力剣道blog

2006-03-17T22:37:00.000+09:00

KNMS practice and nami ashi

Yesterday I tried to practice nami ashi at KNMS.
Some old faces were there such as G.Mason and M.Halls and a tall Scotish guy so it was a good practice.
Nami ashi 常足, means natural foot work. In kendo foot work the right foot always leads forwards and the back foot leads when going backwards. The front foot is pushed by the back foot then the back foot snaps up again. This is kind of like when you open and close scissors.
On the other hand nami ashi is said to be the most natural human way of walking, which can be done in kendo. The feeling should be the same at walking and give a lot more balance than which traditional kendo foot work provides.

See these videos

Men fumikomi ashi (Notice the natural step before the cut!)
Kote fumikomi ashi

Seme and men (Using Right left right then cross feet and stamp)

The set of waza at the bottom show: using the right foot as an axis, instead of the left one.

Apart from this, I was working on a natural posture in kendo on this practice.
The problem I had was breathing. A lot of people say in jigeiko to hold your breath but because I was using natural posture, the effect of using the breath as a kind of timer did not work.
It is importaint not to be standing dead for too long and missing open targets!

2006-03-15T08:04:00.000+09:00

What is kendo and bujutsu?

Although in Japanese history bujutsu, budo and now kendo's meaning has constantly been changing. It was fist a way to kill in battle as quickly as possible.
When the waring states period of Japan had come to an end, peace had pushed the use of the sword into developing the soul.
Miyamoto musashi in the book Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa is defeated in battle. Musashi is not a nice person in the story, he is vicious and brutal and seen as a thug to most people.
Until he is captured by a zen monk after being strung up for many days studied zen and realised: learning the sword and morals in combat is better than using ones strength to beat the opponents out right.
Eiji Yoshikawa was a historical fiction wrighter who published Musashi in Asahi shinbun in 1935. Eiji Yoshikawa also published books like the 'romance of the three kingdoms' (Sangokushi): Both these book have a great modern moral behind them.

Kendo came into popularity before ww2 with the great martial excellence society (butokuden) . Many great martial art schools came together to take kendo and make it an activity which every one could do and at the same time would teach people different morals of loyalty and disapline at the sametime.

When the war came along kendo was used as a tool to boost moral and help troups to be spirited in war. I think judo was mixed with kendo and it became more practical for use in real combat.

After the war kendo was band by the US forces. People took a break until a new sports kendo was formed with none traditional armor and sports style compertitions. From now on kendo became a way for schools and universitys to be active. Only the police could practice kendo for training purposes.

After the zen nihon kendo federation was formed and kendo was brought back to its traditional form to help with Japanese moral. This is how kendo was to be seen:-

剣道は防具を着用し竹刀を用いて
一対一で打突しあう運動競技種目とみられますが
稽古を続けることによって
心身を鍛錬し人間形成を目指す武道です。

Roughly translated:
Kendo is seen as an sporting activity in which protective equipment and a bamboo sword is used to fight one to one and to hit each other.
Although through continual practice it is the warrior (budo) way to develop mind and body.

Kendo has been known before the war as the exotic Japanese fighting man's way in the UK.
After the war many people who could practice judo started to be interested in kendo which spread from Japan to and then to America.
My sensei in the UK was with kendo from the very start. He got into kendo through his interest in judo. It just shows how long he has been with kendo that kendo is not just about physical strength and has a strong philosophy which must be studied for a life time.

Although in the UK kendo is seen as a deep martial art in Japan it is not seen as so.
If you ever want to find any information about kendo you have to search in the budo part of the sports section.
Books which come under budo are wrestling, boxing and kick boxing. Although as the all Japan kendo federation has said:
we hope that you will understand Kendo as Budo and to experience the training of it. A Shinai is a Samurai’s sword. Keiko-gi and Hakama are a Samurai’s formal attire. They should not be considered simply sports-wear. Without understanding this “spirit,” Kendo will merely be another physical exercise. We hope that you will try to understand and appreciate the profundity and cultural values of Kendo.
After all kendo is just hitting some one over the head with a bamboo stick (^_-)c

More to come..

2006-03-11T00:39:00.000+09:00

Any one who is reading this I would like to announce that we have a new forum supported by Ultra*Neo my friend. Feel free to post any thing you like!

http://ultraban.ultraneo.com/ichi/

2006-03-07T09:37:00.000+09:00

Kote-men

For a while now I have been trying to understand nidan waza and I think that the answer is kote men.
The first cut is the kote cut. I think it is easy to believe that the kote cut has the same value as the men cut, but if you think about it if you were to chop off your opponents hand this would not really be of any use to you.
I believe that the kote is a shock cut. It is performed lightly and sharply to shock the opponent into making a strong move against you.
The next is a standard men cut which has to be from the top of the head.

When I was in Japan one of my sensei got very annoyed because my kote cut was much too big. The foot work was the same as a men cut and kote also the same.
He said cut like this and stamped his foot almost without taking a step forwards at all.
Another sensei used the sword as if he was taping in a nail like another good sensei said to do because my wrist was much too stiff to perform the full movement that the shinai has to go in.

My problem now is I can't perform kote men in one movement. I have been thinking of shime and a video I saw of Ueshiba sensei who invented Aikido. He warmed up by performing a kind of dance, stretching out his too fists then pulling them back.
I believe that this is the kind of rythm for nidan waza.

The hands should not extend when performing kote. They should extend then move in a circle back to there start position.
The kote cut should only be in the wrist, as in hitting a nail with a hammer.
The kote men cut should be fluid and use no power in the kote cut.

2006-03-03T09:08:00.000+09:00

Dying of boredom

I think somewhere like Japan can really put a great deal of stress on a person. You start thinking strange things in another country, for example 'Why does every one hate me?', 'Is every one in the street looking at me funny?', 'I wish I didn't have to speak Japanese every second of the day'. They you start to think England will be nice and I can relax for free from worries what so ever.
Well wrong! Sorry to say this but England is the biggest hell hole you can ever come to or on the other hand come back too: wanting to work isn't enough and it seems the government actually wants people to be on the dole!
Well next time I go to Japan I'll try to remember. No matter how hard it gets there’s always some where worse.. England..

2006-03-03T08:37:00.000+09:00

Points to remember

Well hope you had fun reading the jodan thread, well not just all the Brazilians out there...

