Kendo World Forums - Blogs

Disney-kumdo-land

Aur�lien — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 04:33:17 GMT

For those who love Disney stuff, they go to Disneyland and for those who love kumdo stuff, they go (or at least should) to South Korea.

As I mentioned in my previous posts, the dojang is open 5 days a week with 3 practices at 6am a week and every evening from 5pm until 10pm with possibility to call the dojang's coach to practice sometimes in the afternoon. Soon, spring will come and with that competition almost every week end. Each month (all year around), a group of high ranked teachers (6th Dan and above) alongside with dojand coaches (4th Dan and above) organize a meeting with kumd lovers. Oh right, this group is actually called 'Kumdo Love'. They are part of what they call here 'online cafe' which is part of a website called DAUM which hosts blogs and communities, those communities are called online cafe. So here it is 'Kumdo Love cafe'.

Now, on top of that, you can also be as lucky as I was last week end and be part of the Songpa keiko which is held by the Olympic Park dojang at the Olympic Park. Every other month, each club in the Songpa district (where I practice) chooses 5 people to go and attend that meeting. That is 11 clubs and some very experienced people. I had the chance to practice against the Seoul Federation president, 7th Dan, Seo sensegnim who was part of the Korean national team twice in the late 80's. It was all very exciting especially since I can't parctice as much as I wish these past few weeks. I started a part-time job almost three weeks ago in the evening which crosses kumdo practice from the diary almost everyday.

Of course I didn't list all the events and practice opportunities as I am still not aware of all of them. I'm pretty sure that you can practice your soul out if you mix between university practices, dojang practices and most likely kumdo camps around South Korea. I hope to find out about the camps in the coming months.

Choosing iaito for junior students

chidokan — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 20:08:50 GMT

It's that time of year when my first year students buy swords for the first time, so I thought I might explain my logic for choosing 'first swords' for junior students.... Note I have different requirements for swords as people progress in ability, etc... Hopefully others will chime in with their thoughts...

I have a variety of swords in different lengths that my beginners use before buying their first sword, plus access to my other students swords to help determine length required. I don't use the rule of 'sword tip near floor', but focus more on how nukitsuke /noto affects posture when the sword is at 'maximum arm length' in regard to koiguchi. I also make sure the saya is where I want it to be, not where the student currently puts it!

After length, I try and get as light a sword as possible. Most of my juniors are fairly 'lightweight' university students, rather than heavily built 'weightlifter' types. The lack of strength they have has a serious effect on their technique, in that they focus a lot of 'power' into their hands and arms/shoulders. I had this brought into a sharp focus last year, when one of my female students bought a heavy sword which even I found heavy to use!! There are a couple of other advantages, in that a student can train on over longer time periods, and if you get injured, you can 'fall back' to using the lighter blade. (I expect more senior students to use correctly weighted blades after they gain correct technique)

Balance wise, I prefer 'tip heavy' blades so students can feel the kissaki cutting through the air, rather than weight in the tsuka. (This is not so important for senior students, who should be able to cut properly anyway)

Over the years, I have realised blades are fairly limited on what you get for curvature and kissaki shape, but I like a nice loud 'whistle'... (this is more for my benefit as I am going deaf!) I can then have a listen and see where they apply power/relaxation (or not!:laugh:)

I do recommend certain suppliers as I know the quality of the product (sorry guys, no free adverts!:laugh:), but put no constraints on colour, etc, and always tell them to buy a bag if they don't have one.... (why iaito come without a leather sword bag is beyond me..) Fortunately supplies of horribly coloured saya etc are limited to wallhanger suppliers...

Sageo length seems to vary a lot, although I have noted the bulk of the suppliers now seem to go for the 'longer than the end of the saya' type... I usually wait and see what turns up, and if it needs changing, have contacts who can pick up a replacement quite cheaply. I don't make a big deal of this to the students, as most of my guys are on a tight budget, so just mention it in passing....the early MJER waza dont need long sageo anyway.

I tell them to ask what is in stock...and buy that.... i.e. do not go for 'customised' stuff unless they want to wait! (there is nothing worse than a student waiting for his first sword to turn up....)

So.... anyone look for something other than what I have mentioned so far?

Misrepresentation of Kendo in the Media

Bear of Doom — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:04:12 GMT

Building upon Salmon Sensei's blogpost (http://kendoinfo.net/) titled "Kendo for non kendoka", it really does worry me that a lot of media out there portraits McDojo worthy rubbish as kendo.

