Master Kim session #1:
After a kendo hiatus of 13 days (not by choice mind you as the dojos were closed), I visited Master Kim's dojang in Artarmon (1 street from my apartment) last Tuesday for the first training of the new year. There were 2 beginners there, plus Master Kim and Jimmy Kim, as well as members of the SKC Doug, Johnny and Taek.
The focus that night was kote, debana kote more specifically. He taught us the technique in such fine details. The individual feedbacks from Master Kim were fabulous too! He reminded us to drive ourselves using our back and hip. We sweated buckets. It was a good start to the kendo year.
Master Kim emphasises the 2 critical elements of kendo i.e. (1) Maai, (2) Center. He said that we must strive to make our own distance, otherwise we wouldn't be in the right maai to execute a proper cut. We must also be quick to adapt to maai changes, he added.
NSW kendokas are very lucky indeed. We get to train anywhere regardless of whether it's a kendo or a kumdo dojo. We get to benefit from the advice of different senseis.
Master Kim session #2:
I like to write about training at Master Kim's dojo because of the amount of stuff we learned at each training. Of course I was back there again last night along with the usual people less Doug (wife commitments).
There were no jigeiko this week - I can now understand that the 2 trainings I'd been to so far were targetted at perfecting a certain technique, which in this case is debana kote. Though it's the main focus, Master Kim got us to do other drills to improve our speed, especially in nidan waza. We started doing men cuts actually - but it's more uchikomi style. Basically, you cut in reaction to your opponent's movement, which in this case is simple one step forward movement, or a body dip commonly seen before an impending attack. Master Kim said that we must exploit moments when opponents least expect an attack from us, for example, when he/she is moving forward or in preparation to attack us. Also, it is a possible sign of a debana opening, especially the body dip commonly observed.
Once the uchikomi-men drills were complete, we proceeded to do not just 1 but 3 types of kote-men. The first one is executed from the outside similar to the kihon kote-men, but we did super small cuts and it has to be super fast. The next one is executed from the inside, as in, we commenced the waza by seme before dipping the kensen of our shinai below the opponent's and lifting it up very slightly to cut kote, which is very swiftly followed by men. Master Kim explained that in this technique, our seme may confuse our opponent to expect an impending men cut, hence he/she may lift the shinai to protect the men, hence opening up his/her kote nicely. Once the opponent realised that it's a kote cut, he/she may try to block it, hence opening up men. Of course, as Master Kim explained, the choice of doing just the 1 cut or2 cuts as in nidan waza is entirely up to the situation. If the cut to kote is successful, don't have to worry about men. The third and final type of nidan waza is very similar to the second one. Nidan waza is executed from the outside, with a small pause between the kote and men cuts. If we strike kote and the opponent tries to block it, a tiny pause might confuse the opponent further and opens up the men even more. 45 mins of those drills. 10 times each. We received loads and loads of quality feedback. Master Kim reminded us that when we propel ourselves forward, we must use our hip and back, like a frog.
The rest of the training is debana kote type 1 (of which there are 2), which is executed from the outside. We formed 1 line and took turns executing debana kote against different opponents who cut men. Master Kim told us that all of us
must master the essence of this technique in this keiko. *gulp* He was very helpful, showing us in slow motion etc and giving us very good tips. He explained that debana kote is not a reactive waza - by the time we react to an opponent's cut, we've already lost the debana moment. Instead, we must expect the opponent's cut to come so as to know
precisely when to execute debana kote, he added. In fact, a good debana kote attack starts from the mind, he said. Also, don't be stiff, be a butterfly and use light footwork and wrist movements, but with strong tenouchi and good posture always. Only move after we've cut with proper zanshin and never be afraid. I think I got the hang of it after doing it so many times. Can't wait to give it a go in jigeiko.
The feelings afterwards..I suppose we were all in awe and very pleasantly shocked. I could feel that my debana kote cuts have improved markedly in just 2 trainings. I'm sure Taek, Johnny and the rest of the guys felt that way too. Next Tuesday, we practise debana kote type 2. Can't wait.
Last night also spelled my first attempt at "freedom kendo" i.e. nothing under the hakama. All I can say is....FREE WILLY!!! Last night was the night Andoru went commando in training and he hasn't look back since.
