The Purpose of Practicing Kendo
Kendo has developed in
Although a match may be decided when one or both combatants dies, in order to safely develop and perfect the techniques involved, practice requires that both participants share the same intentions. However, we must exert all our power in order to hone our techniques. If we do not respect our opponents and practice unfairly, there is the possibility of causing serious injury to both ourselves and them. Therefore, the notion of respect and etiquette is derived from the fact that our opponents put themselves at risk and help us to improve our skills. That is REI in kendo. The phrase “kendo begins and ends with REI” comes from this thinking. For this reason, there are strict rules of etiquette in kendo practice. In tournament matches, it is possible to receive a penalty for conduct that violates this principle.
In other words, with the intention of defeating your opponent, modern kendo emphasizes self-improvement and respect towards others. Kendo is not about violence. Never forget to be considerate towards your opponent.
About Safety
As described above, kendo has developed as a safe means toward self-improvement. Although using the shinai to strike one another with full power, the risk of injury in kendo is considerably lower than in other sports. Even the indigo dye that is used to colour practice clothing and equipment has disinfecting qualities.
However, if any part of the equipment, like shinai or bogu is damaged, then the chance of injury increases tenfold. For this reason, it is mandatory that equipment be checked before, during and after practice. Any damaged equipment should not be used until it has been properly repaired. Actually, there was an incident in
Reiho (etiquette): Sitting and Standing
Placing the left foot behind you, bring the left knee to touch the floor(when not wearing kote, the hakama should be moved quietly from the inside (inseam)to the outside using the right hand.) The shinai should be placed with the tsuba in line with the knee. The tsuru, or string which represents the back of a sword blade, should be on the inside, facing yourself. The monouchi or blade should face outside to the left. The reason for this is that if you are attacked while sitting, you can quickly draw and defend yourself. It is difficult to draw a katana if the blade is facing you.
With the left knee down and the shinai on the floor beside you, bring the right knee to the floor and rest the backside on the heels. The knees should be approximately two fist-widths apart (slightly less for women), and cross only the big toes (right over left). The hands are placed lightly on the thighs with the thumbs tucked under the palm. Elbows should rest close to the body, not out at a sharp angle.
When standing, first lift the backside from the heels, and go on the toes, making the body, from head to knees, perpendicular to the floor. Next, quietly bring the right foot forward and take up the shinai in the left hand. Then, standing up, bring the left foot beside the right.
Seiza is a posture from which one can quickly react to an attacker. Putting the shinai at your lefthand side with the blade facing out originally came from the need to be able to pick up the sword by the scabbard, and draw the sword while standing up from the right foot, as in iaido. It would be difficult to do such an action smoothly while sitting down starting with the right knee or standing from the left as there is a danger in cutting yourself. So when sitting, move the left leg then the right. Conversely, when standing, move right then left.
Even in the event that you have to stand suddenly, you should keep an awareness of being able to react.
Mokuso: Meditation
When sitting in seiza, place the left hand underneath the right with the forefingers of both hands overlapping. Then make a circle by lighty joining the tips of the thumbs. Use abdominal breathing, exhaling with the mouth and inhaling through the nose.
Keeping the eyes slightly open look at the ground about one meter in front of you. Keeping the eyes slightly open allows awareness of surroundings and enables you to react if attacked.
Meditation and breathing before and after practice help to increase concentration. Before practice, it is helpful in focusing our concentration for the practice to come and afterwards it helps us to remember what we have done. When in seiza, more than just closing your eyes and breathing is required. The back and neck must be kept straight as well. If we become too relaxed, our backs will become bent, and our concentration will be lost.It is important to have a very slight feeling of anxiousness or excitement in order to energize ourselves before practice.
Zarei: Seated Bow
From the seiza seated postion, place the left then right hand on the floor in front of you, making a small triangle with the thumbs and forefingers. Bend the elbows until they touch the floor and keeping the back and neck straight, bend the torso forward and bring your face over your hands, with the nose going over the triangle formed by the hands. Try to keep the back straight and your gaze towards the front, where an opponent might be (in most cases it's the sensei). If your back is bent, you lose eye contact with your opponent and give them a chance to attack you. Always be aware of your surroundings.
After monentarily pausing in the zarei position, raise the torso to the vertical (seiza) position. Pull first the right then the left hand back onto your thighs.
