Kent's Random Blog

Ippo Furyu - A single step without Stopping

2009-08-30T10:06:00.003+10:00

Here I write again, after friday training at USYD.

It was quite a different training regime, with the upcoming Uni Games & ACT competition. I would compete, but I have other committments i'm afraid.

Anyway, we started off training with warm up, lasting about 30 minutes or so, and then we had Shiai practice while the beginners sat down and watched us.

Matches came and went in a maximum of 2minute bouts, which was enough for me to work up a sweat. When my match came, I was pumped up. I wasn't thinking of anything, just attacking and showing my spirit, in which both my opponent and I received compliments about from a Sempai. However, one thing that was apparently lacking was zanshin, in respect to our kote strikes.

One thing i'm not sure about what my opponent did, was not maintaining chuudan. I have encountered this technique before, and mainly it was a technique to induce the aite into going for men and then countering that with a debana kote usually. I generally kept my distance where I noticed him creeping closer when employing this technique.

Eventually, I scored a kote off him, and he got a point off me in which the match ended in a draw.

After our shiai practice, it was followed up with Ippon Shobu for 30 seconds with hayasuburi as punishment. I did hayasuburi every rotation unfortunately- mainly drawing but also losing to a person or 2.

This was followed with Free-jigeiko.

One thing that I tried to practice during both Ippon Shobu & Jigeiko, was kote-nuki men. I was able to avoid their kote hits, but wasn't able to push off to complete a good, clean men cut. Oh well, more practice.

This sums it up for now.
My current focus atm is:
- Posture
- Zanshin
- Men cuts (I have been focusing too much on kote cuts lately, so best to go back to the fundamentals)

Good training

2009-08-22T08:21:00.004+10:00

Yesterday was my first training in a while, I forgot how it felt to train.. I missed it.
It may have been because of the good streak that I had this week, but I felt training was good training for me. My cuts in basic training felt crisp (all except my dou cuts >_>) and I apparently haven't regressed from the time I last played.

A lot of people have improved though, guess it shows through their training. haha, while me and my suburi at home. ;(

Some interestingly new thing we did (well for me) in training today. Seme-ing and fighting for center, and once you feel the pressure of their shinai fighting back, lift up and go for kote as your shinai would be gone, leaving nothing but air as resistance against the aito's shinai, hence opening up kote. Much more efficient than harai waza in my opinion. I tried to use it several times during jigeiko with no avail, but I guess I can always practice it more.

Another thing is Penalty Ippon Shobu. Pretty interesting - I knew what it was from a sempai's blog post, but it was nice to try it out. Albeit, i lost/drew every round so I had to do hayasuburi every match. Oh well, no pain no gain!

Short post today. Anyway, until next training,
Happy training!

- Kent

Ash like snow

2009-06-09T20:55:00.003+10:00

I haven't been training for a while, missing last weeks training due to sickness, going to Blue Leaf Dojo a fortnight ago, and not training 3 weeks before that.

Needless to say, I was quite anxious to go training tonight - despite the cold weather. There wasn't much of a big turn out. There were 4 of us including the instructor as he likes us to refer to him. (Whom I must congratulate for obtaining Shodan in Iaido).

Anyway, due to the cold weather, (and to my disappointment being psyched up for training) we did Kata. I wasn't unhappy with doing kata, but I would've preferred Jigeiko/waza training. But all is well, as training is training.

There are several points that Kata and reinforced during tonight. Mainly:
- Control [relating to me mostly, as for some reason I bursted into fits of laughter]
- Zanshin
- "Presence" - This related to projecting one's ki onto the other person. Due to the the lack of physical contact in kata, this would (I Believe) improve one's ability to seme in kendo.
- Distance
- Footwork

I have no idea why I bursted into fits of laughter, but it is something that I will have to correct. I don't believe that the judges, when i'm grading for Ikkyu [as corrected by Don], would appreciate my laughing during Kata.

Zanshin - speaks for itself. Was illustrated several times during the night when one of us did something wrong, we sometimes stopped, instead of going on. Is related straight into kendo. You go for kote but miss. You would attempt another cut (ie, Nidan waza) such as men or any other opening. Why? Because if you have awareness that you didn't make the cut, the aite would also know. However, his guard may let down for a split second and in that split second, you may be able to take that point if you were on guard all the time.