Today I was thinking about some points: One from Jigen-ryu http://www.jigen-ryu.com/siryou/web.mov

刀は敵を破るものにして、自己の防具に非ず
The sword is for tear up your opponent, it is not to protect your self

When I first started kendo it seemed that even a bamboo sword is in some way going to harm you, even in armour. You are in some way fixated by the bamboo sword and feel your sword is only for a tool used for blocking your opponent.
This can only be overcome by constant practice until this feeling of the sword is taken away: just as Tesshu said and it becomes the 'sword of no sword'.

At the end of the practice my sempai said 'Don't think about winning and practice what you have been taught'. No where in kendo does it say: this is how to win and loose. I think to improve in kendo the winning and loosing part must be taken away completely.

2006-02-20T05:31:00.000+09:00

Jodan techniques & tactics for fighting jodan

Kanaki Satoru 8 dan kyoushi's view.
When Kanakisatoru, passed his 8th dan test using chudan.
This made him think about taking jodan again and looking a little more deeply into it.
Every practice he started taking chudan for 7 minutes then going into to jodan for the remaining three every practice.
He has been doing this for 5 years now.
He says 'I can see the problem but I still can't put my finger on it...'
Kanaki Satoru takes this study and explains the jodan techniques he has kept to him self so dearly.

Cut in a circle from the tip!

When I was in the second year of university (Tokai-university) I was transferred to the sports science and budo department. The senseis Iue, Hashimoto and Koyanagi were all teachings there at the time. Although I was in the kendo club my schedule got in the way, so I couldn't train with these great teachers. I really wanted to try and get the most out of my training so I asked for a transfer.
When I was at high school (Tokai-university No.4 campus) there were few teachers and this had a great effect on me.

The first time I thought about taking jodan was the fall of the second school year. It felt so sudden. One day Iue-sensei just said 'Lift it up!'. Not really such a theoretical explanation but he said 'Feel like you are taking very large stance' and 'Cut a tire cutting like you want to cut from the belly button 3000 times a day'.
So I started to cut the tire as he said. I practised from noon until 1:30pm every day. It was impossible to cut the 3000 cuts. I only just made 2000 (laughs). The seisei said 'Well how’s it coming along?', I said 'Yes I'm doing it all well'.
So what about foot work? That was down to kakari-geiko. And I was to practice first with Iue-sensei every day.

Then one year later I won the Akado championships and then the club championships. This was out of 140-150 students. It even surprised me because before I had continuously loosed all of the time. Its natural to have lost 50 times in jodan.
I just couldn't seme correctly, my distance didn't work and I couldn't see a chance to cut. I just didn't have it at all.
The thing which turned it all around was when Mr Hashimoto said ‘cut sharply (use tame [see bottom])'. When your opponent just stands firm and even performing seme wont make him move. Hold it and when he comes at you hit him without a thought (naturally).
What I had in my mind was that jodan was about, just getting one cut. I failed because when I took jodan I just cut when the opponent frightened me into cutting..
Don't rush into cutting, take another good look and prime for making a cut. This is really difficult although you can say the same thing about chudan. All the more difficult is making an opening.
Even said, I felt I realised some thing at the time. After I won the Akado championships I continued to hold the top position. I felt if I hadn't have taken jodan it wouldn't have done me so much. But for me jodan is altogether a difficult and and enjoyable part of my kendo. In one word just as Inue-sensei said 'Just lift it up'. I really admire Inue-senseis teaching.

I've practice jodan up to my 40s and then chudan. At my 8th dan test I preferred chudan. I passed in November 2000 and decided to take up jodan again. To me the 8th dan great was a turning point and after that I wanted to work on jodan.
I'll practice chudan for 3 minutes then jodan. But in competitions it's jodan.

I found out the problem was to lift up much higher, take a large stance with a large spirit, just as
Iue-sensei said.
Every time I see the large Mt'fuji and rivers flowing, this is what I think of when I take jodan, its got to be large.
Your stance should be as if you were wraping around your opponent with all your energy.
Although when you attack your opponent use small movements and hold your stance. Call on your energy when your opponent attacks you.
Never break your stance and have the feeling that there is a chain lifting your spirit high up.
Cut only when you see your opponents (true) intentions.
Altogether jodan is hard for people who want to take it up.

Well that part was a bit too long. Next we'll move onto cutting the tire, cutting, seme and techniques.

When cutting the tire cut men in a circular motion

Of course I started jodan from cutting the tire,. and it had a huge effect on my jodan. Left jodan (Hidari jodan) is almost always performed with just one handed strikes so to score, it has to be fast strong and with cuts performed sharply. This was Iue-sensei's intention when he said 'Perform the tire cutting 3000 times a day'. I was cutting frantically at first but the speed just didn't come out. So I thought hard about what to do. I tried forcing my right hand down and at the same time pulling my left hand in. And then my cuts made a strong 'don’ sound, I thought I had it.

The tire practice has a lot of advantages: It adds speed to your cuts, of course it makes you stronger, the moment you hit the tire try to tighten your hands. When you realise how to do this your grip technique will improve and a sharp and accurate cut will come.

So when you cast your right arm forwards there’s no point in leaving your left arm dead. Although your point must draw a circle as it falls down.
All in all, I think it should be a cut which does not show when it is going to be performed to your opponent.
Now we must think about the difficult points, when we cut men its fine, but not being able to perform kote is always some thing worrying. Even for me.
A jodan player who is good as men also must also good at cutting kote. Men is good when the left fist is pointing to the left. Its not a mistake to believe that kote is the strong point of jodan when the left fist is pointing back, or the palm is facing the opponent’s kote. When I practice on the tire I exclusively hit men, so my fist is always pointing to the left hand side.
Kote really isn't my strong point (laughs).

Seme is like thrusting out from the belly button

Next we will talk about seme, when two shinais do not cross it naturally becomes an attack (seme) from the mind. Most people say seme from the left fist! when doing jodan. Obviously this kind of seme in jodan is common. But in my case its different, I try never to move my left hand at all. I hear you asking, where do you seme from then? The belly button. Seme by thrusting using the belly button. Although this make you unintentionally drop the left fist and twist your body. But do the opposite, keep the shinai over your head and strongly push forwards with your belly button without any delay.
This is scary but even so over come the fear and step forwards even just half a step! If you have to hold your ground, remember seme is both attack and defend at the same time. And when you push out with the belly button, all the tension moves from the upper body to the stomach and your body becomes more relaxed.
Cutting becomes no problem and your cuts flow smoothly. This is what I try to work up to but it still hasn't come to me yet.

