Sydney Kendo Club

Back In Action

2009-01-15T16:03:00.011+11:00

There seems to be a tradition that after a long break, you have to document your return on the blog. So, this is my turn.

After a two and half month wait, I've finally resumed my kendo training.
The absence is easily explained, a move to a new country and not packing any equipment!
I had planned to have my new bogu waiting for me on my arrival but alas, things didn't quite work out as I planned. In fact, it turned up 2 months late.

So what does one do during this time? Firstly, suburi. I tried to do it everyday but realistically I only managed twice a week and even less after the weather turned sour. The second thing I worked on was tenouchi. I managed to work on this nearly everyday, whether just loosening the wrists, or actually hitting the couch cushions. Apart from the occasional run, this constituted the only physical training I managed to do.

Many sensei say that when you can't physically train, you should do mitori-geiko (watching practice). The problem is that I find this incredibly frustrating, so apart from the odd dojo visit and a trip down to Steveston to watch the local grading, my exposure to actually watching any kendo was pretty much limited to downloading videos of the All Japans.

You would think that the arrival of my bogu on New Year's Eve would present me with my chance to resume my training that Monday?
Well, Mother Nature had other ideas and I would have to wait another couple of days before finally get my way.

So what happened on that fateful Thursday night?
To be honest, other than being thrilled to be training again, things weren't that different to SKC's Wednesday night trainings. My timing was a mess, My left leg strength was completely missing and after 2 hours, my stamina was non-existent, but all in all, things went a lot better than I had expected.
I returned the following night for my second session and again my timing was a mess but I did manage to get a bit more power to my back leg. However at the end of the 2.5 hour session I was completely wrecked.

The weekend was a bit of a struggle due to a fair amount of muscle soreness (I blame the cold weather, not the lack of stretching hehe), however I did manage to get myself to the Monday night session and I found things were starting to feel a bit more natural. I felt my kiai and seme were stronger, I was able to control my maai and timing a bit better and even the stamina was improving. All positive signs.

There is still a long way to go before I'll be back to where I want to be, and with North America's biggest taikai just around the corner, there is a lot of work in front of me but the most important thing is that I'm finally back in action.

Goodbye 2008

2008-12-24T12:30:00.004+11:00

It's been a great year for Sydney Kendo Club.

We have proven ourselves to be one of the strongest clubs in NSW by winning most of the competitions in the Kyu, Womens and Dan events.

We have seen our membership grow, thanks to new beginners joining and sticking with us.

We have even started a new kids class (our future champions!)

We have had two fantastic teachers join us (Jonathon Cross and Hong Cross)

However, most importantly, our club spirit has improved. There is a good feeling to the club and we have the smiles to prove it.

But we are not just stopping there, we have exciting things planned for 2009! Look out for the following:
- A new competition: SKC 3's - Friendship Cup
- A new look website
- A new high school class
- An official club constitution to vote on
- Dedicated shimpan training (possibly once a month)

I'm very excited about next year and look forward to working with everyone to make the club and even better place to train, learn and develop friendships!

Merry xmas and all the best for 2009!

Jays

12th ZNKR Photo Contest

2008-09-18T20:02:00.009+10:00

This year's winners of the ZNKR Photo competition have been announced.

There are some really good photos in the selection and a couple of not so good ones!
As usual, photos of kids feature a lot but there is a bit of variety too.

I think the 5th Photo (the guys doing Nanahonme) is nice - If only it was straight.
The last photo looks great too.

Check them all out.
http://www.kendo.or.jp/picture/photo_12.html

Here is a link to last year's post.

More Teramoto Goodness

2008-08-27T23:46:00.009+10:00

Unfortunately it's in German, but the footage is excellent

And here's the original NHK broadcast (Japanese only)

Founders' Cup Photos

2008-08-10T21:09:00.001+10:00

What Jayson learnt in Japan about Kendo

2008-05-13T15:12:00.002+10:00

I recently went on a backpacking tour through Asia for three months and some great life experiences. The greatest benefit of travelling by yourself and having no real plans is that you learn more about yourself. But enough of the philosophy I’m here to talk about Kendo.

I was very fortunate and managed to spend a month living, drinking and playing Kendo in Japan. I would like to share a few of the insights I gained over there.

George McCall was my guide and friend for the whole month while I was in Osaka and on my second day in Japan I was lucky enough to watch the Osaka prefecture trails for the 2008 All Japan Championships. It was held at the Shudokan next to the Osaka castle and started early in the morning. George pointed out all the famous Kendoka there but I was ignorant to the Kendo hall of fame. The tournament started off with the normal folks and salary men. Their kendo is crisp and clean but nothing amazing. But when the police boys come on it’s a different ball game. They are all big guys over six foot. They play strong simple kendo, but their timing and presence is incredible. Teramoto (2007 All Japan Championship winner) plays and his kendo style is truly unique. He is calculating with subtle wrists and seems to vary the size and speed of his cuts more than anyone else. I think this is the secret to his success. He does not drop a point and secures his position in the Osaka team.

Early in the month I get some useful advise. I’m told I’m fast and my timing is good but I’m tapping more than I’m cutting. Also told I’m not cutting straight. I’m told that my spirit should feel like it’s at the tip of my shinai when I cut. Basically translate it to mean I need to lift my spirit in my cuts a lot more.

More advice, the tone and the pitch of my Kiai is wrong. I have a Kiai yelling session with one of the Sensei and eventually it improves. In hindsight a good kiai should sound like an optimistic battle cry during the cut and continue on like you have a smile on your face afterwards. In other words you feel great during and after the cut and should sound like it in your kiai. Interestingly my Kendo improved as my Kiai improved because I felt positive before I even cut.

A revelation comes to me when I’m playing in Japan. If I think about cutting from my hips and let muscle memory do the rest with my arms, my cuts become stronger and straighter. It works by concentrating on the trunk of your body when cutting and imagining it being perfectly straight, linear and super robust when cutting. The tangible result is that when you cut men at the same time with someone else, you are so balanced and strong, the split second after the simultaneous cut your opponent will just bounce off you. It’s a fantastic feeling as there is physical evidence you have totally dominated your opponent.

During my training at Yoseikai (George's club) I did extra Kiri-kaeshi training after normal training (Note: In addition to the 6 sets at the start of training). You would not believe how much my kendo improved learning how to do Kiri-kaeshi properly. 1st point is that you need to lift your left hand well above your head to really work out your shoulders. 2nd point is that you must endeavour to raise and lower your arms and wrists through the centre of your body and let your wrists do the work to hit the side of your opponents men, 3rd point is to not bob your body up and down when you cut, try and stay linear and straight. I think it all adds up to learning how to cut straight and using your wrists to cut at angles rather than your arms. From a physical point of the exercise itself increases your cutting power ten fold. No other training exercise compares in my mind.

As a side note, the floors in Japan are very springy. Nothing new. But what we are not told is how slippery and smooth they are! Basically you could almost ice skate on a great dojo floor. The purpose of the smooth floor is to ensure you are very upright and move in a linear fashion, otherwise you will simply slip all over place. Our floors in Australia are sticky and hard, which means we can’t move as smoothly and as linear as a Japanese player who has been playing on these specially designed floors all their life. I think this is ok, it just means we will always bob when we follow through, but as long as our cutting action is linear I cannot see a disadvantage.