Ritsurei Standing: Bow From Sageto to Sonkyo
Bring the heels of both feet together, arms hanging naturally at the side, the left hand holding the shinai near the tsuba and the tsuru facing down. This position is called “Sageto”. From there, bend the torso from the hips forward approximately 15 degrees and pause momentarily and return to the sageto position. There are a few points to remember: first, bow from the hips, not just the neck, so remember to keep the back straight. Next, as in the seated bow, keep your gaze forward, not at your feet. During the bow, the arms should remain close to the body. In order to do this, keep the hands pressed against the outside of the thighs. When holding a shinai, its position should not change but remain still with the end of the handle angled slightly inward.
After bowing, move in to the taito, or ready position. From sageto, raise the left hand to the left hips and put the thumb on the tsuba. The right hand is placed to the front of the thigh. From this position, it is very easy to draw the sword or shinai as the hands are brought closer together and the left thumb ensures control of the blade. Sageto is a position from which the sword cannot be easily drawn and as such, it is considered non-threatening. Therefore, the bow is done from this position. Taito, on the other hand, enables the sword to be drawn instantly, and is considered an aggressive posture. The bow is meant to show respect towards an opponent, not to show aggression. One must be careful not to bow in taito or to have the thumb on the tsuba during sageto, as these indicate aggressive intention.
With the left hand at the hip and the right hand in front of the thigh, step forward beginning with the right foot take three wide steps. On the third step, grasp the shinai handle near the tsuba with the right hand, release the left hand and bring the shinai out across and in front of you on a roughly 45o angle (less in crowded areas) and let the left hand grasp the base of the shinai handle. Bring the left heel beside the right, bend the knees and go into the sonkyo (kneeling) position. There are a few points about sonkyo to remember: As always, keep the back and neck straight. The knees should be spread out in front and below the waist line. It can be difficult to balance the body in this position, but if the body is straight and a firm base is formed by the ball and toes feet of the feet, one can be comfortable after a little practice.
Kamae and Basics
The posture of the body during kamae can be thought of as a ruler that has been pulled back the instant before it is released. If you let go, all of the stored energy is released instantaneously. There should not be any wasted energy used in preparation for your attacks and your kamae should allow you to release all of your energy at once.
Positioning of the Feet
Standing with the feet together, move the left foot 90 degrees counter-clockwise using the heels as the pivot. Then, planting the toes, pivot the heel 90 degrees clockwise. Make sure that the toes of both feet are pointing towards the front and that the feet are parallel. There is a tendency for the toes of the left foot to point off to the left. In this position, power cannot be efficiently used when moving forward.
The sole of the right foot is in complete contact with the floor, from toe to heel. The heel of the left foot, however, it raised slightly (30 degrees) off the floor.
In this posture, the centre of gravity should lie directly under the body, between the feet. The knees are slightly bent, with the feeling that they support the body's weight.
Suri-ashi: The fundamental footwork of Kendo
When advancing from the kamae position, push the floor with the left foot while moving the body forward, with the effect that you move right then left feet. When moving forward, use the back (left) foot to push the floor, moving the front (right) foot forward. The movement is completed by quickly pulling up the back foot to the original kamae position. (When retreating, reverse the series so that the right foot pushes the left foot back and pull the right foot back to kamae.) Suriashi should be done using quick, small steps.
It is important to return the feet to the original kamae position so that one can attack at anytime or use successive combinations of attacks. Also, we should try to move using to tips of the toes, not exposing the sole of the foot to our opponent. In addition, we should be careful not to move from the heel because this habit will lead to using the heel in fumikomi, which can be very painful. Lastly, when doing suriashi, the shoulders should remain relaxed and parallel with the floor, not bobbing up and down.
Fumikomi-ashi: stomping
@Forward fumikomi-ashi
In kendo, a quick and powerful strike is made possible by stomping the floor in coordination with the instant the strike makes contact with the target. To practice fumikomi-ashi, start without holding a shinai, putting the hands on the hips.
Forward fumikomi-ashi begins from the standard kamae position.
1. Kick the floor with the left foot and push the right foot forward along with the body.
2. With the left knee slightly bent, use the right thigh to pull the knee up, stomp the floor using the whole sole of the foot.
3. Stomp firmly with the right foot, use both the left buttock and right thigh to pull the left leg up and back into kamae position.
4. After pulling the left foot back to kamae, allow yourself to take a few small suriashi steps forward and return to the kamae position.
