- Pack your Kendogu and Kote, keep then dry and clean
- Fold your Gi and Hakama, wash them if you want
- Wash and iron your Tenugui
- Check Shinai & Bokutou are in good conditions
- Check, think, and write down the things learnt today, for improving
- for communication
- for understanding the meaning behind each word
- for practical usage, not for building a dictionary
- 木刀による剣道基本技稽古法 Bokuto-ni-yoru Kendo Kihon-waza Keiko-ho
- 基本 Kihon
- 技 Waza
- 構え Kamae
- 目付け Metsuke
- 間合 Maai
- 一足一刀の間合 Issoku-itto-no-maai
- 打突 Datotsu
- 手の内 Tenouchi
- 刃筋 Hasuji
- 物打ち Monouchi
- 足さばき Ashi-sabaki
- 送り足 Okuri-ashi
- すり足 Suri-ashi
- 掛け声 Kakegoe
- 発声 Hassei
- 残心 Zanshin
- 元立ち Moto-dachi
- 掛り手 Kakari-te
- 上座 Kamiza
- 正面 Shomen
- 下座 Shimoza
- 正座 Seiza
- 座礼 Zarei
- 立会の間合 Tachiai-no-maai
- 提刀 Teito
- 帯刀 Taito
- 柄頭 Tsuka-gashira
- 蹲踞 Sonkyo
- 横手交差 Yokote-kosa
- 中段の構え Chudan-no-kamae
- 鍔元 Tsuba-moto
- 剣先 Kensen
- 一本うちの技 Ippon-uchi-no-waza
- 正面 Shomen
- 小手 Kote
- 胴 Do
- 右胴 Migi-Do
- 突き Tsuki
- 連続技 Renzoku-waza
- 二・三段の技 Ni/San-dan-no-waza
- 小手、面 Kote-men
- 払い技 Harai-waza
- 払い面 Harai-men
- 表 Omote
- 引き技 Hiki-waza
- 引き胴 Hiki-do
- 右胴 Migi-Do
- 抜き技 Nuki-waza
- 面抜き胴 Men-nuki-do
- 右胴 Migi-Do
- すりあげ技 Suriage-waza
- 小手すりあげ面 Kote-suriage-men
- 裏 Ura
- Zanshin of this waza is both side take one step back to Kamae.
- でばな技 Debana-waza
- 出鼻技
- 出ばな小手 Debana-kote
- 返し技 Kaeshi-waza
- 面返し胴 Men-kaeshi-do
- 右胴 Migi-Do
- 打ち落とし技 Uchi-otoshi-waza
- 胴打ち落とし面 Do-uchiotoshi-men
- 右胴 Migi-Do
- 方剣道 Kata Kendo
- 竹刀剣道 Shinai Kendo
- 打太刀 Uchidachi
- 仕太刀 Shidachi
- 間合 Maai
- 気位 Kigurai
- 理合い Riai
- 緩急強弱 Kan-kyu-kyo-jaku
- ヤー Yah
- トー Too
- 残心 Zan-shin
- 一拍子 Ichi-byoushi
- 冴え Sa-e
- 手の内 Te-no-uchi
- 面 Men
- 小手 Kote
- 籠手 Kote
- 甲手 Kote
- 胴 Do
- 礼 Rei
- 座礼 Zarei
- 正座 Seiza
- 上座 Kamiza
- 下座 Shimoza
- 帯 Obi
- 蹲踞 Sonkyo
- すり足 Suri-ashi
- 半身 Hanmi
- 木刀 Bokuto
- 刀身 To-shin
- 刃筋 Hasuji
- 鎬 Shinogi
- 物打ち Monouchi
- 剣先 Kensen
- 切先 Kissaki
- 栗形 Kurigata
- 柄頭 Tsuka-gashira
- 物打ち Mono-uchi
- 鍔元 Tsuba-moto
- 鎺 Habaki
- Named parts of a katana
- 日本刀の部位名称 In Japanese, more details
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- 身構え Mi-gamae
- 心構え Kokoro-gamae
- 気構え Ki-gamae
- 五つの構え Itsutsu-no-Kamae
- 五方の構え Goho-no-Kamae
- 中段 Chudan
- 正眼 Seigan
- 上段 Jodan
- 霞の構え Kasumi-no-Kamae
- 諸手左上段 Morote-Hidari-Jodan
- 諸手右上段 Morote-Migi-Jodan
- 下段 Gedan
- 八相 Hasso
- 脇構え Wakigamae
- 左半身 Hidari-hanmi
- 目付け Me-tsuke
- 丹田 Tanden
- 自然体 Shizentai
- 切る Kiru
- 抜く Nuku
- 斜めうち Naname-uchi
- 相下段 Ai-gedan
- 気争い Ki-arasoi
- 水月 Sui-getsu, Mizu-ochi
- 入れ突き Ire-zukini
- 萎し Nayashi
- 位詰め Kurai-zume
- 相打ち Ai-uchi
- 遠間 To-ma
- 切り結び Kiri-musubi
- 捲き返す Maki-kaesu
- すり上げ Suri-age
- 攻め Seme
- 払い Harai
- 捨て身 Sute-mi
- 歩あし Ayumi-ashi
- 中段半身の構え Chudan-hanmi-no-kamae
- 下段半身の構え Gedan-hanmi-no-kamae
- 入り身 Iri-mi
- 飛び込み Tobi-komi
- 開く Hiraku
- ひらき方 Hiraki-kata
- 受け流し Uke-nagashi
- 攻め込む Seme-komu
- 受け流し Uke-nagashi
- すりあげ
