Hi everyone! Here's the summary of what we've learned during our previous session!
1. Counting
We count in Japanese when we do our suburi. Make sure to be loud and count in time with the end of your cut so you can keep pace with others. Counting in this manner makes it easier for you to kiai at the right moment for cutting later in your practice.
1 ichi
2 ni
3 san
4 shi
5 go
6 roku
7 shichi
8 hachi
9 kyu
10 jyu
2. Fumikomi
Fumikomi is a special footwork used when making a cut in Kendo. Push your body forward (not upwards) with your left foot, while the right foot floats slightly above the floor in the air, and as you hit your target with your shinai, bring down the right foot flat onto the floor. Bring in your left foot immediately after for tsugiashi, or connective footwork, into chudan position ready for the next move.
Some points to consider when practicing fumikomi to avoid injuries:
a. Do not to stamp too hard with your right foot; this may damage your knee (partly because we practice on a floor not made for kendo) A veteran male can apparently produce force as much as 1t with fumikomi... and there's no action without reaction... start easy on this.
The biggest contributing factor in the sound from the fumikomi is not how hard the ground is struck with the foot but the shape of the foot upon impact. Think of it not so much as stamping but slapping the ground with the foot. In this way the whole of the sole will impact the ground at the same time. This is what allows such force to be used without injury: the impact is spread over the whole area of the foot and not transmitted up through the heel and shin to the knee.
b. Do not raise your foot too high... you will end up landing from your heel, and not only does it not give a nice sound, it hurts. This also kills the forward momentum, so keep your right foot as low as possible, and think of jumping forward rather than upwards! Other things that may cause you to land on your heel are leaning forwards or backwards, trying to cut when not in a position to do so e.g. when the left foot is too far behind, or body not balanced.
c. Make sure your left heel is off the ground when you push forward to avoid injuries to the Achilles tendon. Also, point your left toe forward... this will enable you to push your body forward with the maximum strength from your leg!
3. Kirikaeshi
After suburi practice, we normally practice “kirikaeshi", an exercise in armour. It consists of a series of men and sayu-men with both forward and backward suriashi.
1. Chudan no kamae at tooma.
2. Big kiai. Breathe out with kiai, breathe in, then start.
3. Large men with fumikomi --> Controlled taiatari (body impact).
4. The motodachi, or the receiving side, steps back.
5. Large sayu-men starting by hitting your opponent's Hidari(left)-men (cutting to your right, opponent’s left): four times forward and five backward. Use suriashi (sliding footwork), making sure your footwork and kiai are in sync with your cut (ki ken tai no icchi). With the last cut to the left men, move back to tooma at chudan no kamae.
6. Repeat 3-5.
7. Large men with fumikomi, while motodachi step aside using tai-sabaki.
8. Keep straight and go through, then turn around to tooima with chudan no kamae.
9. Remember to kiai “men” with each cut
4. Posture and movement
A lot of you are improving very quickly on the kendo movements. Please keep some of the following things in your mind when you next practice:
a. Balanced?
Are you in a comfortable posture to move? Do you feel balanced? Your feet should be in comfortable distance apart both vertically and horizontally to move in any direction.
b. Straight?
Is your back straight? Is it hunched forward or maybe arcing too much backward? Are you holding your shinai at the centre of your body, in front of your belly-button? Are you looking straight ahead? Think of having a pole that runs from the top of your head all the way through your back pointing at the middle of your two feet on the floor.
c. Stable?
When you make suriashi, is your body jumping up and down? It is useful to think that when looked from sideways, your hip shouldn't move up and down with your footwark. Also, the straightness should be kept throughout the movement. Are you leaning forward to cut? Keep straight, and keep your movements minimum and efficient.
d. Shoulders, wrists and fingers relaxed?
If the grip on the shinai and the wrists are very tense, the shinai cannot move freely and will be at a fixed angle with respect to the arm. Keeping the wrists and fingers flexible and relaxed, only tensing when executing te no uchi, allows for faster accurate movement and longer reach. Tense shoulders mean swings cannot be full and large, more energy is expended and posture becomes poor. Also results in stiff neck and shoulders after practice!
e. Looking big?
You may think it's a bit silly and too basic, but if you can make yourself look big and confident, it's quite effective against your opponent. Keep good posture, keep tall (but not tip-toe) and pull your shoulders back. Relax and be confident!
Looking forward to seeing you in the next session!!
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