I want to say one more important thing about seme that relates to the time when you go into sonkyo and the time when you stand up.
When I go into my stance I bring my left foot forwards and go straight into jodan. Take the first move (sen) that’s what I have in my mind all the time.
So my conclusion is to take the initiative.
If your opponent takes a steps back or moves to one side. This makes me think that my opponent will attack (seme) relentlessly and try to brake my technique. Maybe its just natural for him to move back or forwards, but I think its one of these things you must get a feeling for in kendo.

Two different ways to cut men

Although the techniques are always men there are actually two ways to perform it. To cut straight down, or reach out and cut men. When you manage to take debana you must have the speed to be able to cut straight away. This is for the down cutting (spot cut) type men.
If you are doing the seme andw your opponent steps back trying this down cutting type of men will lead to tip reaching (dropping). Because this cut follows a fast circular line just hit mid air. You have to bring your elbow in and at the same time let your elbow drag your body forwards. This type of cut is best for this type of opponent. This cut is called the extending men cut.
Although these two techniques are the same you really have to think about when to let go with your right hand.
With the (spot), down cutting men you let go when your hand is in front of your eyes.
On the other hand, it is quite important that with the extending men you let go when the hand reaches the chest
I still practice cutting the tire now and again and whenever I do, I always try to practice both types of men.

Still there is the kote cut with both hands but I unexpectedly scored a single handed kote in one shiai and I am not good at single handed kote.
I even scored one kote at the Shizuoka kokutai competition.
If the opponent lifts up his kote when he tries to use tsuriage men (catch men) or leaves his kote in the air, this is the time when you have to swiftly cut his hand. Just like in kata number two.

The thing is when cutting the tire just tighten the grip when you hit the tire and then loosen it.
You can tell that I prefer to cut debana men. If the opponent stays still I just cut extended men.
Pay great attention to your opponent’s techniques and use your mind and think about distance and at the same time try to cut him. I think this is the kind of kendo I am working towards.

Translated from kendo nippon 2006 No.2 Feb
By Eric Hewitt
Original text by
Takayama koujirow
Photos by Kawamura Noriyuki

2006-02-09T22:59:00.000+09:00

Easy to hate (online fun)

On the kendo world forum
I'm not the most loveable guy out there. Seems what ever I say get people offended in some way or the other. I ask how to fence people who are just starting out?
and the UK champ says I'm stupid if I don't bash them all into the ground. People just love giving me a bad reputation :D. Um well were would a good show be without the bad guy. It would be great to go to the British open again and every one goes booo!
I'm getting so infamous; people are coming to my dojo just to teach me a lesson. Gome get some boys!

K1 without Bob Sap or Akibono to stink people away!

K9
12th Feb 10:30pm line up
BE THERE!

Eric Hewitt
England / Team KNMS / Kendo

COUNTRY : Great Britain
DATE OF BIRTH : Aug 31th, 1985
HEIGHT : 5 feet 9 Inch
WEIGHT : Like a fether

*TITLES*
None

*BOUT RESULTS*
British Open 1 Loss 0 Win

Sports Shonen dan taikai 1 Loss 0 Win

Andrew Fisher
England / Team Doshinyukai preston and Team GB/ Kendo

COUNTRY : Great Britain
DATE OF BIRTH : Aug 2nd, 1983
HEIGHT : Unknown
WEIGHT : Unknown

*TITLES*
None

*BOUT RESULTS*
Premier's Cup '03 1 Loss 0 Win
Lidstone '03 1st

See how this goes..

2006-02-09T22:32:00.000+09:00

Hard to love easy to hate

I don't get pissed off much but there are a few things which really get me going.

1) People with no manners
2) People who ignore me
3) Any one who moves or use my stuff.

I also get pissed when nothing goes right at a shop or some thing, because of some one else's laziness.. Well I guess every one else does get mad at some thing like this.

I went to see my correspondence (or in normal speak Internet friend) Lazarus to go to a Japanese club started by Manchester-U. I got there and he went into his bedroom; so I thought he wanted to just chill until we were supposed to go out.
I forgot his computer was not for general use like my gf's and started surfing the net. He got pissed because I broke rule three.

I talked to Yoshi a Japanese guy I met at nother Japanese group started more than 2 years ago. Then some other people and went to stay a Lazarus's place.

The next morning Lazarus wanted to sleep in late and I wanted to go out and get some thing to eat; because I was starving, this is when I realised, the door was locked.

Three hours later Lazarus woke up and let me out.

I'm not sure who's falt it was, but I guess if we were both thinking more of each other at the time it wouldn't have happened.
I'll never know how most Japanese people try not to hert other people's feelings 24 hours a day....
Well at least when there not rushing to get some where :-).

2006-02-09T22:20:00.000+09:00

More on foot work

This week I headed of to Mark's dojo in Bolton. I think this dojo is quite good because it is the window to Halifax and Preston so afew visitors come from time to time.
I thought I was going to die half way and only realised the practice was three! hours and no two at the end. Well when you've been to sunny Bolton fencing in Noma dojo the coldest in Tokyo is Ok..

Well I didn't notice it my self but my swing was starting to take over from my feet as usual. We did a foot practice at the start which felt very good but the shinai just feels too heavy.

So I talk to a visiting sensei and he said Wilf my first sensei who is still good at kendo quit late in life uses very good foot work without thinking about his swing.
I remember he said "Every time we kept our feet back our sensei would hit the back of our legs". I actualy never knew what this meant until now.
'A koukou sei can attack from almost any position' I heard. This is all upto foot work....

2006-02-01T05:58:00.000+09:00

KI KEN TAI NO ICCHI

Reciently I have been thinking about ki ken tai no icchi. I know in modern kendo it means keeping your mind your sword and your body together. It's like a kind of kendo motto.
I'm thinking of a game relating to ki ken and tai.

Ki is to use the mind (to over come your opponent?)
Aikido is not classed as a body art because it does not use the body. The name Ai ki means to unify the mind to destroy the oppoent and not the body. Aikido is classed as Ki.

Ken is to use the sword (to over come your opponent?)

