing an empty pint glass on the LEFT hand, lift it just above your forehead (no further) with the bottom of the glass facing forward, there's a bar counter at your chest height and you slam the glass on it. Your arm should brake when the glass hits the imaginary counter, but you need to use the thickness of your palm to let the tale of your shinai to tilt within your grasp so that the tip of your shinai would fling forward and hit the target (avoid using wrist to generate this movement). The biggest muscle power in this sequence should be applied when brake sharply at the end of [1] to bear the downwards movement of your shinai & arm and transfer that power to flinging movement.

Hit the bartender over the counter.

The path of the glass remains in front of your body.

Be aware this 'Pint Glass method' is a very exaggerated form and requires refinement later on, but I believe the key movements are correctly captured.

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.

The combatting principle of kendo is

Jousting.

In a jousting the players only go forward, never go backward during the match.

Kendo is like "repeated jousting with constantly re-positioning the straight line that two players are facing to each other".

The key point is that you can go backwards *before* your cutting movement starts, but once you decided to cut, the options are: 1. go through, or 2. smash into your opponent (tai-atari) in order to quash the opponent's cutting distance.

The only exception is when you start from tuba-zerial then do hikiwaza, but you must start from the correct distance which is tsuba-zeriai: the guard of both players touching to each other.

In any other cuts, there is no stepping backward, only go forward.

Plan for 19th Dec

I realised I might have gave the wrong instruction to the beginners that is hindering to execute the correct leg move and timing. I'll try to correct the footwork from the very exaggerated form we've been practising to a more correct one.

Use of the R-leg as a pendulum at the same time as the L-leg pushing the body forward. The pendulum is the keyword for my next session.

Plan for 8th Dec

Uniform check

---[warm up & opening line up + bow]---

Acoustic footwork
Woo-pee footwork
Footwork with turning in formation
Standard+Acoustic combo footwork

L-arm only Men cut
R-arm only Men cut
cut-land-compose
cut-land go through + sign-off

Today's special:
- introduction to Kiri-kaeshi sequence

---[closing line up + bow]---

No Japanese

It is my conscious decision not to use too much Japanese terms when I look after the beginners.

I'd like them to understand its concept first. Once they understand the meaning of movements or manner, it's just a matter of putting a 'Japanese cover' on top of it.

I believe it is more important to understand the true value of certain kendo things rather than knowing a few Japanese words w/o knowing its true meaning.

Plan for 5th Dec

Uniform dressing up check

---[warm up & opening line up + bow]---

Acoustic footwork
Woo-pee Footwork (basic)
Footwork & signing-off turning direction (2 facing files pass L/R on call)
Men-uchi (diagnosis)
L-arm only Men cut
R-arm only Men cut
Normal Men cut + sign-off
Tai-tou & son-kyo
Tai-tou & son-kyo + 10 x Men & rotate

If enough time, introduction to Kiri-kaeshi sequence

Closing line up & bow

Head injury risk

A top-level Australian cricketer died after a hard ball hit the back of his head.

Kendo helmet does not offer any protection around the same area.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30206381

Kendo helmet only protects its narrow front, somewhat limited protection on the top, virtually none on the sides & back.

The rule of thumb is that you should launch a strike to the head only when you can see the red rim of your partner's helmet.

Launching a strike to the head on any other angle is regarded as not only dangerous but also disrespectful and unworthy character of practising kendo.

The logic is that if you cannot be asked to play by the rule, you shouldn't bother about kendo at all. Kendo expects high moral standard from its participants.

Kendo is supposed to be a safe discipline as long as the basic rules are followed, but at the same time it can be dangerous when the basic rules are ignored because the armour is designed based on the assumption that all the participants follow the rules.

Look after your/others head - that's where the happy thoughts are made.

21 Nov 2014 - session 5

- uniform (dou-gi) check
[warming up]
- footwork forward/backward with shinai - individual practice
- turn footwork with shinai - individual/group practice
- super-slow big men cut - individual practice
- collected cut-land on the spot - pair practice
- collected cut-land, 1 step forward - pair
- men cut going through with 3-step turn & signing-off sequence - pair practice rotation

English I failed to use:
row = side to side e.g. "form two rows facing to each other"
file = one behind another

---
Maybe beginners should join the lining up at the beginning of each keiko too, as performing beginning/end 'rei' is an important part of kendo practice to clearly mark the boundary of a keiko.