The last insight I will add here is from Shimakawa Sensei (7th Dan at Yoseikai). On my departing night he mentioned how he felt about Kendo. These are not his words exactly, but paraphrasing is better than nothing. Basically the ultimate aim of Kendo is to be able to stand toe to toe with an opponent with real swords ready to die. This is a pretty hard core concept. But if you were able to imagine what it would be like playing with real swords, you would not go through the motions like many of us do in Jigeiko, you would not say ‘he is just a beginner I will take it easy on him’ or ‘he is too good I will never win’. No! If you faced off against anybody with a real sword trying to kill you, you would do you best to kill them 1st. Its this feeling of kill or be killed that makes kendo so wonderful, because we can experience the rush and excitement of a life and death battle without ever actually ever being killed or injured. My thought is that by imagining a life and death situation in Jigeiko our senses will naturally heighten, we become more alert and excited…and in the end all come away with a more rewarding kendo experience.

My jodan journey - so far...

2008-04-13T17:59:00.003+10:00

Well, it's been a while since I wrote on this blog - so much so that I forgot my log-in details!

My apologies but I thought it was too depressing to write about injuries again!

Anyway, I thought I'd write about how my jodan experiences have been going so far, and most especially, to thank everyone for their support. As most of you would know, the initial inspiration for practicing jodan-no-kamae was because of an injured right shoulder that put me out of kendo for almost a year. Being naturally left-handed I thought jodan might be a good way to get back in the dojo while my right shoulder continued to heal. More than this, I also really had a desire to try jodan-no-kamae and decided that I would dedicate myself seriously to its practice.

The first stumbling block I thought I would face would come in the form of being a "kyu grader who hasn't yet mastered chudan getting ahead of himself." However, contrary to my expectations of a lot of flack coming my way, instead, everyone was really supportive. Sure I got a few digs, but overall, I've had so much support from people at every level, offering helpful advice and genuine concern for my recovery. It has come as a welcome surprise and given me great motivation and joy at returning to the club and training with you all. Thank you my friends!

Jodan - the first few months...

1. Swapping sides - The first challenge was flipping the footwork to left foot forward. While I always felt my comfortable in this stance just trying it out at home once I actually started to train this way it proved to be much more difficult than it looks! Interestingly, the most difficult thing was convincing my body that I wanted it to flip the movements from the traditional right foot forward. Each time I moved it was like my body wanted to correct it and twist assume the position it was used to when playing chudan-no-kamae. In fact, I developed a lot of pain in my lower back and had to get an osteopath to fix it. It feels fine now but was surprising how much my body rebelled against my wishes!

2. Katate men - part 1 - As you can imagine, just holding the shinai over your head for so long is really tiring at first let alone swinging it down one handed with accuracy and strength of cut. I got some good pointers from Toshio about punching my left fist to the opponents throat, pulling my right hand into my side, and pressuring with the end of the tsukagawa but I was still lacking the arm and wrist strength to do this with much conviction and was still struggling with finding the kamae. I was leaning back and putting far too much weight on my back foot and then went from that to putting far too much weight on my front foot!

3. An amazing turn of fate - the Chiba Sensei visit - I don't know if many of you believe in fate but I really felt after my meeting with Chiba Sensei that it was a very eventful and fateful time for me. The first night of training with him was so fantastic and I left feeling truly inspired and motivated with my kendo practice. His chudan posture and cuts were so solid yet fluid, strong yet delicate in action and obviously the result of mastering his craft and technique over a lifetime.
That evening a bunch of us went out to dinner and - as fate would have it - I found myself sitting opposite Chiba Sensei. Now I want to take this opportunity to thank Matt Fisher because he not only got stuck being translator for the night but also happened to mention to Chiba Sensei that I was practicing jodan-no-kamae after injuring my shoulder. His response was immediate, "See me before training tomorrow night and I will give you some personal training." I was flabbergasted and somewhat embarrassed about the prospects but also super excited!
Sure enough and true to his word Chiba Sensei took me aside with the help of Vivian Yung and proceeded to give me my own personal jodan lesson! If only I could fully understand what he said on that fateful night but the gist of it was this:

the action of the left and right hands are like pulling back a bow-and-arrow;
the left fist aims for the opponents throat;
the left fist goes forward like you are throwing it away;
keep the fist centred;
keep a loose grip and allow the shinai to flick from the wrist.
(If I've left anything out Viv please let me know!)

Probably the one controversial thing here is that I asked Sensei "don't you flick the shinai with your right thumb?", and he said, "No. The action is like a bow-and-arrow." and he proceeded to do the motion several times until I understood.

I was on second heaven after this experience and it has been my motivator ever since.

One happy guy with his hero!

4. "Feeling Jodan" - Since Chiba Sensei's visit I have been trying to follow his guidance and the advice of others. I'm especially grateful to Toshio Nishimoto who has been very generous with his knowledge and also taken the time to watch me play and offer suggestions to correct my mistakes. While my mind takes on this advice it is often difficult to get my body to obey it!
I have since discovered that the jodan-no-kamae has a way of dictating to you how it wants you to approach the stance. Certainly for me, this is much more so than chudan. When I look at other jodan players I also see strong variations in their styles and approaches while still fulfilling the general ideas and concepts behind the jodan-no-kamae style.
In my own practice this has manifest itself in a few observations and approaches:

I initially started holding my shinai in quite a straight line to the centre because I wanted my cuts to be straight and felt that this would be easier if I wasn't having to bring the shinai into the centreline during the cut if I held the more traditional angled stance. I'm now experimenting more with my hand positions as I gain more control of the shinai and am starting to try different positions to see how they affect the cut;
at first I had a much tighter grip on the shinai using the bottom 3 fingers of my left hand affraid that the shinai would fly out if I didn't. As I gained confidence I now have almost dropped my little finger from the grip letting it sit below the curve of the tsukagawa as a support and barely grip the shinai with my ring finger. This has made the cuts far more fluid, accurate and faster without fear of losing the shinai. I still have a mountain to climb with cutting but this has made a huge difference;
as I mentioned, I started out leaning too far back and then overcompensated by putting too much weight on the front foot and standing too tall. This meant that every time I went to cut I had to bend my front knee to spring off the back leg, thus telegraphing the cut. As soon as I simply put a slight bend in the front leg it changed everything. I could now spring off directly (minus dip) and by lifting the front heel slightly the movement was much more in a forward thrust rather than an up-and-down arc. I'm sure this reads like common sense but it's taken me a while to get to this point!
As for seme, I tried standing tall (thus started the dipping), then moving around to try to take an 'active' stance (this only made it easier for my opponent than me!) and now I am trying to hold my ground while moving forward from a position of strength and alertness to seize any fleeting suki while feeling a spirit of "throw your best at me, I am ready." Of course, many are 'throwing their best at me' and I'm not always ready but the intention is there!

Well, this brings me up to date and as any of you who have played me recently know, I still have a long way to go but am happy with my progress and believe that most of it is due to the help and encouragement of you all. So please let me take one more opportunity to say "thank you all" and I hope you will maintain your patience with me as I progress slowly along this unique and exciting journey.

Bonsai!

Rick

Australian Kendo Championship Photos

2008-04-01T17:41:00.003+11:00

Australian Kendo Championships

2008-03-25T11:13:00.006+11:00

The Australian Championships were held over the Easter weekend.
Congratulations to all the SKC members who participated.

Here is a quick wrap up of SKC results:
Kyu
Luke Lee - Champion
Nick Sordon - 3rd place

Women's
Vivian Yung - 3rd Place

Kyu Team
Luke Lee, Nick Sordon & David Banbury - Champions

Women's Team
Vivian Yung - Champion

Open Team
Takashi Itakura - Runner's Up

Kata Pairs
Takashi Itakura - Runner's Up

Full results can be found here:
http://www.nswkendo.org/akc2008/page_DRAW.html

Shinai maintenance

2008-02-17T21:05:00.001+11:00

Expanding more on Nick's post about equipment and also to act as a follow up to the shinai maintenance class we had a few weeks ago, here is something I found on youtube.