Presence - kinda relating to seme & intention to cut.

Distance - a prevailing problem getting all of us. The differences in height between people during rotation is noticeable. Ie; if they take too much of a big/not big enough step. As has been reiterated many times, Kata is a 'partnership' of trust. There needs to be compensation between the Uchidachi & Shidachi - they need to work together.

Footwork - must I say? haha. Footwork is the fundamentals of kendo and any martial art. Relates to distance as well as presence - depending on how you move (ie; with the shoulders or hara) effects your presence and ultimately, Seme.

These are some of the things that was picked up on tonight. There are more, but I don't have the time to write about all of them.

Anyway, until next time, Happy Kendo-ing!

The Flavour of Life

2009-05-22T17:23:00.002+10:00

I haven't been training for the past few weeks, nor have I picked up my shinai for an extended period of time. It feels like everything is starting to fall apart; University is getting busy, work wants me to work more hours, need to apply for Graduate jobs, injury is preventing me from training, and just general problems in my life that don't seem to be worth thinking about.. yet I do.

It feels like i've reached one of many plateaus that I'll experience in my life. It doesn't feel nice, where nothing feels like it's going right. I feel that I've changed from the person that I was a few years ago. I was carefree, had little to nothing on my mind, stress-free, etc. Now, it seems like i've regressed into a person that I didn't want to become. Being afraid of making decisions in life.

I guess I need to re-evaluate my position in life... re-prioritise some things. Because, somethings don't seem to be important enough to be worth the hassle it is (no I'm not going to quit kendo). Just something in my life that has gotten me acting weirder & changing. Changing into this person I don't want to be..

Currently, it seems that I'm taking a lot of things on that I may/may not be able to handle. Overloading the number of subjects I take at uni, Working part time, Kendo.. just doesn't seem to have enough time for me to just relax and take a breather. I don't know how everyone else does it. Guess i'm not as great as I thought I would be.

I'll probably resume training again next week depending on how busy I'm going to be; with all the assignments i've got to do.

Until next time, I promise you that there won't be an emo post in the future to come. Hopefully I'll resolve my problems by that time and become a person that people have came to befriend.

Until then,
ciaossu

Never back down.

2009-05-02T18:01:00.002+10:00

I haven't trained at my original dojo for a while due to the timings of work, uni, and other misc things that made me unable to go training.

Started off with basic things like warmup, 100 hayasuburi and then basic footwork as we used to do a while ago before putting men on and starting keiko. We first did kirikaeshi followed by kihon Men, 5 times each for 2 rotations, and then Kihon Kote, Kihon dou followed by small cuts.

There was other things that we did as well but I forgot as to what it was.

I've received several comments regarding my small cuts, where when I go to hit men, I dip the shinai down below tsuki towards the Mune of the dou and then bring the shinai back up to do a men cut, or so that's what I was told what I was doing.
Another comment was that I wasn't hitting hard enough, and another sempai told me that I was whipping my shinai when doing small cuts. Just bring it up and down he told me. I'm not sure how I'm doing the whipping thing, but I believe that relates to the problem I have with the shinai going down towards the mune of the dou.

After that We did Uchikomi-geiko & Kakari-geiko followed with a few bouts of Jigeiko. First jigeiko I wasn't feeling up to scratch, so I tried to feel for more opening.
I then jigeiko'd with another sempai who commented that I was rushing to cut too much which felt predictable. Therefore, I needed to setup the cut in order to succeed.

Still along way for me to go, and not too long till Burwood competition.

The end of our Way of the sword is to be fearless when confronting our inner enemies and our outer enemies.

2009-04-07T22:00:00.002+10:00

—Tesshu Yamaoka, 19th century Kendo master

Just had training today, and I did something that I probably shouldn't do.. but I experimented with Jodan. I didn't play the whole match with jodan, but just a few transverses to jodan to kind of throw off my opponent.

I must say, it is a totally different stance. Employing this stance in jigeiko abandons all defence (besides men) but is supposed to make the opponent scared and back off.