A point to be aware of is not to allow the left foot to exceed the right either before, during or after the strike, but to return to the kamae position so that your next move can be easily made.
Practice doing fumikomi-ashi and striking simultaneously. If the fumikomi-ashi is weak, a strike will also seem weak, even if timing and so on are good. Learn to do it properly practicing only footwork at first. For those who need more practice, please see the Supplementary Practice section.
Once you get the basic fumikomi-ashi, you can practice smaller and faster combinations like kote-men, but remember not to let the left foot come up too far.
Fumikomi-ashi can be very difficult for those who are not used to it. At first just practice footwork until you can do it well, then you can try synchronizing your fumikomi-ashi with the strike.
ABackwards Fumikomi-ashi
Basically, this process it the same as the forward fumikomi-ashi, only the in reverse. It is necessary when using techniques from tsuba-zeriai and so it is one thing we should master.
The process is as follows:
1. Bend both knees slightly
2. From the kamae position, lift the right foot from the floor, and stomp firmly using the whole sole, in the same spot as when in kamae.
3. At the same time, lift the left foot slightly off the floor.
4. Using the right thigh, throw your body weight behind you, over the left foot.
5. With just the toes and ball of the feet touching the floor, push back with the left thigh, pulling the right leg back, using backwards suriashi.
6. Stop with the feet in the basic kamae position.
Compared to forward fumikomi-ashi, it seems that fewer people can do backwards fumikomi-ashi well. We can be successful in tournament matches if we learn not just forward techniques, but also master backward techniques as well. It can be seen with many beginners that although they may strike an excellent point with the shinai, their lower bodies lack any power, and therefore it cannot be counted as ippon. The reason for this is that they do not have fumikomi-ashi, and from the judge’s point of view, it does not look like a “cut”but just hitting the target. In matches, we have to take rare chances, so it is important to practice techniques like backward fumikomi-ashi regularly.
Hiraki-ashi: diagonal step
For the right diagonal step:
1. Use the left foot to push the right foot diagonally forward to the right
2. The instant the ball of the right foot touches the floor, pivot the hips counter-clockwise (30-45 degrees)
3. Quickly bring the left foot into kamae position with relation to the right foot.
For the left diagonal step:
1. Use the right foot to push the left foot diagonally forward to the left.
2. The instant the ball of the left foot touches the floor, pivot the hips clockwise (30-45 degrees)
3. The right foot is then pulled behind the left foot. This is the mirror iamge of the standard (right foot forward) kamae.
This footwork must be done smoothly in order to use oji-waza and kaeshi-waza (counter attack techniques). When practicing hiraki-ashi, be sure to face your opponent and avoid turning too much, otherwise it will be impossible to use counter attacks.
Turning
Turning after going forward using suriashi:
1. From the kamae position, stand the shinai to 90 degrees without moving the left hand.
2. Turn 180 degrees counter-clockwise using only the ball of the big toe.
3. Return the shinai to kamae position
Try to do the above sequence smoothly. When you have mastered it you can turn quickly and you can defend yourself against attacks after you have gone through. The point to remember is to return to your kamae after turning.
Pulling the shinai perpendicular when we turn makes the motion faster. When going through the opponent’s left side, we should turn counter-clockwise. When we go through the right side however, we should turn clockwise. This is so that we can return to kamae while taking the shortest possible course. Since it depends on which way we go through, we should be sure to practice both ways.
Gripping the Shinai
Place the left hand at distance of one fist (〜10cm〜) in front of the navel and grip the shinai with the left hand, slightly twisting the wrist inwards. In doing so, it is easy to stop the shinai when we swing. If not, it will be difficult to swing the shinai vertically.
To get the correct right hand grip, raise the right elbow parallel to the floor, placing the pommel of the shinai between the bicep and the forearm. Bend the elbow so as to grasp the shinai handle near the tsuba. The tsukagawa should be adjusted to fit your grip. If the tsuka is too long, it is hard to grip near the tsuka when striking. If it is too short, on the other hand, it is impossible to fully extend the arms when striking, making for a weak strike.
Once you find the right positions of the hands, relax the forefingers and thumbs and align the “V”formed there with the line of the tsuru. Otherwise, it will create tension in the forearms and elbows, causing a rigid swing and preventing a smooth, fully extended strike.
