Bergen Kendoklubb

[Jorg]

Hello fellow kendoka,

I thought I'd be nice, and write a little about every training I'm following here in Amsterdam at the Kendo Dojo Museido, whilst I am here.
I shall write a little about how it was, and some tips I got from several senior kendoka. The techniques we practised I shall write down in a list, every technique had to me repeated with 3 different Moto-dachi, but I will only write down as if with 1 Moto-dachi.

Mon 28-06-2010

The training was led by 6th Dan holder Mark Herbold.
I began the training introducing myself to everyone there, there were about approx. 18 kendoka. Dōjō temp. 28 degrees.
After giving rei to the teacher and the students, we began with a fairly basic warm-up. stretching, bending etc.
Next we started to train with the Shinai in front of a very large mirror.

1st technique: Su-buri (Swining the Shinai against an imaginary opponent)
20x Jōge-suburi, 50x Men-uchi, 20x Do-uchi.

2nd technique: Ōji-Waza (techniques for counter-attack) here they were practised without an opponent. Ōji-Waza men, 2x a set of 8, Two men forward, two men backwards, two men to the left, two men to the right.

Use of Moto-dachi
3rd technique: Kirikaeshi

4th technique: Men-do Kirikaeshi (with the use of Tai-atari, a body check following a strike or thrust) Forward: Men, Tai-atari, men, men, dō, dō, then backwards, men, men, dō, dō, men. Finish with a men-uchi.
Just like regular kirikaeshi, but also with Dō-uchi.

5th technique: 3x Ōji-Waza; seme, kote-men.

6th technique: 5x small Men-uchi followed by Tai-atari.

7th technique: 5x small Kote-uchi followed by Tai-atari.

8th technique: Using Hiki-age (the act of distancing yourself by retreating or passing an opponent after a cut to demonstrate Zanshin)
3x Men Hiki Men, Men Hiki Kote, Men Hiki Dō.

9th technique: 3x Seme Kote-tsuki followed by a Kote-men.

10th technique: Using De-bana (The very moment that an intended strike begins, which provides an opportunity for counter-attack)
3x Men Debana Kote-men. Moto-dachi comes in with a small men-uchi, when Moto-dachi comes in with seme, we respond with Kote-men. (Hint: Relaxed in the wrist, use a lot of Te-no-uchi: method of gripping the Shinai, so the following men-uchi goes fast and smooth)

11th technique: Ji-geiko. I have had a Ji-geiko with one of their senior kendoka, which had a VERY strong Kamae (A posture taking appropriate for action or response) and a similarly strong Metsuke (vision, focus)
I managed to make one Kote-uchi. But to strike his men was impossible. He gave me some tips afterwards (Hints: Don't move your shinai so much. Keep your Ma (distance), don't come too close. Don't move back unless you are making a Hiki-waza. When he attacks; Ōji-Waza counter attack. NEVER loose your Metsuke, NEVER loose your tension, NEVER loose your centre.)
Every mistake I made was made painfully obvious, by him simply keeping his Kamae, and me walking straight into his Shinai.
Two other Ai-te (opponent in competition) were both beginners, and provided excellent chances to practice what we'd trained on.

12th technique: 3x Ōji-waza men.

After this we went down in Son-kyo. And back to Sei-za. Gave rei the teacher and the students, and whilst we took off our Bogu the teacher told us about how the training went, and gave us some tips and hits for next time. After this the training was over.

A personal note from myself: it seems they are not using a very strong Te-no-uchi, so nearly ALL of their kote-uchi were very painful.
I left the Dōjō bearing several bruises on my wrist, inside of my elbow and across the side of my chest.

Later today I shall add the training from We 30-06-2010
Tomorrow will be the next training. Everybody is very excited that I want to train with them, and that I am training in Norway, very nice people, but they do train VERY hard. The Dōjō I am training at is known for its touch Kendo trainings, and many of the Dutch international team comes from that Dōjō. Even though the training only lasts 1,5 hours, the pace is very high, and there is almost no talking (something I will explain in my next post) I asked if they were interested in giving a seminar in Bergen, and they were going to talk about it, etc.

Hope this interests all of you, and I hope I will be able to show everybody what I've learned when the training resumes in September.

Enjoy the vacation,
Jorg

[Jorg]

Training Wed 30-06-2010

The training was led by 6th Dan holder Mark Herbold.
Again it was insanely hot inside the Dojo, about 30 degrees this time.
Today there were a lot of beginners at the training, since they had a beginners course every Wednesday till later this month.
They divided the group into beginners, and advanced Kendoka. The first hour was actually only for beginners, so the advanced Kendoka were to fend for themselves. We each had to take care of our own warm-up, and after about half an hour, Mark started to lead our training, while 5th Dan holder Guido Minnaert, led the beginners' training.

