Breathhing in kendo

[delphideo]

I recently saw a documentary on the history channel about mounted archers who had to shoot 3 talismans of some sort, anyway my point is that I know that breathing is important before and during the shoot.

So those this apply to kendo? and if so, what is the proper way to breathe?

[Will]

that's sort of the point of kiai and stuff...

[LNGUYEN]

My Sensei said,
Just do Kiriki-aeshi ten thousand times and you know how to breath in Kendo

[Valiant]

I recently saw a documentary on the history channel about mounted archers who had to shoot 3 talismans of some sort, anyway my point is that I know that breathing is important before and during the shoot.

So those this apply to kendo? and if so, what is the proper way to breathe?

My understanding is that you would inhale before the cut and exhale as you squeeze through the cut. That's what I was taught in Iaido, I'd imagine it's similar in kendo.

When you breathe properly, you're less likely to be "out of breath" (gasping for air).

[Hai_hai]

...When you breathe properly, you're less likely to be "out of breath" (gasping for air).

In kendo, if your sensei runs practice like a slave master, everyone should be gasping for air. If you aren't, then the practice was too easy.

[Vapour]

When you breathe properly, you're less likely to be "out of breath" (gasping for air).
I concur with this completely. Although I'm probably not the fittest person in the world, I do manage to pass the annual fitness test that I am required to take at work without too many problems, so I assume that I'm not that unfit either. However, I was finding that a short bout of keiko would leave me gasping for breath. Specifically, I'd be fine until we stopped and suddenly I would realise that I was completely out of breath. One of the seniors kindly pointed out to me that the reason for this was that I was so tense all the time, and hence wasn't breathing properly. His advice was to make a concious effort to relax (remaining alert of course) while in kamae, and then make another concious decision to relax immediately after the strike and zanshin. This bit of advice has had a dramatic effect. I run out of breath eventually, but it takes a lot longer for me to get that far.

[Shamshir_11]

In my experience proper breathing is one the most difficult things to learn in kendo. from what I've been told its about getting the most from the least, (still don't completly understand this). thought I guess with practice it will come.

[ShinobiKenjutsu]

In gung fu we are taught to breathe in a way that channels natural chi. The whole emphases is breathing in from the diaphram, not sucking air through your mouth. You enhale with your chest, and expand outward, absorbing the enerfy. Its effective in all aspects of life, and works well in martial arts of any kind. also a great relaxation technique.

[Zaphiel]

breathing is very important.......
for example: you should recognice when your enemy is taking a breath.....that's the moment when you should hit him......just one thing,
there are some more....like you can do kendo much longer with the right breathing......

[Aiko]

In kendo, if your sensei runs practice like a slave master, everyone should be gasping for air. If you aren't, then the practice was too easy. :dead: I must be getting some good practive in then :wink: , my problem is that I almost run out of breath and almost suffocate myself!

[D'Artagnan]

I once saw a documentary about one of those crazy extreme divers, she could hold her breath for 6 minutes!!! now that would be handy...

[emitbrownne]

you should recognice when your enemy is taking a breath.....that's the moment when you should hit him.........Why?:ermm:

I've never understood the fact that you are not supposed to breathe at the same time as striking....:confused2

and why is a person is considered weak when breathing??....:ermm:

Surely if you are struggling for breath your body is craving oxygen and your muscles will build up lactic acid, therefore causing you to work less efficiently, with the knock-on effect of you to be weaker???:eek:

hmm??:confused:

[JSchmidt]

Oh, you're supposed to breathe alright, but do it in such a way that the opponent (not enemy!), can't see it. Your reactions will be slower when breathing in.

Jakob

[taganahan]

one of my friends told me to breathe through the nose, not the through your mouth. he said that you can control your breathing better when you're doing it with your nose. the other disadvantage of breathing through your mouth is, your throat gets dry and it hurts when you do your kiai. my sensei also told me that i should practice breathing less.

[moetl]

and why is a person is considered weak when breathing??....:ermm:watch yourself when you lift something really heavy. i tend to make weird noises like arrr and uuhhh ^^ - i'm naturally exhaling when lifting it up. i can't tell you something about the physics though

[Halcyon]

if you concentrate on proper kiai, then proper breathing should largely take care of itself. that's one of the primary functions of kiai. when you're doing kirikaeshi, for example, you should ideally be inhaling only three times through the entire set.

