Jason's Kendo Blog

June 2004 - June 2005

05/28/2005

05/21/2005

• Remember tor relax shoulders during oki-suburi.
• New: Men Taiatari Do Men. Strike Men and collide into Taiatari. Then strike Do on retreat. Then strike Men and follow through.
• When doing Kote-Men uchi, remember to keep the kote swing small and the men swing big.
  
• Second Shiai - match was a draw. Tried a whole slew of things: Harai Waza to kote as well as to Men. Tried suriage waza. Was able to deflect the strike and issue an immediate strike, but opponent blocked it in time. May have to try a suriage doh next time since the opponents arms were raised after deflection. Tried sayumen strike.
• Need to remember not to retreat too much even though I am doing this to establish correct Maai. Ie force the opponent to move instead. Ie after strike just follow through and then turn, as in practice.
  

05/14/2005

• Reminder for when receiving Do-uchi, strike your opponent on men so that he can strike your do.
• My theory of Kiai seemed to have held up again this week. Kiaing seemed to be the solution to the dizziness problem. 
• Had my first Shiai - I was really surprised I won- by a kote-ari. Everything was pretty much a blur. I was hit on the head a few times but I guess the opponent didn't get a point for them. Mid-way through I started kiaing really loud to get air into my lungs- that seemed to give me second wind and I felt much more aware. It's as if the first half was just each of us striking to test each other. Then the second half when we were both tired, was when we started "thinking."
• After the Kyu-ranked members finished, we watched the Dan-ranked members Shiai.
  

05/07/2005

• Practice was the same as last week. Only difference was we also did Kote-Do-uchi.
• Felt very good during kakari and ji geiko apart from minor back and leg cramps. I seem to have gotten my second wind. I suspect the difference this time was I really tried to Kiai through everything. It was exhausting on the longs and throat but it completely stopped the feeling of dizziness.
• I lost a bit of concentration during Kata practice. I think I have been just going through the motions during the week rather than really focusing.
• Received the 3rd Kyu certificate from the Midwest Kendo Federation- and of course like everything else in Kendo we had to learn the proper etiquette for receiving the certificate from Maeda sensei. Ie. Bow, step forward to receive, step back and bow again.

04/30/2005

• After warmups, practiced kakari geiko and ji geiko
• Okawara sensei reminded me to cut thru him (again- doh!)
• One of the other Japanese sensei- whom I do not know the name, told me to hit doh before stepping around him.
• Sparred with Maeda sensei who managed to twitch his shinai out of the way everytime I tried harai waza.
• Felt a little light headed between bouts- managed to get over it by keeping myself moving and raising my arms above my head to bring blood back to my brain.
• My kirikaeshi appears to be improving. I am starting to get the timing correct- I think.
• I seem to be getting better at judging distance when doing men strike after taiatari. A couple of weeks ago I used to step too far back and miss every attempt.
• Next week I'll see if I can maintain longer duration kiai during warmup and kakari geiko.
• Okawara sensei asked me to look into UIC as a possible venue for summer training for the Chicago Kendo dojo.
  

04/23/2005

• Seem to be getting used to the pace- not as tired as before.
• Kirikaeshi
• Still need to remember to strike deeper.
• Also do not do men-uchi-komi from toi-maai. Take 1 step forward to reach issoku itto no maai.
• When practicing do uchi, start at toi-maai, do not raise your arm to let opponent strike yet. Wait for opponent to reach issoku itto no maai and is raising his shinai to strike. Then raise your shinai to let him strike the do.
• New stuff (Surage waza):
• Kote suriage men
• Kote suriage kote
• Men suriage do
• Ji-Geiko
• Sparred with both Okawara sensei and Lin. Okawara sensei reminded me to cut and run thru the opponent, not to the side. Lin reminded me to keep back straight when doing shomen uchi and instead take a bigger step rather than have to bend my back to reach.
• Ordered zekken from eguchi.

04/16/2005

• Hey the blisters are back! Ouch! Not as tired as last time, but still feel a little light headed after intense bout. Found out on the web it's because the sudden stop causes a drop in blood pressure because your heart has slowed down while your blood vessels have still dilated. 
  
