Eastern Kendo

A blog on the Eastern Kendo Club and Kendo related issues.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Practice

Last night's practice was great. Thanks to everyone that came out. Song's last practice with Eastern was an enjoyable experience for me and everyone involved. Also, we continued to work on developing strinking from the tanden and hitting tsuki. Both of these items should be a focus throughout your kendo and should continue to play a role in every cut that you make. Also, the date for the Family Tournament has been temporarily set so please check your e-mail for that information. It will be posted here as soon as the invite goes out. The next important event is the All Michigan Practice on April 9th so be sure to schedule the day to practice. See everyone on the floor. Cheers!

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

MSU Visit

Last night we had Fox-sensei and Wendy from MSU join us for practice. Thank you to everyone for giving their all with the visitors here. We continued to work on aspects of striking from the tanden and using positive waza. We also worked on some issues in jigeiko. Fox-sensei stated that there are at least three forms of jegeiko and we should be aware of who we are practicing with and adjust accordingly. This does not mean to go weaker, but to keep in mind and "guide" whomever you are practicing with. Also, remember to keep working on positive kendo. I know all of this seems like a great deal of information, but if you continue to practice hard, and correctly these issues will begin to seem easier to understand. Remember the All-michigan practice coming up, and the Family taikai around May 20th. Most importantly, be sure to let me know by next week about the Cleveland tournament. See you all at the next practice.

Monday, March 20, 2006

An oldie but a goodie...

Have a look at this! I was looking for a pic of Song to go with that last post and this was the only one I could find, from a party out at Perry's place, what, two years ago? From left to right, Joe, Jing, Ken Wakabayashi of UM, Sakuma-sensei, the Songster himself, Takashi Ezaki-sensei from before he went back to Japan, and Abbey-sensei (from before he started growing his hair out for he respectable academic career). There was a lot of GREAT food that day (remember the pig roast?!) and I'm sure only soft drinks were consumed.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Second Practice

Well, we missed you last night, Eric, and look forward to seeing you at the next practice. Ditto for all the peeps that couldn't be there last night.

Good practice this week where we concentrated on kahanshin - lower body emphasis - and continued our work on tsuki. Also, sashi-men, sashi-kote and sashi-kote-men, especially as pertains to kahanshin. Some key points:

keep back straight
do not press chest and arms forward or head dive
push off left leg
attack with hips - tai-atari should be a gut-shot feeling
tenouchi on sashi attacks; ippon must make good hollow pop sound

The other thing that happened was a good Second Practice at our old hang, The Tower Inn. Not only did we finally get to have a couple of beers with our esteemed guest/adopted dojomate Ichki-san, but we got to see SONG RYU and his family! Song got his PhD in environmental science something-something and will be shipping out to a post-doc phase in sunny South Carolina. We will miss him! He's been a valuable member of our club for four years that has always managed to come as often as possible from Toledo while being in school, often accompanied by his wonderful wife and daughter. His kendo, of course, continues to be good and we all hope you get the opportunity to continue, DOCTOR Ryu!

The good doctor may or may not be able to squeeze in another practice in the next two weeks so if you see him in bogu beat the hell out of - I mean, give him a good keiko.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Last week and This tuesday

Hello all, Last week we were working on tsuki and the concept involved with it. I just wanted to add more information and thoughts on the subject. I am also writing this to say that I will not be at practice tonight in order to spend time at home. Anyway, tsuki is an extrememly important waza that can lead into a great many things in kendo. The most important part of this waza is to be confident in completing the cut. Like everythig else in kendo seme is the key. If you hesitate or think too much the cut will be off target. I strongly believe that tsuki is one of the most difficult things to hit, not because of the mechanics, but because of the mindset that goes with the cut. As you continue your practice please consider tsuki as the beginning point of every cut. The force and emphasis at the beginning of the tsuki waza should be carried through to every aspect of your kendo. Remember also to not worry about missing, this is extremely important. Yes, getting hit by a missed tsuki hurts but it will heal and is not that bad if the aite performs it correctly. See you all next week at practice. Cheers!