Shinai practice equipment?

[Polemarch]

Hi all,

I've been at my dojo for 6 weeks now and all is well! I have a question with regards to training outside of my sessions. Does a device exist that will hold a shinai that you can use to practice men and kote cuts etc? I was thinking of making my own sprung device but though I'd better check first in case there are any good designs out there. Do they exist or is this a unique (patentable!!) device??!

Thanks in advance.

[Kendo ISB]

Hm.....This is a question constantly asked by the members of me club....The only answer that I truly have for you is, Im not really sure myself :P I have built a manakin, and strung my bogu on it to practice, but after being told off by my teacher, I stopped. Usually, you don't self practice unless you have a lack of practice each week.....in that case, just swing on your own. Why would you need something to hit anyhow? For impact? For accuracy? @_@
Usually people i know just swing, and work on form...but for 6 weeks of practice, i just suggest you work on your form first. Basics are the most important yah. Fighting comes later.
In truth i have no idea whether there is something you can 'hit' sorry.
Keep practicing!

[Polemarch]

I am doing just that, practicing my men cuts. At my dojo we obviously practice our cuts over and over again. We also practice our cuts on those with armour or their shinai and then move past. Obviously I cannot practice the latter at home but would like to. I work on my cuts every day, putting as much time as I can into it. :-)

[Hattori Hanzo]

Practice the form first of all, keeping your body stiff at all times, only moving your arms, if you are limited with ceiling space practice your waza kneeling down, work on form, only using your left hand to propel the shinai and your right to guide, and that wrist twisting thing which is kinda hard to explain but at the moment of impact you want your wrists behind the shinai instead of beside it, because one it leaves your kote open and two allows your Ki to travel...

Hope this helped at least a bit.

With that said that is what I am off to do now.

[meow]

Hi,

I am also an newbie in kendo and in it for the same time (about 6 weeks).

At home I practice only suburi and footwork. I think there is no need yet to hit something. I find doing suburi right is VERY hard and my footwork sucks, so I will need a lot more exercise.

I do a few variations in suburi to keep it interesting.

First I do about 50 - 100 jogeburi to warm up.

Then 50 men cuts with a short stop (1 or 2 seconds) after each cut to see what was wrong and do the next cut better.

Then 50 kote the same way.

Then 50 left and right men cuts. We learned during last class and I find the very difficult to do.

Then 50 left and right do cuts. I find those more difficult then the left and right men cuts.

Then 50 left and right men cuts with footwork moving left and right.

Then 100 in a squat stance for my leg muscles (In karate this is called kiba dachi, I don´t know what this exercise is called...)

Sometimes I try a few men cuts with fumikomi. The problem is that I can´t do a loud fumikomi in my flat, so I just try to make a bigger step and work on the synchronisation of arms and footwork.

[Polemarch]

Ok, the device I'm talking about is a uchikomi-dai. Have any of you used these things before?

[Stimpson J. Cat]

My sempai tell us that you shouldn't practice striking anything on your own until you have some experience behind you (like shodan) because it's so common for less-experienced people to fall into bad habits when they practice striking without higher-level supervison, that before then you should stick to suburi and footwork for your solo practice.

It may make that easier to take that in interviews I have read with high-dan AJKF championship types, most, maybe all of them spend a significant part of their training time doing footwork and suburi. If it's worthwhile practice for them, it's worthwhile practice for you.

Personally I think that is probably longer to wait than really necessary to do solo striking practice, however at 6 weeks experience, that advice probably does apply. But then what do I know, I am a lowly ikkyu, so I do as I am told.

[Hai_hai]

Hi all,

I've been at my dojo for 6 weeks now and all is well! I have a question with regards to training outside of my sessions. Does a device exist that will hold a shinai that you can use to practice men and kote cuts etc? I was thinking of making my own sprung device but though I'd better check first in case there are any good designs out there. Do they exist or is this a unique (patentable!!) device??!

Thanks in advance.

Yes. There are various hitting objects for practice for kendo. Store bought and home-made ones. In Japan, they exist already so you can not patent such a device.
You are at a level where it doesn't matter to make or buy one. Work on hitting the air.

[yangs]

Like all people suggested, suburi and basic swings are very important. I think you can practice in front of a mirror and constantly check your forms. But for six weeks, you should practice with your teacher. Otherwise, you might spend twice times adjusting your forms.