The importance of a good kiai

I have mentioned before that one of the things I am trying to work on this year is my zanshin. This is easy to say – it can be more difficult to maintain, particularly when it is very hot or humid! Showing fighting spirit, and that your fighting spirit does not relax until the very end of a cut or action, has an important place. I did not understand how important until last night at training.

In working on zanshin I also worked on my energy in jigeiko or in kirikaeshi or in whatever drill we happened to be practicising. It immediately paid off. My opponent sensed it. I sensed it. My kendo felt good. One thing that helped, I think, was having a good kiai. At the points where my kiai was at its loudest and most energetic, I sometimes found my opponent taken aback allowing an opening to be made and a successful strike to be executed. At the very least, there was better kendo.

The only frustrating thing for me was the couple of occasions where my right hand took over. After jigeiko with one senior member of the club, she turned to me and said: “Watch your right hand”. I knew exactly what she meant. There were a couple of men cuts that skewed off target. It was annoying because had my right hand not taken control, I would have made some rather decent hits.

Two lessons then:

1. Good kiai and zanshin definitely have a place in leading to good kendo.
2. Watch the right hand. Make sure it does not spoil one’s accuracy and style. Its not a bad habit yet…

4th kyu!

I am now a 4th kyu!

Grading was earlier today and, despite the heat, about 80 kendoka looking to grade arrived at Picton High School for the grading seminar and grading session. As usual, there was a mix of people from different clubs. I think there were about six people from SKC – all of them passed. Congratulations!!

I was relieved to hear that the grading panels had met regarding the extreme temperatures. It has been up in the 40s today – and it looks like it will be the same tomorrow. The panels had decided to shorten the day, in order to run the grading before the heat set in. So, while all the necessary technical requirements for the grading were met, it was all completed by 1pm – as opposed to the scheduled 3.30pm. I should clarify that… the gradings were completed by about 12.15pm. The announcements were made at about 12.45pm.

Going for 4th kyu was good. It was hard in the heat – particularly with uchi-komi geiko but all in all it was a very satisfying feeling. I had harboured a hope that I might be jumped to the 3rd kyu grading but that twas not to be! Not to worry. There is August. My goal is now to make 3rd kyu by the end of the year.

Only a couple of days left…

It is only a couple of days left until grading.

To be honest, I am a little nervous.

It is supposed to be 44 degrees over the weekend and I don’t do really hot temperatures terribly well.

This might explain my performance at my last training session before my grading. Last night was bad kendo. Not that I was missing the mark or not understanding what was required of me. My technique was sound – and there were a couple of moments in jigeiko where I managed to score some very decent hits on more senior and experienced kendoka. No. That was all fine. It was not being able to get all the way to the very end of training that annoyed me. I stopped about 15 minutes ahead of the end and had to rest.

This simply added to my frustration. Apparently, doing this is not the done thing. I am not entirely convinced that is correct – after all, if you have completely worn yourself out, surely you should give yourself time to recuperate? I am not arguing that if you have had enough, you go off and stop. No. That is not what I am saying. I am talking about when you know if you go on you do yourself an injury. Back to the training session: according to some of the senior grades, people should not have been going off into the corner to rest. We should have soldiered on. Hmmm… working through all of that, there is an interesting question posed here: if you get to the point in training where you cannot train (tiredness or humidity or heat or whatever), is it worthwhile to continuing when your kendo in that training session will probably be bad kendo? The consensus amongst many appears to be: ‘Yes. You need to keep going because once you pass your limits, your kendo will improve…”.

It strikes me that the more correct answer might be found in knowing your absolute limits. There is a difference between pushing yourself hard during training and pushing yourself so hard that it amounts to plain and simple stupidity. In early December, just before the State Championships, I remember really pushing myself in training. I wanted to get the best kendo I could out of the two hours we had available at that time. My motodachi even commented on how hard I was pushing myself. I was exhausted but I felt good. I knew my limits. I suspect this is not what the senior grades were alluding to. I think they might be focusing more on those that are lazy. I hope I am not one of them!

So, in the end, training was not brilliant. It was not the best it could have been. Keeping a positive spin on it, though, it was made clear to me how important it was to “find one’s rhythym” as well as continuing to work on my physical fitness. The school year has started in a very hectic manner so I have yet to start my swims or sessions in the gym. I might have to notch it up the “to do” list one or two places in light of last night!