• Kirikaeshi:
• Need to strike deeper. I tend to strike the grill of the men rather than thru the head.
• 5 times each as shidachi and motodachi: Men uchi, Kote uchi, Do uchi, Kote Men uchi
• New stuff (Nuki Waza- a subclass of Oji Waza):
• Nuki involves avoiding the strike just as the attacker swings down, and then returning attack.
• Men nuki Men - attacker strikes with men uchi. Receiver takes one okuri-ashi step back quickly to avoid hit and then strikes Men in return
• Kote nuki Men - attacker strikes kote from a step back from issoku itto no maai. receiver moves out of the way and strikes men
• Men nuki Do - attacker strikes with men uchi. Receiver takes a step diagonnaly to right and strikes doh.
• Ji-Geiko
• This time we sparred and rotated between partners. Then we went onto free sparring with the advanced folks.
• I sparred against a little squirt (probably about 12 years old) who kicked my ass thoroughly.
• Sparring with Nguyen was very helpful. Remember to just attack attack attack.
• Noticed that often most people ignore their doh when they attack your men. I scored a couple of hits that way by striking doh in the last minute rather than men.
• Remember remember remember to follow thru after the strike!!!!
• Kata
• Yohonme
• remember when parrying to keep the edge of sword pressed against the attacker's sword even as your feet moves to new position, and then finally do sayumen strike
  
• Also after shidachi strikes and yells Toh, count 2 seconds to give Shidachi time to "confirm" the win.
• When thrusting as uchidachi remember to aim for sternum and to keep left hand below right hand.

04/09/2005

04/02/2005

• Moved over to the advanced class today. I don't think I have been more tired in my entire life. Class lasted 1.5 hrs with an additional half an hour for Kata practice.
  
• Class consisted of :
• The usual running/warmup but included additional fumikomi exercises
• Suburi
• oki suburi 30
  
• shomen uchi 30
• sayumen 30
• katate 30
• squatting & cutting to kote suburi 30
• haya suburi 50
• shin ko kyu
• Then Rei
• Donning Bogu
• Geiko
• Kirikaeshi with several partners
  
• 5 times each as shidachi and motodachi: Men uchi, Kote uchi, Do uchi (remember to bring the hands together on the shinai when striking do), Kote Men uchi (remember to take one step back as the receiver after getting hit on kote), harai-otoshi-men (omote), harai-kote (ura)
• harai-otoshi-men (omote): omote means left.  raise shinai tip toward your right shoulder and smack down on the thick part of your opponent's shinai near the tsuba with the left side of your shinai, then strike men with fumikomi
• harai-kote (ura): ura means right. lower  shinai in a clockwise arc under your opponent's shinai. When your shinai is now on the left of your opponent's shinai, knock it out of the way (to your right) using the right side of your shinai, then follow with a swift and short strike to the kote. When striking kote, do not raise your arm all the way up and then down as you normally do when striking. Just do a quick and short up/down striking motion along with fumikomi.
• 1 minute rest to check shinai and himo
• Ji-Geiko
• Choose some one arbitrary to spar against
• Andrew's tips: RELAX! Don't expend so much energy. Use your body to do the cutting and you will be less tired.
• Final Rei
• At the end of Rei, run up to each of the sensei and bow. (There were 3 sensei).
• Half hour of Kata.
  

03/26/2005

• 3rd Kyo test today consisted of:
• Judges: sakamoto, maeda, andrew, and 2 other senseis
• Usually bow in
• 9 were tested (arranged in order of height)
• Putting on men and inspection - have to re-examine how to tie doh himo correctly.
  
• young kids went first
• kirikaeshi in groups of 3 rotating in so that everyone went twice as shidachi and motodachi
  
• shomen uchi, kote uchi, kote-men uchi, 3 times each
  
• end session with usual bows
• senseis gave us final tips for improvement

03/19/2005

• Kata:
• Yonhonme.
• Suburi:
• ashi sabaki
• oki suburi
• shomen ichi
• haya suburi
• Practice:
• shomen uchi between partners
• kote uchi
• doh uchi
• doh uchi plus follow through
• need to remember to keep back straight
• strike doh before following thru to the right
• tai atari
• Keep the hands at about waist height- you are pushing with your body, not your arms.
• Do not remain too long in tai atari
• When taking on the tai atari position, do not step backwards so as not to be pushed out of bounds- which is a possible tactic during ji geiko.
• striking men from tai atari
• ji geiko
• When I first took Kendo I was a bit doubtful whether one could actually call a hit before making one. I was rather surprised today that it is indeed possible- and without too much thought. It seems the months of practice did drill something into being an automatic response.
  