- すり落とし Suri-otoshi
- すり流し Suri-nagashi
- すり込む Suri-komu
Some people can build the feedback process by self-awareness, and also use help from video or feedback. Video recording should help us think and understand how to improve, and it should encourage thinking.
Recording the video is a way to check what we know, without correct knowledge, it's hard to interpret what just happened.
- Think about what we want to achieve today
What things I learnt from previous practices?What I want to improve or pay attention to today?- Be focused on the practice and listen carefully about the instructions, everytime we learn new things
- Check if body is in good condition, muscles, arms, torso, legs, feet, etc.
- Check if we're hydrated.
- Tape the injured spot.
- Two or three Shinai (竹刀)
- check the Shinai condition
- Tsubadome (鍔止め)
- Bokuto, Tachi and Kotachi
- Gi and Hakama
- Tare and Do
- a pair of Kote, don't mix with two left Kote or two right Kote
- Men
- Tenugui
- Protectors
- We don't want to get injured
- We don't want to injury our fellow practioners
- If people got injured it will take weeks or months to recover, and back to practice
- We should check our Shinai condition before, after, and in practice
- No cracks
- No fractures
- String (弦 つる) is tight
- 中結 is tight, and in correct position
- Kensen (剣先), tip of shinai is intact
- Never use a broken Shinai
- Never use a suspecious Shinai for Tsuki
- Pay some attention to your opponent's Shinai, if you find it's broken let them know and switch it
- Suggest to fully untie Shinai and check both inside and outside, many crasks are hidden inside
- Prepare at least Two Shinai, Three would be better
- Write your name or any identifier on Tsuka
- Especially the right wrist which is the target for Kote, and right elbow which is close to the right Do
- Tie the Do corectly to protect our torso
- Make sure the left side and right side are at the same height
- Make sure the Do Himo can firmly hold the Do
- For elbow and wrist, you can find protectors frm some Kendo supplier
- It's for people who got bruise frequently
- We should find the opportunity to strike the Do, not because we want to which will injure your friends.
- It's hard for new practioners to control their Bokuto, so be careful of how they swing
- Keep enough distance between praction pairs, make sure they won't interfere and injury people nearby.
- Some people don't understand how to control their arm or hand power, so we may need Men pad
- Prevent concussion
- Suburi is the basic of Kendo. Doing Suburi in a right path will get improved faster, otherwise it won't get improved.
- It's not easy to check if we're doing right just by feeling because our eyes cannot see ourselves directly.
- Get some feedbacks, like getting advide from Sensei, replaying video taps, using mirror, getting advice from fellows, etc.