I learnt two things with trying jodan. (Well 3-4 things really)
1. Distance; despite the supposed advantage in distance, must really monitor the distance well due to the lack of shinai. Also footwork must be up to scratch - if your left leg lags behind it defeats the distance advantage of Jodan.

2. Seme - since there is a lack of shinai contact/communication; must be 'physically' present. seme with the whole body and not back away.

3. Attack, attack, attack. When I did jodan, I sometimes waited for him to attack which was wrong. I should be forcing my pressure (ki) onto opponent and threaten to kill. I believe that this will translate to better seme in Chudan; and vice-versa.

There was another thing, but I forgot.
Nontheless, I didn't play the whole match in Jodan. I predominantly used Chuudan and I'm getting the hang of Debana Kote. Currently interested in attempting Kaishi Dou. I tried it in Jigeiko but kinda failed with the distance.

Side note, it's interesting to see the different playing styles of Kumdo & Kendo. Had another kendoka join us for practice who trains Iaido @ Blue Leaf and kendo @ Burwood. Exposure to different types of playing styles is extremely helpful in preparation for the Burwood PCYC Competition coming up on the 9th of May.

Until next time, I bid you all adieu.
And Happy Kendo-ing!

(and hello Kendoka's from Blue leaf!)

A warrior must only take care that his spirit is never broken.

2009-03-29T18:11:00.003+11:00

Quote from Shissai.

Been busy for the past few weeks, with uni, work, kendo, and other extracurricular activities.

Onto kendo things, nothing much has been going on kendo-wise. Had Sunday-beginner-bogu training, with guidance from a Sempai. i need to concentrate more on my Zanshin (ergo, Turning around too early), Fumikomi, and fluid cuts (not lifting & then moving legs. Lead with the body)

My sempai seemed to be worried about pointing out too many things about my kendo. But I honestly didn't mind. It's better to have been aware of errors in my kendo, rather then to try and fix it later on.

Need to focus more on Fumikomi, and building arm muscles (my arms seem to be lagging behind) hmm.
I seem to be attempting a lot of Nuki-men cuts. (They go for men, i step back and do men), but it seems i wouldn't score with it because of Zanshin. Must remember to zanshin forwards, and not backwards (exceptions = hiki cuts)

So things to improve on:
- Zanshin: require more dedication in each cut. The more dedicated I am to a cut, the more zanshin I would have.
- Fumikomi - Not sure if it's related to the lack of skin on my left foot due to blisters breaking, but it's another thing i must imrpve on;
- Footwork - Sempai advised more suriashi around the house the maintain the blisters.
- Fluid cuts - I've found a way of improving this while experimenting during Kihon practice. When doing 2 step cuts, move feet first and then shinai. Lead with and push with the hara.

Side note; was watching the squad training that was happening after our training, it's amazing though. Especially one of the women. Great kendo.

But, until next time,
Happy kendo-ing.

It's been a while

2009-01-27T22:01:00.002+11:00

My last post was on Nov. 26th. Since then, there have been a lot of things that have occured since then. The most prominent thing would be the NSWKA championships that was held at USYD.

My first ever shiai. I played pretty good, did better than i had expected.For one, I won 2 matches which was well beyond my expectations. But still have a long way to go after seeing my shiai videos courtesy of peter. Zanshin and explosive left foot power is required.

Skip forward to today and from since then, I've only had 2 training sessions (inclusive of todays training at Sevenhills).

The other training was @ USYD Kendo - Redfern Townhall. Ground was pretty hard but I came prepared with a heel protector ^^
T'was pretty hot that day and I wasn't feeling too well. I felt nauseaus so I stopped for a while to recouperate. This occured during jigeiko, and louis was my partner and he seemed alright with it. Managed to recoup fast enough to get in a few minutes of jigeiko with Louis. A few more rotation and we had to packup as we had to get out of the hall by 6pm.