03/12/2005

• Kata:
• Review ipponme, nihonme, sanbonme, yonhonme
• Suburi:
• ashi sabaki
• oki suburi
• shomen suburi
• katate suburi
• Practice:
• Shomen uchi between partners, rotating between partners
• Kote uchi
• Doh uchi
• Kirikaeshi
• Ji geiko - free sparring.
• Aim for 1 hit and then follow thru and turn around
• In tsuba zarai push back and then shomen uchi while moving backwards
• Attempted harai waza on my own as an experiment - seemed to work
• I think I need to break this down into more scientific practice steps (this maybe too complex to do starting out):
• just practice blocking random attacks
• practice blocking random attacks and immediately responding
  
• switch roles and  practice attacking
• Practice shomen uchi while reversing after tsuba zerai
• Practice harai waza deflecting in different directions and attempting to hit different parts- like men or kote
• Maybe debana waza to try and slip in a hit at the moment someone is striking...
  
• then full sparing
  

03/05/2005

• Kata:
• Review ipponme, nihonme, sanbonme
• Need to watch more carefully (at corner of eye) for when Uchidachi submits to Shidachi during Sanbonme. That is when to draw back.
  
• Practice yonhonme especially as shidachi.
• Remember to wait for uchidachi to thrust deep enough so that you can parry before you follow thru with strike.
• Remember to tie Men himos so that bows are horizontal, just as with Doh and Keiko Gi.
  
• Kirikaeshi practice with Andrew - should relax shoulders and not strike so hard.
• Kakari Geiko practice - need to watch more carefully for openings. Remember to keep back straight and follow through with right arm straight.
  

02/25/2005

• Kata:
• Review ipponme, nihonme, sanbonme.
• Opening of yonhonme.
• Need to learn gohonme by end of March.
• Advanced class learn kata at end of class.
• Suburi
• ashi sabaki
• shomen uchi
• sayumen uchi
• hidari katate suburi- keep rigtht hand on hip in exercise.
• hiya suburi
• shin ko kyu
• Shomen uchi to opponent's men and return to kamae
  
• Shomen uchi with fumikomi to sensei 5 times
• kirikaeshi
• kirikaeshi + 5xshomen uchi w/ fumikomi
• 3rd kyu exam will also include ji-geiko and kakari geiko [example video]
  

02/19/2005

• Kata:
• Review ipponme, nihonme - in ipponme need to take a slight pause after approaching shidachi in jodan. Also right hand needs to hold bokken more tightly.
• Sanbonme
• As shidachi: when parrying uchidachi's thrust, keep back of bokken in the center and turn tip of bokken slightly outward.
• When taking the 2 steps back to return to chudan, do so slowly, followed by 3 slightly quicker steps back. Uchidachi should follow you tip to tip.
• Kevin led entire class today- interesting strategy for teaching the entire class:
  
• Lined everyone up along the width of the gym in 3 lines (beginners first, then people in hakama, then people in bogu).
• Practiced:
• okuri-ashi across the length of the room. Beginners just did ayumi-ashi
• backwards okuri-ashi. Then everything slightly faster.
  
• kiai (yah) across the room
• kiai yah on half of the room then kiai men to other half of room
• Kiai with shomen uchi when reach the middle of the room. Then backwards okuri-ashi
• Kiai with 2 shomen uchis; then kote uchi + men uchi.
• Repeat except have to do this twice along the length of the room and back.
  
• Everyone lined up against the people with bogu. Non bogu people practiced shomen uchi.
• Bogu people practiced shomen uchi amongst themselves. 3 shomen uchi's then switch. Then 5 shomen uchis and then switch.
• Need to be careful when turning after getting hit on head so as not to strain left knee.
• Also need to practice randomly alternating between turn to the left or right when letting striker pass by.
• When doing shomen uchi I am not sure if I was turning in the right direction all the time in response to the person receiving the strike... need to pay attention to this next time.
  