Wonderful world of Bogu Manufacture

2008-02-09T23:06:00.000+11:00

Not sure if any of you have seen this, but I was browsing around youtube and saw these two vids.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=r1Xege-59rg

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=fJE5TxdKpsc

I found it very interesting how the expert craftsman put together the essential pieces of equipment to minimise injury (unless you up against Taiatari Chris!). It actually made me stop and realise that I don't think enough about the hard work and dedication that goes into making our gear and thankful that a lot is still done by hand.

That being said, I know I've been in the "Risk Assessment" game too long when I watch a vid like this and immediately think "Where is their safety gear and why doesn't that saw have a guard rail with interlocker..."

Old School kendo

2008-01-20T23:49:00.001+11:00

Including leg sweeps
Don't get any ideas......

Photos from the 2007 NSW Championships

2007-12-15T23:26:00.001+11:00

It's coming to the end of the year and it's time to celebrate!

2007-11-23T19:46:00.000+11:00

To finish what has been a very successful year for Sydney Kendo Club,
we are organizing a Christmas lunch on the 8th of December, 1pm (after
training) @ the Korean Bakehouse on 11 George St, North Strathfield.

We are planning some fun activities and prizes etc to make the
afternoon fun, so don't miss out!

Please note partners are welcome. Please RSVP to Jayson ASAP.

Hope to see you all there.

11th Annual AJKF Photo Contest

2007-10-16T19:47:00.000+10:00

Every year, the All Japan Kendo Federation runs a photo contest.
This year's top selections have been announced and here is a link to them.

11th AJKF Photo Contest Results

There are some really nice shots. Kids always feature in this contest and this year was no different.

Other years can be found here
2006
2005
2004
1997-2003

2007 Dae Han Moodo Kwan - Burwood Tournament Photos

2007-09-23T14:26:00.000+10:00

Congrat's Dan and Kyu Teams!

2007-09-20T10:58:00.000+10:00

Well done everyone who participated in the competition on the weekend. I wish I was there to see it. Can someone please write a breakdown of the day for the poor suckers like me that missed it? Maybe post some video?

Hopefully, I can compete in the next comp as I'm getting way too envious to sit on the sidelines anymore!

Congratulations everyone,

Rick

It made me want to cry!

2007-09-12T16:29:00.000+10:00

Thanks Dave for that wonderful video clip. It was so refreshing and humbling to be brought back to the basics of why we enjoy kendo and the fundamental challenges that it brings every time we get out there with a shinai. It also takes us out of our ego's for a minute to see beyond simply the desire to 'win' or 'save face'.

Please allow me to share a story, if I may... I remember a beautiful sunny spring day when I was riding on the bus and opposite me sat a young man with his mother. His disability was obvious to all but himself as he happily enjoyed the bus ride. When it was time to get off the bus he jumped to his feet, picked up his mother's shopping bags, ran out the back door and patiently waited for his mother to follow. He stood there with his eyes closed and his head tilted back to feel the full warmth of the sun on his face. He was completely in the joy of the moment, appreciating what the rest of us take for granted and reflecting the simplicity of what happiness really is. It brought tears to my eyes, and this story comes back to me on occasions such as watching the video clip Dave posted.

I don't want to make this entry about me, but simply wish to say that after having a long absence from playing kendo I was reminded last week about the simple joys, and challenges, of swinging that piece of bamboo, and am grateful to Dave for reinforcing this wonderful message in such a simple and effective way.

Onya mate.

Kendo is......

2007-08-25T00:28:00.000+10:00

About showing up and having a go

Founders Cup Photos

2007-08-14T20:28:00.001+10:00

I'm Back! (part 2) More like a fizz than a bang...

2007-08-09T23:34:00.000+10:00

Ok, so I thought I was on my comeback trail about 6 months ago but it was a false alarm. Sure the pain in my buggered shoulder was starting to ease but I wasn't prepared for the subsequent tightening of my whole shoulder. I realized that this was the 'frozen' part of what they told me was a 'frozen shoulder'. As the pain subsided the joint simply got more and more constricted so that I could only raise my right arm to about a 45 degree angle, only reach the top of my butt with the assistance of my other arm and no sideways movement at all. It was a bit scary really.

I had to go to the US for 2 weeks in May/June and thankfully this coincided with my shoulder finally giving a hint that it might free itself up a bit. Luckily, as I had a lot of camera gear to lug around. Since my return home I've been stretching it and just doing some gentle suburi to a point where I decided I had enough movement to come back to training at last!

It was great to see everyone again and to be putting the keikogi on again. It was also wonderful to see and meet our visitors from Japan, and although I'm not quite ready to take on the hardcore jigeiko that I witnessed that night, simply swinging a shinai and taking the beginners through their paces was an absolute joy.

Try imagining taking a year out of your kendo life and you will only get a hint of what it is really like without having to wake up every night for 6 months in pain and then wondering if you will ever get full movement back in your arm. I'm not saying this to get sympathy - I'm happy to be back training and on the mend - I just want people who get an injury to do something about it immediately, learn from my experience and if it means taking a few weeks off then do it and give your body the chance to recover. That way it will simply be a bit of an annoying inconvenience, but isn't that better than losing a year of kendo?

I feel a bit like a broken record on this so I'll try to write about other things from now on!

Good luck to you all at the Founders Cup and I wish you every success in the gradings and comp. I'll be with you in spirit.

I'm in Japan for the next 2 weeks but will be back at the dojo on a regular basis when I return.

It's great to be back...

Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force Visit

2007-08-09T00:00:00.000+10:00

We were very lucky to have the JMSDF visit both our Five Dock dojo and Willoughby dojo on Monday August 6th and Wednesday August 8th

On Monday (6-Aug), I was the first one in the dojo because I hold the key.
I setup the clock, mopped the floor twice to ensure it is as clean as possible.
Colin Minter arrived, followed by Payne Sensei, and then Dave and so on.
No one knew how many of JMSDF visitors would join us until they arrived.
Oh my .. there are 6, and then 12 and more, just filling the tiny community hall in a minute.
When everyone settled, there was 18 or more visitors from JMSDF.
The home team was fairly strong, Payne Sensei, Cross Sensei returned with his whole family, Fukuda Sensei from Japan, and of course Itakura Sensei plus many seniors from our club and other clubs.
All together, the head count from the photo was 37. I recall at one time, there were more than 13 pairs having jikeiko at the same time. It seemed everyone enjoyed this event.

After the training, photos were taken by Tomoki Mashiba, unfortunately my old laptop couldn't read the camera's SD-card. Mr Tomoki offered to bring me the USB key on Wednesday. Instead he burnt a business-card size CDR for me, thanks Mr Tomoki. He couldn't join us tonight so I'll send an email to thank him for his photos and prompt delivery.

"http://www.sydneykendoclub.org/Images/Marine08Aug07/MarineFD1.jpg"

===========================================
Wednesday (8-Aug), we had seven visitors from JMSDF.
Again we had a good time. Photos and presents were exchanged and then biru-keiko at the pub where everybody enjoyed themselves (and a few drinks).