- But getting feedbacks is not enough, we need to know why, why the advice works.
- At some time, we can feel how mind coodiates with the body, and how leg muscles, torso, arms, bones coordinate with each other, then we can control them for a good strike.
- Use left and right hands' palm to hold the sword
- Left hand should be naturally in front of abdomen, about 1 fist away
- Both hand should hold the Shinai over the top
- Both hand should hold Shinai tightly using middle, ring, and pinky finger
- The thumb and index finger should not squeeze the Shinai
- Both feet should point forward
- The left-to-right distance of two feet should be about the shoulder width
- Keep left heel up, and be ready to push the body
- Check where center of gravity (重心) is, the distribution of weight, it should be easy to push the body forward, and not lose balance
- Upper body should be straight, not lean forward or backward
- Shoulders should be relaxed
- Body should be facing forward, not to the left, not to the right
- Face directly to the opponent
- Look at the whole picture of opponent
- Feel their tendency and mindset
- The blade should be facing down
- Tip of Shinai (Kensen) should point to the center between opponent's eyes or, one eye, or throat
- This way they feel pressure (攻め)
- Be ready for strike or counter strike
- Control breath
- Always watch the whole body of the opponent, not at a small area like Men, or Kote, or Do.
- Push left leg first to initiate a cut
- Mind focus on footwork more, less on hand work
- Always use foot power to drive torso movement, and spread the power to hand to Kensen (tip of Shinai) for swing
- Tense shoulders block the power from torso
- Feel center of gravity
- Feel power spreading across the body
- It takes time to feel how to use body muscles
- Use arm and elbow to swing the shinai, use power from torso
- Keep elbow close to body line, the elbow should move up and down, not left, not right.
- When striking, right leg should catch up and the body is back to kamae position, 冴え, for next strike
- The momentum of 冴え, adds additional power for clean cut.
- Relax a bit of hands and arms after each strike, no hammer strike.
- The trajectory of Shinai, should follow the blade. If not we will break a real Katana's blade, 刃筋
- Use Monouchi to hit the target, not too deep, not too shallow.
- The correct area of Monouchi depends on the size of target, Kote is the smallest, Do is the biggest.
- Kiai means a spirit of dedication, show to both ourselves and opponents
- Kiai is also the easy way to synchronize the mind and body
- Kiai is like incantation of magic. High rank Kenshi with strong Ki like advanced magicians sometimes skip the chanting
- Prepare for the next cut
- Review all things we did after practice
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new sights, but in looking with new eyes. (Marcel Proust)
- The mind determines how we perceive things and how we think.
- The way we think influences the decisions, the choices we make.
- Our decisions shape our actions.
- What we have done and what we will do define ourselves and shape our future.
- Mind is a powerful simulation tool that help us understand the world around us.
- knowing what I'm thinking
- knowing what I'm doing
- knowing the consequence of my actions
- When we don't know if we're doing right or wrong, we need ask
- Before ask we think. think about our question, try to find our answers
- Communicate after thinking help us understand more things than just get feedback
- When we are taught by Sensei, reply if we hear it or understand it
- Communicate with the Sensei makes them know if they are communicating with us efficiently
- If we don't say anything, no one knows if we understand or not
- the mind as a feedback system has internal loops
- Be honest to ourselves
- Know ourself, how we do and how we think
- Know our good habit and bad habit
- Try to find a way to correct bad habit
- Try to improve good habit
- Focus on the training and practice.
- Relax help us understand, because stubborn prevents us from improving
- Don't add pressure to ourselves, normally the pressure is not from opponent, but it's the refletion of our fearness.