02/12/2005

• Kata:
• Review ipponme, nihonme
• Practiced Sanbonme as both uchidachi and shidachi.
• Remember when shidachi retreats because he has beaten uchidach, take 2 ayumi-ashi steps back beginning with left foot. While doing this lower bokken to chudan. Then take 3 ayumi-ashi steps back to return to mid-meeting point.
• Paid dues for MidWest and All American Kendo Fed.
• When handing shinai to sempai for inspection string should be facing him, not the blade.
• Things to remember when putting on bogu:
• bow on bottom himo of do needs to be horizontally oriented.
• When taking off mengani bring string ends to the front and pull to losen. Then wrap string around left hand, and with the left hand on the grill pull men off face. Do not use right hand to hold the throat guard. Place himo inside men. Fold tenegui and place inside men as well.
• When putting on kote, left hand first (push from hand part of the glove to fit the glove on, do not pull on the upper arm guard). When taking off kote, right hand first (pull from the upper part of arm guard).
• When carrying men and kote, place kote inside men. Wrap men under right arm with the back opening of men facing forward (so stuff doesn't fall out the back.)
• When swinging in kirikaeshi remember to extend arms out.
• End of March- testing for 3rd kyu. Need to know Kirikaeshi, Uchikomi, how to put on equipment. After which in April we move to Advanced class.

02/05/2005

• Kata: Sanbonme beginning of Uchidachi and Shidachi. Uchidach stabs and steps back. Shidachi parrys with okuri-ashi backwards, thrusts with okuri-ashi forward, step with left foot forward, then 3 ayumi-ashi steps starting with right foot raising tip of bokken to eyes of uchidachi.
• Remember when tying lower strings on Doh that the bow should go horizontally.
• Suburi
• okii suburi
• shomen uchi suburi
• sayu men suburi
• hidari katate suburi
• hiya suburi
  
• First day wearing full bogu including Men and Kote, performing kirikaeshi. Bogu did not seem as restrictive as I thought it would. Strikes to men didn't seem to ring too loudly.
• Membership dues for Midwest Kendo Federation and All United States Kendo Federation are due next week.
  

01/22/2005

• Practice cancelled due to snow storm.

01/15/2005

• Kata
• As Uchidachi don't take too big a step when swinging bokken in Ipponme.
• For Sanbonme:
• As uchidachi - when rotating bokken 90 anti-clockwise, thrust bokken towards the opponent's upper knot on his keikogi. Angle of bokken should be very slightly upwards- certainly not downwards.
• Learned to put on tare and do
  
• Suburi
• ashi-sabaki : okuri-ashi 3 forward, 3 back.
• Jogeiburi / okii suburi
  
• Shomen suburi
• Rensoku Sayu men/Naname Suburi - alternate cuts to left and right men
  
• Hidari Katate suburi
• Hiya suburi
• Shin Ko Kyu
• Learned to put away tare and do:
• wrap tare cords (waki himo) around front odare (flap) of tare
• wrap tare upside down around do with the back of tare facing outwards..
• Use do himo to tie tare to do.
• Wrap top do string across tare, interleaving between the 2 side odare (flaps of the tare) and tying it with the bottom do string on the other side. Repeat for each side.
  

01/08/2005

• Learned the opening gedan steps for third kata: sanbonme
• When bringing bokken up from geddan to near chudan, bring it up very slowly and keep eyes on opponent, not on bokken
• You don't bring it all the way up to chudan since you will be performing a thrust next
• Thrust will consist of turning bokken anti-clockwise slightly during the thrust.
  
• Warmup exercises included fumikomi with 1, 2, 3, and 4 men strikes
• Suburi
• okuri-ashi 3 forward & 3 back
• Jogeiburi - large swing to touch back and front.
  
• Shomen Uchi - strike to front of men
  
• Sayu Men Uchi - left/right cut to men - remember to cut the men, not the opponents shinai
  
• Sonkyo suburi
• hiya suburi - need to improve speed on this
  
• Shin Ko Kyu - stretch legs apart, strike men and shout men - deep breathing exercise at the end of warmup/practice
• When doing Kote-uchi need to keep head up facing opponent, not staring at kote.
• When doing Men-uchi need to strike as if the blade is going to slice opponent in two, not just tap him on the head.
  