"http://www.sydneykendoclub.org/Images/Marine08Aug07/Marine8.jpg"

Here are some more photos

Photos from 2007 Australian Championships

2007-07-20T00:17:00.000+10:00

Here are some photos from last month's Australian Kendo Championships

Memoirs of a Gaijin

2007-07-10T20:28:00.000+10:00

The members of the Hamamatsu Dojo

Last month I was lucky enough to be able to spend a week in Japan. Although the priority of this trip was to catch up with a good friend of mine, it also gave me an opportunity to train in Japan.

My plan was to train three times in Hamamatsu - a city situated approximately half way between Tokyo and Osaka and once in Osaka.

I arrived at the Hamamatsu Dojo early as I wanted to make sure I was nice and limber for what I knew would be a fairly intensive training (I trained in Hamamatsu last year when I visited Japan).
When I arrived I was met by Sensei. He welcomed me and pointed me towards the change rooms. Once changed I started my stretching as other members of the dojo arrived and began to do the same.

The first things that came to mind when entering the dojo were:
1. How nice the dojo was. It is a small community based dojo, purpose built for kendo, with a wonderfully sprung floor.
2. How hot and humid the temperature was. It had been about 32C that day and it didn't seem like it had cooled at all.

The warmup began with some stretching, with a focus on ballistic (bouncing stretches) especially to the knees and waist. This was followed by:
Jogeburi x30
Sayumen with Hiraki-ashi x30
Double time Men x30
And Haya-suburi x30 (although this was called choyaku-suburi).

The class, which by now was about 15 people (from about age 24 up), was split into two lines and the training consisted of the following:
1. Kiri Kaeshi, with an extra men cut added at the end to bring you back to the original starting position (rotating 3 times).
2. Kihon Men x4 - x2 rotations
3. Semete Men x4 - x2
4. Kihon Kote Men x4 - x2
5. Semete Kote Men x4 - x2
6. Men Do x4 - x3
7. Kote Do x4 - x3
8. Kote Men Do x4 - x3
9. Kote Kaeshi Men x4 - x3
10. Kote Kaeshi Kote x4 - x3
11. Men Kaeshi Do x4 - x3
12. Men Kaeshi Kote - x4 x3
13. Men Kaeshi Men - x2 Receiving on the left side of the shinai and x2 on the right side - x3
14. Your own Kote oji waza x4 - x2
15. Your own Men oji waza x4 - x2
16. Kote Men Taiatari Hiki-Men, Men x4 - x3
17. Jigeiko - 1-2 minute matches - x4
18. Kiri Kaeshi
19. Sei retsu, seiza, mokuso and rei.
20. Sensei addressed class on the training.

All this was done at an amazingly fast pace, with an intensity which was infectious. There was no stoppages at anytime, unless you were the odd person. The total training time would have been just over an hour.

I felt totally exhausted at the end, but I was on such a high. A very satisfying way to begin my holiday.

My second training session was on the Friday and the class was a lot smaller with just 5 people and unfortunately no sensei. The training regime was identical to the previous Wednesday.
One thing I do want to mention, there were two kids at this training, a girl who I guess would have been around 10 and a boy who was probably 1 or 2 years older. These two kids were amazing.
I have never seen anything like it, they had all the skills - I was in awe.

My third and final training session in Hamamatsu was on the Monday and it was a special one. Not only was it my last there but also because it was an opportunity for me to train with a friend who plays a very important role in my kendo.

The training was much the same as other nights with the following exceptions.
The Kaeshi wazas were replaced with:
Do Uchio-toshi Men x4 - x3
Kote Uchio-toshi Men x4 - x3
Men Uchio-toshi Men - Migi x2, Hidari x2 - x3

Also, when performing the Kote Men Taiatari Men, the Motodachi performs an oji waza of their choice against the final men cut.

After the jigeiko and kiri kaeshi, everybody lined up to do Uchikomi-geiko against Sensei, each one lasting about a minute and performed at a frantic pace - almost kakari-geiko like, but still maintaining kihon cuts.

Class then ended with seiza, mokuso, rei and again Sensei addressed the class on the training performed and there was also a photo opportunity. Finally, I approached Sensei and received some wonderful feedback (translated for me thankfully).

The next night I was in Osaka and thanks to Andrew I had been able to arrange a training session at the Yoseikai dojo. The dojo was immaculate but felt like a sauna (it was incredibly hot inside) and I knew this night was going to be something to remember. There were plenty of people there, probably 30 in total, maybe more.

Seiza and mokuso was very fast and the rei were all done standing.
Training started with Kiri kaeshi repeated about 6 times, then it was straight into Jigeiko.
I was fortunate enough to play all 4 Sensei and about 3 more people, including George, the contact Andrew gave me. Training lasted a bit over an hour and then seiza, mokuso and rei were performed. I also got to talk to all sensei who provided me with some very nice comments and excellent feedback.
It is hard for me to describe the feeling I had after the week in Japan - I don't know what superlatives I should use. It was a kendo utopia for me.
I will say that it took a few days for me to really digest everything I have learnt. The challenge for me is to somehow merge that knowledge into my kendo.

Inside the Osaka Dojo

Missing In Action

2007-07-06T09:04:00.000+10:00

Some will have noticed that I have not been at training for the last couple of weeks. Basically I've been moving house and just starting a new job...which thus far appears to require very late hours.

I would just like to say its not an easy thing balancing, work, family, relationships and other life stuff around Kendo training. I can now see how people can get distracted and just move onto other things more important and let Kendo slide.

I think as a club we need to bond a little better and keep encouraging our mates that have a lot on to come back when they are less busy. At the end of the day we want people to come back so we have more people to play.

Australian Kendo Championships

2007-06-19T14:47:00.000+10:00

Since I have some downtime in my Osaka hotel I thought I would try and share my experience from the Australian Kendo Championships.

The weekend was a great learning experience for me. I think I learnt more about my own kendo than anything else, especially what areas I need to work on and what I am working towards.

The Saturday morning was cold, especially the gymnasium floor.
I started my warm up early and I thought it was a solid warm up, however in hindsight I was having trouble with my nerves. I have always thought that a bit of nervous energy is a good thing but as I was soon to find out, the controlling of it is not always that easy.

The opening ceremony was something I`ll never forget. Walking out to represent my state for the first time - in a line with my team mates and standing proudly and singing along as the national anthem was played is stuff of schoolboy dreams. A wonderful feeling.

My pool matches were well into the draw so I had plenty of time to watch others play. I was surprised at the level of kendo - not that it was good or bad, but it seemed to be very mixed. There were obviously some really talented individuals but also others that seemed out of place.

My first match came up and I felt that I had everything ready - the body was warm and the mind seemed calm. However I just couldn't seem to get into the match. I suppose flat would be the best word to describe my performance. I was playing a very reactive style and it wasn't good. I went on to lose the match 2 zip, (2 kote). Certainly not the way I wanted my weekend to start - over as soon as it began.
Fortunately for me the guy who defeated me lost his next match which gave me some hope.
This time I was feeling different. I knew what I had to do.
I thought I played well in this match - winning it 2-1 (two men cuts) however the conceding of a kote spelt the end to my individual campaign. The other two played a tie breaker with the latter dude (sorry I forgot his name) going through to the next round.

As I said earlier I really discovered parts of my kendo that I could work on - both from a physical side but also a mental side.

The rest of the day went by with me taking photos for the organisers. the Dan Individuals was very impressive to watch and I managed to take some nice photos which I`ll share with you all later.

The next day was the Team events. Kyu were up first and I turned up to the venue in keikogi and hakama all ready to go (sans a change of clothing for later too).
During warm up with Burwood Mike I managed to cut my big toe so the last few moments of warm up I was busy strapping up a bloody toe but that was OK. It wasn't the best way to start the day but what can you do.

