Kata practice at home

-

 


For those who are practising kata at home, perhaps with a view to grading next March, here is the perfect video to watch all ten kata, made by the AJKF.  

Click "Show More" underneath the uploader's caption and it has links to further explanations of each kata, and detailed demonstrations of important points. The top comment has time links to the start of each kata in the original video for easy reference. 

Watch the detailed videos to help you with your practice, especially if you are by yourself. 

For feedback on your performance your reflection in a window is best.

Points to watch for and practice:

  1. Correct actions, i.e. kamae, waza, footwork, so that the grading panel can see you know the kata. If you do enough practice it will shine through even if you make a small mistake on the day, and this is what they are looking for.
  2. Posture: make sure your kamae and movement looks like these sensei: big, accurate and straight.
  3. Rhythm: watch carefully when to start, when to speed up, when to slow down, when to pause; kata should not be too fast and not be too slow.
Rhythm is the breath
The best way to get the right rhythm for kata is to use your breathing:
  • Rei - breath out when you bow. Breathe in as you come to taito. Hold your breath as you take three steps in. Breathe out as you draw your sword into sonkyo. Breathe in as you stand up, hold your breath as you take kamae, breathe out as you break kamae into kamae wo toku and take five steps back. Breathe in as you take chudan again
  • Start of the kata: after the kata is announced, if you are uchidachi take a big breath in and hold it, pushing it down into your stomach. Pause and build connection with shidachi. Take three decisive steps in with your breath still held, pausing slightly when you come to distance. This is the threshold of life and death. Launch the waza and exhale with your kiai. Breathe in sharply and hold your breath as you move through the zanshin phase back to kamae. Exhale slowly into kamae wo toku and five steps back.
  • Shidachi should harmonise their breathing with uchidachi as much as possible.
  • Not all kata fit exactly this breathing pattern, but the important breaths apply to all: the preparation to attack and the release and reset at the end.
  • "You must study this well" :)
No matter what your level, your kata should be: 正しいと強いと美しい -- correct, strong and beautiful

In Australia, the grading requirements for kata are:

  • ikkyu - kata 1, 2 and 3
  • shodan - kata 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
  • nidan - kata 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7
  • sandan and above - kata 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 + kodachi 1, 2 and 3

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nishimura sensei's Kendo HIIT routine

-
Image
Former All Japan champion, and star of his own NHK documentary , Nishimura Hidehisa produced this workout routine for the All Japan Kendo Federation last year during the early stages of lockdown. It's an excellent HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) routine, sometimes called Tabata Training after the coach who invented the idea. Basically it has been theorised that you get better results in terms of fitness and overall body strength from short, intense and focused workouts, than you do from extended workouts. Some say it is also beneficial for improving endurance and longevity . There is even some evidence to support that it kickstarts mitochondrial function , that you're exercising at a cellular level. That's pretty amazing. Whatever the research says, it is very easy to feel the positive effects of interval training and it has several other benefits: PROS It doesn't take long, so you can fit it into a busy schedule   You can do it by yourself   You can do it almos
Read more

Results and pics - 2008 VJKC

-
Image
Another great Victorian Junior Kendo Championships today. The standard gets better every year. This year we had two divisions, 14 & under and 16 & under. Unfortunately only three Victorian dojo were represented, Nanseikan (of course!), Fudoshin and Ballarat. Firstly thanks to the shinpan who came along today: Gary Oliver, Khay-Lin Teoh sensei, Richard Ward, Jason Widdy and Andrew Lam. Thanks also to all the parents for bringing their boys (and they were all boys this year, more girl-kendoka needed!) as well as supporting their kendo throughout the year. Last but not least, thanks to Tony of UMKC, who took all the fantastic photos below. All pics are (c) Tony Shearer. Straight off the 14 & under matches were high quality. Newcomer Yuichiro Sato of Fudoshin won his first match in his first ever taikai against Thomas Goh, also of Fudoshin. Sato (red) scoring men against Thomas Goh. Poor Thomas didn't fare any better in his next match against our own Mr Weber. Geoffrey won
Read more

Koryu that are not like Kendo at all

-
Image
In the previous post I listed the various branches of Itto Ryu and asked you to consider the similarities between their use of the sword and Kendo. Sometimes when one becomes used to a certain way of doing things, one can fall into the trap of thinking that is the only, or maybe the best, way of doing things. In learning iai kata of Tatsumi Ryu, we are trying to break out of that thinking by exposing ourselves to a system devised long before even the Itto Ryu was founded. This means that there are some fundamental differences in how the sword is used.  In these posts I am mostly interested in the differences in how to swing the sword. In Kendo, and indeed in most of the styles of iaido practiced today, the fundamental cutting action is a straight up-and-down action often referred to as kirioroshi , cutting through or cutting down. In Tatsumi Ryu, the characteristic action where the sword first goes through a circular backswing before cutting downwards is called kowauchi , or 'power
Read more