12/29/2005

• Received Bogu from ebogu (2mm topquality titanium set) and extra set of gi and hakama for practice at the school.
• For future reference: learn to put on Tare first, then do, then men. Do's himo (strings) comes in 3. 1 short one and 2 long ones. Short one goes horizontally across the back. Long ones go diagonally across the back to shoulders.
• References for how to put on all this are all very poor- both on the Internet and in textbooks. It is worthwhile to document all this in a really good set of web pages.
• Also for Gi there is no good reference on how to tie the front square knot. Best reference seems to come from the Karate web pages.
  

12/13/2004

• Wore Gi for first time
• If bow in gi does not remain horizontal, tie the knot in the opposite direction
• Remember to tuck final front square knot just below the himo from the front part of hakama
• Still need to figure out how to tie the front square not.
  
• After use of gi, hang up to air out.
• Kata
• Ipponme review - remember to strike top of head
• Nihonme - need to bring arms down in one stroke, I appear to be bending my left arm excessively so the stroke appears to occur in 2 moves. Also when shidachi brings bokken down to avoid uchidachi, bring it as low as gedan.
  
• On down swing need to do a crisp cut by tightening right hand and left hand together
  
• Need to remember to not raise the bokken and shinai too high during a strike. Seems everyone has a problem with this.
• warmup - led by Andrew
• okuri-ashi 3 forward/back
• Jogeburi
• Hidari katate suburi
• Shomen uchi
• haya suburi
• Keiko
• individual components of kirikaeshi
• on 5th sayu men strike backwards, end the last one with Kiai that lasts till you step back to return to chudan
• After men strike past opponent, opponent should follow so that when you turn around he is ready to continue next iteration of kirikaeshi
  

12/05/2004

• Kata- nihonme
• warmup
• okuri-ashi 3 forward & 3 back
• okuri-ashi 2 steps forward, 2 steps back, 2 steps left, 2 steps right
• Jogeiburi - large swing to touch back and front. Remember to swing shinai with snap at the end.
• Hidari katate suburi - left hand only striking
  
• Shomen Uchi - strike to front of men
  
• Sayu Men Uchi - left/right cut to men - remember to cut the men, not the opponents shinai
  
• hiya suburi - need to improve speed on this
  
• Shin Ko Kyu - stretch legs apart, strike men and shout men - deep breathing exercise at the end of warmup/practice
• Keiko (practice)
  
• fast okuri-ashi forward and back across the room
• repeat faster with change in direction on command
  
• beginners paired up with Motodachi across the room
• bow, sonkyo and then one of the following exercises (if there are several beginners to a single motodachi, all beginners move up to sonkyo too)
  
• shomen uchi - strike to front of men and follow through 6 times to return to start position
• kote-uchi - remember NOT to lean forward when striking kote- keep arms extended, head back to face kendoka
  
• sayu men unchi - strike to left/right side of men 5 forward, 4 backwards (6 times)
  
• kiri kaeshi
  
• retract shinai, 5 steps back and rei. Next person begins.
• both beginners rei
• Mike (the nice russian gentlemen received 2nd Kyu last April)
• Took digitial video of advanced class
  

11/27/2004

• kata
• in kata try to match the uchidachi's steps and stepsize so that the entire exercise between the 2 kendoka looks fluid
• warmup
• okuri-ashi forward and back
• big front swing, big back swing suburi
  
• sonkyo suburi
• left arm only suburi
  
• hiya suburi - need to keep my right arm extended when striking
• faster hiya suburi
• okuri-suburi
• practice:
• okuri-ashi forward across the dojo and then back across the dojo
• repeat okuri-ashi faster
• forwards and backwards fast okuri-ashi on sensei's command- this was the most exhausting exercise- started to feel a little faint.
  
• kiri kaeshi broken into several parts
• just the men strike
• kote strike
• kote + men one after another
• men strike, 5 strikes forward, 4 strikes back
• full kiri kaeshi
• time to order gi and hakama
• From what I can tell from the research on the web, the recommendation is to start with a single layer cotton kendogi and either a high quality cotton hakama (#5000-#7000) or a tetron hakama. Tetron hakama are made of polyester and rayon and so are lighter and cooler. Also folds better and the pleats are easier to maintain. I noticed however that the ebogu cotton hakama have stitched pleats - perhaps this is easier to fold.
  
