..... and breathe.

Sandan done and dusted.

Now to take some time off to try and fix my wrists.

Surprise Visit

Nice surprise at Mumeishi last night!

I wandered into weekly practice at the usual time only to find Sumi sensei taking the class, it was a bit of a double take moment I have to admit. He was in the UK as a 'stop over' before travelling to a seminar in the Ukraine.

Sensei taught the use of footwork to create pressure in chudan/seme. First of all we all partnered up and placed a shinai between both lower abdomens (on the tare or bottom of the do). The idea was to use the hips and left foot to push the opponent, with the feeling of power in the hips and abdomen - NOT leading from the shoulders.

The next stage was to hold the shinai in chudan and try to create the same feeling as before, forward attitude/seme from the lower abdomen, hips and footwork. We were also instructed to 'feel' the opponent's sword, quick sharp pressure on left or right to generate an opening for a men, kote or kote-men cut. We practiced this for 15 mins or so and progressed on to men kaeshi do.

With both people generating the feeling of pressure, motodachi then pushes and opens for men cut, shidachi reacts by cutting men and motodachi completes with a kaeshi do. I was unable to cut do due to my wrists so I cut men instead.

I was a bit nervy during Jigeiko with Sensei. It's not everyday you cadge a practice with one of the best known kendoka on the planet.... he commented after that I need to attack more from distance (I'm still falling foul of this). However, It was ace to be able to talk in english to a Japanese sensei.

I've also had another trip to the physio. He thinks the problem originates further up my forearms, tightening all the tendons which means they fail in the weakest location under stress (the wrist area). The physio also demonstrated how to tape up my arm with kinesiology tape to try and support the forearm muscles.

IF I pass my grading then i'm planning to take a few months to recover.... its a big if. 4 days to go... pecking it.

Sueno Sensei Seminar 2012

This year's seminar was hosted by Mumeishi Kendo Club and planned as a two day event.

Sueno Sensei is an established Hachidan Hanshi teacher who has many achievements over his long career, including success at the all Japans.

I'll try to write down all I can remember of his instruction.

Attitude to training.
Sensei split the stages of training into a number of parts.  We provided extended explanations on the following:

• Suburi
• Uchikomigeiko (inc kirikaeshi)
• Kakarigeiko

Sensei emphasised the need to establish a strong base in these three aspects in order to improve jigeiko and in turn competitive kendo.

Suburi

Sensei explained that the key to improvement is correct suburi, in particular the correct use of shoulder, elbows then wrists.  He's explained in great depth the use of each joint and described it using terminology which i'd not heard before, I can recall the following:

• Shoulders must be used when performing big cuts, with hands above the head, elbows in and ensuring you can feel a 'tug' on the triceps and bottom of the forearm.  Biceps and top of forearm should not be used for a cut.
• When cutting, don't think of extending the elbows to gain extra distance, you will only benefit from an extra inch or so and it will make you lead with your right shoulder.  Elbow extension should be used in order to generate power.
• If you lead by the right shoulder you will stunt footwork - therefore, creating a net loss of distance (two inch gained with elbows but a foot or so lost in footwork).
• Relax elbows immediately after cut, then point your left thumb toward the opponent.
• There are three wrist position (I cant remember the Japanese terms). 'Blocking' which is used for receiving kirikaeshi and is signified by wrinkles on the top of the wrist. 'Cutting' wrist which is used for chudan etc.. this should not show any wrinkles.  Finally, 'extended' wrist which is the final part of a cut.
• Cuts must be performed with relaxed upper body and arms.

Uchikomigeiko

Sensei had us run through a number of drills during the day.  These mainly consisted of men using the basics taught during suburi.  

Sensei introduced an interesting way of performing these cuts with a partner.  Kakarite would cut in the usual was but motodachi would step backwards two or three steps once hit before stepping to the side.  This encouraged people to cut centrally instead of sideways because of motodachi stepping too soon.

These drills were performed for big men, small men, kote and kote-men.

When we progressed to hiki-men and hiki-do is when I experienced a major problem.  My first hiki-do twanged my left wrist in a similar way to my right.  I instantly knew i'd damaged it. That was my day over and I lost my chance to practice with Sueno sensei.

In conclusion, I iced my wrist but it was obvious I couldn't return for the second day.  I hope its contents are covered by Salmon sensei's blog in the near future (edit:// here ).  I also hope Sueno sensei returns again in the future as I enjoyed his teaching style and explanations.

I now have two knackered wrists and 14 days until my grading.  I think the writing is on the wall and will give it a week before deciding to call it off or not.  I feel crushed :(

Edit:// 03/07/12 - After visiting the physio I found out that I have tendon and ligament damage in my right wrist and fresh ligament damage in the left.  I have to rest for most of this week, keep icing and perform light weight and flexibility exercises.  With wrist taping and pain killers I might be ok for grading.

Setback

Short injury update.

