NEW Kata to be used for promotions?

[tango]

please look at this webpage:
http://www.mushinkankendo.com/kendo_kihon_waza.html

here's a blurb from the stite:
"The all Japan Kendo Dojo Federation is focusing the application of this new bokuto practice in the primary and secondary school systems. Currently, the Osaka prefecture kendo federation is applying it in promotional examinations, in addition to Kendo Kata and Keiko. The All Japan Kendo Federation is also looking into avenues of interjecting the Bokuto Ni Yoru Kendo Kihon-waza Keiko-ho into all general kendo practices throughout Japan."

anybody know about this?
anybody doing it?

[tango]

and what is the all-japan kendo DOJO federation?

[Kaoru]

Hi Tango,

Well, I just went to look on the All Japan Kendo Federation's website, and there was no mention anywhere about that. And, a search didn't bring anything up either. Unless I missed something... Does anybody else know?

Kaoru

[Alex]

Hi Tango,

Well, I just went to look on the All Japan Kendo Federation's website, and there was no mention anywhere about that. And, a search didn't bring anything up either. Unless I missed something... Does anybody else know?

Kaoru

This is a whole series of kihon practice using bokuto. There was a big demonstration of it by a whole lot of kids at the recent all Japan Champs. Looks like a good way to teach kendo basics and techniques. I believe there is a basic text book available, but I haven't been able to get my hands on it yet.

[Kenshi]

if i am not mistaken, this set of kata were introduced to Europe by Hirakawa sensei a couple of years ago (Belgium, Nakakura Cup). Just recently Sumi sensei taught them in the U.K. ... check out more info here:

http://www.kendo.org.uk/newsevents/kodokanseminar/03/

http://www.kendo.org.uk/newsevents/kodokanseminar/03/leader.shtml

I think it will be a good tool in learning kendo... as often its difficult for beginners to work out how you are meant to apply the current kata...

[olaf]

Hi folks,

A very interesting news tidbit indeed. As Alex mentioned, there was a lengthy demonstration of all these new "forms" at the AJKC last week. A large group of high school students were selected for the "performance".

From what I heard at AJKC, there were no solid plans yet to incorporate these new techniques into the dan examination process, or to formally make them an integral part of kendo practices in Japan. Rather, the whole thing was merely introduced as, "high school students demonstrating kihon-waza." They didn't even emphasize the use of bokuto rather than shinai, and I was rather surprised when I first saw it.

I think this purpose behind this "experiment" is exactly what the mushinkankendo.com web site suggests - that, with the exception of a small handful of dojos, increasingly less emphasis is placed on traditional kata, and students are only "crash-coursed" in kata when it comes to examination time. In addition, as many people on this fourm have complained, many students do not immediately see the relationship between kata and actual kendo, a la shiai, jigeiko, or basic waza. (ie, "it isn't practical") For the record, I disagree.

From what I saw at AJKC, the new bokuto "forms", though not described in detail on the web page tango has provided us, are meant to simulate actual kendo waza, ranging from the very basic strikes (kote, men, do, tsuki) to waza we're more "familiar" with in a practice setting: harai-waza, suriage-waza, and so on. As you progress along the forms, so does the complexity of the waza, culminating (I think), in uchiotoshi-waza, which, at least at my level, is impossible to execute! Unlike the "unconventional" stances and strikes in traditional kata (ie, nuki-do in kata 7 ending by kneeling on the ground), these bokuto forms exactly mirror the waza we employ during regular kendo practices.

So all in all, yes, this may be the start of a new trend in teaching/practicing kendo, and I suspect we'll be hearing more about this soon. Fortunately, it's not some crazy whacko preaching and developing his own sword forms (we've definitely seen this before...) The reason it probably isn't mentioned on the AJKF (ZNKF) web site is that the English version of the site is exteremly uninformative and outdated. As far as I know, they don't even have info on the 51st AJKC posted, let alone results, etc, and have only begun to post up WKC photos.

Hope that helps,

[HawaiianKendoka]

My Sensei went to the seminar where they demonstrated the Kihon Kata and is currently teching our dojo the kata. He gave everyone in the dojo a manual explaining the kata and providing pictures of the techniques. He said that only a few dojo in the US are practicing these kata.

[Kaoru]

Hi everybody,

Oh gosh... I ought to have clarified what I meant. I am really sorry. I was referring to Tango's question about the All Japan Kendo Dojo Federation, and he wanted to know what that was. I couldn't find any info on it. That's what I meant. There's the added word "Dojo," so that's why he asked the question.

And, I learned some of the new kata at the seminar in SC.

Kaoru

[tango]

incidentally, there appears to be some links provided on that website that have screen shots of all these new kata (just in case nobody bothered to scroll down to the bottom of that web page)..