• Perhaps with more experience upgrade to the Super Keikogi with the HiDriTex material lining that is supposed to pull sweat away from the body.
  

Muscle cramping in the right pectoral muscle. Also a bit exhausted- started to feel a little faint. Kiaing seemed to help a lot.

11/20/2004

• okuri-ashi forward back
  
• okuri-ashi forward, back, left, right
• 3 step men
• 2 step men
• 1 step men
• When striking men, If right hand grip is tighter in the last 2 fingers (in the same way the last 2 fingers of the left hand are used to mainly grip the shinai) and the first 3 fingers are looser, one can achieve a more crisp strike- where the tip of the shinai appears to snap at the end of the stroke.
  

11/13/2004

• Dojo hosted the Midwest Kendo Federation Tournament. See pictures!
• Approximately 200 participants in 4 courts.
• Learned how to keep score.
• Interesting how "low tech" scoring is still. Also interesting how scoring is still so much based on human perception of the judges.

11/6/2004

• Warmup
• Training session for tournament volunteers
• Tournament is at: The Kathy Lane gym is off Western Avenue (8800 Kathy Lane).  If you go east on Golf Road from where we are (Dee Park Golf Maine Park District), around two stop lights, then turn south (right), the park district facility will be on your right after just a few blocks (maybe 3).
  
• Reference for tournament scoring: http://www.kendo-usa.org/reference/scoretable_inst.htm
  
• Terms:
• Begin - "Hajime"
  Stop - "Yame"
  Men point - "MEN ARI"
  Kote point - "KOTE ARI"
  Do point - "DO ARI"
  Tsuki point - "TSUKI ARI"
  2nd point - "Nihon me"
  final point - "Shobu"
  Foul - "Honsoku"
  1st foul - "Honsoku Ikkai"
  2nd foul - "Honsoku Nikai"

10/31/2004

• Kata ipponme
• Warmups
• big strike to gedan position
• 3-step men
• 2-step men
• sonkyo suburi
• hiya suburi - figured out today why my footwork is not correct. Need to keep left leg straight as if doing regular okuri-ashi
• okuri-suburi- stretch legs apart as wide as possible in an exagerated kamae position. Then do men strike and shout and hold men........
  
• Took apart Shinai to check for splinters
• considering rotating slats of bamboo to even out wear and tear especially to the bottom of shinai where it receives the most impact.
• shinai string should be tight
• shave off splinters

10/23/2004

• Kata ipponme
• okuri-ashi
• suburi of various kinds
• 2-step men forwards and backwards
• big front swing, big back swing suburi
  
• for sonkyo suburi you want to go from the standing position to the bent position then rise quickly. when in bent position you need to be always on guard in case someone attacks you.
  
• fast hiya suburi
• hiya suburi while someone is holding shinai horizontally
• hiya suburi while someone is holding shinai vertiacally on the floor with tip facing up- goal is to hit the tip.
• doh strike. just before you begin the swing down bring the left hand up against the bottom of the right hand, and then strike.
  
• fast okuri-ashi (shout yah!) up to shinai held at men height; take one-step men with kiai- follow thru and then take second men strike
• repeat above with first strike at kote and shouting kote on the strike

10/16/2004

• Kata practice Ipponme
• I appear to be taking too large an initial step.
• Okuri-ashi in kamae with kiai
  
• One-step Men strike with kiai

10/12/2004

• Practiced at UIC dance studio - CCC's floor is very bad. Will try PEB next week.
• Having mirrors helps make it easier to check form.

10/9/2004

• Kata practice for Ipponme
• Back to basics: okuri-ashi in kamae-
• gotta keep my fingers together on my right hand.
• Keep right hand OVER shinai so that the palm pushes down on it, but not too far over that causes torque in the upper arm.
• My right foot seems to be gliding rather than sliding- mainly because of the stick floor.
• Remember always to lunge and stop.
  