Well, here’s to Saturday. I am hoping it goes well.

Timing and breathing – a short postscript

Over the past couple of months at training I have noticed that there is a kiai during suburi that runs a number of the counts into one phrase. What I mean by that, whoever it happens to be (and I think I have worked out who but I am not sure) phrases his counts according to his breathing. Rather than breathing in and out on each stroke of the suburi, the kendoka concerned groups the strikes and exhales during the course of the grouping.

Whether or not this was a deliberate action, I could not tell you but it made sense to me so I decided to try this and found that I had more to give by the end of the suburi set because I did not have a build up of carbon dioxide in my lungs. “Phrasing” the strikes, as a musician makes phrases out of sets of bars, seems to be a good way forward. I only mention it as timing and breathing is something so very important in kendo.

Still working on kote

I missed training on Wednesday night. I had a work commitment. My position at the school I work at saw me attending the “Briefing for New Parents”. As the name suggests, this is for parents of new students – this particular evening was aimed at the senior school students. Senior staff, like myself, were required to attend in order to respond to questions from parents new to the school community. It went well – although a little long. It was in the school hall, which was quite full. All in all, in the heat that Sydney is experiencing at the moment, it was quite an epic.

So, having survived another week at school, I was very happy to go to training on Saturday morning. I arrived a little early, which allowed me to get ready as well as watch a little of the Jodo training that was taking place. For those who don’t know, Jodo is the art of defeating a sword-armed opponent with the use of the 4-foot stick (yon shaku jo). The Jo borrows elements from the arts of the sword (ken), the long staff (bo), the spear (yari) and the halberd (naginata). It uses a weapon much like that found in some Aikido and Jujutsu schools, but it is used specifically to defeat the “superior” sword-armed opponent. Jodo was invented 1603 by Gonnosuke after he was defeated in a sword-bout with the famous Ronin Miyamoto Musashi. In the return match, this time armed with a Jo, Gonnosuke handed Musashi the only defeat in his career. There is no combat as such in this particular martial art. Rather, it is based on kata. I have heard it said that people who practice Jodo have a more sound appreciation of technique, maai (distance) and zanshin (energy and alertness) than their kendoka brethern.

Nevertheless, once Jodo had finished, we were able to get into the dojo and get ready for training. It was a muggy morning and it did not take long to break out into a sweat. ANOTHER hot Saturday morning! After the initial warm-ups, we spent time learning some kata. This was good. I found it very interesting. Payne Sensei posed a question to me (and others) about what we learnt from kata. I thought my answer was fairly sound; “control”. He agreed but moved on to others – nobody mentioning the answer he was after. “Cutting” was one answer. “Footwork” was another. File those ones away! It’s true. There was nothing wrong with my answer or those given by others. But what was captured in Sensei’s comments was the the nature of kata, where it is centred on a

formalized spirit, technique, and movement based on practical experience in real battle.

Nobody picked it up!

Training moved to looking at our kihon-dōsa  or fundamental movements. Jigeiko followed. I was very happy with my performance in jigeiko this week. It was much better than last Saturday’s! I persisted on working on my kote technique. There is much more work to be done, but I was happy with my efforts. I was, again, complimented on my men cut but advised to develop my seme. There is a theme developing here. Last week (and prior to that) the need to work on my seme is being noted. It is not a case of “nothing there” but a case on “you could make better what is there”.

In addition to working on my kote, that will definitely be another focus for my kendo this year.

A very hot week’s training in Sydney

For those of you who read this blog and are not from Sydney, you may or not be aware of the fact that it has been really hot here. For a number of days (close to a week, I guess) we have had temperatures into the 40s. That’s been on Sydney’s fringes. In the Sydney metropolitan area, the temps have been in the very high 30s, pushing the 40 mark. To say that training has been hot is an understatement. That post-training shower has been one of the nicest things!!!

Both Wednesday evening and Saturday saw extremes reached. As I understand it, Wednesday night was the hotest night in about 11 years. I don’t know whether or not Saturday broke any records but it was in these conditions that Sydney Kendo Club continued training. I am going to be grading on 7 February. I am aiming for 4th kyu (although would be stoked if I came out of the grading seminar having been passed at 3rd kyu!). Given that I want to do the best I possibly can, I know I need to get to as many training sessions as I can before the grading at Picton (just south of Sydney). This helped me shrug off the heat and focus on improving my kendo.