Ken is the way of the sword as we learn in kendo. As you can see the Japanese katana has many parts and the most important is the shinogi. If you hit a sword at the top it is more than likely you will miss. If you do hit the top of the sword and the sword is turned only a little your blade will not go down but go off to the left or right. This is because the katana has two faces. The shinogi is one face which points off to the left and to the right / \ . Using the shinogi you can move your opponents sword from left to right just as the te katana (hand sword) is moved in aikido.

and tai is to use the body to (over come your opponent?)

We naturaly use our bodys and the body is the first thing learned in kendo.
In judo the body is used to knock the oppoent off balence. In karate the body is used as the sword to hit your oppoent. In the movie 'tasogare seibei' Seibei the main charicter is a badly off samurai. He runs into a drunken samurai and is challenged to a duel of shinken shobu, a match to the death. When he arrives he brings with him a bokuto wooden sword and the man is disgusted by this. So seibei says he will fight his way and the man fight his.
Seibei uses tai jutsu to overcome his opponent. This is considered by the samurai a dirty way of fighting but practical and because of this Seibei is given a position as a kind police man who is sent to over come a man who is running from the law.
Seibei again never uses his sword but uses a tanto short sword to perform tai jutsu.

So ki ken tai no icchi does not just mean keeping your legs moving with your arms. It talks about the three ways to attack your oppoent and when you master all three you no longer need to over come your opponent because you can over come him with your mind....Ki or even Chi in Chinese.

2006-01-25T07:37:00.000+09:00

HELL IN COPENHAGEN AIRPORT

So it didn't go to bad. I left my gf at the airport a little sad and though hey I'll get back to the UK get every thing over with there and be back before I knew it.
Got on the plane and had a great flight back to Copenhagen scoffing sweats and trying to finish my book of the Ring in Japanese which seems to be lasting forever! 6 monthes lol, but I am only reading about three pages at a time on the train,
The only bad thing was a fat Dutch looking guy who seemed to live on vodka and just fall asleep the whole 10 hours. Guess thats a popular hobby in countries with not much to do when your stuck in the snow.

So I got to Copenhagen airport and looked for my plane to Manc. Ok 'wait for gate' it won't take too much time... So I waited and waited..and waited..................
Finaly gave up and went to look at the tax free shops. After three hours it was 'cancelled!!' Oh shit, I thought. Guess I got to wait for the next one.

Now I asked some one what to do and they said 'go to transfers'. OK then I thought can't be that much to worry about untill....litteraly 1000s of people were waiting there to meet me. I thought I'm not waiting in this and headed off some where else untill it cleared up.. But it never did.. hours and hours passes untill I met a German or Russian sounding girl who said 'Can you tell me how to use the phone' , 'Um no I can't actualy I don't work here' I thought but she looked quite pretty and I thought I'd help here because I needed to use the phone too. No Tomoko I'm not thinking of leaving you....

She had missed her flight too but got a new ticket from some one.. We tried to ask some people but they couldn't give a damn about us. Just said 'get lost' in other words.. Finally she started talking to some other German Russian people and scrounged some money from them, got the phone working and told me good bye and gave me the money to use the phone which she didn't need. She didn't seem too smart but looked, it and guess was smart enough to take a real plane company..

Well I was stuck in the transfer section with more and more people coming every moment. A smart looking guy working for the comapany said some thing usless in a voice no one could hear any way and people waited and quied until they were literaly sick and some people came in to talk to people who got sick and give people free water.

I got some thing to eat at the convenience shop and found a leather sweet to sleep on. If I'm going to live as a tramp a tramps high life is for me.. So at 5am I headed to the transfer section again. People were sleeping on paper like a tramps, like some war had been waged in the airport and all the casulites were left there without any where to go.

Got a ticket to Birmingham because every one else was asleep and no one in transfer seciton this time.

So I went to get my flight the next day. The weather was bad but didn't think that was a problem in a country used to it....

Now we got on the plan and we got off it with a nice drink. Makes every thing better SAS dosn't it? I would have said "fuck you" to the guy who tried to give it to me but just gave him a nasty look.

So when we got back to the airport every one had scarpered.. two guys went off to another part of the airport some one said you could find a new ticket there..
Well I thought the transfer section was bad enough. The entire airport was in a line waiting for a new ticket and the line never moved! I read my book and waited afew hours.
Asked some people and they said 'OK JUST WAIT IN THE LINE' . The line only moved once every 20 minutes! No kidding..

Five hours later it still wasn't moving and afew staff were wondering around just saying just get in the line and it'll be OK..

Finaly 40 hours since I left Japan some guy gave us a hotel and some taxi voucers. Now that made it all right didn't it.. Guess it was back to the airport to join the line again tomorrow morning and my new life in Copenhagen airport.

Luckely 46 hours after I left Japan I got my freedem and back to the UK.
Guess hell can't be much worse that that experience....

Wish I had some photos Lazarus :-( Guess you would have been in photo heaven, like some war photographer or some thing..

2006-01-25T07:11:00.000+09:00

Heaven and Hell

Well I want to say sorry for not posting for a long time and the fact I didn't tell you I was going to leave Japan and go back to England.
This blog is not about my life its about kendo and how I feel and to tell people some things I have learnt and want to pass on and tell to remind myself later.

I left my friends and gf in Japan to come back to the UK and am quite sad about it but I always remember the old Buddhist saying 'every thing changes and nothing is permanent' which means things have to change all the time to become better or worse and bad things make good and good make bad. This was told to me in a dream.

I intend to go back to Japan later this year so left a lot of stuff at my gfs house so don't expect me to be a walking box of Japanese nick-nacks I can wip out and show you at any time OK.

I took Scandinavian airlines to get there and back to the UK. Had to change my ticket because its not possible to book a ticket one year in advance so I had to book again over the phone in Japan with the same company.
Well either SAS Scandinavian airlines customer service was total crap or they have very short memories indeed and you have to keep phoning them to get them to remember they actualy meant to send you the tickets and the forms so you can take the flight...

2006-01-13T13:29:00.000+09:00

Foot work and back to the basics

Last week I went to Noma dojo a very famouse very old and very cold dojo with another English guy.
After the practice we talked about seme and some other things. In my dojo in England there is a boy a few years younger than me who is very good in junior tournaments. I asked what my friend thought about him and he said he had good basics.
This got me thinking.