Our first match was against South Australia - I was playing third and by the time I was up the scores were one a piece. I scored a kote early but conceded two men to lose the match. I thought I played pretty well. My only criticism of myself was I was a bit predictable going for the winning cut. Elaine and Phil played exceptionally well to win both their matches and put us into the 2nd round against an understrength WA side.

With WA only able to field 3 players it was a strange match to be involved with. I think we lost the first match but won the remaining (including the 2 forfeits). I played Alison Craven and won the match 2-0. A men and a kote (which shouldn't have been paid but that happens). This put us into the final against ACT which incidentally was the ANU team that gave us the 5 - nil drubbing at Macquarie University last month.

Ephragm won his first match, Mike went down in his. I was up next and again I thought I played pretty well. I was certainly attacking more than my opponent however he picked off my kote on one of my men attempts (I was too close again...).

The last minute or so I felt I was really putting the pressure on him and I think I went close a couple of times but alas it was not to be. The siren sounded and it finished 1 zip.
Elaine and Phil both played well but in the end ACT finished up being victors. They were a very strong team (3 members finished in the top 4 of the individuals if memory serves me correctly) .

All in all I thought it was a great effort by NSW. Everyone brought their best kendo to each match and gave it their all.

The NSW Dan team were very dominate in their matches and went on to win the title.

So that was the weekend - from a first timers perspective. I didn't go into the details of the Dans, Women's and Veterans matches as I was just there to take it all in but the whole weekend was a wonderful experience and something that will hopefully benefit my kendo in the long run.

I will fill everyone in on my training here in Japan later this week. I had my 3rd and final training session in Hamamatsu last night and I have a training session in Osaka tonight. There is already plenty to write about but I will save it all for later

SMH Article

2007-05-26T15:54:00.001+10:00

Two weeks ago, a journo from the Sydney Morning Herald visited the club and participated in the Wednesday night beginners class.

The article describing his Kendo experience was released in last weeks Radar section. For those of you who didn't see the article, here's the link to it!

http://blogs.smh.com.au/radar/archives/2007/05/sydney_knights.html

Enjoy!

Cheers
Andrew

10th Korean Kumdo Championship Results

2007-05-12T23:05:00.000+10:00

The Korean Kumdo Championship has been held another year.

Congratulations to:
Jayson Chaplin, Taek Yang, Andrew Van Hamond, Toshio Nishimoto and
Takashi Itakura, - Dan Team Champions
Vivian Yung - Women's Champion
Kenji Tagawa - Under 13 Champion
Takashi Itakura and Taek Yang - 3rd in the Dan Individuals
And to everyone who competed on the day.

A great effort from everyone!

Here are some photos.

So you want to train in Japan

2007-05-04T17:00:00.000+10:00

As many of you know, I was fortunate to spend 2 ½ weeks in the Kansai region of Japan recently.

Japan is a fascinating country, mixture of ancient and the modern, with what seems to be a never ending stream of people travelling from one location to another.

Aside from the cultural highlights, I was able to play Kendo whilst in Osaka at the Yoseikai Kendo Club. Yoseikai Kendo Club is located in Namba, which is about a 5 minute subway trip from Osaka CBD.

The club has approximately 70 members and training regularly consists of appx 40 people. Their head instructor is Furiya shihan, 8th dan hanshi.

One of the things that really struck me was been told that none of the 8 Motodachis’ where under 4th dan when I trained there!

So what was it like? In many ways it was similar to Monday night’s training at Five Dock. Students arrive and are expected to do their own warm up and be ready to commence keiko at 7.30 pm. The program is essentially the same for a given practice night, hence there was little said from the commencement to the end of training – good for regulars, something that thankfully I was advised of prior to training commencing, otherwise I shudder to think how confused I could have been!

The program was as follows -
1: Kirikaeshi – 5 sets
2: Kihon Men – 5 sets
3: Kihon Kote, Men – 5 sets
4: Kakarigecko
5: Jigeiko
6: Kirikaeshi – 1 set to finish training

All of this was completed in 90 minutes, at a very high intensity level. I was extremely lucky to practice with 3 of the sensei and was truly amazed at how they played Kendo.

Even in Kakarigecko, if they were not happy with the students’ technique or posture they would immediately counter their strike. I think this probably gets to the heart of Japanese training, that is excellent technique!

Besides above, there were a couple of other things that really stood out –

1: Seme – the pressure applied was relentless.

2: Opponents probe, probe and then – bam! No unnecessary expending of energy until they are ready to execute their attack.

3: Every cut is fully committed from the time they commence their attack until their Kiai finishes (which does seem to be infinite!)

As a footnote, I also played Kendo in Cairns on my way back to Sydney. It’s a small club, but a dedicated group of Kendoka’s. Katsumi sensei asked me to extend an invitation for any SKC members to come to Cairns and join their training.

All of the Sensei I met, freely offered advice at the end of training to help improve my kendo. Considering they didn’t know me at all, I thought it was extremely generous of them and showed what the spirit of Kendo is all about!

If anyone’s interested in practicing in either Osaka or Cairns please let me know and I’ll provide you with the appropriate contact details.

Cheers
Andrew

Thoughts from the Invisible Man!

2007-05-04T11:40:00.000+10:00

Hi folks,
Sorry you haven't seen me in ages but it's been a combination of the dodgy shoulder (yawn, yes it's still giving me grief) and some interstate traveling. Meanwhile, my gut is expanding and i get a rush of envy every time a club email arrives talking about the coming competitions!

I'm hoping to get back to training soon - maybe even next week - and really looking forward to seeing everyone again. I hope your training is going well and that you are taking care of injuries promptly!

Good luck in the kumdo comp,

Rick

Sydney Morning Herald Coming to SKC!

2007-04-30T14:02:00.000+10:00

Wash your Gi and iron your Hakama!

A journalist and photographer from the Sydney Morning Herald will be coming to profile and write a story about kendo and our club over the next couple of weeks.

P.S. Get a hair cut if need be as well...

SKC Dan & Kyu teams ready for the 10th Korean Kumdo Championships

2007-04-23T16:44:00.000+10:00

I would like to announce our official Dan team for the 10th Korean Kumdo Championships.

In no particular order:
1. Taek Yang
2. Toshio Nishimoto
3. Andrew Van Hammond
4. Jayson Chaplin
5. Takashi Itakura

We have a great mix of experience, strength and speed. There should be some great matches, with the Korean players always bringing a lot of spirit and exuberance to the tournament.

Our Kyu team will consist of (in no particular order):
1. Twins Yiu
2. Martin Szeto
3. Andrew Hudson
4. David Banbury
5. Mark Szewczyk

New Layout

2007-04-22T22:46:00.001+10:00

Well, here it is,
The new layout for the Sydney Kendo Club Blog!

Over the next few weeks I'll be making a few minor changes.
If you have any suggestions, I'd like to hear from you.

The Blog is Alive

2007-04-20T10:45:00.000+10:00

Wow...I've been really lazy updating this blog. However, rest assured it will be up running to full speed again.

I'd like to welcome a fellow blogger Dave, who you will no doubt hear from in the near future. Dave is going to be in charge of the look and feel of the blog, so expect a face lift within the coming months.

Other news is that the SKC Committe has decided this blog will be the new 'Newsletter' vehicle. So in addition to reading the website, please visit this blog more often to get additional club news, Kendo thoughts and other bits and pieces happening inside the club. Essentially this blog is going to become a formal form of communication, source of information and news for SKC members. So please visit here regularly.