• Use counting to practice Kiai too
  
• 25th anniversary dinner- had the opportunity to meet Mizaki Sensei
• Eugene's the student who wants to join UIC's Psych department in Fall05

10/02/2004

• Joined with beginners for practice
• Okuri-ash in kamae
• 3 step suburi - legs apart arms raised; legs together strike; return back to kamae
  
• 2 step suburi - put first 2 steps into 1 and then return to kamae
  
• 1 step suburi - strike forwards and strike backwards
  
• Men strike  - strike to opponent's raised shinai while shouting men
• Extend men utterance after each strike.
• "There is no kendo without kiai" - Kevin
  

9/25/2004

• Kata practice - basic opening stances; initial 3 steps and closing 5 steps of Ipponme as Ochitachi and Shidachi.
• Okuri-ashi forwards and back in kamae
• Men strike with okuri-ashi back and forward
• Practiced jumping part of kiri kaeshi
• When shouting Men don't let the sound drop off at the end, keep it long and even all the way thru. Ie ME----------------- not ME------------NNNnnnnn........
• No blister today- skin starting to toughen

9/18/2004

• Kata practice - basic opening stances plus opening for 5th kata gonhome where you are in chudan and you tilt your sword slightly to the right
• Men strike with okuri ashi
• Joge-suburi - vertical strike where shinai touches the back, all the way to the floor
  
• Sonkyo suburi
• Suburi while in sonkyo position
  
• Men kiri kaeshi
• Hiya suburi
• Men suburi - remember the right foot always stays level and right lower leg remains vertical (ie it appears you are leading the leap with your knee)
  
• I noticed that I am still swinging slightly off axis. Need to focus on straight strikes (and with a snap at the end- caused by wringing of towel-effect).
• Also noticed my belly button is too high so when I hold my shinai in chudan it is too high. So need to lower to about where my left arm begins to extend.
• Getting blister on left foot again. My guess it is due to some small rotation on the left foot some time during a men suburi. Will have to practice this more carefully.
• Need to practice kiai more.
  

9/11/2004

• Kata practice - basic opening stances
• Hiya-suburi
• Sonkyo Suburi - kote strike from standing to crouching position
  
• Men Suburi - leap forward and strike Men and okuri-ashi through; turn and repeat- REMEMBER after leap you need to follow through quickly- in the event that you may need to do multiple leaping strikes in succession.
  
• Standing Sonkyo - sonkyo without crouching - used between switching partners during Men Suburi

9/10/2004

9/4/2004

• No practice
• Miyazaki sensei, founder of Choyokan will be visiting for 2 weeks.

8/28/2004

• Kata practice - Ipponme and Nihonme - need to learn to take bigger 3 steps
• In warm up I noticed that it is hard to do a fast sideways okuri ashi - i have never practiced this before.
  
• Kirikaeshi drill practice:
• Full kirikaeshi
• Shouting Kiai for initial men strike and then 5-10 steps beyond
  
• Focus on the launch with left foot pushing and tummy out. Head should NOT lean forward. Remember the right foot should glide forward, not climb and drop in an arc. Also must land on right foot FLAT- not on heal or ball of foot. Follow through quickly with okuri ashi onward.
• When okuri ashi backwards quickly head should lead the movement.
  
• Still need to focus on using left arm more during swing

8/22/2004

• Ippome kata. Practiced as Uchidachi. When in Hidari Jodan do not let the sword sag horizontal
  
• Uchidachi:
• Regular Right foot Kamae
• Left foot forward and a half step to Hidari Jodan
• Ayumi ashi - 3 BIG steps starting with left foot. After 3rd big step take a half step with the right leg to bring it back to normal kamae positioning (except with left foot still forward).
• Step big step forward with right leg and shout YAH bringing sword all the way down to below knees. Quickly take the left step a half step forward. Remember you are still doing a 1-2 Kendo step.
• Shidachi will leap back one step to avoid your strike. Then strike forward.
  
• Wait for Shidachi to do his strike to your head and shouting TOH.
• Step back 1 small akuri ashi step (keep your sword at gedan)
  
• Shidachi will lower the sword to your face.
• Step back another step (keep your sword at gedan)
  
• Shidachi will raise his arm to hidari jodan as if to give chase.
• Raise your sword to jodan.
• Shidachi will step back and raise sword to jodan.
• Lower your sword to gedan and tilt sideways slightly.
• 5 steps back.
• Return to Jodan.
  
