Fight Like Hell

Practice update for 4/25/06 practice.

We missed Eric last night, who went home ill after class. (Hope you got my message, Eric. Oh, and call me about Family tourney thingie that Ken brought to my attention.)

Let's recap what we did:

Kihon. Again working on kahanshin. The drills we focused on included men-men - no extra steps, you get two cuts with kahanshin! Also, men-tai-atari-men and just men-tai-atari; again, focusing on hitting with the guts and not the chest and stiff arms. Everybody did great.

Then we worked a few rounds on tokui ("favorite") waza - any waza you wanted or situation. Some of the areas where I worked with people included fighting for control while in tsuba-zeriai, cutting straight out of sonkyo in shiai, and some weird nito thing!

Last, we agreed we were all pretty fired up from Cleveland and wanted to work more on competitive kendo. I suggested the best way to get better at shiai was to get beat up. So, we had ten bogu people, we did ten rounds of jigeiko, minute and a half each, with the admonishment to "fight like hell." I'm proud of Eastern, you guys showed game for those ten rounds and good kiri-kaeshi at the end.

Also, most of us stuck around for kata practice, something I personally would like to do more of. Let's work on it whenever we can and you advanced people let's find time to work on it outside of regular practice sessions (you know, with all that free time we have laying around).

So, great practice, guys. But remember, when I say, "WHOSE HOUSE IS THIS?!" don't leave me hanging or give me a wimpy reply!

Jodan in Cleveland

Man was there a lot of jodan kamae in Cleveland. It seems to me that a lot of people in New York have caught the jodan bug. I even went up against a member of the Kendo World community in Ai jodan. He got me with a morote kote. Anyway, the tournament was great for me, the best I have done in Jodan yet. I was first to face Dr. Wu, who chose to go ito againts me instead of nito. I scored a katate men and, for the first time, katate kote. It was a great match. Then I went up against Mosoco from NYC in jodan as well. This was an excellent match. We were trying to find a weakness the entire way and he finally got a morote kote. I was very satisfied with these matches and felt that the loss was to a great kendoist. He went on to take third in the division. The team competition was great as well. I fought against Sasaki from University of Chicago and won on a morote kote from chudan. Then it was up against NYC kendo and I won with two hiki men, the first for me to score from a hiki waza. Overall it was a great time and jodan is feeling more and more comfortable the more I do it. The kamae is also starting to feel natural, not quite like chudan yet, but getting there. Cheers!

Cleveland recap

This year's Cleveland tournament was a great success. Eastern kendo did extremely well at promoting our kendo to dojos from a different federation. The team matches were great and we succeded in getting by University ofChicago to be defeated by NYC Kendo. It was great to see everyone there. The best thing for me about the tournament was seeing Troy, Jack and David fighting with adults in the mudansha division. Troy got through his first opponent as well with great kendo. A big congratulations to Troy and David for getting third place in their division. Way to go guys. Also, congrats to Soo for passing her shodan exam. Good job everyone. As for shimpanning, this years tournament was pretty easy to judge with good solid kendo from everyone participating. The tournament was extremely long however, over 12 hours, and that did not make very many people happy, but it was still a great day for kendo and a great event for Eastern. See you at practice.

Cleveland!

This weekend is the annual Cleveland tournament. We will be there with a full team along with a kids team. As for every tournament the only expectation is to represent Eastern Kendo well. Keep the compassion, strength and honor and leave it all on the floor. At practice we worked on oshiotoshi waza and some nuki waza as well. Use these forms in the tournament if you feel comfortable and ippon is closer than you think. Remember to focus on doing your kendo and not getting sucked into your aite's. See everyone there. More to report upon return. Cheers!

Lost Footage of Eric and Ron Training

This is long lost footage of Eric and Ron training that has recently been unearthed from the MSU archives.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=W54FPBPV2xg

(Copy and paste - can't seem to get the hyperlink working today...)

All Michigan Practice

Hello All,

We had a great time at MSU with all of the Michigan kenshi. Thanks goes out to MSU for hosting and Tagawa sensei for leading the practice. I must say that slowing the cuts down to the extreme basics with suriashi is extremely difficult and your real kendo comes out. For myself, this has been a great way to figure out what I still need to work on. It is really amazing to see a hachidan do the basic cuts so perfectly that you are embarrased to be doing the kendo that you are doing. I know that this is what is supposed to happen but when you slow it down it becomes so much clearer that we all have a long way to go. Thanks to everyone from Eastern that went, I hope that you got a chance to practice with new people. Also, it is pretty amazing to me that Michigan Kendo has grown so much in only one year. It was great to see everyone. I hope that everyone can make it to the Family Tournament which is on Sat. May 13th. Forms are on the website. See you all on tuesday. Cheers!

Tuesday Practice and Visit to Detroit

Thank you all for coming to tuesday's practice it was a good chance to have a team practice for Cleveland. I hope that everyone is preparing for the Cleveland tournament and the Family Tournament. The annual Family tournament has been set for Saturday May 13th at the Practcie space of Eastern Kendo. This is our third year hosting this event for all of Michigan Kendoists to get a chance to participate in a tournament. I also visited Detroit's practice on wednesday to practice with Tagawa sensei and Sugawara sensei(visiting from Indianapolis). This practice was a great chance to work on suriashi drills and striking from your tanden. It was extremely interesting to slow everything back down to the basics and realize how much everyone really has to learn. This sunday is the All Michigan Practice at MSU. I hope to see as many people from Eastern there as possible. See you on the floor. Cheers!

Visit to U of M

On saturday I visited U of M's practice and must say that they have a great group of kendoka practicing hard over there. It was also nice to practice with Kato san from Japan before he returned. His jodan is extrememly different from mine and it was a great opportunity to practice Ai jodan. When the pictures are sent I will post some here. Anyway, I wanted to encourage everyone at Eastern to visit a practice over there and everyone from U of M to come to Eastern if possible. The kendo is very similar and it is good to practice with as many people as possible. Also, the after practice lunch was great. As for practice, 8am is early and a bit challenging but it was great to wake up with kendo. Thanks goes to everyone that runs the club and everyone that I practiced with. I hope to see many of you soon. Cheers!