Yesterday I went to the Kanagawa budokan a little too early and got talking to an old gentleman who I found out was a karate teacher. He told me before the war he played kendo and not for the US invasion could have been a very good kendo player and even won the all Japan's if he tried his best. After the war he lost interest in kendo and moved to karate which was maybe easier to get into. He said both kendo and karate are down to foot work and when I was practicing I could really see that was true. I also heard before people with very good foot work could do well in kendo.

I thought this year I would work on basics as if I was first starting kendo in the new year.

Nimble footwork is very important.

You must be light on your feet so that you can attack or defend from a balanced position at any time.

Keep your feet apart as you move to maintain good balance.

Move around the ring using short sliding steps on the balls of your feet.

The golden rule is never to let your feet cross.

Move the foot closest to the direction in which you want to move first, and then bring the other foot after it.

Before you know it your fancy footwork will have your opponent chasing shadows!

2006-01-11T14:22:00.000+09:00

Hatsugama saji

Hatsugama in Japanese means the first tea ceremony of the new year. This isn't the standard tea ceremony but includes a dinner and osake rice wine.

Every one wore kimono including me and waited in the other room as guests. When it was time to go into the tea room we had to enter from the outside.

Slipping into waraji sandals. We each washed out hands in the stone water container took off the sandals and entered the sado room entrance which had to be entered neeling down.

This photo shows the original nigiri guchi which can only be entered by kneeling used by Nobunaga the 16th century war lord who learned tea from Sen no Rikku who revolutionised the tea ceremony braking away from tradition which highly annoyed Nobunaga who thus put Rikku to death.

First the stove has to be lit and this is carried out in the way of sumidemae (charcoal form).

　The sumi chop stick tongs are used to place each peace of charcoal in the hearth. peace has a name and a place in the hearth and the white charcoal is used because it burns much quicker.
The incense is placed in the fire because fire is unpure but innocence purifies the room and removes the smell of charcoal.

The hane fether is used to cleanse the hearth edges and caldron rests.

Dark ash is dropped into the hearth in a circular motion to add to the look of the white ash.

After the cauldron is returned the tenmae returns to the storage room and comes back with the food.

The rice is on the left and miso soup on the right side in lacquer ware with lids.
The top contains tsukemono pickled vegetables to be eaten after the sake wich is poured into the red lacquer dish by lacquer kettle. There were two types of sake, one very spicy and one cool water based sake of the normal type. I've never tasted sake which tastes this good and I guess the small amount which is placed in the dish tastes very good because it of a very small amount.

After this the kouicha, strong tea is made in the normal way by our sensei.

And usucha weak tea by one of the beginner students.

2006-01-02T19:27:00.000+09:00

A very English Christmas and a Japanese new year 2

If you can guess what this is you are a better man than I or have celebrated new year the Shinto way in Japan or some other country.

The top is a fan with a lucky word writen on it.

Under that is a mikan (tangerine)

Under that is mochi a type of bean which has the form of cheese and is eaten after new year.

A tsuru (crane) is wraped around that which brings long life as the tsuru lives for 1000 years. The kame (turtle) lives for 10,000 year if you didn't know.

Under the mochi are three leafs and shinto paper folded in a special way.

Under that is a lucky ship wich brings luck to your house.

In Japan new year is a shinto event and does not consit of loud partying for most families. The home is decorated with the mochi kazari above.

The shimenawa rope.

Monmatsu which is like a christmas tree for outside the door.

Other things can be seen on this site
Almost every one in Japan goes to stay with there families for the new year and visit the local shrine on new years day to drink sake pray and buy an arrow for good luck.

Maybe the best day to see Japan is new years day because literly no one is on the streets.
Almost the last day today is the sales day and literly every one is on the streets! Buying in the sales and a lucky dip bag crazy!

2006-01-02T18:51:00.000+09:00

An English Christmas and a Japanese new year!

Japan is officially a Shinto and Buddhist country so Christmas is not some thing especially celebrated as a christian festival. Japanese shops and the economy has really cought onto the fact the christmas is really about spending and money!
So most Japanese rush out to buy presents and christmas cake like in England but have no idea when and what to eat! They buy spunge cake and hams to eat on Christmas eve in the after noon.

I usualy leave it up to my mum and would rather not sit down and eat all that fat and lard that goes into it all. In Japan though England seems a lot cooler than really being there so me and my gf headed out to the etreemly expencive export shops and looked for christmas pudding because I didn't feel like searching for things that don't really exist in Japan such as;
mince meat and I guess no one in Japan actualy makes the sauce for the pudding like I did.
We made the pudding sauce using brandy and lit the brandy on the pudding.

The dinner part was a alot easier because all it needed was a large chicken leg, carrots and potatoes to at least look like a christmas dinner. We used jam for the sauce with worked out quite good! Balies whisky liquor was used for the drink.

Btw christmas dinner is supposed to be made at 7:00am and eaten at around 2pm on christmas day. And we made it all by micro-wave oven and grilled in potatoes in the toaster oven.

2005-12-28T15:34:00.000+09:00

Night suburi

Recently I have been practice suburi late at night. In the manga I am reading Musashi's farther has to fight his sempai from school the master of the Yagu-ryu.

Maybe I am taking this story from the manga and trying to mirror it on my self.

Musashi's farther performs 修行 (shugyo) unconscious study in a Buddhist monestory. He practices suburi late at night in a daze with visions of his opponent in front of him and finaly fights his opponent in a waking dream and wins.

A lot of kendo and sado involves mirroring and relecting imaginary figures over your body.
The hishaku which is used to scoop water from the pot and pour it into the tea bole should be thought of as a bow and an arrow. When picking up the hishaku you perform a kamae as if you were a bowman ready to fire at a target. When you lay the hishaku on the portable stove the string of the bow is brough back in kiribishaku and fired as the handle of the hishaku is released and layed on the rim of the pot. The hara used in kendo does no exist, the hara used in kendo is a ball of enegy located around your belly button and your crotch. Your legs and arms do not exist and your head is a part of your kneck.

In suburi your hara moves forwards and lifts your arms. The end of your hara extents to your kensen. Your hara lifts your arms over your head and your arms hit the back of your hara pushing it forwards. Your hara pushes down and brings your arms down. You strike your opponents head and your hara pulls the kensen from the opponents head and down.
This is repeated 2000 times.

