Monday, May 28, 2012
15WKC Final competition Japan 高鍋 vs Korea Kim
Found this on YouTube. The competition was just held in Italy this past week.
Thoughts for Practice
The following came from kenshi247.net. It was so good that I wanted to post here too!
1. By the time you are in sonkyo you should already have your strategy in place:
‘As soon as you stand up, 1 – seme, 2 – seme, 3 – seme… pressure, pressure, pressure.’
‘If you want to strike me men go ahead, do it! When you attempt to I will strike your dou.’
‘Just as your partner attempts to strike have the feeling of thrusting his left eye, this will cause a disturbance in his heart/will.’
‘Pressure the omote and strike the ura.’
etc etc. Whichever strategy you have decided on stand up silently from sonkyo and with full vigor face your opponent – if you do this and manage to take an ippon within 20 seconds it will be a mark that your kendo is improving.
Its very common for teachers to say ‘do shiai with mushin’ but this advice is for experts who have already forged their technique. If inexperienced people whose technique is far from polished try to do this they will simply be struck.
In order to stand up and take an ippon in under 20 seconds you have to concentrate on taking the ippon at shotachi (the initial strike). Shinken-shobu is often called ‘the fight for shotachi.’
2. While pressuring your opponent, or when their body-shape is in disarray after execution of an attack – when their heart/will is in a state of confusion – you should immediately attack without giving them time to breathe. If you are too late in taking the chance it will not come again.
Your mental state should be the same as an athlete who is waiting at the starting block of a 100m race: ‘ready, set, go!’ If the strike isn’t an ippon you must cultivate the practise of striking multiple times in one breath (until you hit a good strike). If you don’t do this in your daily keiko then your body won’t be able to keep up (during shiai or against other opponents).
This isn’t about striking with your head. Your legs should move of their own volition. Only when you have reached this state can it be said that you have mastered technique.
About the author
SAKUMA SABURO sensei was born in 1912 in Fukushima prefecture. He started kendo at around 10/11 years old in Fukushima Butokuden. After graduating from what is now Fukushima University he started teaching kendo at various high schools. In 1939 he began to work in Mitsubushi’s mining operation and taught kendo throughout the country whilst visiting various mines. After the war, he became a student of Mochida Seiji hanshi and – while running his own kendo club – began working as a director in the Tokyo Kendo Renmei amongst other things. He died at 84 in 1997. He was hanshi hachidan.
Source 平成・剣道 地木水火風空 読本（下）。佐久間三郎。平成9年発行。
1. By the time you are in sonkyo you should already have your strategy in place:
‘As soon as you stand up, 1 – seme, 2 – seme, 3 – seme… pressure, pressure, pressure.’
‘If you want to strike me men go ahead, do it! When you attempt to I will strike your dou.’
‘Just as your partner attempts to strike have the feeling of thrusting his left eye, this will cause a disturbance in his heart/will.’
‘Pressure the omote and strike the ura.’
etc etc. Whichever strategy you have decided on stand up silently from sonkyo and with full vigor face your opponent – if you do this and manage to take an ippon within 20 seconds it will be a mark that your kendo is improving.
Its very common for teachers to say ‘do shiai with mushin’ but this advice is for experts who have already forged their technique. If inexperienced people whose technique is far from polished try to do this they will simply be struck.
In order to stand up and take an ippon in under 20 seconds you have to concentrate on taking the ippon at shotachi (the initial strike). Shinken-shobu is often called ‘the fight for shotachi.’
2. While pressuring your opponent, or when their body-shape is in disarray after execution of an attack – when their heart/will is in a state of confusion – you should immediately attack without giving them time to breathe. If you are too late in taking the chance it will not come again.
Your mental state should be the same as an athlete who is waiting at the starting block of a 100m race: ‘ready, set, go!’ If the strike isn’t an ippon you must cultivate the practise of striking multiple times in one breath (until you hit a good strike). If you don’t do this in your daily keiko then your body won’t be able to keep up (during shiai or against other opponents).
This isn’t about striking with your head. Your legs should move of their own volition. Only when you have reached this state can it be said that you have mastered technique.
About the author
SAKUMA SABURO sensei was born in 1912 in Fukushima prefecture. He started kendo at around 10/11 years old in Fukushima Butokuden. After graduating from what is now Fukushima University he started teaching kendo at various high schools. In 1939 he began to work in Mitsubushi’s mining operation and taught kendo throughout the country whilst visiting various mines. After the war, he became a student of Mochida Seiji hanshi and – while running his own kendo club – began working as a director in the Tokyo Kendo Renmei amongst other things. He died at 84 in 1997. He was hanshi hachidan.
Source 平成・剣道 地木水火風空 読本（下）。佐久間三郎。平成9年発行。
Monday, May 14, 2012
The Warring States
I happened to be scrolling through Netflix some time ago and came across a movie titled The Warring States. I put it in my instant que and just left it there for a long time - a couple of months, maybe. Well, I finally decided to watch it the other night and was surprised and honestly, a a little disturbed by what I saw.