Hope to see you all at training soon.

I just think this is a cool picture

2007-03-12T23:23:00.000+11:00

Last weeks training for the Nationals...

2007-02-26T14:16:00.000+11:00

I turned up to training last wednesday unaware that it was to be a training session for the state teams; dan, women's and kyu combined. It was a very balmy night and I knew I wasn't up for the rigours of such intense training but I was definitely keen to do some training even if it was just the warm up. Toshio lead us through the motions and I was definitely feeling 'warm' by the end of it as the humidity was pretty high. The next part was to be about 30min. of jigeiko before seperating into the team training. I faced up for my first match but my shoulder wasn't quite ready yet and instantly started to give me grief so reluctantly I pulled out.

I spent about the next hour watching everyone playing and starting their team training. Of course, part of me was really frustrated at not being out there with my friends and angry that this one thing could be holding me back so much but sitting there watching did ultimately bring me some pleasure and that was in seeing how much many of my friends had improved in their kendo skills. It was great to see their hard work paying off.

There was one other thing that seemed apparent - and I don't say this as a criticism, just an observation of which I am also included - that it seemed that people were trying hard to win points with skill and timing but not so much with spirit. This is perhaps something that has been in my mind of late as I have been reading about jodan style and the need for a really strong spirit 'ki' but it also occured to me that it is not something that we really spend much time learning or working on. We do talk about it but I wonder if there are particular training practices that we can do to improve and focus this force?

Any thoughts?

Rick

Shodan

2007-02-13T15:57:00.000+11:00

I have finally passed my Shodan grading. What a great feeling.

It wasn't all smooth sailing though. There are two components to a kendo shodan grading. Jigeiko (free sparing) and kata. Going into jigeiko I thought this would be the easiest part of my grading. However, standing there in front of the judges on the day...I was particularly nervous and subsequently my muscles were extremely tight limiting my movement and making me feel heavy overall. My 1st grading partner came out firing leaving me flat footed. It was a real task to re compose myself, and get back to playing my natural aggressive game. But it was too late...i was stuck on the back foot, unable to get a clean cut to boost my morale...it showed with lack Kiai. The second round of Jigeiko was a little better, but more of the same.

I felt disappointed with my effort.

Then onto kata. This was my biggest worry, since I’m not a great kata lover and don't manage to get a lot of Kata practice in each week like some who are more enthusiastic about it. However, going into the Kata I found a spot of calm intensity, and managed to pull out a very reasonable display of kata skills. My weakest area had just become my strongest over night so it seemed.

On the day, I learnt Kendo, like many other sports and combative activities has a strong mental component which influences overall performance. I heard chess is a good way to pump up the grey matter....

Jodan No Kamae - here I come...

2007-02-01T14:52:00.000+11:00

Some of you will have noticed that I ahve been trying to play jigeiko in Jodan No Kamae...

Firstly, I want to say that I hope no one is offended by me taking this stance as a kyu grader, it actually has a practical reason behind it. With my injured shoulder it is virtually impossible for me to currently play jigeiko in chudan no kamae. While I can hold the stance, the moment I get a knock that pushes my right shoulder to the side or back it sends a crippling pain down my arm that literally makes it drop to my side. Since I still want to play some jigeiko I've started working on the Hidari Jodan no kamae as I can keep my right shoulder protected somewhat.

I also want to say that I have actually wanted to put some effort into learning this kamae for quite a long time as I am also left handed. It actually feels very natural for me. This doesn't make it easy but maybe a tiny bit 'easier' for me. During my convalescent period when I couldn't play any kendo for 4 months I could at least swing a shinai with my left arm so I feel like I have been preparing for a serious effort at playing in jodan.

I most definitely am not giving up on chudan and will do all the routine training in chudan happily but when it comes to jigeiko I want to turn my current disability into an opportunity to work hard on the jodan no kamae and hopefully reach a level of skill and control to make me a competative opponent that you will enjoy playing with.

I know I'm going to be crap at it for a while so I apologize in advance for some of the sloppy kendo I will be dishing out over the next few months when playing jigeiko and I would greatly appreciate any advice anyone can give me.

Any idea of some good training techniques I can try at home?

Cheers,

Rick

Grading

2007-01-23T16:37:00.000+11:00

We have our 1st grading opportunity of the year in a couple of weeks.

I remember my 1st grading experience. I had played 5-6 year of kendo ungraded and was finally going for my 6th kyu. I thought it would be easy. I skipped one grade to get to 5th kyu...but to my horror other people (with less experience) were skipped up to 4th kyu! I couldn't believe it. Then I realised that I still had a lot ot learn and that gradings are fantastic opportunity to show your peers what you have learnt...just like anyother test really. And instead of failing to reach a grade, its an opportunity to discover what you have not yet learnt...which in the end is going to make you a better kendo player.

Good luck everyone who is grading in Picton.

I'm Back!

2007-01-15T17:59:00.000+11:00

Hello everyone,

Yes, I am back at last! I had my first training session last wednesday night and I it was pretty hard to wipe the smile off my face all night. Honestly, to miss 4 months of kendo is an experience I don't wish on any of you. It's amazing how important the role kendo has played in not only my physical health but also my mental health and general wellbeing. It is such a wonderful stress release to swing that bamboo stick and the social aspect too has a very calming role. I truly missed everyone as much as I missed playing kendo.

My shoulder is still pretty buggered - basically the 'impingement' is gone but the muscles have tightened up so much that I had to get a hand tying my hakama at the back and struggled to tie up my men due to the restricted movement. Nevertheless, I was finally back on the boards swinging that shinai and happy as Larry! I managed to last the entire session but had to drop out of the jigeiko part.

It's going to take a year to get back to full mobility according to the Physio and it means I'll have to give the Picton grading a miss, but you know what? Just the fact that I can play any kendo is wonderful to me now. It's the classic cliche but 'ya don't know what ya got til it's gone!'

I hope to see all the old familiar faces over the coming weeks and you'll recognise me by the big grin (and the expanded belly - another by-product of no kendo!).

I look forward to seeing you all real soon,

Rick

A word on 'Mind Frame'

2006-12-19T09:09:00.000+11:00

Myself and a few other members have recently been talking about getting into the right mind frame when in Shiai. Though we are no experts, we have concluded the following...

1) Getting into the right mind frame is a difficult task
2) The right mind frame is very different from being in shigeiko

So just out of interest, here are a few of my thoughts about getting into the right 'mind frame' when your playing in a competition match.

- Don't think about winning or loosing. The rationale behind this 'for me' is that if you are worried about winning, then you are worried about loosing, and vica versa. By putting this mental pressure on yourself, you become hesitant, not willing to take risks for fear of loosing. Great kendo comes when you are actually playing kendo and not thinking about it...

- Before going into a match, it can help to visualise your best Kendo in your minds eye

- Remind yourself to be bursting with positive energy and engage your opponent (not in an aggressive violent way…but the more intellectually intense way…similar to poker or chess), if you are engaging and not the other way around than you have a chance to dictate the match

- Be confident in your training. We all have had great training, so remember where you have been and where you are now...there is no need to be extremely nervous or uptight...instead try to be excited that everyone is here to watch you play your best kendo. (You should feel nervous...just remind yourself its a positive feeling.)

So there are a few tips from 'my point of view' hopefully they might stir up some more discussion around the club on this topic :)

Fun in Melbourne

2006-11-30T10:49:00.001+11:00

Well as most of you guys know, SKC did very well in Melbourne at the Mumieshi 3's competition. Actually it was the very first time a club from another state has been invited to attend the competition...so as you can imagine they were sad to see their trophy go. But while we are waiting for Chris to give me his photos from the actual kendo event...i'm going to talk about the social side of things.

