1 kyu - Kawasaki, Kanagawa

[Wark 1978]

i've just been entered by my club to take the 1kyu test in a couple of months. i will be taking the test in kawasaki city where i live and practice.

could someone let me know the requirements for the test? i work at a junior high school which is where i first started to learn. the art/kendo teacher there told me that the 1kyu test involves kirakaeshi and jigeiko and that is what his students had to do to pass the test. his english isn't too good and my japanese isn't any better but i think he said that the test may be different between tokyo precfecture (where the school is) and kanagawa prefecture, where i will take the test. does anyone know if this is right or if i was probably mistaken?

i looked on the british kendo association website (who are affiliated with the ikf) and it said the requirements for 1kyu were jigeiko and kata. is this kata using a bokuto? i own one but have never used it. i wouldn't have thought that my club would enter me for the test when i have never used a bokuto and i would need to use one.

apologies if this is a really basic question but it is quite difficult for me to speak to the senseis at my club because of the language barrier. your help would be appreciated.

many thanks

mike

[Bleda]

Here is a page that lists the standard requirements for kendo grades. As to whether it is a bokkuto or not, i can't help you there since i personally don't know either =/ Hope this webpage helps a bit though.

http://expert.ics.purdue.edu/~kendo/grading.html

[Pauly]

Hey Mike,

I tested for 1 kyu last year and shodan earlier this year in Toyama Prefecture. My understanding is the requirements should be the same throughout Japan for 1 kyu.

There was kirikaeshi and a short keiko concentrating mainly on form, not on who gets the most (if any) hits.

At the end, we all went through the first 5 kendo kata together with bokuto. We are not judged as it was mostly for an introduction for what we have to do for the dan gradings later. In fact, most of us (me and a bunch of junior high school students!) had never done kata before.

So in summary, kirikaeshi and keiko. Don't worry about kata. But learn it soon for your shodan test. Plus you'll have a written test in Japanese! Study hard!

[JSchmidt]

The requirements in Japan varies depending on prefecture. You may or may not have to do kirikaeshi and by the sounds of it, you don't have to do kata.
Best bet is to hope that you aren't the first one on the floor, so you can see what the others are doing

Jakob

[Kenshi]

you have time! ask your teacher about the kata thing and - even if he says it isnt necessary - ask to learn the first 5. my kids here in hiroshima just did some kyu gradings and they had to do kata up to number 5... and that was a local grading. my kids [sho/chu] practise kata once a week [though they think it sucks].

i dont think you have to do a written for ikkyu, but double check. i will be the first non-japanese sitting a grade here in my area so the whole "written exam" thing is a mystery to them!!! i will prob. be able to do it in english, but my japanese is getting dangerously better!

good luck

[p.s. jakob, did you get the picture from okamoto sensei?]

[Wark 1978]

thanks for all your help and advice folks. i recently spoke to one of my senseis and he said that the 1kyu test doesn't involve kata. some of his other junior high school students had just done test a little while ago and they said that there was no kata or none that you were graded on. obviously i want to learn it so that i can then go for shodan (providing i pass 1kyu first).

george, i'm sure that you can do the written test in english in japan. i've heard of other people taking gradings here who have done the written test in english. ganbare!! i would be interested to know how it went for you and what it was like grading here.

also, how do you like hiroshima? i was there last year for a few days and loved it. especially the 4 storey building rammed with hiroshimayaki restaurants.

[Kenshi]

well.... probably english is ok... but even my local 8th dans seemed puzzled about what to do. anyway, its a year away [gulp]. already nervous.

hiroshima is OK. i dont live in the city though [sadly]. yeah you went to OKINOMIYAKI-MURA.. mura being villiage. too many restaurants in 1 place if you ask me!

[Hyaku]

In my Prefecture Ikyu is the same as Shodan. Its a preparation for shodan and it also makes the shodan grading a lot smoother with everyone knowing whats expected of them.

[Wark 1978]

folks,

just had my 1kyu test this morning and passed it. i was quite worried going into the test because when i practiced on wednesday, thursday and friday night i didn't think i did that well. i couldn't seem to do anything right.

i went to the grading with one of the senseis from my club and his 12 year old son who was taking the test as well. my sensei videoed my performance and then let me watch it and that's when i got really worried. my kamae, i thought, was awful. my shinai was so low that at times it was almost horizontal and my shoulders were not at all relaxed. when i found out i had passed i was quite surprised. i now know what i have to work on for shodan. my sensei said, or i think he said, i passed because i never took a step backwards. i was always going forward and also seemed to kiai louder than my opponents. i didn't try anything flashy, i just went for men and made, i think, a few good hits.

the test seemed different from what other people on the thread have said. it only involved two shiai and after i found out i had passed i went into a kata practice and practiced ipponme, nihonme and sanbonme as shidachi. that is the kawasaki renmei test and my senseis at a dojo in tokyo i go to say that it is different from tokyo's tests.

so, i've got the shodan test in a few months to look forward to and practice for. ganbarimashou.

thanks for your advice and comments

cheers

mike

p.s. have any of you ever seen yourself on video? it was really strange seeing myself not gracefully floating across the floor with great speed and making strikes with the utmost fluidity. a stark contrast from the image i have in my minds eye. i'm no sensei but even i could see what i really need to work on. some of the senseis at my club always video themselves and i would definitely like to see myself on video again.