Hi all, apologies for the lateness of the 3rd week summary. Hopefully there has not been too much to think about and digest. It is natural to feel slightly overwhelmed by the amount of things to bear in mind simultaneously while practicing kendo; however these things eventually become familiar and the movements natural. Of course, this does mean that bad habits can also grow, so it is important to keep an eye on what one is doing in practice and consider feedback given!
On to the points focussed on this week.
First of all, a few points on reigi, or etiquette, described at the end of the session. At the beginning and end of each exercise, we rei (bow) to each other. The shinai is held at waist height, with thumb on the tsuba (guard), edge up (i.e. string down). Keeping the upper body straight, bend from the waist, between 15 to 30 degrees, depending on the situation. Do not allow the tip of the shinai behind you to rise above your hand and the handle to tip down. Additionally, at the beginning and end of the session, as well as before and after each jigeiko (free sparring), one does sonkyo. This involves, from chudan, twisting in the rear heel, and then bending the knees to go into a squat, all the time keeping the upper body straight and maintaining posture. You may find that members who have knee troubles may instead bring back the rear foot and point the shinai to the ground in a deeper rei.
Flow of the practice. Practice generally begins with a warm up, followed by suburi then group rei. In the case of these two, if there is a sensei present, members form into a line (or multiple lines if the number is greater) in grade order. If there is no sensei, they are done in a circle. Then, basic and technique practice and jigeiko are done, with everyone in two lines. After each set of exercises, everyone moves one space either clockwise or anticlockwise in the rows, in order to practice with a new person. If there is an odd number or participants, there will be an odd person out at the end, who will rotate in. If there is an even number, one sempai (senior grade) will stay in the same place while everyone rotates around. This procedure means that in one full cycle, one gets to practice with every other member of the club. Therefore, get used to the movement and be aware of your position in the line-up. Finally, there will be group rei again to finish.
Holding shinai to receive cuts. When giving the opportunity for your practice partner to cut a target on your shinai, hold the shinai only slightly above your head in order to make the target as similar to a men position as possible. Also, hold it slightly in front of the head, too, in order to prevent a cut that is too short catching you on the face. Finally, the shinai should be held with the string (tsuru) pointing downwards so it is not struck and damaged.
Ki ken tai no icchi. This is the aim of spirit (ki), sword (ken) and body (tai) acting as one. In practice, this means that all three must arrive at the same in making a cut: the shinai must impact at the same time as the body and fumikomi (foot stamp), together with the kiai expressing the spirit. Successful and correct ki ken tai greatly amplifies the effectiveness of the cut and is one of the requirements of scoring a point. Since different parts of the body will take different times to move to the point of impact, the movements must be started at different times. For example, when cutting a large men, the arms will need to move for longer than the body, and so their movement must start first. With practice, the timing will become instinctive.
This summary has been a bit less focussed on the technical aspects, as many of those used in the last practice have been mentioned in earlier posts, so please take a look at them again if there are things that are still unclear, or ask a more senior member of the club. Also, although these points have not been so much on the physical aspects of the session, they are still important parts of kendo, as a smooth running practice means more can be covered in the time we have. Additionally, it also raises the spirit and motivation of those involved, and people push themselves harder, leading to greater improvement.
We look forward to seeing you at the next session!
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