After the seminar with Sumi sensei of Saturday, it was fare to say all the lads...Chris, Andrew, Mark, David and Myself...needed to unwind with a few beers back at the hotel.

After musing over a couple of cold ones back at the hotel, it was time to designate a driver (poor David) and head to St Kilda for a good meal and wine.

However, the antics started before the night even started...with our designated driver getting excited about the horse at the front of the hotel

With our logistics man Mr Hudson with the map we eventually found our way to St Kilda, where were met with hundreds on Bondi'esque' beautiful people. We stopped into a little trendy restaurant/club called the Vineyard for dinner. After dinner the wine and beer flowed as steadily as the conversations. As you can see, from the pics a good time was had by all.

After our big win at the competition...we went back to St Kilda to take in the sights and relax after a huge weekend, then it was back on the plane to Sydney...with our trophy

I think we need to remind ourselves that its not always about playing Kendo, but bonding together as part of a club and staying young at heart. Kendo is what I believe an impetus for human engagement

Massive Blister

2006-11-09T10:00:00.000+11:00

Over the last couple of weeks I was in so much pain. I had this massive throbbing pain in my right heel. Every time I went to do Fumakomi, I received this massive sharp pain travel through my body.

Anyway, it got so bad last Saturday I thought i better have look at my heel to see what’s going on. Too my surprise I had a massive blister hidden underneath the huge callous of my right heel. GROSS. I could see the blister trying to protrude out.

So I went and sterilised a pin...and starting digging. You wouldn't believe how much blood came out of my heel if I told you.

Anyway...come Monday night training, I was in full flight again, cutting with the confidence I lacked over the past couple of weeks.

Now I'm ready for the two tournaments this month!

The Samurai Trilogy

2006-10-27T12:11:00.000+10:00

Hi folks, if you're Miyamoto Musashi fans then you might want to pick up the 3 DVD box set called: The Samurai Trilogy. I'd say it's something more for film buffs or fans as the 3 films were made between 1954 and 1956, but can I also say that the first episode won Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards and Toshiro Mifuni plays Miyamoto-san, he is arguably the biggest star of Japanese cinema and played other great roles as samurai in films like; The Seven Samurai, Yojimbo and Sugata Sanshiro.

It's more about his life journey and transformation from volatile tempestuous rogue to mature and philosophical craftsman, rather than a collection of fight scenes - although there are fight scenes of course - but I enjoyed it very much.

The one thing I did find a little unbelievable was that there were two women totally besotted by him. From what little I have read about Musashi apparently he didn't like to wash and rarely changed his clothes so I'm not sure that the ladies would have found him that appealing!

Anyway, I picked up a copy at JB Hi-Fi so if any of you are interested then check it out...

Don't get Left Behind!

2006-10-17T17:46:00.000+10:00

Hi folks,
I got some great inspiration from Jaysons last few posts (this isn't nepotism is it?) and felt like sharing one little extra experience that I have gained over the past few weeks in relation to what Jayson said about men cuts...

Since my injury I haven't been able to lift my right hand above shoulder height. This makes pretty much every cut impossible in a kihon sense but what I have been able to do is still practice the footwork and movements using only my left hand without a shinai. The amazing thing about this is that it really brings home how important this side of the body is to doing a good solid cut. As an exercise I totally recommend it. It has made me so much more aware of the power needed from the back leg, keeping the body square as you follow through and pushing forward with the left hand. In concentrating on the 'whole' cut I think we can neglect what each side of the body is doing but by simply dropping the right hand I have discovered so much to work on with my left side that I'm confident will improve my cuts all round.

Give it a go and let me know what you think.

Happy kendo playing,

Rick

All is good...really!

2006-10-10T13:22:00.000+10:00

I think this will have to be the last of this sort of posting I write cos' you're all going to think I'm a hypochondriac! ...Anyway, my physio treatment is going well, I've got this yellow rubber band that I have to do stretching exercises with and it seems to be working - just a little too slowly for my liking. The hard part has been trying to supplement my exercise to keep some degree of fitness happening. I've been jogging and trying to do footwork at home, doing cuts without a shinai and without lifting my arm above my shoulder but it's not quite the same. On saturday I came crashing down with the flu so that has stopped everything for a short while. Some would say it happened because of the changing season - I did have some pretty bad hayfever on friday - but I think it's simply the combination of not getting enough exercise at the moment and feeling a bit depressed about the whole lack of getting to do any kendo.

Don't get me wrong, most of the time I'm accepting of the situation and feel positive that all will come good again in the future, it's just that my regular kendo training was a great stabilizer in my life. It was a great way to escape the daily grind, sweat out a few frustrations, challenge myself, hopefully see a little improvement in myself and enjoy the camaraderie of being with like-minded souls sharing the challenges of kendo.

Now I spend too much time thinking about it and not doing it but I'm trying to channel my frustration into healing and am hopeful that I will get a clean bill of health from the physio soon and you can be guaranteed there will a smile on my face when I next step in the dojo that no amount of heavy men cuts or miss placed hiki do's will be able to erase!

Rick

Tips for Men cuts Part 1.

2006-10-10T11:02:00.000+10:00

Well its time to get more active on this blog.

I have only just discovered Vivian’s blog...which is fantastic! Not to mention all the other great kendo blogs out there. We will be putting up links to them all very soon.

A lot of people have commented on my men in the past. So i thought it might be useful to post up a few training tips for men, i.e. the things i did when I first started.

The best way to improve your men cut is to practice Kihon men at home (if you have space). Pretend you are striking your opponent from a distance. Meaning you need to take a step in 1st, then cut men. Just to break it down, 1st slide your right foot forward then bring your left leg up and then immediately launch off for a kihon men cut as soon as you bring your left foot up. Move your feet as quickly as possible (start off slow if you are a beginner) to get your body moving as fast as it can. The key to a good men cut is getting the body moving. If none of this makes sense please grab me at training to explain further.

The following are a few details to muse over when practising this men cut from distance at home.

Body movement: A great men cut comes from tremendously strong body momentum. If you can get your 'whole' body moving from 0 to 100km (figuratively speaking!) in a split second you are half way there. However you need to train your body to do this. You want to feel like your body is part of the cut...not just your hands and Shinai.

Posture: You need to keep your body upright and straight throughout the entire men cut. This ensures your hips are travelling as fast as everything else, which translates into your whole body is moving forward, meaning you have a lot of power behind your cut and you will be more stable 'in flight'

Smooth Action: Make sure your men cut is smooth. This means raising and lowering your shinai at the same speed. A lot of people raise their shinai slower then they cut. You need to lift and lower your shinai in one sweeping quick movement.

Keep Kamae: When moving forward, keep your kamae for as long as possible to the point where you think 'If I don't cut now I’m going fumikomi without cutting men'. Doing this will make your men cut scarier and force your arms to move faster.

I'll be posting a few more tips on men cuts...stay tuned...

Also if anyone has tips on building a great Kote cut, I would love to hear them!

How jayson got started and why he is still 1st kyu after 9 years

2006-10-03T23:30:00.000+10:00

I started playing kendo when I was just 16 years old at the University of Newcastle. There I met Don Miller (later I was told he was a renegade kendoka...but that is a story for someone else to tell) the sensei of the club.