2005-12-28T15:06:00.000+09:00

Face to face with the past

Sadly the club I was attending did not turn out well for me.

I searched for another dojo and some one on the web suggested the Kanagawa budokan. There was a free practice four days a week and I was really exited because I had never attended any thing like this in Japan. An open practice for any one who had experience. Just turn up and fence for almost no fee.

So I headed down there after getting lost the first time walking so took the nearest station to the budokan. The place is huge and any one can practice all sorts of art there. I got there early and watched the children’s class sneaking a look in the other dojo downstairs where some naginata people were warming up.

A strange man appeared in the children’s class to chat to me. He said in English and Japanese, ’Where you from?’ ’What do you think of kendo' the usual questions in a humored voice.
I said 'Well kendo is fun that’s why I started it', he looked to a young boy from the children’s class and said 'You think kendo is fun?, kendo was fun until after the meiji restoration when it stopped being itto ryu', 'Itto ryu is fun'. 'You understand he said to the small boy' the boy was a beginner so didn't have a clue what any thing he was saying was. 'I said well he doesn't understand' jokingly. The guy laughed and walked off.　　

Later when I was putting on my hakama the guy came over and said 'hey how old are you?' And walked off after I answered.

I put my men on astonishingly fast and was first to practice with the top sensei. I practiced with all the sensei and lined up to practice with the top sensei again.
The guy from before said hasn't he practiced once before? The other sensei said no he's only new here.

The strange guy was watching me all the time and finally got to fence with me.
He was eager to hit my kote very hard but precise, this startled me how strong it was and my eyes closed. He hit men and kote and men again.
This was the best kote men I've ever seen. I bowed and started again, he did the same and my eyes closed. 'Fuck my arm hertz like hell' I thought I was going to cry and was about to stop the fight.
But I had to carry on. You can't stop a fight in kendo unless a senior sensei says so.
Well I went into over drive and hit the guy’s men and we bowed out.

I have to work out this guy and fence him again. I'm scared he may tsuki me and cut my kote if I have any suki but if I can beat him I will be on the next level.

2005-12-26T14:44:00.000+09:00

Korean Celadon
The jade portelin of Korea

In China jade signifies the true gentleman, wealth and honor. The ruling classes were eager to possess jade and jade was very little in supply so jade made from clay was made by artisans. This has been named celadon and was first produced in China in the Three Kingdoms and Warring Kingdoms periods. This was bought by the Koreans instead of jade.

When zen came to Korea the Koreans started to make tea cups. The Koreans also became interested in Zen Buddhism syimbles such as the crane, clouds, or the lotus flowers.

This is a work from my favorite kiln of Han-chong.
This piece is masculine being fat at the top with small kneck.
The female version is large at the bottom with long slender kneck. The clouds and cranes are clearly seen here.

2005-12-22T15:09:00.000+09:00

Kankoku 韓国!

If you didn't know the Japanese word for 'South Korea' is Kankoku. When Japan took over Corea as the BBC wants you to believe 'the name was changed so it came after Japan in the alphabet? ' Um really? Japan doesn't even have a roman alphabet and I don't think they would even care about there countries place in it if they did. Corea can not be said by Japanese people so it turned to Koria コリア which every one has no problem saying in Japan or other countries.

Well I had to leave Japan and didn't feel like returning back to England again so I thought I'd take the cheapest tour I could to Korea. So we were halled into a small van and drove to the hotel. Out side was freezing!! -10 degrees! I went out at 9pm on search for kimuchi a Korean spiced vegitable which tastes like pure chilly!
I couldn't make this adventure alown so called on some one to help. Where would James bond be without help from a plastic female companion?
Well 2 hours later we made it past the mad subway man who couldn't work out why we were using the exit to the turn styles to get in and arived at 南大門 the North gate and spoted a sight which said KIMUCHI LOVERS! We went in and found out it was an all Korean izakaya (drinking and eating bar) with not a glims of Japanese or an English menu. So we pointed to what we wanted from the photos on the wall and were both full on only 500 yen! ￡2.50 wow.

（To view the Japanese in this post you might have to play about with afew Japanese fonts in your browser)

2005-12-22T14:32:00.000+09:00

My current Manga!

If you haven't guessed yet it's about kendo (^o^)/. Recently I obtained a book by Noma's son published in 1940. I was going to save it for Christmas but had to read the introduction and a part about jodan first hehe. Well this got me interested in jodan and I took a look on the web for any info.
A guy from Hide's Ichinikai dojo
recommended a manga called 'Musashi no ken' as the jodan bible. Off I went to book-off the biggest second hand book store in Japan looking for this manga.

Musashi is the all Japan champion and hopes to follow in his foot steps when he gets older. He doesn’t have many friends, probably because he tries to fight any one who can play kendo with him. He gets picked on by the middle school students so attacks them with his shinai in the snow wearing his kendo gear.
Finally he attacks his dad who is drunk at the time but only hits his box of snacks which his farther sneakily picks up astonished and carries on home.

The second volume I am reading is mainly about pride. Musashi wants to be the best, even better than his sempai who are years older than him.

His farther wins the all Japans again and decides to take Musashi to visit his old friend.
Although Musashi's farther is the famed strongest in Japan, he says himself that there is always some one stronger than him.

Musashi is the strongest in his club but his father’s friend has a son who is must stronger than any one of Musashi’s age. Musashi's father’s friend is the head master of the Yagyu school the most famous and strongest of the old martial arts.

2005-12-06T12:52:00.000+09:00

Yukodatotsu

Every time I watch a shiai I am always a little confused about what is yukodatotsu (valid hit). If the aim of kendo was to make contact with the men, kote, and do it would not be kendo because the aim of kendo is to make a valid point that in the past meant a blow that would kill or maim the opponent.

These are some photos taken from Gyokuryuki high school chamiponships DVD which came with kendo nippon.
Looking at them leads me to believe a valid point is only given after the cut has been made and without this after KUZUSHI (braking the opponent) the cut can not be scored. Please focus on the judge to the left of the camera.

1) In toi ma-ai getting up from sonkyo.

No cut judge is calm.

2) Here a men cut is made and blocked by kasumi gamae (shinai over head).

No cut is made judge is calm.

3) The player on the left kaeshis (reverses the block) and cuts kote. He misses and lowers his shinai making a clear opening for the player on the right.

