Not Goodbye but "See You Later"

Well, guys, we're losing Amy Dawson as you know. She's been with EMU kendo for... gosh, five years or more? And in that time I for one have gotten to know her well. She's going to be missed, she was/is a vital part of this club. But she done gradjumutated and they's making her leave collij. She's moving out toward her folks and will be practicing with MSU. An Eagle to a Spartan! And from there, who knows!

There's an old kendo saying. "If you keep doing kendo, you will see me again." I hear people, even people from very far away, say this at seminars and, to me, it's very true. We're all on the kendo road and the faces become very familiar, transcending individual dojo or even countries.

I think I speak for all of us when I say we've always been proud of Amy's perseverance and fighting spirit. This morning, our last asa gaiko together for a while, was a perfect illustration: we had a harsh sanpon-shobu, during which I smashed her hand up pretty good trying for kote (sorry!). She had a good bruise on its way when she left practice - on her way to work, where she must SEW with that hand, and then to a gig later on playing sax with her quintet, again, with a busted up hand. (Ugly Mug, 8:00, Ypsi, if anyone can make it!)

But that's just like Amy, to wince and keep striving, keep fighting. Ganbare, Amy! We will see you again.

Practice

Last night's practice was another good one with continued work on balance and triangles. Keep up the thoughts that were discussed in class. The more we practice during the summer the better prepared we are for the future. Also, be sure to welcome the new students and help them to understand the path and the important apects of reigei that we all need to continuously refresh on. There will be no practice next week because of the fourth of july holiday so keep up the mental practice and I will see you next week.

Practice

Thanks to everyone that made it to practice last night. We had a very spirited ending that was great. Remember that the kendo that was displayed was more aggresive and only for use in the situations that were discussed. Also, remember to keep working on different triangles. For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, come to practice. Anyway, thanks again for the practice, it was a great way to start off my birthday. Let's make sure we continue the tradition. See you next week.

Good practice last night. Points covered:

• Trying to get "noodle arms" through repeated kiri-kaeshi (ladders next time!)
  
• Men from different maai
• Seme, pressing in toward tsuki and hitting with hips and legs
  

As I said last night, thanks for being so fluid. Summer is a time when people frequently have vacations, classes, workloads changed, etc. so it's good to be flexible and prepared to practice with whoever can make it and to shift the plan for practice to whoever shows up and what they need to work on. This is good in general as we are a club of working students, parents, etc. with frequent disruptions in our plans and lives. We also wound down with kata and thanks for working on that.

Also, in case you haven't heard: Midwest Kendo Day Summer Camp will be July 16, 2006 at MSU. All day. From 9:30 - 5:00, with breaks for lunch and then a break in the afternoon. This will be an excellent occassion to practice so let's all try to make it! Please let Eric and I know if you will be attending so we can RSVP.

Oh, and last, did you you know MSU's site had a very large index of images from the last All Michigan Practice? Check it out. Also, look how happy Battle Creek is with their performance at the Family Tournament. See you next year, Battle Creek, for revenge!

Kendo Kata

Below is an essay I wrote on Kendo Kata and its implications. It is in no way a complete statement of thoughts on kata but a strating point for discussion. Enjoy.

Kendo Kata: The importance and continued relevance of kata in modern day kendo.
By: Eric J. Abbey copyright 2005

The aspect of kendo kata is extremely important to the entirety of kendo and it’s progression through modern times. Kata allows for many important concepts to be established within the art form and continues to maintain a link to many of the thoughts maintained within shinai kendo. Kendo kata allows for the kendoka to experience the actuality of sword use with the bokken and demonstrates to all kendoka important elements such as uchidachi/shidachi relationships, kamae, and kendo theory. All of these allow for the furthering of thought within shinai kendo and root modern day kendo, as an art to be studied not simply a sport that allows for competition. Many people view shinai kendo as a competitive and sport orientated process but with the practice of kata the art of kendo can be studied and developed further.

Kendo kata allows the practitioner to begin to understand the important relationship of uchidachi and shidachi. Throughout the entirety of the kata this relationship plays an extremely important and vital part. The uchidachi becomes the instructor and allows for the maai, seme, and kamae to be determined throughout the kata. In each kata, the uchidachi must consider the proper kamae in which to attack and then, with correct seme, progress forward with the attack fully in mind. This feeling must be taken into consideration when looking at the uchidachi’s role within the kata because the shidachi falls into the counter of each stage of this process and the kata is performed. Without this first, and most important, relationship the kata would become lifeless and not allow for the proper progression of thought within kendo. The uchidachi/shidachi relationship immediately transfers to shinai kendo in many ways.

