Raffa, can you post a video of your exam?
Raffa, can you post a video of your exam?
I was thinking that a video existed...but I cannot find it....Originally Posted by maxalex
:-(
"Time is the best teacher, it's a shame that in the end he kills all his students.."
http://muganokai.forumattivo.com/forum.htm
Hi Raffa
I agree with Tango, I think you're on the right track. I'm a firm believer in the "k i s s" principle. "keep it simple stupid". One more thing about tame, as you feel the pressure build mentally, you must stay relaxed physically. Use the mental build up as an indicator to what the aite is feeling, the trick is to stay relaxed physically so that you can act appropriately when the opportunity arises.
Good luck Raffa
I'd like to second G-CHAN's point here, but reiterate something I've heard Neil and a few others say, which is: it's important to keep the left leg tensed/coiled, ready for attack while you're in kamae. You have to be able to explode into attack when the opportunity presents itself (or maybe that's better articulated as, 'as the opportunity is presenting itself'). But definitely, the upper body needs to be relaxed...
Because I've had a cup of coffee this morning, my mind is racing a bit, so I feel like adding a little more to this for what it's worth... (maybe this doesn't really add anything to the discussion, but...)
One of the things we've been trying to help our 2.dan/3.dan folks understand lately is proper timing for attack, and trying to help them improve their seme through a more mature understanding of tame. For example, if you attack too early, it's easy for aite to block (or counter). If you attack too late, it's easy for aite to score (or impossible for you to score). So you have to find the happy medium.
Generally speaking, if aite is attacking, then he can't (or won't) block, so we try to practice forcing the opponent to attack.
By doing this, folks seem to figure out fairly quickly how immature their seme is.. or they start to realize the difference between 'waiting' and 'patience'... and they start to figure out that they need to do something (i.e., SEME) to get the opponent to commit to attack. And they start to get the idea that seme is not something which precedes an attack per se but is actually the initial part of your attack as a whole. As they start to develop that sense, they then understand even more so that they can't see the opening and THEN attack it, because that's "reactionary kendo" which makes their hit too late. So they need to develop more "actionary kendo" or "forward kendo" ....
Anyway, in the midst of all that, they start to understand that tame can be defined as the time period in which you are looking for aite to commit to attack... or the time you are trying to force aite to commit to attack. I haven't gone back to re-read this thread, but I think Jakob was perhaps trying to give a very technical definition of tame which I, for one, wouldn't say was wrong, but I think others here were trying to describe tame in terms of "what is going on in reality as you transition between kamae, seme, tame, and attack... most folks describe tame as 'building up of pressure or tension' because that's how most people would articulate the idea that 'seme eventually forces aite to feel compelled to attack and as aite goes from a calm/settled mindset to a more agitated mindset of attack.... well, that's what happens during tame."
Sorry to ramble..
Some may agree or disagree with my thoughts on this, but this is kinda where I am now in my understanding of things... and I still don't know if this adds or subtracts from the thread overall..
Last edited by tango; 24th July 2010 at 12:17 AM.
Hi tango
Not quite sure what you mean by coiling the left leg. In my humble opinion, I feel there's too much emphasis placed on pushing off with the left leg. You need to strike from the hips. This is the difference between leaping when you fumikomi and not leaping. There is a difference between forced tension and natural tension created through proper kamae with the understanding how the shoulders and hips work.
With the upper body, you create natural tension by tucking in your chin and keeping the shoulders back. Doing this will stretch the spine and keep it straight. With the lower body...you create tension through the hips and not the left leg/foot.
To make things clearer, try this...stand in kamae, you don't need your shinai for this, make sure your feet are correctly positioned, left heel raised about an inch. Slowly move your hips forward. You should feel some tension building in your buttocks down your left leg to the foot. The farther you move your hips forward, the more it intensifies.
As funny as this sounds, I was taught your butt should be slightly clenched when you strike. No, I don't mean clenching your butt by force, but by moving your hips slightly forward. Doing this will insure proper footwork, posture and balance when you strike.
Hope this helps
I understand what you're saying, but I think we're basically describing the same thing with different words...
I've heard (and have used):
squeeze your butt cheeks
push from the lower back
attack from the hips
tense/coil the left leg (and up through the hips)
I think all of these are just different ways of articulating how to achieve the same end result
Not, coiled, but ready. By ready, I mean that you don't need to adjust your posture (legs, feet, hands, butt, left nostril,etc), in order to strike. That is what I define as being 'in kamae'.
As for 'tame', I think you making it way more complicated than necessary. You apply pressure(seme) and between that application and until the time where you or the opponent strike or remove that pressure, that interval is 'tame'. You may increase your pressure, opponent may increase his counter-pressure, but 'tame' itself is just an interval (period of time) and doesn't develop.
The italian 2010 kangeiko has ended last sunday, in the exams that followed I have achieved sandan.
I would like to thank all the persons that had given me advice on this forum (and outside), they have been very useful.
In 5 months many things have changed, and in the end I must thank the commission that made me fail in june.
All the sensei I know said that my kendo improve dramatically in this lap of time, and obviously I am very happy of this.
However, in this last exam I found an opponent that was exactly as I was in june , and so I realized I was lucky.
Sometimes there are things that we don't like that in the end are the better for us....
"Time is the best teacher, it's a shame that in the end he kills all his students.."
http://muganokai.forumattivo.com/forum.htm
Congratulations Raffa, well done! This thread should be kept in mind for future reference when people argue about whether gradings are a waste of time.
b
Congrats, Raffa!
congrats!!
Congrats!!!
A good reportage of the event from "Kendo Maniac":
http://kendodream.blogspot.com/
All the three sensei have been simply amazing...
Last edited by Raffa; 10th December 2010 at 02:54 AM.
"Time is the best teacher, it's a shame that in the end he kills all his students.."
http://muganokai.forumattivo.com/forum.htm
Sorry that I'm late on this, but congratulations.
Thank you all for the congratulations!!
I am present in the video made by kendo maniac but only in the kata section ( I was 314 while kendomanic was 323).
I am the big (fat) guy on the left of the screen (near the commission) with the sport glasses!
"Time is the best teacher, it's a shame that in the end he kills all his students.."
http://muganokai.forumattivo.com/forum.htm
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