Grading examinations for older kendoka

Reflecting on the Brussels grading, I am reminded that the higher your age, the more difficult it becomes to pass. In my experience, this is not just true for Europe, but applies everywhere including the kodansha grading examinations in Japan.
Now I don’t for a moment think that kendo is ageist. We are privileged to be able to participate at ages that would have exceeded the retirement points in many other sports. Nor when looking at the array of venerable sensei on some grading panels do I think there is any bias against senior candidates. It is however an irrefutable truth that it becomes more difficult to force your body to do good kendo as you reach your 50s and 60s.
Knees and ankles wear out, particularly after years of training on hard floors. Forward motion becomes more difficult and some older kenshi start to rely more on upper-body strength to hit the target. Unfortunately this is not the way forward.
I was fortunate to receive some concerted coaching from Chiba sensei when in my mid 50s that made me realise that I had to adapt my kendo to my age. The key points were that you needed to find your own distance, keep your footwork light, but still forward, and use your opponents’ movement to your advantage. Rather than making your attacks bigger and harder, they should be smaller and lighter.
The more you advance in grade the more important seme becomes. This does not mean that you should constantly push in to take shikake waza, but you should also use hiki-dasu to make your opponent move towards you so that you can execute debana and oji-waza. The logic is that when your opponent steps towards you, you need only take half a step to reach the target. And it’s not always necessary to make fumikomi. A sliding step forward can be sufficient if you have good ki-ken-tai-itchi. Zanshin is of course important, but you do not need to gallop across the dojo to make your point. Two or three steps through with good posture and kamae, before turning to re-engage should be enough.
Kizeme is a necessity. Mochida sensei’s often quoted truth that when your body becomes frail you have to rely on “indomitable spirit” to subdue your opponent is key. You should use your mental strength to make the opponent move in a direction and timing where you can hit him. One of my other favourite quotes on this subject is from Kikuchi Koichi sensei who said “as I become older I move more slowly, but I also see my opponent’s movement more slowly”.

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Congratulations President Putin!

The hot sports news from Russia this week is that President Vladimir Putin has been promoted to 8^th Dan in Judo. Clearly a great achievement and an even greater one as his last recorded grade was 6^th Dan.  Judoka please correct me if I am wrong, but this is I believe, not an unusual scenario. If my memory serves me correctly the higher grades in Judo tend to be awarded for contribution to the sport; rather than being earned in grading examinations.

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, this is not the case with kendo. Anyone who has watched the 8^th Dan examination in Kyoto in May or its November counterpart in Tokyo, will be aware of the bravery and determination of candidates in their 70s and 80s still trying to demonstrate the physical qualities required to take hachidan.

Many of us have seen the documentary “The 8^th Dan Challenge” where we watched the preparations of Ishida sensei, then 48 years old and Miyamoto sensei, who was approaching the age of 80. I had the opportunity to talk to Miyamoto sensei several years ago in Kyoto. I mentioned that the programme had been seen widely outside Japan. His response was that he was embarrassed when it was shown in Japan and that he could now say that he was embarrassed on a World scale. He did however say this with a smile. At the time of our conversation he was still nanadan.

There also appear to be no exceptions made in kendo for the great and good. The late Japanese Prime Minister, Ryutaro Hashimoto remained at 5^th Dan after a lifetime in kendo.

For kendoka who want to climb the grading ladder within FIK (International Kendo Federation) or its member organisations, there is no short-cut. The pass percentages at this year’s examinations in Aichi were just over 17% and 12% for 6^th and 7^th Dan respectively and a daunting 0.84% for hachidan in Kyoto .  Even shogo, which were at one time awarded by recommendation, now have to be earned by examination. For the ZNKR Kyoshi, even non- Japanese candidates have to physically attend the examination in Tokyo.

The ZNKR does have other ways of recognising outstanding contribution to kendo development such as the prestigious Korosho. This award is presented to few people and is meant as an accolade for a lifetime of service to kendo. My colleague John Howell is one of the few non-Japanese to receive the Korosho. In his case it was presented for many years of continuous service to European Kendo.

When it comes to grade however, no matter how great one’s service to the organisation, it’s a matter of getting in the registration queue at the Nippon Budokan and doing your best for 120 seconds.

So congratulations Putin sensei, but for us poor old kendoka – Gambatte kudasai!

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The Olympic Debate plus Grading Examinations – Two unrelated topics for the price of one!

I have been reviewing the results of the poll on possible future Olympic status and looking at your comments. More than anything else I was overwhelmed by the number of impassioned, well thought out, well written arguments both in favour and against. Counting comments on the blog itself, in the poll, on Facebook and other media; this has been the most commented upon post of my blogging career and I had far more pleasure in reading your thought than in writing mine.

The poll itself stands as I write, at 77% of readers against Olympic inclusion and 23% for. It has remained around this percentage from the start of voting. I will leave the poll open to give those on holiday a chance to air their views.  As I expected, the comments around the poll were far more enlightening. Opinions ranged from the reactionary “let’s not only keep kendo out, but take it back to an earlier form”, (including trips and strangles); to we have to accept the inevitable, to lets embrace the Olympics and the benefits they will bring.  Overall we seem to be a fairly conservative bunch that prefer the way things are at the moment.

On a completely unrelated front, I had the honour of being part of a panel this weekend for a grading examination from ikkyu to 5^th dan. The examiners were two Japanese Hachidan and four British Nanadan.

I did not record the pass rates, but as usual, they decreased progressively up the grade scale. My recollection however is that jitsugi passes at the higher end were around 33% for 4^th dan and 25% for 5^th. I had to leave quite quickly after the event, so did not have the chance to give as much feedback as I would have hoped to people who missed the boat this time. To be frank the same reasons for failing were pretty much common to everyone, so here is some catch-all advice.

I sat out on the ikkyu, shodan exam, so can’t comment. For the nidan and sandan fails the reason was mainly that there was not sufficient pressure on the back foot to allow the smooth launch into an attack.  In some cases grip was wrong, or kamae too stiff to allow free movement. A few people lifted the shinai with just the right hand, holding it vertically before striking, others made their approach with the shinai in the air rather than reaching distance and lifting and striking in the timing of one.

Fourth and fifth dan candidates knew what was expected. To a man, or woman, they stood up, took their time, let out a great big kiai and then many started to fall apart. We all know that we have limited time, so it is natural to try to demonstrate attacks in the few minutes allowed. Most however did not make sufficient seme and allowed their nerves to force them to attack when there was no opportunity. For many people, once they were in this downward spiral, the attack rate increased as the opportunities decreased.

The only two fifth dan passes performed at a significant level above their peers. Despite one or two misses in one case, both made strong pressure and seme, dominated the centre and attacked opportunities that they had created. Unfortunately there was no happy ending. Both failed the kata

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