1st technique: Su-buri. 20x Zenshin-kōtai-men. 20x Jōge-suburi. Ōji-waza men, 2x a set of 8, one men forward, one men backwards, one men left, one men right, one men backwards, one men forwards, one men right, one men left.
20x Ōji-waza dō. 10x Gyaku-dō.

Use of Moto-dachi
2nd technique: 5x Ōji-waza men.

3rd technique: Men-dō kirikaeshi

4th technique: 20x Ōji-waza men. Moto-dachi holds the Shinai up, while we come in with seme and hit with a big men.

5th technique: 20x Ōji-waza men followed by a little men. We come in with seme, the Moto-dachi responds by lifting the Shinai at men hight. We come in with a big men-uchi followed immediately with a little men-uchi. (Hint: relax your arms, and use your left arm for lifting, and for brining Shinai down again. Strong Te-no-uchi to make the second men-uchi easier.)

6th technique: 2x kote-men. 2x little men. Come in with strong seme, use different seme distances to experiment with the men-uchi and kote-men-uchi.

7th technique: using Harai-ageru (creating an opening to strike one's opponent's Shinai and attacking in one motion.) Using the Harai-waza where we hit the Shinai to the right side. 3x Harai, kote-dō.

8th technique: 4x kote-tsuki. Come in with seme, hit kote over the Shinai, and follow up with tsuki.

9th technique: 3x tsuki, kote-men. Come in with seme, go under the Shinai to the left side, and follow up with a tsuki-uchi. Then follow with a kote-men using good Te-no-uchi. (Hint: Use left hand for tsuki, and keep arms relaxed, try to do everything in a smooth motion, not 1-2-3 steps.)

10th technique: 3x Kote-tsuki, kote-tsuki, kote-men.

11th technique: Ji-geiko. I've had a very good Ji-geiko with a fellow 1st Dan holder, who had been training for quite a few years. He gave me some tips: hold energy in Tai-atari. Also hold energy and Metsuke (Vision, focus) after you make a point. I also had a Ji-geiko with Guido Minnaert. It went well, moved my Shinai a lot less than before. I really had the feeling I was learning something.

12th technique: 3x Ōji-waza men.

After this we went down in Son-kyo. And back to Sei-za. Gave rei to the teachers and the students. Mark told us what we had to focus on during a training. We each had to pick something we wanted to train on. For example; good Kamae followed up by a good Seme. Or a type of Uchi. He also said that we were not to help each other. And that we COULD NOT help each other, because we did not know what each of us was training on. He also said that you cannot look at how many points you let slip, because you should NOT do everything possible to prevent the Moto-dachi and Ai-te getting points. Instead we had to focus on that one thing we were training on. And the ONLY way that we could help each other, was to train at our best, and to give it our best Kendo in Ji-geiko. This also means that we cannot say to each other that they are doing things wrong. (I assume that he meant people at our level 1st Dan and up to probably 4th Dan or so.)

This is also the reason that nobody is talking during the training. Because everybody is focused on their training. And like Mark said, you CANNOT tell someone he/she is doing something wrong, because perhaps that person is training on exactly that, trying to do it better. Or perhaps he/she was training on something completely different and we didn't even noticed that.

So, from now on, we can only help each other to try to win with GOOD Kendo.

I also noticed that because people are not talking, you can train a lot of techniques in such a short amount of time.
And every technique I've written down here had been preformed with at least 3 different Moto-dachi.

[Jorg]

Mon 05-06-2010

The training was led by 6th Dan holder Mark Herbold.
Again it was insanely hot inside the Dōjō.

Warm-up

1st technique: Su-buri. 20x Jōge-suburi. 20x Hiya-su-buri. 3x a set of 8, Two men forward, two men backwards. 20x Zenshin-kōtai-men. 20x Ōji-waza dō.

Use of Moto-dachi
2nd technique: 5x Ōji-waza men.

3rd technique: Kirikaeshi.

4th tehcnique: 5x Small Men-uchi.

5th technique: Men-dō kirikaeshi.

6th technique: 5x Small Men-uchi from as far a distance as possible.

7th technique: Men-dō kirikaeshi.

8th technique: 5x Ōji-waza Kote-men.

9th technique: 5x Moto-dachi hits Kote, we respond with Debana Kote-men. Hit when Moto-dachi comes in with seme.

10th technique: 5x Moto-dachi hits Men, we respond with Debana Men. Hit when you see that Moto-dachi intents to move. (before seme)

11th technique: Using Ai-uchi (The exchange of simultaneous cuts of thrusts which would deserve a score of Ippon in a match or practice if independently delivered) Men Ai-uchi Men. (Hint: both Kendoka try to go straight through the centre)

12th technique: 5x Tsuki-uchi. Technique done in turns. Use both hands.