Level of Ken-saki and Kamae
When in Issoku-Itto no maai (where tips just cross), the tip (ken-saki) should point towards your opponent’s throat. Ken-sen is the extension of the kensaki, which can be thought of as something like a laser beam that stays fixed in the centre live of the body.
When in kamae, there should be just enough space for a sheet of paper to fit between the arms and torso. Bend the elbows naturally, do not extend or bend them too much.
Swinging the Shinai
When striking shomen (straight men) from a relaxed kamae, lift the shinai using first the shoulder, the elbow then wrist. Using all of the joints in the arms, gently squeeze them together to swing down and forward. Much like casting a fishing rod, try to imagine hitting a target far away. When swinging up, we should be able to see in front of us. Throughout the motion, the joints and muscles should be relaxed. When the hands are at the highest point, a diamond shape is formed by the wrists, elbows and shoulders. When swinging forward try to bring the elbows together as you push forward, making a more narrow diamond. Rather than “trying” to swing the shinai, relax the upper body and allow for the weight of the shinai to swing itself, without using excessive power.
How to use your wrists when hitting.
Right hand:
When one lifts the shinai, one should pull it towards him or her using the thumb and index finger while pushing forward with the bottom of the hand.
When one brings the shinai down, one should push forward with the thumb and index finger and pull the bottom two fingers back.
Left hand:
When one lifts the shinai, one should pull it towards him or her using the thumb and index finger while pushing forward with the bottom of the hand.
When one brings the shinai down, one should push forward with the thumb and index finger and pull the bottom two fingers back.
Sonkyo: crouching
From the kamae position, bend the knees and raise the heels off the ground and balance yourself over your feet. When we stand we should take the kamae position and adjust the distance with our opponent. To do so, we must keep the position of the feet, but in order to crouch the left heel must turn in and the left knees point about 45 degrees outward. The right knee should face towards the opponent. To keep balance, the back and neck must be straight, not bent.
Posture
To get the correct upper body posture, imagine the head, back and heels all touching a wall. Pull in the chin and keep the back and neck straight. By having the correct posture, we can avoid injury and many bad habits. It is helpful to use a mirror to check your posture.
Deportment
There are several common points to avoid concerning clothing and equipment:
· The keikogi is bunched at the back
· The straps of the tare are visible in the front
· The do is tied unevenly
· Tenugui sticks out from the back of the men
· Uneven men-himo
· The strings of the men or do come undone during practice
Any of these points can cause difficulties in grading and tournament situations, so it is necessary to be aware of them at all times.
When putting on hakama, expand the diaphragm and place the hakama under it and tie the straps just above the hipbones. The back flap, or koshi-ita, should be tied firmly against the lower back. The ideal length of hakama is at the level of the ankle. Once all the straps are tied, the front of the hakama should be slightly lower than the back when viewed from the side. The tare are worn in the same way as hakama, expand the diaphragm and pull the tare from underneath. By wearing tare in this way, power can put in the lower abdomen and your movements can be done more smoothly.
Metsuke refers to where you look when you face an opponent. In order to respond to the opponent's very fast movements, one must look at the overall picture instead of focusing narrowly on the opponent's eyes or the face. One can do this by imagining that a mountain exists behind the opponent and by trying to see through the opponent. This idea is called "ennzann no metsuke" and is one of the most important concepts in kendo.
Tai-atari: bodycheck
Hit using the hips, with the upper body, especially the elbows, relaxed. Stand the shinai in front and slightly to the right to kamae without moving the left hand. It is easy to move into an attack or defend from this position. If the elbows are overextended the upper body will lean forward, making it difficult to attack and leaves openings for your opponent to hit.
Shinai→
Yuko Datotsu: The Effective Strike
Ki-Ken-Tai Ittchi: Spirit-Sword-Body As One
For a strike to be effective, three elements must be combined. Ki; a powerful kiai (shout), Ken; men, kote, do and tsuki must be hit using the length of Shinai between the tip (kensaki) and nakayui, called the monouchi, to show proper use of the shinai. Tai; using the body to go into an attack from the hips.
As for Ken, the monouchi is derived from that part of the Japanese sword, beginning at the tip to approximately one third down the length of the blade, which is the most effective cutting area, or the “sweet spot” of the blade. Modern kendo adopts this function of the Japanese sword into its technique.
Opportunities to strike-required reading!
