Do you think the late starters become 8-dan? I mean those who started kendo in their 30s or 40s. My father started kendo when he was 55. He passed away 1 year or even less before he was going for 6-dan. He became 5-dan before me.
I have come to the point that the late starters should practice kendo differently from the traditional ways. I am still in search of new ways.
Do you have any good methods?
– This podcast is brought to you thanks to the patrons at Patreon.Com.
– For more kendo information visit at Kendo–Guide.Com and Subscribe to Kendo–Guide.Com for Updates.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Regarding the transition from suburi style men to men using fumikomi, I’ve begun to teach with a change in focus about the footwork. I tell them that although it appears that the right foot is the focus, it still is not. When people focus on the right foot, they begin to contort in many ways, by goose-stepping, or reaching forward rounding their back, etc. and often leave their left trailing behind. Fumikomi action and sound are created from the footwork being correct, not through effort to stamp your foot down. I teach them to keep in mind that the left foot is pulled up with the downward cutting motion, and this will cause the right foot to come down, because people cannot float in air. The shift in timing happens naturally due to now taking the large fumikiri step rather than the measured suriashi footwork.
Let me know what you think of this approach!
Thank you for your input! Agreed. I’ve been focusing on footwork too. It still seems to me a lack of exercises regarding coordination of a strike and footwork.
The traditional methods that I know is a shift from big movements to small ones. But now I kind reverse it to get the movements right.
Smaller movements are easier for many to get the coordination right. So I now use both methods to see how things go.
You raise some interesting points. I started kendo at the age of 41 and have continued the past 3 years. I believe to some degree that kids and adults will learn differently… Kids by mimicking and repetition, adults through understanding a concept and trying to apply. This means that adults may often require more explanation and theory in order to learn something that a child will just copy. However, I have learnt that the basics of footwork and suburi really are fundamental and I would not advise anyone to rush these.
Regardless of age, isn’t it better for every kendoka to have a common experience during the early stages of their kendo as this is the foundation for everything in the future.
The most important thing for a late starter to aid their progression in my opinion is the number of times they train each week. A younger person may have opportunity to train more regularly (another advantage!) while older people tend to have busier schedules and more commitments.
My own focus… train often, try to get the basics right. Everything else will follow.
Thank you for your input! Good point. We definitely need to make time for training deliberately and
when we are successful in making time, we need to use it wisely; having a theme of training,
focusing on a few movements rather than multiple movements, getting feedback and fine-tuning the direction immediately.
Yes, if I know those, I should do those 🙂 Thank you for reminding me!
I think there are other important things late starters can know that would really help them. The first is that there should be as little sacrificing of the basics as possible. But you must also understand what you are doing in the dojo.
So
– do they understand the purpose of doing men from one side of the dojo to another ? Ie. Improve stamina, footwork, breathing and therfore kamae etc Or do they misunderstand and think this is how to do it in shiai ?.
– Do they know the difference between shiai tachi ai, shinza tachi ai and ji keiko tachi ai ? The mental discipline for each is very different. At a high level though it look the same because the kendoka are more advanced so they keep their fundamentals better.
– Many western kendoka also do not have enough keiko in other dojo. Musha shugyo as it’s called is more valuable now than it probably was before.
– Also as you say, mitori keiko should not be taken for granted. Kendo is easier to watch from the outside to understand what happened as opposed to the angle we normally see it which is usually behind the shinai.
– Lastly I think Sen no Sen for me is an important concept for late starters. You cannot wait for your opponent in Kendo but it doesn’t mean that you should always strike when they do. If you’re not ready to strike then use your kamae and footwork wisely to gain the initiative
so you can get a clear opportunity. Most people are either always striking as a beginner or always waiting for a chance. There is some misunderstanding of how opportunities come about here. If your dojo has a strong emphasis on motodachi then you can overcome this problem.
So don’t just practice striking when its your turn but try to learn to bring out you training partner’s best Kendo as well with a really high spirit and realistic uchikomi keiko for kakarite’s level.
At least these are my thoughts so far but I have a long way to go myself as well. Maybe it will help someone I hope.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts! These are all good points and everyone must know them.
I consider my students as future instructors so I teach them the movements and reasons.
I learned kendo without detailed explanations and took me decades to figure out why.
Why did I want to figure out? Because I started instructing!
Ji-Ri Icchi: What you do and theories should match. That is what we are after.