Next time:
- son-kyo
- footwork
- turn
- half turn formation (2 ppl from the opposite direction > meet in the centre > half turn > go backwards)
- men cut - arm swing workshop
- men cut in pair, entire sequence up to signing-off

21 Nov plan for beginners

[8:00-8:30] Check uniform (dou-gi) dressing up & elevated kneeling (son-kyo)
[8:30-8:40] Warming up
[8:40-8:45] Line-up & bow (formally marking the beginning of a session)

5 mins - Acoustic footwork (fumi-komi)

[new!]
- Footwork (okuri-ashi) facing the mirror (slow x10 returns, normal x10 rtn)
- Turn footwork (L-turn x20, R-turn x20, two groups turn towards the passing shoulder x20)

- Super-slow big men cut (x20)
- Super-slow big men cut with stronger swing (x20)

[new!]
- Collected cut-land (x200)
- Collected cut-land-compose (x200)
 - Medium cut-land-compose (x100)
 ^ swing up R-foot as pendulum to gain forward momentum (like a wrecking ball)

- Big men cut with a receiver (x5 each person)

...if we can cover all that within 45mins, champion!

Forecast

Hopefully we practice some of these eventually...

Standing posture:
- heels up (but only just - lift 'paper-thin' off the floor)
- form straight line on the front side of the body when viewed from a side
- chin tucked in
- don't lean forward nor backward

Kendo footwork (okuri-ashi):
- emphasis on the kneecaps
- keep the eye-level stable, don't bob your body, it's more of a stable horizontal/sliding movement. (think of a walking race. Their heads don't go up n' down while they wiggle away.)

Turn foot work (with shinai):
- efficient use of time & space in combating situation

Cut-n-land:
Pair-up > super-slow big Men on shinai > land 

[Transition from previous disconnected step-by-step movements to more integrated & fluid movement.]
- on the spot w/o moving L-foot x 200 (cut-land)
- on the spot with L-foot catching up x 100 (cut-land-compose)

- half step away x 200 (stretch-cut-land-compose) <--swing up R-foot as pendulum to gain forward momentum (like a wrecking ball)

 

^ use the momentum of R-leg to throw your entire body forward.

- a bit further away (stretch-cut-land-compose) <--swing up R-foot

- small leap (leap-cut-land-compose)
- medium leap (ditto)
- big leap (ditto) <-- close to 'issoku-ittou' (one-step one-cut)

 aim:
- enforce 'cut-n-land' sequence
- stabilisation of the upper body under any circumstance (dissociation of limbs and upper body)
- to get used to the impact of a full Men cut in the hands.

Leap further distance:
- to retain the centre of gravity while moving limbs with extra weight (=shinai) that could throw off the balance.

Double further distance:
- use R-leg as a pendulum to leap further

...for now I'll worry about the correct use of the 'big parts' e.g. arms, legs and torso, then moving into smaller parts like hands for refinement eventually. Bigger joints/body parts --> smaller parts - seems logical order to me.

14 Nov 2014 - session 4

1. acoustic footwork (fumi-komi) practice

2. super-slow big Men

3. hands path for a correct cut (tricky!)

4. super-slow big Men with further landing

5. super-slow big Men with sharper cut (with normal landing distance)

6. super-slow big Men with sharper cut & further landing

7. pairing-up: super-slow big Men with sharper cut & further landing

8. individual Men cut + signing-off movement (zan-shin)

Approx. 10 mins each.

Sitting bow

Sitting bow (za-rei):

1. sit up with straight back & neck, hands placed in the lap
2. form a triangle with both hands with straight fingers, place hands on the floor not far away from the knees

3. start bow down with straight back & neck maintained, the bottom remains on the feet
4. aim your nose-tip towards the centre of the triangle (no need to dig into the triangle with the nose)
5. stop where your tummy is about to touch your legs

Crouching frog: not too bad.

Spot the errors...

Shinai control with backetball

One idea how to get used to the use of shinai:

1. gain control of shinai
2. get used to hitting something with full swing
3. understand the importance of swing shinai straight on the target

07 Nov 2014 - session 3

1. super-slow big Men
Some continued from the last time. Sequence is counter intuitive but so is all the kendo movement.

