suburi

[-Miburo-]

Hello, i am a kendo beginner and i have some questions to ask:

-How to do a proper cut/swing using the shinai?
-When i am doing suburi, i tend to lose balance due to my footwork sometimes. How to correct my mistakes?

Thanks~

[Yowai]

Practice more?

[Haggis]

Losing your balance may be the result of moving your feet too close together width wise. Just make sure you retain proper distance between your two feet, if necessary just practice your footwork without the suburi.

[Old Warrior]

I am almost too embarrassed to admit this, but if I am pressed to count out loud in Korean, while we do suburi as a group, I get rattled and lose the rhythm. Normally, I do the exercise without thinking, but if I have to focus on getting words right, sometimes my feet get screwed up. I don't know, I can walk and chew gum, but this is a humorous problem that should be beyond me by now - but it isn't.

[Fantasia]

I am almost too embarrassed to admit this, but if I am pressed to count out loud in Korean, while we do suburi as a group, I get rattled and lose the rhythm. Normally, I do the exercise without thinking, but if I have to focus on getting words right, sometimes my feet get screwed up. I don't know, I can walk and chew gum, but this is a humorous problem that should be beyond me by now - but it isn't.

In your daily life, repeat the Korean numbers OUT LOUD several hundred times a day. It'll become second nature to you and you won't have to devote more than a tiny number of brain cells to doing it correctly while you do something else.

[k3nsh1n]

Hi,

I've been told to make cuts as large as possible which i try to do but i've also been told when doing a kote cut to only raise the arms to a position where you can see your opponents kote. My question is, when practicing suburi and other exercises should i be raising my arms as large as possible or just to the point where i can see the kote. I find that making the kote cut as large as possible makes it somewhat awkward where as raising the arms slightly lower makes it feel more fluid.

[Neil Gendzwill]

For suburi, always make the motion as big as possible. Once you can do the big motions smoothly, the little ones are easy. But if you learn only the small motion, you can never do the big one. For any kind of suburi, your left hand should be raised at least overtop of your head.