We had the most magnificent dojo, Don had some friends at the university and had this dojo/dance hall especially built in conjunction with the multi million dollar sports and aquatic centre being built at the time for the university...we had wall to wall mirrors, springy smooth wooden floor boards and proper Japanese bogu room.

Sadly Don Miller left to Japan to teach English permanently when I was 17 and the club fell apart after only 6 months as the older students finished their degrees and moved on to find jobs. As the numbers dropped from about 25 reguler attendees to 5 or less, we got moved out of our fantastic purpose built dojo to the squash courts. I temporarily quit.

About 18 months later (now 18-19 years) returning to university as a 'proper' student, i noticed some kendo flyers on the uni notice board. So I went along to the new training session and Naohiki Shimada a third Dan uni student from Japan. He was a fantastically strong player with the best Men cut i have ever seen till this day. I wish he could have played with Okazaki or Kirby. I trained with Naohiki for about 24 months before he finished his business course and left back to Japan. Another sad loss for the Newcastle club.

I then played Kendo on and off for the next two years at the struggling University of Newcastle kendo club (many very un-important things happened during this time which are not worth mentioning here) and I was still grade less. I finished uni at 23 and made the move to Sydney to find a job.

When I came to Sydney...i was excited about finding a Kendo club to join. I was originally going to join the Macquarie University Club...but found the Sydney Kendo Club website more appealing. I called Doug and he gave me the training times. I don't really remember my first training at Willoughby (I have a bad memory), but I do remember Doug telling me that I played pretty good for someone who had never graded. It soon became apparent to me that grading is important.

So all in all...I have been exposed to kendo much longer than my grade suggests...however it has not all been quality time. I do thank Don Miller for teaching me the fundamentals of kendo and I thank Naohiki Shimada for teaching me how to cut men. However I can honestly say my greatest progression has been at the Sydney Kendo Club under the guidance of Payne sensei and Itakura sensei.

On this note I would just like to remind everyone to keep playing Kendo, don't give up (its much harder to get back into than you think) and make sure the training you do during the week counts.

Read it and weep!

2006-09-29T12:25:00.000+10:00

Is the world conspiring against me? Or simply against me playing kendo?

Work situation reduced my playing time down from 3 nights to 1 and now a recent visit to the physio has dropped me to ZERO!!!!! At least for the next few weeks....

It all began back at the Founders Cup. I never noticed it over that weekend but over the following few weeks my right shoulder was sore, especially after playing. Like most of these things (and being a male) I assumed that it would go away and almost convinced myself that it had and then one morning I was being a silly bugger on my skateboard, slammed hard on the concrete on my shoulder, and the pain was back again. I gave it yet another week to improve but no luck. Finally, I missed my one night of training on monday as the shoulder was feeling pretty bad and I saw a sports physio on wednesday (thanks Vivian). The result?

I have a 'shoulder impingement'. The assumption is that I did some tendon damage (probably from having to play keikari-geiko with Jackson for my grading!) and this lead to swelling in the joint. So when I raise my arm the swelling pushes the bone out of its socket. What now?

At least a couple of weeks of no kendo, exercises, anti-inflammatory drugs, more visits to the physio and about a 6 to 8 week recovery. Bugger huh?

The lesson here? Act on an injury early to avoid a worse case scenario later, and count yourself lucky every time you have an opportunity to train. Do your stretching properly and think of poor clowns like me who will be looking at their watch at training times and thinking about you all training while I'm stuck at work or staring at the idiot box day dreaming of pulling my men on and facing off for some jigeiko with my friends. I hope it will happen one day soon.

Make the most of it,

Rick

The Russian Style has made its mark!

2006-09-06T13:21:00.000+10:00

Monday night I finally got to play the infamous Russians. Well, to be honest, I got to play the same one twice but both jigeiko were excellent experiences and I learnt a lot from them. At the same time though, I became aware that it was just a fraction of what we could potentially learn with a steady flow of visitors like this.

Over the past few days I have also been thinking about what their training routines might be and if there is something in particular that we could take from their training practices. If anyone gets the chance to ask I would be greatly interested to know.

They are so fast and yet 'delicate' in the way they cut and move. I see some similarities with the korean style but also similarities to people like Yoshi-san. They have such an interesting style of their own. Do we have a style of our own? An SKC style? I don't know...I don't think so but I might be wrong. What do you think?

Life, Kendo and Omnipotence...

2006-08-07T17:21:00.000+10:00

I started writing this just after the Founders Cup, saved it as a draft, erased it, and am now writing something completely different! That's life....

So what's in a title? Well, first of all, I said 'omnipotence' not 'impotence'! Althoug I guess I could say that I'm feeling a little impotent that I'm not omnipotent. Why? Because my life has had a bit of a turn-around in the past few weeks and it would really help if I could be omnipotent - everywhere at once!

I've now missed two weeks of kendo for a string of reasons. The first week I missed monday night because of work (finishing up a one year contract), wednesday night because a friend got us free tickets to the Australia v. Kuwait soccer match, saturday morning because one of my closest friends called from the USA just as I was leaving home. I turned up at the end of training for the AGM and came home with Andrew Tan's flu (don't worry, I'm not blaming you Andrew!) that has kept me out of training this past week. I've now changed jobs and my current hours will be wednesday and friday nights followed by saturday and sunday days!

Hence, the title. Sometimes when life meets kendo the only solution is to be in two places at once. If only! Hopefully, I'll be able to change my work times to get at least one of the SKC training days in, but it might take a few weeks. This dilemma has really made me appreciate the simple joy in being able to train at all. We can get hung up on what's happening at training and our desire for the 'perfect' training session and forget to relish the fact that we can train with some great friends and sincere sensei who want to see us do our best.

I am so looking forward to my next opportunity to train with everyone and it will take more than a volley of 'men' cuts to wipe the smile off my face.

Enjoy your training,

Rick

Me in 3D?

2006-07-27T17:12:00.000+10:00

I checked out the website - photo's are pretty average as far as photo's go but it might be fun although you need the 3D spec's and this style is a bit old fashioned nowadays. Having said that, if someone wants to do it I say go for it! We certainly need more photo's of SKC members to grace the website and this humble blog. Speaking of which, anyone out there with photo's send them in! Video's too and I'll try posting them.

SKC - Getting in the Spotlight (Can Kendo be art?)

2006-07-26T14:10:00.000+10:00

Well just got this email today from a 'Artist', who wants to turn Kendo into 3D art.

Pretty cool? or are we above this?

Check out the email below...

To whom it may concern,

My name is Leo Carol. I am a designer/photographer/animator.
3D photography, or stereophotography, is one of my areas of interest.

I am writing to you to invite you to consider a proposal to capture Kendo action in 3D photos at your school. I am sure KENDO would be a great subject for a 3D photography project. I could organise a photoshoot (without interfering with your normal activities or plan) during a training session and/or a special event (such as a competition, etc), and of course there would be no fees involved for the photoshoot. I shoot 3D photography for pleasure, not for profit.

3D photos are quite unique and stunning. The resulting images could serve as a graphic record of your club's activities (they can be printed, published online, or screened, and the archival value of the images is sure to increase with time).

Recent samples of my 3D photographic work are available at:

http://www.wildmind.com.au/thepresence/photography/30-05-06/3d.html

http://www.thepresencemusic.com/barbroadway.html

You will need a pair of 3D glasses to view them (red-cyan lenses). If you don't have 3D glasses, please let me know and I'll post you a pair.

I hope you are not too busy to give my proposal some consideration.

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,Leo Carol

Launch of the Sydney Kendo Club blog 21st July 2006

2006-07-21T16:24:00.000+10:00