Training today was pretty good @ Seven Hills. Warmup consisted of moving the chairs onto the side of the hall so we had enough space. One of the beginners had bought bogu. After doing practice for the grading at picton which I will not be attending due to my friend's birthday; the beginner put on his dou & tare and then we got to whack it ^__^

Quite funny though, the set he bought (second and possibly 3rd hand but still in decent condition except for dou Himo), had a gold dou. Haha, was basically saying "HIT ME! HIT ME!"
Anyway, we did Kihon Dou cuts. Good to practice the basics everynow and then. I put on my men afterwards, did Kirikaeshi, Uchikomi-Geko & Keikari-Geko acting as a motodatchi for the beginners and then had a jigeiko session with the coach/sempai who was leading the training.

I'm finding that my left leg lags behind still and my posture goes to shits sometimes. Especially when trying to cut kote. Eventually, I got score a men point; whether or not he gave it to me I'm not too sure but this was a good training session.

One thing that i've also noticed is that I don't have enough dedication in my cuts. I'm hestitant in making some cuts. But I guess this goes back to the point of one cut, one kill; although i really should be worrying about that at this point of stage.

Anyway, untill next time. I shall bid you adieu.

Eventful Times

2008-11-26T23:18:00.002+11:00

Well, it's been a while since i've had my last blog update. In terms of training, some interesting things have happened.

Tuesday 18th November,
- Daniel came over my house, we caught up, played some games, ate Pho, etc. Then we made our way towards Blue Leaf Kendo Club for the 5-6:30 training session. Mainly consisted of being a motodatchi. I didn't mind being motodatchi, it allowed me to pick up on somethings that the other peopler were doing wrong. I would've said something, but it wasn't in my place to change the way they were teaching.

- Fast foward an hour or so and then the other guy in bogu (his name escapes me) did kakarei-geko and was a some what, a demonstration to the non-bogu people on how to zanshin properly, and go for the next cut. After understanding what kakarei-geko, I noticed that I was doing the wrong thing with Walter the week before, I was only supposed to remain in Chuudan, which was my bad.

- We Jigeiko'd for a while, and then had session where we tried to land an ippon. I tried, but failed. I felt a nice cut that he landed on me, which had ended the practice. We sat in seiza, took off our kote and Men, did Mokusou, and training was finished for the day.

Friday - 21st November;
Training for USYD kendo was still not on as exams officially finished on sunday, 23rd november. We did some more kata practice, revising over 1st - 4th Kata and learnt 5th kata. Didn't go to dinner because I had work the following day.

WORK - SAT & SUN - 22nd & 23rd Nov;
To sum it up in one word;; tiring. Haha, but good to not work with my manager who seems to boss us around allthe time. haha. did 6-4pm on both days. Helped make a platter on Sunday for a customer which is something new for me. haha

Monday - 24th Nov;
Went to training early, around 2-15pm. Jinny came at around 2-30pm. did some warming up at the start and big kihon cuts to get into the mood for training after a months or so without training at USYD.
Mark ended up coming training today, and only bogu people ended up coming. Focused on Kirikaeshi with tenouchi after each sayu-men.

Then we did some basic cuts, Kihon Men, Kote and Dou. Except for the Dou, Mark taught as a new way in that we slide up our hands when we make the cut in the attempt to do a Nuki dou (opponent goes for men and you do a dou cut). My skills were a bit rusty and I sucked. haha. Nothing new for me.

Did some Hiki-men afterwards from tsube-zeriai. Was a totally new thing to me and luckily it was broken down into steps so we could follow on with what we were supposed to do. Somewhere during his time before doing Hiki-men, we did kote-men cut. Footwork stuffs me up really badly. Need to see how the foot work goes for kote-men.

We then did some shiai with Mark which was over really fast for me. Marks men cut is soo fast. I observed from the other beginner bogu people, that when we go for men cut, Marks men cut arrives earlier then ours. Need to do weighted training with a suburito.

Tuesday - 25th Nov.
Training outside of HKGYM with Kelvin & Takuma. Phil was supposed to go but he was busy.Did warm up, basic kihon cuts, Uchi-komi gekom Jigeiko & Ai-Uchi Men. Was good training session. 12-3pm in teh sun so it was a bit of a work out. I wasn't huffing and puffing, but my arms were tired. lol
Need more practice in jigeiko. Hmm. My weakest point in kendo is going for that deciding cut, making & identifying an opening. Zanshin was pretty bad though as well. Not sure why.. maybe it was because i was tired or just because it was grass.. but my zanshin could've been better.

Anyway, this is my post for the moment. Nearly midnight and im getting sleepy, so I'm going to head off to sleep. Staying up for no reason isn't good for your health ((in my opinion)) x]

Looking forward to Fri Training. PEter's leading training and it's supposedly going to be like highschool kendo training in japan to (as per Jinnny) make us buff for States.

Will I be better before State championships? Probably not. But time will tell. Need to start to put more effort into my kendo.

Until next time-
Kent~

Dojo Select - Blue Leaf Kendo Club

2008-11-11T19:26:00.004+11:00

Howdy all,

Well I just got back from the Blue Leaf Dojo Club located in my hometown of Sevenhills.
They use the hall of Sevenhills Hills Sport High School for their dojo.

Aspects of the dojo:
They actually have a proper Shomen for us to bow to. We didn't do a formal bowing at the start because we started 30minutes late.
The hall was used for the School Certificate exams so we had to clear out the desks so we could start. While waiting for Walter & Peter, we (the other 2 beginners that were there: Anthony & Joe) started stretching.

Currently; there are only 3 non-bogu people, 1 sensei and 1 other bogu person. From what I overheard (yes, rude. But I couldn't help it) this week is his last week in Sydney so he won't be there next week.

Training:
We did some warm up, normal joge-suburi, naname-suburi, Double men (men forward and then backwards)and Sayu-men. I've noticed a difference in the teaching styles of Ervin and this club.

One; when doing joge suburi, they hold a normal grip. We hold both hands at the end.
Two; Sayu-Men: They go raise their shinai along the path they cut instead of what Ervin told us & up the middle.
Three; Men cuts: The sensei said that tenouch at the head, and not to cut to the chin which makes that "shinai flex" effect.

Then we did some Kihon Men, Kote Dou (without Men on)
5 Kihon Men each, rotate, do 5 Kihon Kote, rotate, do 5 Kihon Dou.
And then we did kihon kote -> Kihon men followed by Kihon kote -> small men.

What i've noticed about the non-bogu cuts (well one of them) is that there's no real power in their cuts.

We then put our men on, then did some kirikaeshi, Followed by uchimeigeko (I think that's what it's called). Motodatchi plays center game and then creates opening. The bogu players were the motodatchi.

Kakarei-geko was the next part of training where we had to pressure and make our own opening. I think Walter and I misunderstood and started to do Jigeiko. Haha. We learned our mistake and then we started to do Jigeiko following the Sensei's instruction.

I got to Jigeiko against Peter. I believe that I have slightly improved since my initiation, where I got owned. I still have to find the concept of distance, and recognising openings. I think more UchimeiGeko is required for me. I then played jigeiko against their sensei. It was a valuable experience for me. He did a lot of "mune tsuki" attacks which I could have Attacked Men by deflecting the shinai. Taught me a lesson about turning too early as well. I didn't make the same mistake again. I still had a lot of openings I could have taken.

I need to convict to my cuts and be more aggressive. When doing "jigeiko" against walter, it surprised me how aggressive he was. I must Catch up! I must level up.

Watching the Jigeiko between the sensei & Peter was interesting. I admire Peters kendo. haha

Fee: $10 per lesson currently. The more people that attend, the cheaper iti s. We didn't have to pay, but being the sweet heart Walter is, he paid $20 for us 3. lol.

We've got some compliments about USYD Kendo (except for me and my Noobishness. haha). Mainly Peter and his kendo. haha
Anyway, will I go again?
Possibly, if I'm not the only guy from USYD that goes there I will. hahaha.

Pros: Small kendo club so sensei can focus on most of the students., good location (for me)
Cons: Too short, the training session is only 1.5 hours.. deffinitely not enough time for Kendo to be exhausting, but managed to work up a sweat.
- The differences between the teachings of Ervin & Blue leaf dojo (hehe, kinda sounds like something from pokemon)
- No kiai during warmup. --> Not warming up the spirit.

