Putting Theory into practice

Watchet Seminar Group 2013

I enjoy teaching at kendo seminars. They offer the opportunity to try to make to make a difference to the kendo of a group of people from various dojo in a short period of time. As I mentioned in last week’s post, this was the weekend of the annual Watchet seminar and the theme was “making opportunities to attack”. Obviously this is a broad subject and encompasses the whole gamut of shikake and oji waza. I was privileged to work with the senior group and I and Terry Holt sensei ran through numerous drills, making the connection to how these techniques fit into the sansatsuho.

As there is a grading examination on the second afternoon, the seminar lasts for a day and a half and includes kata practice and keiko as well as warm-ups and basic kihon. The second morning is mostly a reprise of the first day with a chance to work on any problem areas. The timetable allowed us an hour to run through the whole range of men, dou and kote techniques, trying seme waza, osae and harai waza and then progressing through debana , suriage, kaeshi, uchiotoshi and nuki techniques. Although we had spent a more leisurely three hours on these on Saturday, the review session felt like it was happening in fast forward and the students did a great job to keep up with the pace.

Some waza were new to some people and old favourites for others. In some cases different instructors bring a slightly different approach to techniques that you already know and that sometimes is the catalyst that turns a never used technique into a favourite. In most cases the biggest improvements happen when you take the seed of technique back to your own dojo and work on it. Although kendo associations try to combine seminars and grading examinations for convenience, a seminar held three months ahead of an examination would probably show the best results.

The one thing that I am sure was obvious to most people is that in kendo, as in the rest of life, you have to “make it happen”. Shikake waza does not work unless you break your opponents centre and oji waza is effective only if you control your opponents timing and pull him into your counter attack. I am delighted to say that everyone bought whole-heartedly into this concept and the quality of kendo in the keiko sessions and the examination lifted accordingly.

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Dou – collective hanshi wisdom!

Many people, who can confidently hit men and kote, continue to have difficulty with dou. This is not surprising, as whilst men and kote are obvious targets that only require you to raise and lower the shinai in a straight line; dou is harder to see and hit.

There is some confusion over what part of the dou constitutes the target. Chiba sensei expresses the view,  that the whole of the dou plate is a valid striking area. Where the confusion starts is that ippon is rarely given when the front of the dou is hit. The reason however, is not that it is not a correct target, but because posture or hasuji is usually incorrect when contact is made.

Having recently been shown dou by both Chiba sensei and Sumi sensei, I was relieved to see that even though their kendo styles and approach to teaching are very different; the key point on dou-uchi made by them both, is absolutely consistent.  “Your right hand must be pushed forward so that it is directly in front of you at the point of impact”. This is regardless of which timing and opportunity the attack takes and the direction of your footwork.

If we look at the chances to strike dou, we can occasionally make a successful shikake dou attack, this could be as a debana or hikibana technique when your opponent starts to lift his arms to hit men , or as a hikiwaza if he pushes his hands up to counter your downward pressure in tsubazeriai.

Dou however, is more likely to be successful as an oji waza; either as nuki or kaeshi dou against a men attack. With nuki-dou, you move your body diagonally to the right to avoid your opponent’s strike whilst at the same time hitting his dou. In this case it is crucial to push your right hand straight forward as you hit, even though your body is moving away from the centre. If you do not do this, you will have to drop your hands and shoulders as you cut across the front of the dou.  This will make you lean over to the side and force you to cut down diagonally with bent arms, achieving no power behind the cut.

For kaeshi dou against men, you need to block and return the attack in “the timing of one”, whist directly in front of the target. Only after making the strike should you start to move through to your right. One of the points that Sumi sensei makes, is that it is also perfectly acceptable to move through to your left (opponents right), to take zanshin for kaeshi dou.

Chiba sensei’s unique spin on dou-uchi is that the path of your cut should be parallel with the floor, so that you strike with the bottom take of the shinai.

Whether your preference is for kaeshi or nuki dou, if you move through to the right, you need to either release your left hand or slide it up the tsuka as you move through. You should also keep your eyes on your opponent until you have finished the attack.

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Suriage Waza

We were working on men suriage men and men suriage kote and people seem to have a degree of difficulty with both. I touched on this in an earlier broader post on oji waza, but there seem to be a number of problems with timing and distance that stop people from mastering these useful techniques.