Ok you may say ... the threat has been around for a quite sometime now, before kendo every other martial art has been tainted in one way or another by similar posers, why am I kicking a fuss about it?

The little ones don't annoy me as such, dojos here and there, youtube posts, backyard banter ... but programmes showing on national televisions? That's taking misrepresentation to another level I'm afraid. The danger is quite obvious, it can reach out to a much wider audience, and for those who don't know any better ... they could be stooped into thinking, yes, this is the real deal; this is 'the way of the sword'.

My examples! The first being posted here in the KW forums before, it's a clip taken out of a Spanish speaking TV show. I'm not sure myself as to the origin of the show, but I'm assuming somewhere in Latin America

Cringe ... I know. Worse yet, this is a worldwide disease. Take a look at this Malaysian programme:

Now I'm quite aware that Malaysia possesses various legit, strong, proper kendo dojos. How a TV channel chooses to broadcast the footage posted above instead is beyond me. Before I take it too far though, perhaps our Malaysian brethrens on KW could clarify to us what this actually is? (old time users such as KhawMengLee?)

I wouldn't consider myself a 'purist' as such, but it really does wind me up when someone claims something to be something it isn't. I don't speak either of the languages that the above videos are presented in, so if a native out there hears that they admit to being a deviation of kendo, rather than kendo per se, then I shall let this go, but otherwise ... Ashura, save us!

A Fire on the side of the road

ender84567 — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:30:00 GMT

I've now set what I think must be some kind of record, not a kendo one per se, but most cars seen on fire on the way to kendo practice. Last week on Tuesday on the way home, I noticed a smoldering red hunk of metal in the middle of the highway that I barely dodged. Of course 2 miles down the road was a tiberon with the hood on fire. Last night on the way to Indy, there was what looked like a dodge caravan, or what was left of one, still on fire, blocking traffic heading north (thank goodness no delays for me in the southbound lanes). I sometimes wonder if the kendo gods are trying to tell me something, then I remember how horrible drivers are in Indiana, and especially on I69, and dismiss it as business as usual.

Practice in indy (1/26): Warmup, kirikaeshi with bokuto (this one scared me a bit, as it seemed a bit strange and i've never done contact hitting/receiving with bokuto before), tai atari practice, then we put on men and did: kirikaeshi, men uchi, sashi men, basic seme practice with sashi men (everyone was taught an osaeru type seme to practice). Additionaly we did an exercise where motodachi gives up center to kakarite and then trys to hit ai men. Then jigeiko.

This practice as usual, I notice a bit of language barrier with sensei. I often know what concept he is trying to describe in Japanese, but he often does his best to explain it entirely in English without using Japanese terms. As is often the case in kendo, some of the subtlety of concept is lost when it is explained in english. I have encountered many Japanese sensei that try to 'sanitize' kendo of Japanese language terms, but at this stage in my kendo development I believe both students and teachers would be better off just learning/teaching concepts such as 'sutemi', 'kime', 'kigurai', 'shisei', etc. Terms such as these need paragraphs in English to describe, yet there is a single word in Japanese that one can use to get your point across. During the ai-men exercise sensei was trying to explain motodachi's role as well, and I have a bit of a feeling it fell on deaf ears. The main problem is that whoever was supposed to give up the center and then try to strike ai men, would try to 'win'. This made it impossible for kakarite to take center and for them to swing centered. Being a good motodachi is likely the hardest thing anyone can do in kendo. Its more difficult and draining than any other practice I have done. The point here that sensei tried to make is that motodachi's job is to receive. If they win, or try to win, it is meaningless. A motodachi is there to provide resistance to kakarite, but ultimately the motodachi's goal should not be to try and win and bully their attacker, but to make them succeed in the most spectacular way, to challenge them to push their kendo the the next level and to bring out their best kendo and help make it sparkle. I started my kendo as the pursuit of doing one beautiful men in my lifetime, but perhaps I have missed the point. I wonder now if instead it should be to bring myself to the level where I can, thru being a good motodachi, both cause and receive one beautiful men in my life......

1/24/10

ender84567 — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:18:11 GMT

Friday(1/22): no practice, a virus ran me over with a bus.

Sunday(1/24)(MSU): Kata practice, warmup, double kirikaeshi, men, kote men, 3 kinds of kote, ai men, suriage men, men hiki men, kote men hiki do, uchikomi, kakarigeiko, jigeiko. After practice had a few 'unofficial' shiai matches and shinpan practice.

The Big Question - 14 - (pre-conceptions)

Kim Taylor — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:54:57 GMT

is: Why don't people just start their own arts/sports?