1. initial breath in before the first kiai.
2. right after the first men strike, when you're in tsuba zeriai
3. right after the second men strike, again, when you're in tsuba seriai (many people inhale after the nine sayu men strikes, before the second men strike. that's a no-no, because if you inhale when you're at issoku itto no maai, you're making yourself very vulnerable to an attack)

[Wout]

can't you breath in when you go up for the second men strike. I can understand not breating in when at uchimaai, but during your strike it seems you wont make yourself vurnerable by breathing in + you need some breath to do the kiai on the men strike. it seems that after nine sayu men strikes you might not be out of breath, but at least out of air.
But now that I think about it one of my teachers said a similar thing, well maybe I'll try what you said this evening.

[DCPan]

Hi all,

I was “told” of another theory regarding breathing. I’ll leave it to the scientists to prove or disprove the analogy.

Basically, pre-historic hunters were supposedly able to catch horses by disturbing their “gait”. Quadrupeds, supposedly, move at a certain pace and multipliers of that pace. Thus, if you are able to disturb the animal out of their pace, you disrupt their breathing.

While we are not quadrupeds, we are required to coordinate our “4 limbs” in Kendo. Sensei could similarly force you to move at inconvenient times to disrupt your breathing.

Imagine being force to take a step every time you try to inhale. I think you’d lose your breath really quickly, regardless of how fit you are.

Breathing is integral to kendo because breathing properly engages your core muscle in such a way as to transfer the power of your lower body to your upper body. It also has neurological benefits when you extend the length of your exhalation.

[Daniel]

Then we are doing Ok in our dojo, after our sets of Suburi in the beginning (much less Kirikaeshi afterwards) we all look like we need to push our lungs back into our chest.

Maybe it is just me because I am getting too old and too fat.

I remember after my very first practice how I laughed about those "aerobic step" classes I saw in dome gyms...

Not only is Kendo great to practice (for Budo and other) but the most incredible aerobic training. I understand why the Tokyo Police is that adept to it. All police departments should make their officers practice Kendo.


Daniel

QUOTE=Hai_hai]In kendo, if your sensei runs practice like a slave master, everyone should be gasping for air. If you aren't, then the practice was too easy.[/QUOTE]

[taganahan]

can you explain more on how to disrupt your opponents breathing. i wanna try that sometimes on my opponent cause it's very useful, in my oppinion, to make your opponent gasping for air during a match. gasping for air = less concentration.

[Hinokuni]

can you explain more on how to disrupt your opponents breathing.
When we breath, either calmly or during excercise, we usually establish a predictable rhythm. Alot of kendoists unconciously time their attacks around their breaths. Therefore it's a farily simple to 'disrupt an opponents breathing' as you say.

[cjcrashoveride]

I always tend to exhale slow enough during a attack that after the attack is done I should still be breathing out. This way if I am counter attacked I can still breath out and not have to hold my breath or gasp inward during his attack.

[hamish]

Steve Harwood did his masters degree at IBU on breathing in kendo, based on original Japanese sources. Its serialised in the magazine, if you're serious about finding out about the complex relationship between kendo and breath control, and learning how to control your beathing to the greatest advantage for your kendo.

We'll print it in book form once we finish serialising it, but with the huge amount of material in it, that could take a few years!!

regards

Hamish

[Nishi]

HI Hamish,
I frequented some of the same dojo as Mr.Harwood for a couple of years when I was in Britian, and was forever picking his brain for pearls of wisdom regarding breath control. I also got my hands on a copy of that IBU text he took part in, you know, the little blue and white book which included Karate and Judo studies.
Anyway I have been looking at the itto-ryu teachings lately, specifically the 10-10=10 reasoning, and I am looking at the v2o max (western) concepts at the moment, which looks like it may shed some light on the 'ikioi' topic.

Its awsome stuff, a book on it would be great!

[tapioka]

my sensei taught us to make a series of hits all within one breath of kiai.

doing it this makes it so that you aren't cut off between hits, because whenever you cut off that kiai you have an opening. :smiley: