Update

In my blog on Men vs Men, I was told that the technique actually had a name: men-kiriotoshi-men. It is basically an Oji waza described as the most difficult.

You can see this at 4:02 into this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccLvwEcfCCs

Also Mr. Okada was kind enough to give me some tips on men-vs-men. It seems my problem is that when I launch into men I am not heading straight for the target- especially when I am late. I tend to angle around it. If I just strike directly at dead center of the opponent's men with all my intention the worst that can happen is we clash and no one gets a men across (or my opponent does a kiriotoshi to me :)

I also have a problem of still using my right arm too much as a result sometimes my men strikes are off center. I need to just do extra waza at home.

Men vs Men Part 2

The problem with the previous experiment was that it tends to cause you to over use your right arm. It also tends you to strike off center. I think the previous approach is useable if you know you are striking men late against an opponent. But to use it as a primary approach is too difficult during actual jigeko.

So I find myself reviewing the technique in 12/21/2008 of my blog. Ie. use more left hand.

Use right hand as the pivot point but keep it largely immobile so as to guide the shinai to its target. Then follow through all the way- probably the biggest problem I need to address.

Men vs Men

For as long as I can remember the following has always been a real challenge:

Anytime I simultaneously strike men against a more advanced opponent my strike never connects. The best answers I've been able to get from asking more senior kendoists are: strike quicker; strike on top of the opponent; reach center sooner than the opponent.

These are all likely to be true to a certain extent but try as I may to improve each one of these I have never been able to produce a more consistent means of overcoming this problem.

The problem seems to be that when the two men-uchi's clash one's arms tend to push the opponent's arms out off center making it difficult for the off-center opponent to strike. So in essence, yes the person that is more centered sooner is the one who will win.

So I thought, what if, I am unable to arrive at center first (which is most of the time when I encounter advanced kendoists)? Am I always going to lose the strike?

So I tried the following: instead of attempting to strike men, strike directly at the lower part of the opponent's shinai near the tsuba in order to deflect it enough to clear a path to that will enable your shinai to reach their men. This is kind of like suriage waza except that usually when we do suriage we brush our shinai against the opponents on the upward swing. I've tried doing this for suriage-men but it's always been difficult because it takes up a lot of time to bring your shinai up and then down. This is especially problematic when the opponent is rushing in with a men strike at full speed. So what I am suggesting is a downward suriage. Ie. deflect the opponent's shinai on the downward strike just before it is supposed to connect with the men.

Yesterday I gave this idea a go. During waza exercises involving simultaneous men strikes, I tried with and without this downward suriage technique. I was quite surprised at how consistently it seemed to work. Against more advanced opponents I was able to strike their men as well as them striking mine. For less advanced opponents I was able to overcome their strike very consistently.

Kendo Algorithm version 2/14/2010

Kendo Algorithm version 1/14/2010

Take this with a grain (box) of salt. This is an algorithm for Kendo as I am discovering it...

Rhythm and Men Strike Size

Two things I want to record:

Rhythm:

Practice involved moving forwards and backwards to cause the opponent to follow your rhythm.

Then at the right moment, if opponent advances in response to following your retreat, strike the opponent's men. If on the otherhand, the opponent retreats in response to your advance, strike kote or kote-men.

Size of Men Strike:

Ordinarily one is encouraged to strike small men by aiming first for the tsuki, and then in the last moment, raise the shinai as small as possible just above the opponent's men and then strike their men. This is what we have been always taught. In examining higher ranking kendoists as well as videos, it seems in practice a small men looks weak over a men with a larger swing. I was advised that since I often use a small men, I should compensate with strong fumikomi. Also I was told that when striking a larger men using one's wrists, use the right hand as the pivot, not the left hand.

In my next blog entry I will start to update my kendo algorithm again....

Nidan Kendo Exam

Passed my nidan (MWKF) exam today. There were 14 who tested for nidan and I was the oldest.

The day before, I took time out to practice against a dummy and using a video camera to see how I was hitting. One thing I noticed was if I swing slightly larger using my wrists, the motion comes off looking more like the higher ranking dans. This is rather contrary to what I have been instructed to do thus far. Basically, for example, when striking small-men, the idea is to aim for the tsuki and in the last moment, raise the shinai just above the opponent's men and strike. I have done this on the video tape and the movement just looks weak. Whereas instead, if I apply more wrist movement to bring the shinai higher the movement seems more correct. This extra movement of the wrist of course makes the strike slower and tended to break my strike into 2 separate movements. So then I re-watched my videos of Umeki sensei and how he was able to do it so quickly. The "secret" was to time the upward movement of the shinai at the same time as the raising of one's foot. Truth be told, I recall Sakamoto sensei saying this to me a couple of years ago while I was still ikkyu. Anyway, I find that this also tends to cause one to raise the shinai while still relatively near the body making it less difficult (perhaps) for the opponent to strike an open kote. This might explain why my kote has been rather open during past practices.

Anyway, just before it was my turn at the bout my heart was racing- in some sense that was a good thing. I suppose with ones heart rate elevated blood is moving more rapidly thru one's body in anticipation of elevated activity.

First bout I think I did well, managed to hit men several times cleanly without allowing opponent to strike. I was also able to use men-uchi with the larger wrist swing that I had practiced the day before. This is somewhat risky, but I figured if it failed, I'd go back to my regular men strikes. Also changed it up a little with harai men and debana kote. The opponent wasn't maintaining zanshin so it was easy to pick him off right when he turned around.

Second bout was more challenging- generally difficult to hit men against the taller opponent. The larger wrist swing was not fast enough to get to my opponent's men. In the end I figured my odds were better against him with a debana kote- and it worked. Landed a kote just in time for the bout to end.

Kata involved 4 paired opponents simultaneously. It went smoothly for the most part. I glitched a little on kata # 3 on the shidachi side when receiving the strike- but recovered quickly. Judges did not ask me to repeat. Though they asked me to repeat ipponme, which was somewhat odd.

Next exam, November 2011!

In case this is useful to anyone, this is my answer to the written test:

Describe Three Types of Ma-ai

Ma-ai refers to the distance between the kendoka and his/her opponent.

Issoku itto-no-maai (middle distance)

This refers to the distance whereby a kendoka can strike his/her opponent with one step. When two kendoka are standing in chudan-no-kamae this is often indicated by having the shinais crossing within the region of the mono-uchi. This is considered the optimum distance for a strike.

Toma (long distance)

This refers to the situation whereby the kendokas are at a distance beyond issoku itto-no-maai- often marked by the kendokas’ shinais being at or beyond tip-to-tip when the opponents are standing in chudan-no-kamae. While a successful strike is still possible, the opponent is given an extra measure of time to react to the strike. Sometimes strikes from toma can catch an opponent off-guard as he/she may not expect a strike at this distance.

Chikama (short distance)

This refers to when the kendokas are at a distance closer than issoku itto-no-maai. This is often indicated by the kendokas’ shinais crossing closer than the region of the mono-uchi. This short distance gives both kendoka very little time to react to strikes. However at this distance it is easy for an observant opponent to deflect an oncoming strike by simply turning the shinai counter-clockwise at the instant the opponent’s strike is initiated.

Furthermore, because of the smaller distance between opponents, the footwork needed to execute the strike tends to be shorter and therefore the overall form of the strike may appear to be smaller. To compensate for this the strike should be performed with additional emphasis on fumikomi and kiai. Note also however that if the kendokas are too close to one another when a strike is attempted it may not be possible to execute a proper strike using the mono-uchi region of the shinai.

Transitions between Ma-ai

Often in shiai ma-ai begins at toma. If toma is very far (requiring many footsteps,) then ayumi-ashi can be used to bridge the distance. However once the shinai are close to tip-to-tip, okuri-ashi footsteps should be assumed. The kendoka can then cautiously approach issoku itto-no-maai with small okuri-ashi while seeking opportunities to strike. The kendoka can also gradually approach chikama as a means to apply pressure to one’s opponent. At this point tension will grow as time margins for reacting to strikes decreases.