Why do people on the net set pre-conditions to their study of kendo or other arts? For instance a fellow on swordforum is asking about kendo but doesn't want to study it if it is just points, instead he wants to know if it counts "kills".

The Big Question - 13 - (koryu grade)

Kim Taylor — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 17:28:51 GMT

is: How do I get my Menkyo Kaiden while being in the IKF?

I can't think of a single koryu iaido or jodo line in the IKF that is also giving out koryu grades, so how will I ever get my Menkyo Kaiden?

Kendo practice blog

ender84567 — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:49:11 GMT

I figured I would use this blog to catalog my kendo practices, lessons learned as well as my attempts to start a dojo in fort wayne.

Indianapolis(1.19.10): Bokuto ni yoru kihon keiko ho, warmup, kirikaeshi, men kihon uchi, kote kihon uchi, do kihon uchi, sashi men, seme kara sashi men, sashi kote men, seme kara sashi kote men, seme kara kote, tai atari, men tai atari, jigeiko, kirikaeshi

Only my second practice back from the extensive xmas/new years break. Several bad habits are back, my maai is closer than it was before the vacation, I am too cautious (thinking toom much) when striking a resistive opponent (need more kakarigeiko to get back into it I think), and the loser L is still present in my zanshin, so I still need to work more on relaxing my grip.

After several weeks of delay due to mostly stupidity and laziness on my part, the plan is to go to the Hillard Gates sports center on IPFW campus here in fort wayne, to get signed up for my membership. That way me and the GF should be able to start getting a regular practice going in fort wayne. I have had one person contact me (via Imafuji sensei at kendo guide) about practicing in fort wayne, but after providing them with contact information, and my plans for practice they have not contacted me back. There is both a korean and a japanese community in fort wanye so one would think we could find some people who would be interested in practicing, though exploring those avenues have not turned up anyone. Our next target is the IPFW student community, first by starting our 'unofficial' practices there at the sports center, and then hopefully founding a university club, and possibly a class modeled after the one that started us in kendo taught by Fox sensei at MSU.

Joyful Day Or The Promise Of An Awesome Threesome

Aur�lien — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 14:56:22 GMT

Thanks to the Oh So Great Kenshi247.net, I discovered today through my facebook update page that the two loves of my life are meeting together or maybe should I say, embracing one another.

The first love of my life caught me as a young man when I was still shy and innocent. It didn't reveal itself at first, it stayed hidden for a while, waiting for my desire to grow, for my ego to seek for more than what I had and knew. It waited for the drops of sweat to roll on my neck under the Latin sun of Italy. In Tropea, that is where I kissed my first love, on a sandy beach, looking at the sunset. That evening I remember the sand under my feet, the long following night of excitement and fear, a discovery, my life was forever changed.

I had to travel half way around the world to discover my second love. In search for exotic visions to nurture my first love, I found pain and torture. There was more sweat, some screaming, bodies colliding in what seemed to be an infinite struggle to dominate one another. Laws of attraction know no boundaries. We got closer, one step at a time and before long, we were inseparable.

My first love had changed, flew away for a while but never let me alone. My second love took away my life, my heart and my mind. Eventually they mingled, almost to perfection or so I believed.

But today, oh today� Where the sun set years ago in South Italy, it rises in Budapest. Not only my two loves shine in front of my eyes but they meet, embrace, caress each others core, look at each other with pride and density.

Now I wish to be a part of them with hope that I will not be disappointed.

My first love is screenwriting, it always has been. My second love is kendo and it always will be.

Check this out, I hope that those guys did a good job: http://www.kendoshortfilm.com/

The Adventures of a Kendo Bum - Kendo on Ice � the Kangeiko epic begins

kendo-bum — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 06:01:27 GMT

Contrary to popular thought, hell is not a fiery pit of pitchforks and sunburn, reserved for those of us who have lived a life of sin. Nay. It is in fact an icy dojo floor in the early hours of the morning, in the coldest month of winter, reserved for those of us with serious head issues.

As most people are more sports tape than human at this point (day 5 of 8), only the very sick and twisted would voluntarily rise at 5am each morning with the knowledge that the following 2 hours will be filled with pain and suffering of the most unimaginable kind. Depending on your club, your eternity in this wintery caldron of kendo hell could last anywhere from 8 to 15 days. And make no mistake, no matter the day, there will always be sensei/sempai/OB�s/OG�s in attendance to maximise the pain and grief, just as they went through many years before you.

Welcome to Kangeiko.