Both days went well. Wednesday night saw particular attention being given to different men cuts. Fukuda Sensei was at training. It was his last Wednesday training session before returning to Japan. He told us on Saturday that he will be back in about three weeks for a fortnight. I hope to see more of him. It was an interesting experience having kendo techniques translated for you – I didn’t know that Cross Sensei was so fluent in Japanese! His explanation on the execution of men cuts was excellent. He outlined four different variations. For example, “hovering foot”, pushing in and then making the cut and pushing in by making a step forward and then making the cut… we had plenty of time to practise these variations.

Saturday saw Fukuda Sensei present at the dojo, although he was only really giving individual instruction to those he played as opposed to the ‘general’ instruction given to all those training (as done on Wednesday night). Given the heat, Payne Sensei went through some kata training with us and then there was attention given over to specific techniques. Men cuts, kote-men and so on. This took us to the last 45 minutes of training where we had jigeiko. My kendo was average. I was berated by Payne Sensei for not keeping the pressure on Sano Sensei. Instead of gradually moving forward to bring pressure to bear, I was standing still. I thought I was doing the right sort of thing – clearly not. “Sano Sensei will get you every time”, Payne Sensei remarked. So, I took the lesson of bringing pressure to bear on to other bouts. I was marginally more happy with my performance but my kote cuts were a mess. I felt anyway. I think I scored one or two off people but this is something I really want to work on this year.

As I have mentioned before, my men cut is progressing well. The timing and reach underpinning my kote is the next challenge. Cross Sensei observed that I was not moving straight but to one side when attempting to cut kote. I stopped this immediately and so when I went to my next bout, I found that the kote strikes were a little bit more on target. Practice, practice, practice… Here’s looking to improve my kote.

…but surprised to think that I very nearly didn’t go to my first training of the year

Yesterday was hot. Very hot. If you have been in Sydney recently, you will understand what I am talking about. I believe today is supposed to be just as warm, if not worse. For me, I am living it up in the university library, working on my conference paper in the glorious air-conditioning! Hopefully, it won’t be too bad for me (although I do remember when the library air-conditioning shut down once. If memory serves me right, they had to close it because it was too hot for people to be in here). Anyway, why do I tell you all of this. I was going to pass on training and stay at home. I am so very glad I didn’t – however, I did get to training late. Unfortunately my eldest child decided to have a weapons grade meltdown as I was heading out the door. It was a two parent-job to calm the situation down. Once everything had sorted itself, I headed off for training.

There were no beginners there last night. It was really quite odd. I walked in, expecting there to be some people in casual clothes – no. Not last night. Everyone was in boguwhich looked awesome. I quickly changed, warmed up and got myself ready. The drills were based on some lesson plans of Fukuda Sensei (I think). They were simple and very good. Just the sort of thing for a hot Wednesday night. Cross Sensei saw me come in late and, once I had warmed up, had me start with kiri-kaeshi before doing anything further. It felt good to blow the cobwebs out, as this was my first training session since the Christmas pause that the club has at the end of the year. I then participated in the exercises that sensei was running.

It shortly turned to ji-geiko. I played a couple of different people and was very pleased to see that my men cut has come along really well. It had been mentioned to me at the NSW State Championships that it was looking good – and it seems that person (you know who you are) was certainly not wrong. I was able to score a number of points off my opponent – mind you, they were also able to score some very good points off me too! As I mentioned in my first post of the year, one of the things I want to do is to continue to refine my men cut (I can really feel the difference that comes from having worked on my reach) and start to work in other wazainto my repetoire. In particular, I am keen to work on my kote.

I left last night’s training happy that I did not succumb to laziness. I really want to train as many times as I can this year. After all, if I don’t train, I won’t improve and I certainly won’t enjoy my kendo as much as I could.

Starting 2009 the way I intend to finish it…

This is my first blog entry of the year, happily preceeding my first training session of the year. A Happy New Year to all and I hope 2009 is a prosperous one for you.

 

This year looks like it will be another busy one for kendo. I have, as last year, a couple of goals to which I will aim. I am also keen to participate in as many tournaments or seminars as I can as I look to improve my kendo over the upcoming 12 months.