2. hands path for a correct cut
It's the movement of throwing forward, not upwards. Hard to distinguish the two and execute. After 3 years I'm getting nowhere. It will take a very long time to reach 'barely acceptable'.

10 Oct 2014 - session 2

Super-slow big Men cut movement practice:

0. stand with feet apart in shoulder-widths + R-foot ahead of L-foot (most stable & ready-to-attack standing position when holding a long blade with both hands).

1 - hands up
2 - R-foot up
3 - cut (while R-foot up, stand with L-foot alone, keep upright posture)
4 - land with R-foot
4.5 - L-foot catches up

5.  step backwards to return to the original standing point --> step 1 (repeat)

03 Oct 2014 - session 1

I wasn't prepared for any teaching, just wanted to have a look at the whole session to get a feel of it but ended up helping out the begs group.

Did rather improvised session with the begs, sorry about that. I was tricked into it by that boffin.

Meaning of shinai

When it's written in kanji, the literal translation of shinai is 'bamboo sword' (竹刀) however in Japanese, there's a word 'shina-u' (撓う) which means supple/bendy and that's where the word shinai seems to originate.

It's quite interesting to discover that in fact its writing 'bamboo sword' has nothing to do with its pronunciation 'shinai' which indicates its suppleness.

Somehow I assumed it's one of those exceptions (there are so many in Japanese) to read the 'bamboo' (竹) bit as 'shi', then the sword (刀) as 'nai' but it's turned out be completely false.

I guess a similar word play structure in English also exists, i.e. pigeon = flying rat ...but perhaps you'd never actually pronounce a written word 'pigeon' as 'flying rat' whereas that's what happening in the case of shinai.

Write 'bamboo sword', pronounced 'supple'.

Son-kyo

Son-kyo is an elevated form of kneeling to indicate the highest respect to each other just before crossing the sword.

Symbolically speaking, elevated kneeling is to show respect to each other's swordsmanship and the life that will inevitably be lost in the combat. This should be an intense as well as sobering moment.

Requirements:
- straight & stable posture
- when kneel the both heels are lifted off the floor
- knees 90 degrees apart
- standing up with stable posture

Sumo son-kyo. Other than the hands position, everything is the same in kendo.

Kendo son-kyo posture practice. Stand up-down with hands stretched.

Stand -> kneel: as if a vertical stick slide into a calm water without a ripple
Kneel -> stand: as if a streak of thin incense smoke rising in still air
= movement on either direction must be performed in a steady pace with straight posture

Son-kyo is derived from a way to greet/worship gods in Shintoism which was indeed a proper kneeling with both knees on the ground (ki-kyo) however, the method was altered to avoid the soil getting on the knees later on.

Moto-dachi

Moto-dachi (the cardinal role):

Albeit it is pronounced like a motorised Dutch, in kendo, it's the cardinal role in certain exercise patterns who sets the pace or tell the other side what type of cut they should strike.

It might seem boring to do moto-dachi, but it is an equally important part of kendo practice and good moto-dachi skill need to be acquired through good technical understanding and execution. When you are doing moto-dachi, you are still practising kendo.

Usually moto-dachi role is not attached to the grade of a player hence the role is interchangeable even if a no-grade is pairing up with an 8th-dan, except for a moto-dachi-geiko (a fixed cardinal exercise 1:1 to a queue of people - the same system as supermarket till).

In a pair formation, each side performs moto-dachi role in turn.

In a carousel formation, the side standing close to the club flag would assume the cardinal role. As the people rotate, everyone will get an even opportunity to perform the cardinal role.

Why Dragonfly?

Dragonfly is prevalent and much-loved insect in Japan, also it's sometimes called a 'victory fly' because of its forward-going flying pattern. In olden days it was believed that the dragonfly never flies backwards (in fact it can) and that was attributed to its brave nature.

In medieval Japan the dragonfly was considered as lucky symbol amongst warrior-aristocrat class due to this belief.

Kendo equipments are still carrying this tradition today and often bear dragonfly pattern for the same reason.

Men-string holder

Tsuba

Dou

Tenugui