No cut is made judge is calm.

4) Here the player on the right makes the cut.
Player on the left sees the do open but too late.

Cut is made judge is still calm no point.

4) Cut is made and the player on the right passes the player on the left that has been KUZUSHITA (broken) . The player on the right has not been broken.

Cut has BEEN made judge sees this view and only now rases flag.

5) Cut has been made and the red player is broken the white player is not broken.

Judge rases flag other judges follow.

2005-11-29T13:12:00.000+09:00

Japanese TV

Since I have been on the subject of kendo more than actually being in Japan I'll try and put some things in while im here.

In England mosts peoples view on Japanese TV is maybe masochism like crazy games with snakes down your pants or eating beetles to win a cash prize. None stop Anime like Dragon Ball and Ruroni Kenshin and Kurosawa samurai movies. Well it's not! Japanese TV is full of food programs. Not cooking like ready steady cook but eating, eating and yum yum yum that tastes good!!

Usualy a standard Japanese food show goes like this:

Presenter walks around the town or village and you’re meant to think he just stumbles into some wonderful restaurant.

He walks in and wows at the menu.

The food is brought in and "美味しいぃ！！”“tastes good" talks to the manager and goes to another shop.

Debuya must be the most funny. 'Debu' means fat and ya usualy means shop or a kind of character. This show is the same formula but with kind of a twist that all the guys are extremely over weight and usually end up doing some thing which is almost impossible for them on the way.. This week visiting a maid cafe in Akihaba and a debu test on the local nerds, a domburi shop and toy-kei shop.

Actually there are more old people in Japan that young and the TV companies don't need to pay to give advertising to these restaurants so I guess that’s why these shows are so good for the TV companies..

2005-11-24T12:08:00.000+09:00

Kenjutsu at Nakayama Hakudo's Yushinkan

Yesterday I finally decided to go to Nakayama Hakudo's Yushinkan. This dojo was founded by Negishi Goro in Nishikanda and then was moved to Yutenji near Nakamegoro by Nakayama Hakudo.
I headed from the train station taking a left and looking for Tokyu store that I could not find making it take me about 30 minutes to find where I was going.
Looking for a cross roads and metal mon I finally worked out it was the smallest of alleys making a cross in the road but this was the back of the dojo!
The dojo was actually next to the house of maybe the sensei and didn't look like a dojo at all...

Nervously I stepped inside and asked there sensei if I could watch? He didn't seem to mind and pulled up a chair.

The class didn't seem to start for a long time; a younger student was doing very big strong suburi and hitting the koshi-ita board on his hakama and cutting right to the floor sometimes, cutting down, up, kesagiri (diagonal) and going through a full range of large cuts completely in time with his foot work.
An older sensei was practicing iaido with katana drawing and cutting in a full range of movements running forwards and cutting. Drawing cutting front and back like with multiple enemies all around him.
The main sensei and ryu-ha soke Ogawa Takeshi was practicing Jodo with full kiai swapping his hands round and round.

This carried on for more than 30 minutes and sitting there seemed even to me quite unnerving. Kiai and the sound of foot work and swords swooshing in a small dojo. This was definitely not kendo with extremely powerful cuts and foot work that echoed all over the dojo.
Gradually more students came in all ranging from early twenties to sixties and much stronger than most kendoka.
The newest student practiced suburi for a full two hours with the sensei giving pointers and helping with uchikomi shinai.

The high grades practiced kata in pairs. This kata had allot of movements very different from kendo. Holding the blade between thumb and index fingers and catching the sword and cutting under the kote. Cutting to the neck and sliding back and down to the floor.
This kata was also extremely violent with full cutting and kiai right through expressing incredible tension when blades crossed in a kata which represented kata number four with swords meeting in aiuchi.

I talked to the teacher and he said it was very rare to see this kind of shinken shobu style kendo today and only if you have the spirit to ender this art you can stay with it for more than 20 years I think. I guess correct cutting starts first with suburi and only then can you go into kata which without this correct cutting would be very dangerous.
This experience will differently make me see kendo and kata in a different light.

2005-11-19T14:34:00.001+09:00

A really interesting book

I've been interested in pre-war kendo for a while but there doesn’t seem to be much info on it to be found. In kendo-Nippon there was a book mentioned called 'Katana-to-kendo' so I headed to Yoyogi to find it. Unfortunately after I spend about 30 minutes searching for the smallest book shop you've ever seen with my bogu in hand, it wasn't in that shop so the next day I went to the sports related branch located in Shibuya http://www.biblio.co.jp/.

In Japan there are three types of book shop:

New book shops like Kinokuniya 紀伊国屋
Second hand shops like Book-off
And Furuhonya 古本屋
Furuhonya are usualy very small and the oldest books are usually at the top of the shelves. These usually are cardboard cased books that are usually collected by old men for reference.

Finally I found the books and asked to take a look at them. Pre-war Japanese has allot of kanji that is not used now so it is very hard to read well. There were also no pictures of the kata and old kendo and it was 4'sen yen so I took a very big book called 近代剣道史 by this guy that specializes in sports history http://www.fusports-union.org/what/profile/nakamura.html .
This book starts in the Meiji era and continues through to the present.

First there was the kenjutsu shiai:

This consisted of a 3ken (5.45m) by 4ken(7.27m) floor and a 3shaku (3 foot/ 30cm) . (9.544 inch 24cm) and a three round one point rule.

After this the Dainippon butoku kai was formed as a place for martial arts excellence. But because of the war and Meiji restoration kendo became a means to train troupes in strong fighting with the sword. This included wrestling and removing the opponent’s helmet making him utterly defenseless.

After the war shinai kyogi (sports kendo) was formed to stop the Japanese practicing any thing related to war like fighting. Shinai kyogi consisted of American borrowed fencing helmets and other armor.

This evolved into the kendo of today which I believe has lost allot of what old kendo was through all the changes that have come about. The shinai is too light to be used as a real sword and shiai has come about as a kind of strong win and loose match where the power it takes to cut with a sword would make cuts in a shiai too slow. I think the power used in the hara has turned into the leaping of the fumi-komi which I am trying to work out was used in the old kendo style. I think the kenjutsu shiai was a place to use the techniques used in the koryu martial arts. Kiriotoshi and tsuriage things now used in the kata..