 

My goals this year are simple:

1. Achieve at least 4th kyu (but preferably 3rd kyu).
2. Work on my zanshin.
3. Refine my men cuts and work on diversifying my techniques (including working up a strong kote).
4. Continue to improve my kihon-dosa and to execute my actions with strength and confidence.
5. Continue to build my own physical resilience.

In short, I want to start 2009 the way I intend to finish it – constantly striving for improvement.

 

I want to really improve my kendo this year. I finished 2008 on a high with my first taikai, the NSW State Championships. I did not progress out of the pools but I did play what I thought to be some of the best kendo that I have played since I started training. December ‘09 / January ’10 will be a little bit of deadtime for my kendo as I will most likely (99% certain) in Germany for my PhD. I have to spend some time raiding libraries and speaking to academics about my research and the long school holidays (our summer holidays in other words) is the best time to do it. Sigh… it does mean a little less kendo during the long break however and possibly missing the State Championships this year.

 

Anyway, my first hurdle will be to negotiate my grading. The seminar at Picton is, as usual, on the first weekend of February. 7-8 February also corresponds to the end of a conference I will be speaking at. The Australasian Society for Classical Studies has its annual conference around the end of January / early February. This year, fortunately, it being hosted by the University of Sydney. Getting to Picton for the seminar and grading should not really be a problem but working in preparation for the grading AND for my conference paper as well as starting the first full teaching week at school AND seeing my son have his very first (full) week of school will mean the week preceding my grading will be quite a “full-on” one.

 

So, here is to a strong 2009 and one that sees great improvements!

Thursday’s video (8)

I was unable to make it to training last night. I had to attend the “graduation” of my son from preschool. It wasn’t really a graduation – it was a sort of “end-of-year-before-going-to-kindergarten” type of event. How you would actually describe that succinctly, I will leave up to you. Nevertheless, it does have a little bearing on the publication of kendo clips each Thursday.

When I was writing up my earlier post on the NSW Kendo State Championships, my son came up to me and wanted to look at what I was doing on the computer. I showed him and he said “No, I want to see the kendo videos you have”. I scrolled down the page and several came into view. He pointed at one and said: “Let’s have a look at that one daddy”. So, I clicked on the video of the 52nd All Japan Kendo Championship Final between Harada Saturo and Suzuki Tsuyoshi. As it started, my son wanted to know which one was me! Trying hard not to laugh at the rather innocent mistake, I gently explained that I was not in the video and that the people he was watching were far more experienced in kendo that I was. He seemed happy with that explanation.

Anyway, the clip I have put forward today was referenced by a friend of mine from university. We were talking about historical evolution of various martial arts. He is a student of Daito-ryu jujitsu and he mentioned a YouTube video he had been shown where one of the more senior senseis in his school demonstrated a continuity from kenjutsu (the forerunner of kendo) to jujitsu. Unfortunately it is in Japanese so for the Anglophonic audience out there you will have to be content with the practical demonstration. In short, what you will see is how particular actions in jujitsu have a grounding in actions from kenjutsu. To put it another way, everything comes from the sword.

My first shiai – 2008 NSW Kendo State Championships

Yesterday was the 2008 NSW Kendo State Championships. It was my first shiai and I have to say I enjoyed every minute of it. Not only did I get to compete, but I also volunteered to assist with officiating when my matches were over. I ended up being a timekeeper and saw a real diversity in kendo.

It was a very humid Saturday in Sydney for the championships. It was the type of Sydney day where you only had to walk twenty metres (if that) before breaking out into a sweat because of the moisture in the air. As I made my way from the car to the HK Ward Gymnasium at Sydney University, I was relieved that I had packed plenty of water. I would want to make sure that I had had my fill before going onto the court.

I watched as various people trickled in. Some kenshi were already there getting ready. These were mainly the younger ones, U10, 12, 14 and 16s. They were already changed into their hakama and keiko-gi and checking their shinais. Not really sure what I was supposed to be doing I plonked my gear next to a mate’s from SKC (which happened to be at the centre point of the hall, located between the two courts). It seemed ‘early days’ and the shinai weigh-in hadn’t started yet so I approached the convenor of this year’s championships about volunteering. An SOS email had been sent out for more volunteers and I was happy to help but was not sure whether there would be a clash with competing. There wasn’t going to be so I was sent on my way to get chairs for the shimpans. I was then assigned to assisting with the shinai weigh-in. This went well. I wasn’t there for all of it as I needed to go and get changed but each shinai was checked for weight, splinters, tight tsuku and so on. In other words, making sure it was safe to use. Most were okay – although there were some that were dubious. We erred on the side of caution and sent them back. Eventually I excused myself and went to get changed. I then started to warm-up with someone from SKC.