I may go back there to train on tuesdays. It'll be a good experience for me.. And between now and state championships, I'll need all the help that I can get.

Enlightenment.

2008-10-31T22:14:00.003+11:00

Friday 31st October, Training at 4-6pm.

Today we had a new type of training schedule as per suggested by Ervin. I quite like this training schedule. Much more intense and I felt I got more out of it. My keikogi is currently drenched with sweat so airing it out as per usual.

First we started off with general warm up; all went well I guess, 30 Normal Hayasuburi which was (in my opinion) pretty good. Then we had another 30 Hayasuburi but pulling our shinai to our butts like in Joge/Naname-Suburi. That was a bit more diffficult, but managed to live through it.

Then comes bogu training without taking a mini-break. So we put on our men after Mokusou and then started Kirikaeshi. I mistook what Ervin said about acting like you're in a shiai and did it in the kirikaeshi. Peter corrected me on this.

Then came Kihon Men Cuts; acting as thoguh you're in shiai. Ie; gain center and strike.

Then was Dou Cuts. My Dou cuts really suck. I need to improve on it. I screwed up on the finding an opening to do dou, and when i did; it was too close. I got mune-tsuki'd by Steven a couple of times and I pretty much swore underneath my breath.

Kote cuts were alright.. Zanshin is a bit different from what Ervin wanted us to do. Motodatchi needs to push up against the Uchidatchi to try and push them back. It was weird at first, but when i was up against Peter, I did alright.

Then came something new I learnt. Tsuki. I still think that it's a bit early for me to use tsuki but it's a good measure for getting proper center & chuudan, since tsuki should just be a straight thrust towards their throat. Went up against Chai, and missed most of the time. And then I was up against a korean guy, and i managed to get the tsuki down pat.. but need to attack with KILLER INTENT.

Rested for a while after tsuki since Sim (her first time in bogu I think) wasn't feeling well. It was a welcome break to get a drink. Then.. JIGEIKO.

I was up against the korean guy first. I attacked a lot more then when I first had proper jigeiko against Don, from whom I just stood there when he went to attack me. When the korean guy started to attack, I initated attacks more often but still had problems identifying any openings. Then I was up against my rival, Kelvin.

It surprised me how much better Kelvin has gotten. I'll need to get my act together and do more suburi's to get muscle memory of cuts. Another factor for me is my fumikomi. When under pressure, my posture & fumikomi goes to hell =/

I'll probably get a heel protector for the time being since i had to basically had to walk without using my heel after training and sat out the bit last of jigeiko. Skin of my toe also ripped. which was crap. -_-

Anyway, I'm (in my opinion) steadily improving my kendo. It's not where I would like for it to be at the moment... but it shall "suffice" so to speak.

So list of things for me to work on:

- Dou Cuts

- Power in my cuts

- Fumikomi

- Posture.

- Centre

- Relaxing underneath pressure

- Using more left foot to push for attack.

Well that's my rant for the moment. Back to watching T2. Cya. ^^

Down with the sickness

2008-10-25T10:27:00.000+11:00

Well, I've managed to yet again, miss out on another training session.

Felt dizzy/nauseous yesterday, so I didn't end up goin training. I feel a bit better today but not fully up to scratch. Good thing is, that I don't have to go to work and have roughly the same amount of time to study for Accounting (on the 29th) due to my 2 days out of action from my sickness.

I'm not going to be training on monday either; I need all the time to study for my exam and get Credit + for this accounting. ><

Wish me luck.!

Also, watched Clannad After Story Episode 3 today (or was it 4 .. the latest one). Was good episode. Currently waiting for Gundam 00 new episode. >,<

Anyway, untill next time; I hope that I will feel better. Ciao~

- End Transmission.

First post

2008-10-21T20:49:00.000+11:00

First post for me.

Finished all my lectures & tutorials for this semester at uni, and now to study for my Final exams. 1 on the 29th of October & the other on the 6th of November.

Not too long to study for it, so hopefully i'll be ready.!

Also another thing, is that IAM XAH (XTREME AIR HOCKEY) CHAMPION!

THat's right Phil. Team 3k will own Team Cabra. Bring it on. =]