Conviction?

[sarge127]

Hey guys,

Last nights practice on thursday only 5 of us showed up, but 1 beginner was put with us to train in the gauntlet...
After that training session we were then taught kata: (Men, kote, Do, Tsuki) But during that training session a senior approached me in the locker room saying i need to stop worrying about hitting us and just have conviction, over all he said the last time he seen me i had improved much since we last trained together.
However im not that good with convictionation! i keep getting scared of stopping the shinai directly above his head.
But after a few Katas he said he seen good-form and reflexes during the gauntlet training.
As far as my conviction goes i can't be hesitant to strike someone even without bogu during kata practice
man i came a long way...

[Scully]

A common problem you see with beginers in weapons arts,
They tend to be rather scared of the weapon and what it can do, a big part of your developement in kendo will be learnign overall control of the weapon, in my short time in Iai I'v seen alot of this when we give people an iaito, its a bit confronting becuase it has a real blade,
You just need to learn good control of the shinai/bokken/iaito/shinken/shia/naginata etc
Its a bit of a subconcious self-confidence thing also,
You need to be confident,
that you have complete control over the blade, and not the blade having complete control of you,
Be confident that you know when to start slowing the shinai, if you want a practise exercise in this matter,
Get a object the size of someones head, place it on a mantle piece or a surface about the hight of the strike and practise stopping just before the object,
I have a manakin in my living room which I store my bogu on so I can also practise with a more realistic hight, perhaps something you might be interested in.

Happy Training

[Toecutter]

As far as my conviction goes i can't be hesitant to strike someone even without bogu during kata practice

I think I would argue that one. Above all be safe, if you're a beginner you don't have to have the bokuto half and inch from someones skull and you shouldn't. Being a rice grain from someones wrist, head, or what have you doesn't mean your kata is good, if just means you're dangerously close to hitting the person. Whats gauntlet training by the way?

[rfoxmich]

BTW ...sounds not like kata but Bokuto ni yoru kendo kihon waza keiko ho (bokuto kihon for short). Men-kote-do-tsuki would be ippon uchi from that set.
Without at least a video of you I can't say what is being pointed out. That's not going to stop me from commenting, however.

One thing I see all the time in beginning kenshi is a separation of the upswing and the downswing...and a further separation of the footwork from the cutting action. It's important that you not stop the sword up at the top of the swing but that you get in the habit of knowing and feeling that the cut comes from chudan and not from the top of the swing. in that way you get a smoother continuous cut. Furthermore while initially the timing of swinging up and then moving forward as you swing down is useful, you may want to try instead to step powerfully from your left foot and to try to fit the cut into the time you have to make that step.

[sarge127]

Whats gauntlet training by the way?

Thanks, for the replies guys! helped out a little..
Gauntlet training is like you run through people with bogu starting with Men-uchi, Kiri- yada yada, and a challenge at the end at least have to complete it in 4 minutes i believe, it kills me but gotta get fast somehow.