The U10, 12,14 and 16s competition started after the opening ceremony. This consisted of all the competitors lining up in their respective clubs (despite the fact that the championships are an individual and not a team event). Announcements were made, the rules and lengths of matches explained and then there was a pledge taken on behalf of all the competitors by the winners of last year’s tournament and then we were off. There were not many of them competing but it was interesting to see them play. Some of them had to work on their kiai but then again, don’t we all?

The kyu grade competition then commenced. I thought to myself I will leave myself two pools before my own to get ready. Well, that was a mistake. At the last minute, just after they had called my pool to be ready as we were up next, the himo on my  men decided to get tangled and loop over the top of the men in the most creative of fashions. I couldn’t believe it!! Here I was, minutes away from my first competitive bout and I can’t get my men on. With the help of a club member, we sorted out the mess and I quickly went over to Court 1. The shushin happened to be Payne Sensei, which was a little embaressing. Even more so when, as the final call went up for me to appear at the court, and in response to people pointing saying “He’s here… he’s here”, he replied “You should be ready!”.

Putting that slightly awkward moment aside (and out of my head) I took up my place at the side of the court. I bowed (unnecessarily but by way of apology) to the court officials for being late and then focused my attention on my opponent. Even now, recalling what exactly happened during the match is difficult. It was quite a blur. If I have it right, I scored the first point. It was a kote. It was awesome to see out of the corner of my eye, when I landed that strike, the white flags go up to confirm the hit. My opponent and I returned to the centre and we started again. Unfortunately, my opponent scored two hits and so I lost that match 2-1 but I was happy with my technique, with composure and with my overall performance.

I was playing straight after my first match. I had only a couple of minutes, if that, to catch my breath and re-focus on my new opponent. This time I scored the second hit – a well placed men cut. I was talking to the person who was my shimpan for that match and he said that the men landed “spot on”. Again, it was great to see the white flags go up to indicate a hit but that was to be my last strike of the tournament. Having lost the second match I was not going to progress to the knock-out stage. I was not worried. I was really happy with my performance. I felt focused and I felt good. In short, I thought that my kendo was as strong as it had ever been.

What was really nice about the whole experience was that a number of people from SKC came up to me and congratulated my on my first shiai and that I had done so well. There was no group hug thing happening just individuals coming up and saying that they thought I played really really well. I was stoked. In addition to all of this, the cheering from members of SKC during my matches was also really something. Cries of “forward! forward!” and “Well done Tim! Keep going!” was electrifying. It really spurred me onto further action.

I watched the rest of the kyu matches and after the lunch break assisted with time-keeping. It was good fun. The speed with which some of the matches finished was extraordinary! Two points in 4.66 seconds… you know who you are!!! That aside, it was great to be on the court judge table. I was able to see a real diversity in kendo styles, what was good kendo and what was….errr…. well, not so good. When the dan grade competition started I was quite taken aback by the speed with which some people launched themselves in to their match. That did not translate, however, into points. Reflecting on it now, it was interesting to see that the “slash and burn” technique that was put up by some simply did not work well. Possibly no surprises there but for me it reaffirmed what has been emphasised at training and to actually see how it did not work was good.

As the pools progressed into the knock-out rounds, the length of each bout became longer and longer. Encho became more and more common – there were several matches that really did take forever. One of the semi-finals was an absolute marathon! At the end of the day, it was great to see Sydney Kendo Club do so well. We had a couple of Fighting Spirit Awards, the winner of the Women’s Competition was from our dojo as was the winner of the Dan grade competition. In short, the club did very well.

So, at the end of the day, I was very happy. I had played my very best and I left the day feeling good about it all. I may not have progressed very far, perhaps only played a sum total of 10 or so minutes, but I felt that the quality of my kendo was at its best. Can’t be upset with that!