From the title and the oh-so-brief description that I read, I thought it was another retelling, or at least another story from, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms - the classic Chinese story of their warring states period. Well, not quite. Turns out it was more of a story about the classic-era military strategist Sun Bin, who did serve in the Qi court during the Three Kingdoms period. It's a bit of a tragic story, but I do recommend giving it a watch. He wasn't much in the way of a martial artist but he was a brilliant military strategist. That's kind of odd isn't it? Someone who knows all about strategy and troop movements but not a thing about how to fight!
Anyway, it turns out he was not only a real historical figure, but his treatise on the Art of War, long thought lost, had recently been rediscovered! Found in 1972, the long lost bamboo scrolls were found in the Shandong Province in China. An overview can be found on Wikipedia. Don't confuse this, or him though, with Sun Tzu. Even though it is thought that he was a descendant of the most famous military strategist.
From the title and the oh-so-brief description that I read, I thought it was another retelling, or at least another story from, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms - the classic Chinese story of their warring states period. Well, not quite. Turns out it was more of a story about the classic-era military strategist Sun Bin, who did serve in the Qi court during the Three Kingdoms period. It's a bit of a tragic story, but I do recommend giving it a watch. He wasn't much in the way of a martial artist but he was a brilliant military strategist. That's kind of odd isn't it? Someone who knows all about strategy and troop movements but not a thing about how to fight!
Anyway, it turns out he was not only a real historical figure, but his treatise on the Art of War, long thought lost, had recently been rediscovered! Found in 1972, the long lost bamboo scrolls were found in the Shandong Province in China. An overview can be found on Wikipedia. Don't confuse this, or him though, with Sun Tzu. Even though it is thought that he was a descendant of the most famous military strategist.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics are coming up, and I for one can't wait. If I can't be there in person, then you can sure bet that I'll either be watching it or recording it to watch later! That being said, here are some links to official pages of some of the American teams. It's easy to see the martial origins in some of the sports!
For the latest news on Team USA go to: http://www.teamusa.org/
For information on the Fencing team (The event I'll be watching the closest!), go to: http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Fencing.aspx
For Archery go to: http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Archery.aspx
For Boxing go to: http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Boxing.aspx
For Judo go to: http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Judo.aspx
For some reason the Karate folks are in a different place: http://www.usankf.org/
And then back to teamusa.org for Tae Kwon Do: http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Taekwondo.aspx
Finally we have our Greco-Roman Wrestlers at: http://themat.com/
Like I said above, I'll be watching the fencing team closely this time since, in my personal opinion, the western fencers were all screwed to the wall with changes in the rules which clearly favored the east.
If you don't remember, the big change was in the fact that they could only score while moving forward in an apparent attack. This kind of scoring is common in the east, so that is the way they practice. Meanwhile, here in the west, we tend to see the value in feigning an attack or stepping back to create an opening. (I have to note here that this is a common, acceptable strategy/tactic that can be found in any strategy book, east or west!) As I remember, there were several champion fencers who, again in my own opinion, were robbed of titles due to rule changes. As a result there were a number of Chinese and Korean fencers (in particular) that took home medals over their western opponents.
Now let me make one thing clear: It's not that I mind people from eastern countries are winning, it's the fact that the rules looked to be changed to give them a deliberate advantage over western countries. I feel like it was an insult to both us and them. We'll have to wait and see how things go for us this year.
For the latest news on Team USA go to: http://www.teamusa.org/
For information on the Fencing team (The event I'll be watching the closest!), go to: http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Fencing.aspx
For Archery go to: http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Archery.aspx
For Boxing go to: http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Boxing.aspx
For Judo go to: http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Judo.aspx
For some reason the Karate folks are in a different place: http://www.usankf.org/
And then back to teamusa.org for Tae Kwon Do: http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Taekwondo.aspx
Finally we have our Greco-Roman Wrestlers at: http://themat.com/
Like I said above, I'll be watching the fencing team closely this time since, in my personal opinion, the western fencers were all screwed to the wall with changes in the rules which clearly favored the east.
If you don't remember, the big change was in the fact that they could only score while moving forward in an apparent attack. This kind of scoring is common in the east, so that is the way they practice. Meanwhile, here in the west, we tend to see the value in feigning an attack or stepping back to create an opening. (I have to note here that this is a common, acceptable strategy/tactic that can be found in any strategy book, east or west!) As I remember, there were several champion fencers who, again in my own opinion, were robbed of titles due to rule changes. As a result there were a number of Chinese and Korean fencers (in particular) that took home medals over their western opponents.
Now let me make one thing clear: It's not that I mind people from eastern countries are winning, it's the fact that the rules looked to be changed to give them a deliberate advantage over western countries. I feel like it was an insult to both us and them. We'll have to wait and see how things go for us this year.
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