If we look at men suriage men, my view is that the technique can be completed successfully without stepping back or to the side. If your timing and distance are correct, you can just push off from your left foot as your opponent makes his attack, lift your shinai up as his comes down and just deflect his blow with the shape of your shinai before striking men. Keep in mind that suriage translates as “sliding lift” and is not harai waza. The key factors to success are:

• You have to keep the point of your shinai forward.
• You must not anticipate your opponents attack, but you should relax and wait till it is nearly complete.
• Distance must be correct, so that the suriage is made by the monouchi touching the monouchi.
• Your opponent must attack correctly, lifting and cutting down in a single movement and maintaining the centre line. (If this is not possible, then a good alternative kihon drill is to make your opponent attack tsuki and respond with suriage men).
• Just use gentle pressure to slide your shinai up against his. Do not put power into your right hand. Some sensei suggest making a “D” shaped movement to deflect the shinai. I think that this is overkill and requires too much right hand pressure. A simple slide upward should be enough.

Once you have made a successful strike, you should continue forward, through your opponents centre line, maintaining zanshin and turning when you are in safe distance.

For suriage against kote, there are some marked changes. First you need to move your left foot out diagonally whilst pushing your left hand forward and turning your right wrist anticlockwise. This makes the suriage sharper and into more of a blocking motion. Kote is closer to your opponent than men, so your suriage should be made closer to your tsuba.  Although this is a “harder” technique than men suriage men, again do not be tempted to use too much right hand power.

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Oji Waza

Kyoto Ippon

Watching yesterday’s waza geiko at Mumeishi dojo, I was fascinated to see people who can make strong shikake waza, have a relatively hard time applying the same basic techniques to oji timing.

Rightly or wrongly, I believe that there are only four techniques in kendo – men, kote, dou and tsuki. There are of course numerous ways they can be applied, depending on distance, direction, timing and opportunity, but the fundamental technique does not change. So in my mind shikake and oji waza are one and the same.

I initially though about writing this post on suriage men, but the more I thought about it, the more I believe that what I want to say applies equally to all oji waza. I have covered a lot of the key points in my recent post about kaeshi dou, but on watching yesterday’s training the areas that generally need fixing are:

• Timing – Either waiting passively for the opponent to strike or pre-empting and going too early.
• Distance – Either generally being too close or waiting too long so that you are no longer able to strike with the correct part of the shinai.
• Kime and hasuji – Different problems, same cause. Normally too much power in the right hand and lack of flexibility in the wrists.
• Zanshin – Moving diagonally or worse back, make it difficult to show sufficient kigurai and claim the point.

My suggestions to fix these are:

• Keep the point of the shinai forward, point it in at your opponent as you make seme with your feet and body. Make them attack and then lift your shinai straight up for suriage and kaeshi. Do not bring your point back.
• Start from the correct distance and force your opponent to attack.
• Keep your wrists and arms supple, make sure your elbows can move easily and turn your wrists in. Think about using the power of your left hand.
• If raising the shinai and then striking do it in a count of one. This applies to suriage, kaeshi and nuki.
• Wherever you can, go forward with strong fumikomi, kiai and zanshin. It is much more effctive to go in a straight line. If you have to side-step, finish by going forward.
• Keep going in a straight line to safe distance then turn quickly to re-engage with your opponent.

Successful oji waza depend on these points plus an attitude that does not differentiate between oji and shikake waza. Approach every technique with an attacking mind.

I have already used this picture, but it shows completion of suriage men

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Kaeshi dou

Honda Dou

As most people who practice with me know, I like kaeshi dou. Trying to teach it though, is not a simple matter. To be honest, I have not seen many kendoka below 4th dan attempt is successfully.

Dou generally is a difficult technique. Against correct chudan, there is rarely an opportunitiy for tobikomi dou. Hiki dou works if your opponent is intent on covering his or her men; some younger competitors do a good job with gyaku dou, but the most common successful application of dou is as an oji technique; either nuki or kaeshi dou.

The two are not dissimilar but I much prefer kaeshi dou as the blocking and returning motion allow you to hit dou whilst you are directly in front of your opponent. In my view, there are a number of factors that are key to making a successful kaeshi dou:-

• Make sure that you approach the technique with an attacking mind! Do not wait for your opponent to strike men and then react.
• Ensure your posture is correct but with your balance just slightly forward.
• The block and strike should be one smooth, continuous movement.
• As with all oji waza, make sure the point of your shinai is going forward rather than lifting up and back.
• Hit dou whilst you are in front of your opponent and then move diagonally for your zanshin, do not hit after you have moved.
• Keep your left hand in the centre and only break your right hand grip as you move diagonally.
• Make sure you hit the side of the dou and do not just scrape across the front.
• Have correct hasuji, the bottom take and string should be at 45% to the dou.
• Keep correct distance so that you hit with the datotsu bu.

All of these elements are important, but in my view, attacking mind is the most significant, pull you opponent in and make him attack in your space and timing.

Successful kaeshi dou takes a lot of work, but it is great when it comes off!

The picture shows Honda Sotaro former British Coach showing how to finish dou.

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