• More Kirikaeshi practice except striking only men repeatedly - focused on forward leap and strike at the opening of the kirikaeshi men strike.
• 3 Kendoka with Bogu stood to take the strikes to their Men.
• Kirikaeshi drill performed as follows:
• Bow, 3 steps forward, kamae (no Sonkyo)
• Lunge Yaaaah Mennnnnn lunge strike. Stop. Kamae.
  
• Left/Right Men (Sayu-Men) strike 4 times forward. Then 5 times backward. Each strike should be done in a fully controlled manner. No rushing thru it. Remember it is the striker's responsibility to establish correct distance, Not the receiver.
  
• Then Repeat
• Then Kamae, withdraw sword, 5 steps back and bow.
• Yaaaah Mennnn strike practice:
• Bow, 3 steps forward, kamae (no sonkyo)
  
• Do Yaaaah Meeen lunge strike and okuri-ashi thru and turn to face the receiver. Repeat 5 times back and forth.
• After 5th strike come back around to starting position, kamae, withdraw sword, 5 steps back and bow.

8/14/2004

• Basic Kata postures: (p.159 of Heart if Kendo):
• Migi Jodan no kamae - Sword up - right foot forward
  
• Hidari Jodan no Kamae - Sword up and tilted towards right - left foot forward
  
• Gedan no Kamae - sword low at knee level - right foot forward
  
• Hasso-no-kamae - butt of shinai at heart and tsuba at mouth level with shinai blade extending to right - right foot forward
  
• Waki-no-kamae - shinai pulled back to the right and behind body (almost parallel)- blade horizontal - right foot BACK a spte
  
• Learned Kirikaeshi (p. 63 of Complete Kendo book) - also focused on the left right striking of kirikaeshi (ie sayo men)

8/7/2004

7/31/2004

• This was the most tiring sessions so far
• Learned the opening for several Kata - Ipponme (as shidachi and uchidachi), Nipponme
• Practiced warmups with the main group - things of particular difficulty is men striking at sonkyo position
• Learned that for bokken, left hand is placed 2 fingers width from the bottom of handle. Right hand index finger placed almost at tsuba. Thumb wraps around over the middle finger. Bokken in chodan is slightly higher than with shinai. The tip of the bokken draws a horizontal line towards the opponent's neck whereas the shinai's tip forms a vector towards the opponent's neck.
• When lowering sword to geden position tip is lowered to opponent's knee height.
• To signal passive geden, sword is turned 45deg to right with blade facing inwards
• in sonkyo, the left arm should be bent as in regular chodan.
  
• Learned very fast paced forward/back hopping suburi (this is called Hiya Suburi or jumping suburi- or at least one type of jumping suburi- there are others see http://www.halifaxkendo.org/demo.html)- after 50th count you follow thru with Mennnnnnnn; turn around and Mennnnn back to starting position. This suburi got me my first big blisters on my feet. Interesting thing is that as you do more of the suburi and count out loud, you count louder as if you are getting your second wind. The purpose of this particular suburi is to raise stamina/ki ; so when it comes time to shout Mennn, it is a loud long utterance.

7/24/2004

•  Learned the shidachi part of Ipponme Kata. Uchidachi leads the action. Shidachi follows.
• Shidachi:
• 3 big steps forward starting with left foot and with arm in straight (miji) jodan no kamae
• Steps back to avoid uchidachi's swing
• Counters with swing to Uchidachi's face and shouting Toh
  
• Uchidachi steps back
• Shidachi lowers tip of sword to uchidachi's nose
• shidachi steps left foot forward and raises his sword to tilted (hidrai) jodan no kamae
• step back and lower sword and arrive at chudan - tips of swords should be touching
• lower to gedan no kamae
• turn sword slightly to the right (ie blade pointing to left)
• take 5 small steps back to beginning
• raise back to chudan
• Learned 3 step men strike - large step forward with right raise sword; 1 step forward with left bringing sword to strike at men; Back to chudan
  
• Learned 2 step men strike-  same as 3 strike except first 2 steps are compressed into quick single movement.
  
• Learned 1 step men strike - strike forwards to men, strike backwards to the men
  
• Cut to kote
• Cut to doh
• Learned to snap the wrist on the strike

7/17/2004

7/10/2004

7/3/2004

6/26/2004

6/19/2004

6/12/2004

6/5/2004