@When the opponent attacks
This is the easiest time to strike, especially against more skilled opponents. The techniques used are classified as oji, debana, and kaeshi waza. In order to hit these techniques, your kamae must enable you to strike at any moment. When your opponent attacks, you must counter-attack without breaking your kamae. To do so, do not let the left foot creep up-it will make your strike slower-but build momentum and at the right time, take a small step with fumikomi-ashi. Since the opponent is coming at you, it is not necessary to take a very big jump forward.
AWhen your opponent retreats
When your opponent takes a step back or is off balance such as when they do hiki-waza or are pressured to take a step back. You should be careful of times when your opponent is trying to get debana and so invites you to attack first. You have to use judgement in such cases. For example, consider when your opponent tries hiki-waza and retreats. Closing in on them, watch their reaction. If they keep their kamae, you should go for men. If they take a defensive stance, however, kote is a good way to get ippon.
BWhen the opponent’s feet stop
After your opponent finishes an attack, their feet sometimes stop there. For example, during a combination or flurry of attacks, when a strike misses, when you block their attack, or when they just freeze in kamae. These are all good chances to make a strong attack.
CWhen the opponent’s kamae is broken
Create a chance to strike by pressuring your opponent. Try to break their kamae without breaking your own. “Breaking kamae” means raising the hands, usually in a defensive way. It is difficult to strike from this position, so it is relatively safe to hit an opponent then.
These four opportunities are essentially all there is. In other words, unless there is a significant difference in skill or strength, it is difficult to strike effectively in any other situation. Learning how to create these chances through practice or matches is a quick way to improve your kendo.
Attitude
Do everything with confidence and conviction. Do not be afraid of being hit, but throw yourself wholeheartedly into your attacks without hesitation, using your best techniques to compete with your opponent. By practicing with such and attitude in your regular practice, you will be able to make strong attacks even in tournaments. When it comes to matches, we especially do not want to be hit carelessly, so we tend to play it safe and end up regretting that we did not do our best. In our regular practice, we should try to execute every technique with full conviction so that we do not find ourselves afraid or confused.
When teaching or playing opponents with significantly little experience, we should adjust our level to be just a little stronger than they are. This will help them to become gradually stronger and we can learn a lot by trying to assess and adjust to the abilities of others. Likewise, we can improve quickly if we play opponents who are a bit stronger or more skilled than us. Obviously, there is no point in having a advanced kendoka beating on a beginner or intermediate kendoka (kakari-geiko is an exception as the point is to build physical and mental strength). That is simply violence and cannot be considered “kendo.”
Supplementary Practice
The following exercises are ways to improve the two most important movements in kendo: swing the shinai and fumikomi-ashi. Strengthening the left leg and speeding up the movement of the swing are excellent ways to improve your kendo.
○How to make a faster swing
From kamae, keep the feet planted, swing the shinai up to 45 degrees above the head, and swing the shinai as fast and as far as possible, stopping at shomen height. If you can stop the shinai just before hitting your partner’s head, you are doing well. When swinging down, relax and snap with the wrists to make a quick, sharp strike. Doing each repetition with full power, we can train the muscles of the shoulders and arms.
Improving fumikomi-ashi
Without holding a shinai, make the correct kamae position with the feet. Keeping the left foot planted throughout, do fumikomi-ashi using only the right foot. At that moment, the left toes grip and push the floor. The right foot should impact the floor and the knee should bend forward and down. Eventually, you should practice different distances of fumikomi-ashi. At advanced stages, you can do two or three short fumikomi-ashi.
There are six reasons for doing this training:
1. to learn the correct way to do fumikomi-ashi when we strike
2. by planting the left foot, it makes it easy to use the whole sole of the right foot and no the heel.
3. avoid injury to the knees, ankles, and feet by learning the correct movement.
4. learn not to let the left foot creep up before striking
5. learn to adjust the distance of fumikomi according to different situations
6. learn how to use fumikomi-ashi effectively in combination attacks
What makes Kendo interesting
In kendo, unlike most sports, people of any age, sex, or body type can compete on equal terms. Usually it would be impossible for a child or a senior citizen to beat someone in their twenties, however in kendo this is a common occurrence. The reason for this is that kendo emphasizes technique, spiritual strength and experience more than physical elements like strength and speed. Of course physical ability is an asset but by training the mind and body we can overcome the barrier imposed by age, sex and body type and continue improving in kendo well into old age.