13th technique: 5x Tsuki, kote. Technique done in turns. Use both hands. Shinai goes underneath to the left, then come in with Tsuki-uchi, followed by a Kote-uchi

14th technique: 3x Tsuki, Kote-men. Shinai comes in on the right side.

15th technique: 5x Katate-tsuki (using only the left hand) Left hand must be lower than datotsu-bui Tsuki.(target area) Left hand on centre line)

16th technique: Tsuki-uchi, big Men-uchi, Tsuki-uchi, big Kote-men, Tsuki-uchi, little Men-uchi, Tsuki-uchi, little Kote-men.

17th technique: 5x Moto-dachi comes in with Tsuki-uchi. We respond by pressing shinai to the left, followed by a small Men-uchi.

18th technique: 3x Ōji-waza men.

[Torstein]

Hei Jorg!

Hyggelig å høre fra deg. Og svært interessant å få gode referat fra treningene i Nederland!

Det er alltid nyttig å notere ned hvilke øvelser man trener på, særlig når man trener i andre klubber eller har instruktører på besøk.
Spesielt er det viktig å notere ned hvorfor man gjør øvelsene og hvordan man skal gjøre dem riktigst mulig.
Kanskje også er det lurt å notere ned hvis man gjør noe feil.

Uansett er det svært lærerikt å lese dette.

Ser frem til treningene til høsten der du leder treningene "the hard way"

Bortsett fra det du skriver om te-no-uchi høres det om som de trener kendo på samme måte som vi ønsker å trene i Bergen.
(Men ta nå hensyn til at vi har lengre treninger...)

[Jorg]

Skal gjøre det. En ting som var veldig vanskelig var Men, debana kote-men.
Det var neste umulig å fortsette med Men uchi etter Kote uchi. Du har nesten ingen tid, og de er alle veldig rask. Jeg spørte Mark hva jeg må gjøre å treffe på Men uchi, og han svarte: 'du må være raskere.' så.... Jeg vet at man må ha bedre te-no-uchi. Ellers.... sikker å trene mer på det.

Anyway, training of yesterday

Mon 29-06-2010

Today Louis Vitalis (7e dan) was back from his travels to lead the training.
We didn't do much Keiko and there were at least 26 kendoka who came from all over the country to train (since all other dojo's seem to be closed now during the vacation) There were a few kendoka from out country aswell. From all these kendoka, Louis Vitalis and 3 other sensei were present.
We did only a few basic hits, such as men. and Kote. And after that we started with Ji-geiko. Every Sensei plus perhaps 3 top students had a row of ca. 3 students each to have geiko with in turn. 45 min in total.
I had really nice geiko's with 2 sensei and 2 students. (I assume those students were also 5th Dan or something like that)

Personal feedback: Apparently I automatically bring up my shinai when I am "out of my own kendo" and simply try to avoid getting hit. NOT good.
The part of "getting out of my kendo" that is. The strikes were all right they said, but I get drawn out of my own kendo, and into their kendo, and do exactly what they want me to do, when they want me to do it.
Which I understand, but I also see that they have completely UNMOVABLE kamai. Which makes good kendo pretty hard for me, since there is a feeling of pressure and expectancy. However one of the sensei said to me that I did not have to attack. I only attack when I am ready to attack. NOT because I feel we have been standing still too long and I have to do "something".
Also one of the sensei said that I had to move the tip of my shinai a little bit more. Not my whole shinai, just the tip. In stead of just pressing them from side to side, since that also becomes predictable.

Overall I have learned a lot more since yesterday. I am looking forward of tomorrow's training. I hope Louis Vitalis will be there again.

Another note on Mr. Vitalis. He seemed very displeased with they way everybody was doing Kendo at his Dojo.
He had been gone a few months, and now that he was back he stated that people started to use their shinai unnecessarily weird. By moving it up and down and over the shoulder without attack, and that every attack stops as soon as the shinai hits the target. He wanted people to go back to the basic. and everybody under the age of 50 HAD to follow through after an attack. And NOT stop even before Tai-atari.
He was not pleased with this form of "tag" as he called it. It is something to think about.

Furthermore, a little bit of bad/sad news.
Mr Vitalis cannot come to Bergen this year. I asked him in person yesterday whether he could give a seminar in Bergen. He personally said that since he was an international Kendo judge, his agenda was completely booked solid for the next year with all kind of travels and Kendo happenings.
Perhaps he will have time next year. He did say that perhaps one of the other sensei wanted to come. but since they are all below 7th dan I will have to talk this over with Bjarte, Torstein and Cecilie (if she started now in Bergen).

