kendo endurance documentary

[Wark 1978]

there was a great documentary on nhk yesterday following Ogata-Sensei (a 5th dan jodan kendoka) who took part in a kendo endurance test.

his sensei was Shindo-Sensei who finished 3rd in the 38th all japan champs and who taught him jodan. Shindo-Sensei had died several years before and this endurance test was in his honour. i'm not sure, but it may be a yearly test.

Ogata-Sensei, and 5 or 6 others, had to fight continuosly for 3 hours against 36 opponents. the matches were not sanbon-shobu, all were the same length, and i think that the level of the opponent increased as the tournament went on.

Ogata-Sensei was awesome, often scoring 5 points in a match. i think that he only drew 2 or 3 matches and lost one. by the end of it he was pretty done in, as you would except. his opponents towards the end were showing him no mercy and repeatedly taking advantage of his fatigue and knocking him down but he kept getting back up.

it reminds me of a quote by daredevil evil knievel;
"the bottom line is, a man can fall many times but he only stops being a man when he refuses to get up."

the documentary was in the style of the well known one about Eiga-Sensei, blending clips from his home life, work (as a prison officer) and his training.

has anyone here ever taken part in such a similar test?

[Chook]

Wow... haven't seen it but that is

IN

SANE.

[vyung]

That is Crazy! I really want to watch this unbelievable fighting spirit.

Is this documentary going to be available in DVD? Does anyone know how I can get hold of the documentary??

[KenShi_JoB]

This remind me of Yamaoka Tesshu sensei's tachigirigeiko.

[Lloromannic]

We do a very toned down version of that sometimes. It usually lasts 20 minutes or so (which is still, at least to me, extremely tiring), it is usually reserved for special occasions such as one member going away (not quitting) or someone's birthday.

[Neil Gendzwill]

has anyone here ever taken part in such a similar test?

That's called tachi-giri-keiko, I believe. We do it when someone leaves the dojo - he has to fight everyone, in order, from lowest rank to highest. Each segment but the last is timed. The last with sensei goes on for as long as sensei sees fit. We don't judge it, and the usual rules are ignored. You see sweeps, hip tosses, tsuki into the wall, hitting off-target (especially if they fall)... Each new opponent is fresh and under orders to go just as hard as they can during their time limit. Usually it goes for 30-45 minutes. When our sensei left his old dojo, he said it went 90 minutes, and at the end he collapsed. They carried him into the bar. 3 hours is almost beyond belief.

[piggy]

just wondering Neil, how many people did your sensei have to fight?

theres no way i could go for 90 minutes

[Kingofmyrrh]

Most likely this is the tachikiri event they hold on a regular basis in Yuzawa, Akita prefecture. It really seems pretty crazy! The record holder (at least of a couple of years ago) is Iwahori Hide from the Osaka prefectural police - his score was 31 wins, 0 losses, and 2 draws in the 3 hours. As Wark says, you can't speed things up by doing well or doing badly, as there is no time limit on the matches.
There's only one other event I know of that I'd be more scared of, which is another tachikiri event they have at Keishicho. It only lasts for 1 hour, but instead of shiai format, they do kakarigeiko coninuously, for a whole hour, against rotating motodachi. They don't even get a break between motodachi as they change over literally in between strikes. Crazy stuff...

[Wark 1978]

Most likely this is the tachikiri event they hold on a regular basis in Yuzawa, Akita prefecture.

unfortunately i couldn't read the kanji saying where it was held but there was a ton a snow around so at first i thought it was in hokkaido.

[Neil Gendzwill]

just wondering Neil, how many people did your sensei have to fight?

About 60, he said.

[Kingofmyrrh]

unfortunately i couldn't read the kanji saying where it was held but there was a ton a snow around so at first i thought it was in hokkaido.

Well, as you probably know but many might not, Akita is one of the northenmost prefectures of Honshu, so it seems quite likely. FYI, Yuzawa is 湯沢 , Akita is 秋田 . I really wish I'd been able to see that documentary! They often repeat these things, hopefully if I can get out within the month I might just get lucky...

[amatsuda]

This documentary I think was called, "Hino Kamae (i.e. jodan) de motomeru"

Although I am not a practitioner of Jodan, this was an extremely inspiring documentary. Up to this point, they did not believe, nor did anyone try to challenge doing tachikiri using Jodan. So Ogata Sensei became the first person in the history of that Shiai to finish the tournament against 33 opponents using Jodan.

There was one quote from the documentary that I particularly liked. "Kendo de ningen ni narukotogadekita." [I was able to become the person I am today because of Kendo.]

I think everyone here would probably agree that through Kendo, they were able to experience aspects of personal development or it formed the person they are today.

amatsuda

[rainmaker]

Please where can I buy this documentary ? gimme gimme gimme ~~~

[amatsuda]

It was Documentary that was made and broadcast on a local TV station in Akita Prefecture Japan. I don't think that it was ever intended to be sold and distributed...

btw, one more observation on Ogata Sensei...Talk about Kanroku....You see him in plain clothes and also receiving treatment for his injuries and he looks like your typical Japanese father in his late 30s...i.e. slim and not so muscularly defined like Bruce Lee.

However, when he puts the bogu on...Man he looks huge...

amatsuda

[T.Lee]

at my last dojo, you get a tachikiri for your birthday (or when you have to leave the dojo for whatever reason). of course its only about 1 minute each person and the dojo is only about 15 guys in bogu anyway. but its fun. i remember mine last year fondly... and yes, all the rules are thrown out