Today, after a beer-beach-BBQ Xmas spent in the sleepy town of Christchurch, New Zealand, I was welcomed back into Japanese kendo life with a quick, one day visit to Kansai University�s winter training camp. Only a taste, I�m told, of the punishment to come at the infamous Osaka Taiiku Daigaku Kangeiko�the winter training camp at my university held for 15 days, starting next week...*gulps*.

Beginning with a regular warm-up session of stretches and suburi, we were kitted up within 10 minutes ready to start oikomi-kirikaeshi (continuous striking up and down the dojo) in lengths of 4�swap�receive. Rinse and repeat for 20 minutes and line up for kakarigeiko (continuous attacking practice at 100% effort). I can�t be entirely certain of the duration of this part of training, as my attention was mainly focused on catching my breath. But I would estimate around 1 hour.

The training is then wrapped with a further 10 minutes of oikomi-men, oikomi-kote and �oikomi-good luck even lifting your arms�, a nice kendo bow out procedure, and for the students � no doubt a cigarette and a canned coffee in the changing room!

To be honest, describing the training menu on paper, doesn�t begin to do justice to the courage and determination I witnessed at Kansai Uni this morning. Thus, I will ask you to picture the most gruelling kakarigeiko session or sporting activity you have ever seen, to try and appreciate the scenes of terror and hurt I saw as part of the early morning �kendo on ice� show. In most cases, rather than a kendo session, things appeared more like a group sumo wrestling match. Kakarite (the attacker) with one aim in mind: to show how far he/she can be pushed. And the goal of motodachi(the receiver): to push kakarite harder still.

At times there were 3 or more helmets resting, head-less, on the floor. While the owner of said helmet was pinned to the wall/ground under a screaming pile of motodachi. I wasn�t sure which was scarier, being next in line to die or running through after the first attack awaiting�well, who knows what.

�How�s this gonna play out� you wonder.
�Is sensei gonna do that to me? He looks heavy�, your worries continue.
�Oh man, I could do that�oh wait�that looks super unpleasant�I better check to see if my shinai needs changing��, and so on and such, until it is your turn, and you become the mop on the end of sens�s shinai�or whacking stick, what ever the case may be.

Yet, brutal as it was, they kept going back for more. The grimaces and fish eye stares in the heat of the moment, giving way to fat-lipped smiles and heartfelt thank you�s by the end. Just going to show why kendo-ists are some of the most sick and twisted folk around.
Put it this way, stepping onto the floor as kakarite with the attitude of fighting til you drop; and motodachi�s obligingness to facilitate this wish, has nothing to do with malice. It is 愛情 aijou � it is love, it is compassion and it is devotion that drives us. I think that�s why we make the effort even in the worst of times. With the knowledge that we are being pushed for our OWN sake, by a senior who genuinely wants us to improve is something special�something we all should/will encounter to some physical degree during the process to sensei-dom.

Granted, it hurts, and you may have your doubts during the �fatal beating�, but when we can walk away from the session with respect for our senior, knowing that feeling is right back at �cha�well, enough said I think.

To the outsider it may look violent, nasty and completely unnecessary. But through the steel grill, it always seems to make perfect sense.

Just a thought.

Signing off.

KB

The Big Question - 12

Kim Taylor — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 14:00:59 GMT

is: How do you practice everything?

Hang around long enough in the arts and you tend to accumulate a lot of kata in one or several arts. Given a limited amount of time for you and your partners, how do you practice all of it?

The Big Question -11

Kim Taylor — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 14:22:44 GMT

is: Just how long do you need to practice before you get the brass ring anyway?

In the old days they'd hand someone a menkyo kaiden with 8 or 10 years training, now that we make folks go through 20 years before hitting a measly 7dan we've got a bunch of cripples heading things up. Just how long should we expect the top guys to practice before we make them one of the top guys?

The Big Question -10

Kim Taylor — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 13:08:47 GMT

is: How do you go forward and back at the same time?

Iaido and Jodo can be done well into our old age, but how do we keep going forward when our bodies are breaking down? How do we feel we're giving 100% when our knees won't let us get into seiza any more or our shoulders won't let us cut straight any more?

The Big Question -9

Kim Taylor — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 23:19:38 GMT

is: How do we get more students into iaido and jodo?

Assume you have your entire national organization behind this effort, what steps do you take to increase membership?

The Big Question -8

Kim Taylor — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 14:24:38 GMT

is: How do I convince all my students to start their own dojo.

In order for the arts to grow we need more dojo, which will bring in more students. So how does one convince one's students to go and start their own dojo?