Hi all,
Having practiced Kendo for a decent amount of time, I've come to like certain Waza better than the other, as I would suppose anyone will.
However, it begins to bother me as it seems I try to use it a lot more in Shiai, and even worse (IMO) - in Jigeiko as well.
My Kendo is becoming predictable and monotonous.
Have you ever experienced such a thing yourself, and do you have any advice on how to "let it go"?
Thanks.
"Those who know pain are careful not to inflict it on others." - Katsuse Yoshimitsu Kagehiro. 15th Soke of Suio-ryu Ryuha.
Depends. What's your favorite waza and how often would you say you use it?
Paul
IMO, if you've got a favorite waza that you're really good with, then you don't want to totally let it go... It might be that you're truly only really good at it with people in your own dojo (at least, that's a possibility), but you may have difficulty with it when you get with other people..Originally Posted by Kanoken
In any case, if I got "really good" at some waza and just continued to kill everybody in the dojo with it, then that would get boring for me and I daresay my kendo could easily plateau...
I would force myself simply to try different waza.. ones that I specifically have trouble with...
kote-suriage-men is not particularly easy... try working on that a lot in jigeiko... then every once in a while during the match, pull off your favorite waza... then go back to kote-suriage-men...
If you want a real tester, give men-kiriotoshi-men a whirl....
Even a basic men-nuki-do is no walk in the park, IMO...
I don't think you ever want to totally let go of your favorite/best waza, but I do think you just can't do it all the time and really expect your kendo to flourish and grow.. Trying different waza gets you to approach the opponent in different ways.. learning to control the opponent through different approaches in seme... that's a huge thing.
I think it's quite possible to get bored with doing the same thing (you're good at) over and over.. challenging yourself to do difficult things and improve on things you're not good at, well.... that's kind of a big part of kendo..
Last edited by tango; 25th April 2012 at 04:34 AM.
I was told once, when you get really good at some technique then it's time to put it away and concentrate on something else for a bit..but hold yourself secure in the knowledge that you can pull that technique out again. The point is that you broaden your catalog of available techniques which makes your kendo more versatile...but you never really stop using your existing techniques.
See also Tokui waza: http://www.kendo-world.com/forum/sho...450-Tokui-Waza! however.
About five years ago, I became addicted to a trick variation on dou after my sensei took me by surprise with it. For a few months I got stuck on using it whenever I got into a jam, thinking that it would take my opponents by surprise as well. Most of my sempai caught onto it and I abandoned it.
However, you always need to have at least one technique that is so out of left field that you can use when nothing else seems to work. Not unlike football plays.
Last month, I was in a team match against an opponent who was not responding to my pressure and the match was tied. Having thrown everything else I could think of at him, something told me to give the old trick-dou a shot...and it worked.
Just stay competent at the technique and shove it back into your mind. It'll come out when you need it.
i don't think it's wrong to have a favorite waza. shorter people will generally favor kote waza while taller people will favor men waza. the trick is to not be a one-shot pony. you can have a favorite waza, but you should still have a repertoire of other wazas you can use.
If you're just using your specialty in keiko all the time, then you're doing it wrong. In shiai, use what scores, and don't feel at all bad about it.
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