- How to set goal and evaluate the goal
- How to solve problem by split hard one to easy pieces
- Self leadership
- Self improving
- Self learning
- Self awareness
- Self evaluation
- Cooperate with people
- enjoy and have fun
- 表 Omote, mototachi no hidari
- 里 Ura, mototachi no migi
- 右 Migi, right
- 左 Hidari, left
- 身構え Migamae
- 気構え kigamae
- Men
- Kote
- Do
- Tsuki
- Men-Men
- Kote-Men 小手・面
- Kote-Do
- Do-Men
- Men-Do 面・胴
- Kote-Men-Men 小手・面・面
- Kote-Men-Do 小手・面・胴
- Kote-Men-Do-Men
- 突き・面 Men can be both SHOMEN or SAYU-MEN
- Harai-Men
- Harai-Kote Variations
- Harai(age) 払い
- Osae 押さえ
- Uchiotoshi 打ち落とし
- Hari 張り
- Maki 巻き From Omote or from Ura
- HIKI-Men
- HIKI-Kote
- HIKI-Do
- Men-Nuki-Do
- Men-Nuki-Hidari-Do
- Men-Nuki-Kote
- Men-Nuki-Men
- Kote-Nuki-Men
- Men-Suriage-Men (OMOTE, URA)
- Kote-Suriage-Men (OMOTE, URA)
- Kote-Suriage-Kote
- Men-Suriage-Do
- Debana-Men
- Debana-Kote
- Men-Kaeshi-Do
- Kote-Kaeshi-Men
- Men-Kaeshi-Men
- Do-Kaeshi-Men
- Ai-Kote-Men
- Do-uchiotoshi-Men
- Men-Uchiotoshi-Men
- In life, a lot of things take days, months, years, then you MAY get feedback about if you're doing right or doing wrong.
- Kendo is in another way, if you're doing wrong then you know it (feedback) immediately. That's a good test field to learn the meta knowledge of improvement.
- Human society takes millions of years and collects myriads of knowledge that support our modern life
- If we want to reinvent from scratch that is impossible
- The best way is to learn from our predecessors.
- It's not free lunch, we still need understand the logic behind these knowledge and invention, in this way we can know the context and how to use them.
- It helps me check which I understand which I don't, - It helps me check the knowledge I know how to use and which I don't.
- This buildup helps me walk on the right paths of improvement, not the paths which repeat same errors.
Kendo knowledge are stored in people's minds, books, online videos, blogs, etc. When we face a question, we may struggle to find them. This project is trying to make answer searching a bit easier. After we know the answer, the next step is to understand them. One day we may find a better answer.
- If the foot work is right
- If the body work is right
- If the arm moving and Shinai trajectory is right
- If the cutting angle (Hasuji)
- Check mindset at the moment and spirit
- Find one or two points that can be improved, especially the easy points
At practice, we can only see things in front. Video records provide the way to see ourselves in the same moment but in different view. We can use videos to check which parts we're doing right and which parts we're doing wrong what is our strength and what is our weakness. Even we got feedback from different Sensei and different people, if we cannot see what we're doing, we cannot understand. Checking the difference between what is right as we know and what we are doing, then we can understand the comments. Without understanding, the improvement is impossible.
- Where is the kensen pointing
- Are both the feet facing forward
- How the foot push forward
- See left hand's position when swing the Shinai and when cutting
- See if hands move first or body moves first?
- Sae 冴え, does left foot catch up when cutting?
- Tenouchi or hammer-strike
- Where is center of gravity
- Shoulder tense
- If you cannot tell where you're, maybe have your name on Kendo-Gi or Hakama.
- Advanced people can easily identify themselves, because I guess they watched themselves many times
- Try recording next time
- We cannot expect one video can catch everything
- Sometimes it's just because we were faraway from the camera in practice
- It's ok, the good and bad habits repeat themselves, we can catch it next time.
Video files are normally big and are about 1 ~ 2 hours. Several factors help us to decide which method to choose:
- File size
- Cost
- Easy access video
- Privacy
- Sharing
- We can easily access the file
- It has limited storage
- If the device is broken, the video could be lost
- It' hard to share with other people
- We can easily access the file
- It normally has bigger storage
- If the device is broken, the video could be lost
- It's a bit hard to share with many people
- Normally has big storage
- Need download then access the data
- Need pay monthly or annual fee
- Easy to share with others
- Need internet access
- Unlimited storage space
- Can access videos anywhere, but need internet access
- Need take time to upload the video
- Need set video as
unlistedto share with other people, the data are still exposed to anyone - It has privacy issue.
- I suggest to hide very old videos.
- the company may use your video to train their AI