2005-11-11T16:03:00.000+09:00

Changing dojos

About three months ago I had to move from Saitama Kasukabe to Tokyo Shibuya. I have practiced with the dojo in Kasukabe from the start of the year so I didn't want to leave that dojo.

I ended up taking a two hour trip there every Wednesday to do sado and kendo in the evening. I was working part-time in a bar in Shibuya when a guy came with kendo equipment and I asked where he practiced and found a dojo near to Shibuya.

My dojo in kasukabe is run by at least five sensei and has deep ties with the police and other dojos and people in the area. It is also a dojo you can't leave untill you feel like you can't move..

This dojo is quite small with one sensei and the sempai always runs the class. It is an adult only dojo with few students.

The difference is that the dojo I am practicing at now only teaches basics and how to improve your kendo. There is no jigeiko and no waza practice. If you do some thing wrong the sensei will pick up on this and tell you to correct it, so this practice is very much your own responsibility.

When I went for Ikkyu at the Kasukabe dojo I felt I had alot of speed and power from practice with the sensei and police at the Kasukabe budokan. I really do not want to loose that feeling but really need to correct alot of things that I can not see in my self.
My foot work is weak and am not using koshi. I think this club can help me correct this so I think I need to go.

2005-11-04T16:44:00.000+09:00

How is the mind to be used in kendo?

Recently through reading Onizukamasa it occored to me that to achieve mushin in kendo is to use the mind and keep it moving all the time.

I accompanied one of the at the kendo dojo mothers see her daughter compeat at the prefectural high school girls championships.

Kendo in Japan isn't just a hobby, if you are good at a sport you can be entered into a very good school just for that fact. This is because in Japan school get known by there baseball and sports teams. The womans daughter was asked to join a school with a very good kendo team but turned down the offer because in Japan if you join a school for this reason 90% of your time is taken by your chosen sport.

The girls at this event who were the strongest were also at the most high rankings schools.
They fenced with very intellegent kendo.

What is intellegent kendo?

I tried hard to work this out and when training I tried to think very hard about why the people were scoring on me and why attackes failed and were successful.
I put my mined to it and studied while I trained.

To get very good at kendo you must think and study.

2005-11-04T15:49:00.000+09:00

What is Sado the way of tea?

Sado is as the great Sen-no-rikyu says: "The Way of Tea is naught but this: first you boil water, then you make the tea and drink it." However, this can only be appreciated after strict training in the Way."

I have studied the way of tea for almost one year. I almost gave it up because I could not comprehend its meaning. This is until I saw the jiku (hanging painting) of Sen-no-Rikyu on the wall. The feeling is of power and knowlege although Sen-no-kyu was brought up as a merchant from Sakai.

Sado has a great meaning which is very hard to understand. Sado requires nothing but the macha (green tea powder) boiled water and whisk. The tea is scooped into the chawan (tea boil) and mixed to make the tea. Yet sado can never be mastered. Sado is split into Ura and Omote senkei, the too schools. These schools have more than thirty ways to perform the tea ceremony with a high assortment of utensils.

To understand sado you must train hard in the way as Rikyu says and as with kendo, only when you have trained so hard the tea utensils become part of you and you control the tea fully with no effort do you accomplish what is known as mu.

2005-11-04T14:10:00.000+09:00

What is kendo?

Kendo is an uchikomi practice created for the samurai. Kendo is a teno-uchi practice method. When the strike is performed the inside of the hands must be correct as to perform the most effective cut on the opponent. If the opponent was struck with a shinken (live sword) and with no teno-uchi (correct palm and finger movement) the cut would be dirty.

Kendo was a training methord for the Japanese army as to how to use the army sword in battle.
Pre-war kendo had the aim to totaly defeat ones opponent. To throw him to the ground and remove his protective helmet.

What is modern kendo?

Modern kendo is a sport where the aim is to score up to three points in a match.
Kendo is a martial art which teaches us the correct way of respect.
Kendo is a way to make us stronger.

Modern kendo consits of scoring on defined areas. The men (mask), kote (glove), do (
chest) and tsuki (throat).

2005-11-04T13:20:00.000+09:00

About me

I got into learning Japanese at the age of 15 or 16 after learning Aikido.
I quit Aikido but a guy at the Aikido class was brought with him a bamboo sword one day called a shinai used for kendo.

I stopped Aikido and 1 or 2 years had passed buy when I started at the same club the guy was going to.

Later I went to Japan on a home stay in Kasukabe Saitama and was introduced to a dojo there. Another few years had passed when I got back to Japan as a teacher at an English school and earned Ikkyu and shodan at the same club.

I also started to learn the way of tea sado.

2005-11-03T15:24:00.000+09:00

53rd national kendo championships

The day started at about 7:30am. Leading up to the budo-kan there were many children and old men heading for the budo-kan. On cultural day every office and school child is off so they can all head out early to see the kendo at 10am. I guess there were many university and high school students sent by there coaches to watch too. Japanese students don't usually have lazy holidays playing PS2 all day long...

As I thought for 1000 yen our seats were high up so we couldn't see much but enough and the budokan is round so every thing wherever you sit is visible, which is a good thing.

First was kata by Ota-sensei Uchidachi left and Kakehashi-sensei right both 8dan hanshi.

What is kendo kata?

Kendo kata was formed by Takano-sensei (as Uchidachi right), Naito-sensei, Monna-sensei, Nezu-sensei and Tsuji-sensei as a basis for many styles to be performed as the essence of kendo.
More of this later..

After this the main event started with the first round with 64 competitors starting off this round made up of 53 police, 6 teachers, 1 University professor and 2 company workers.

The first round went slow with few interesting fights but the second round started to get more intersting.
I think Takenaka-sensei representing Tottori-ken a teacher at 33 fights were quite interesting. He went against Nabeyama a University proffessor before beeing knocked out by the winner Harada.

There were many strong Jodan fighters in this compertion. I think Jodan (the high stance) was taken here because these fencers were determined to knock out there opponents at the low level then go into chudan (the middle stance). Jodan is an offenive stance in kendo with little defence.
Most fencers took jodan then went to chudan when at the higher stages. Jodan is very hard to take against opponents at the same level as you so few have yet to win a national final in this stance.

Finaly Harada after compeating 9 times and getting to the finals laster year but dissapoingly loosing won this year against Nakamura who is compeating for the first time this year.