I will only be able to train with them here in Amsterdam for 3 more times, since I also took a little vacation while I was here.
So, 3 more updates coming up!

[Jorg]

Today was not such a good day to train for me, I'm just recovering from having been sick a few days, which made me unable to train last Wednesday.

Mon 26-07-2010

Louis Vitalis was leading the training today.
There were about 19 Kendoka present at the Dojo.

We started the whole training with some basic warm-up exercises.

1st technique: We had to train on stamina. We had to go to one side of the dojo and do Kirikaeshi all the way to the other end of the dojo and back following an oval line on the floor. We had to form pairs, and first the one had to hit all the way, and then the other. After this we got the advice to move our right hand LESS so that our left hand would stay in the centre.

2nd technique: We had to do Kirikaeshi sideways. Distance is very important with this exercise and we had to go as fast as we could, but still not too fast for each other.

3rd technique: We had to hit Men, small, fast, many! Normal men, Kiri men. Double men, Tripple men, you name it. All the way to the one end of the dojo, then we had to switch, and the other had to hit on the way back.

4th technique: Kote-men, all the way to the other end, Fast, small, with enough te-no-uchi to make a good Men uchi. At the end, we had to switch again.

5th technique: 4x Fast men. Louis told us that there are 3 ways of preforming Men uchi. The first is the "big" version, were we pull the shinai all the way over our heads, by bringing our left fist over our forehead. The second Men uchi comes from bending the right elbow up, so that our shinai points diagonally over the Moto-dachi's men. The third Men uchi comes from bringing our arms in as if Tsuki uchi and then we need a very strong te-no-uchi, to preform Men uchi. We were told NOT to practice the 3rd version, since we first had to master the other 2.
We had to use the 2nd version, and when we could do that (I assume he ment after several years) then we could start using the 3rd way of training fast Men uchi.

6th technique: 4x fast Kote uchi.

7th technique: In turns we had to hit, fast Kote uchi, fast Kote-men uchi.

Next we had to train on Stamina again. We all had to go to the one end of the dojo again, and 3 senior Kendoka were placed in the middle, each a "stage" us other kendokas had to get past.
We were doing Uchikomigeiko: Men, Kote-men, Men higi Men, Men.
We were told to do it FAST with STRONG kiai. The Kiai had to be strong enough to last at least the first two Uchi.

I have to add that the Kendoka standing in the middle were pretty senior (both in age and grade) And when I reached the second Moto-dachi, I was already pretty fatigued. When I came in for Tai-atari, I did not notice that the man was bracing himself to catch all these "young" energetic kendoka, and he simply pushed me flat on my back. Luckily I have been practising Aikido for many years, so I automatically rolled further on my back and got back up again, ready to strike Men.
Funny Note. Even though Louis told us that ALL of us were terrible, and had no stamina, and that I was doing things wrong because I fell, I still had one good point, and that was that I immediately got up again and resumed the exercise. I think all of us were a little ashamed, and I was not the only one that fell during this training. (luckily)

So on this exercise we had to master our techniques, to make sure they stayed pure no matter how tired we were. Especially since we were given openings every single time now. This is really something to work on.

After this we had to start with Ji-geiko.
I had some good ones, and some bad ones. Today was not really a good day for me. I tried for myself to see when the attack of the Moto-dachi started, and I think I learned a lot from that. I did not really pay any attention at making points today.



One thing for our training in Bergen perhaps.
I noticed that there are some things that they do a little bit different here in Amsterdam. Perhaps we can combine these things with the things that we already do. (Talking about etiquette)
I know Torstein want to have "strict, hard" trainings.
Well, I've seen "hard" now... I'm sure that it can contribute to those who'd like to be pushed towards their limits during the training.


That was it for today folks.

[Jorg]

Unfortunately because I am sick, Mon 26-07 was my last training in Amsterdam before I will travel back to Bergen.

I do feel I have learned a lot while I was there, and I am sure I picked up a few things that might be fun to try out for ourselves.
Funny thing, which everybody will learn when they train a sport or martial art for a while, something that does rather amazes me each time: When things are getting harder, and when you notice that you can't really get the result you are looking for, you have to go back to the basics!
Bjarte says it, Torstein says it, and now I've heard Louis also say it.
Which makes perfect sense ofcourse.
This does mean however, that those who have come a long way, people who have trained for a long long time, must periodically go back to the basics. But even more important for US, is that we have to train even better at the basics BEFORE we try to preform complicated techniques.

Because when the basics are solid, every other technique will preform itself, rather than that we have to think about executing it.

I am looking forward to train with everybody again in september.

Jorg