The uchidachi/shidachi understanding allows for the practice of shinai kendo to take on many important elements within the dojo. This relationship also transfers into the sempai/kohai relationship and creates the teacher and student structure of the dojo. The most important concept that is derived from kendo kata within shinai kendo is the fact that the sempai/teacher/uchidachi/motodachi must be active and full of the proper kamae, maai, and seme to allow for the kohai/student/shidachi to properly advance throughout kendo. These aspects allow for the kendo kata to play an extremely important role in the relationship between everyone in and out of the dojo.

The relationship between kendoka continues with the importance of the varying kamae used within kendo kata. These kamae play an extremely important role in developing an understanding of how kendo relates, reflects and reconsiders traditional kenjutsu and kendo. The varying kamaes; migi and hidari jodan, gedan, wakigamae, hasso and the kodachi kamae’s all relate to different aspects of the entirety of kendo. This discussion will only consider jodan kamae but all are equally relevant and important. Jodan kamae represents the sky position and is extremely aggressive. In ipponme, both uchidachi and shidachi take jodan stances and the kata/fight progresses. The kamae that the uchidachi takes is answered by the shidachi and allows for the continuation of concepts from the past to be included within modern kendo. The translation of history continues as the other kamaes are put into use. Kendo kata becomes the link between the historical importance of these kamaes and modern day kendo. Throughout the kata the kamaes must be studied and considered from the point of their actual use in combat and their relevance to today’s kendo.

Although, many of the kamaes used in kata are not directly translatable to shinai kendo, the concepts and thought processes behind them are. These concepts include taking an offensive versus defensive stance, constructing a counter kamae to your opponent and many others. Shinai kendo allows for the focus to be, specifically, on chudan no kamae but within the kata the kendoka is given exposure to differing kamaes that were used throughout history and allowed the opportunity to study the reasons behind each kamae. This study is vitally important to an understanding of shinai kendo and becomes one of the most dominant aspects of the varying kamaes used within kendo kata.

To fully consider the kendo kata is to become immersed in the actual theory and thought behind modern and traditional kendo. This, by far, is the most important aspect of the kendo kata. The theory and reasoning behind each individual kata plays an immense role in the full understanding of kendo. The kata is used to allow for kendoka to grasp the ideas and feelings behind actual combat, through the use of a bokken. This is where kata becomes so important to every kendoka’s development. The thought process behind each kata signifies different principles that directly correlate to shinai kendo and the continuation of kendo as an art form and not merely a sport.

In modern day kendo, the sporting aspect is gaining ground and kata must be focused on to allow for the continuation and rooting of the kendoka in the art form of kendo. Shinai kendo, and shiai are vitally important and are the basis of kendo, but it is in the kata that the truth, history and art of kendo lay. Without the practice and knowledge of kendo kata the kendoka falters in shinai kendo and in kendo overall. Kata must be used effectively to gain the understanding of the theories and philosophies of kendo in shiai and shinai kendo. The comprehension and understanding of kata allows for the main aspects of kendo to come to the forefront and through this shinai kendo develops a stronger and more beneficial aspect throughout. With the conceptualization of the uchidachi/shidachi relationship, the differing kamaes, and the theory of kendo, kata vitalizes shinai kendo and allows for living and active participation in the art of kendo and the development of kendo in modern day society.

The Devil's Practice

Last night 6606 we had a great practice. The kendo was inspiring and the oshiotoshi was flying. The beast truly was with us j.k. Anyway, practice was great with a limited amount of people but everyone worked hard and did some more advanced waza. The focus was again on using the body to strike and to create openings. This is the most important part of kendo. We will continuously be working on this throughout the sumemr and beyond. I am developing some more pedagological ideas for thsi method so watch out. We also practiced kata and the above post is just some of my thoguhts on kata. I will be on vacation next week so practice hard and I will see you on the floor.

New Website address

A big thank you goes to Nathan for setting us up with the new web site hosting and adress. Our new address is http://www.easternkendo.org so please change your links. Midwest Kendo Federation has also restructured there website so please go and sign up for the newsletter and the website so you can log in and be a part of our federation online. Thank you again to Nathan and Jason for hosting and creating the site. Very nicely done. See you at practice.