After two visits to the back quack the pain has gone and my muscles are relaxed again *touches wood*.  However, I've suffered a setback with my wrist injury. I received a strong uchiotoshi strike last week which battered my shinani down and to the right, violently twisting my wrist in process. This seems to have set me back a couple of months and I really struggled during practice last night... gutted.

I was also told during kihon that i'm not gaining enough traction from the back foot (losing forward drive), which is also causing me to lean forward slightly before making my cut (telegraphing). I can't resolve this posture conundrum.

36 days until grading. Application now submitted and paid for.

Pain is Back

I seriously think something is plotting against me. After a great Tuesday last week I managed to pull my back 5 minutes before the start of Thursday practice. I wasn't even doing anything energetic at the time, just a few light swings of the shinai. FML.

I'm now suffering ANOTHER enforced break.

I visited the quack yesterday and they manipulated my back. Apparently one the vertebrae just below the level of my shoulder blades was very slightly twisted, this locked the surrounding muscles. The guy messed about poking and twisting the affected area, which seems to have helped ease it off a bit. He suggested I give it until the weekend before performing a light practice. I need to keep my back moving though.

46 Days until Grading. Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!

Well done for those successfully grading at Watchet. You've done us proud..... please help me with my kata :P

Tenouchi Practice

Finally, after six months of visiting Mumeishi I have finally finished a night feeling positive. Holt sensei has been pressing me on my basics, namely opportunity, tenouchi, footwork while turning (left and right) and zanshin. While i'm not claiming to have cracked any of these, I feel that I am making progress.

Prior to class Holt sensei demonstrated a method of practicing tenouchi. This is how I remember it, this may not be 100% faithful to the original instruction.

Hold the tsuka in the middle of the handle without a gap between the hands. Next, 'bounce' the kensen up and down (top of head down to throat level) by flexing the left wrist/hand while pivoting with the right. The downward part of the bounce is created by a sharp squeeze of the hands to produce a snap. Repeat this 1... 2... on 3 lift the shinai up and forward with the shoulders and snap a small cut with the wrists, pushing from the hips and completing with fumikomi. The kensen must not rotate 90 degrees so it's pointing to the ceiling.

The correct hand grip is needed for this, the base of the tsuka in the heel of the left palm with it running past the index finger. Axe handle style grip will not work.
I felt this exercise helped me stretch during my cut and provided more of a snap. It's something i'm planning to practice at home.

I have also bought a new bogu bag. for the last two years i've used Ebogu's Tozan backpack ordered for the US. While its dimensions are perfectly suited, its fabrication and materials are woeful. I have spent hours stitching up the seams with thick thread in order to stop it falling to bits... stitching failure started as soon as six months after purchase. It's finally given up the ghost with the actual fabric ripping around my bodges.

I've since been scratching my head about what to buy as a replacement, finally settling on an ice hockey backpack due to similar weight and size of armour. It took a while to find one that will fit my do measurements, I ended up buying an Alkali CA9 backpack. Its reinforced and made from tarpaulin, so hopefully wont rip.

The only problem is IT'S MASSIVE. The width and length are perfect but the height is a good 10cm too long. At least I can use it as a sleeping bag if I get locked outside. I'll update later on how successful this purchase has been.

London Cup '12

My uni project deadline is this Friday which means i've been kendo-slack for the last few weeks, only managing a couple of practices. After my hand in I'm planning to take advantage of the short inter-module break and make a few additional weekend practices.

I fought in the London Cup team event a few weekends ago. Nenriki entered two teams this year and I felt ours was pretty strong, three of us are similar grade/experience and the final two are old hands at shiai.

I was fighting Jiho (second) and our first match was against Mumeishi B. Due to my regular practices at their club I knew my opponent, he's an Ikkyu so was less experienced than I. Nevertheless, he proved a tough guy to break down. I managed to beat him with a kote nuki men before the final bell.

Like previous years, people commented that I didn't 'claim' my points enough so most of my opportunities were not scored. This is a reoccurring issue I need to rectify, otherwise fighting in competitions will be a waste of time.

Our pool only contained two teams so both went through to the next round, where we faced Team GB 2. Again, I knew all our opponents due to squad training and faced their Jodan fighter. I knew this guy was quick and aggressive so set my stall out early to try and unsettle him, I chucked in a few rubbish tsuki just to let him know I was willing to give that target a go and tried to maintain a forward positive attitude. He kept working away at my kote and was told after I was in for a shout for a nuki men... however, at one point he managed to clip the bottom of forearm when I was lifting for a cut which was scored by the shinpan - I could tell it missed my kote due to the pain! My opponent then followed up with an identical cut which hit kote plum, no complaints about that one.

At least I put up a good fight and didn't disgrace myself. The final score was x KK x x x, which mean my result lost it for the team. I was gutted. GB 2 went on to win bronze.

Regarding general practice, i'm still struggling with posture. I'm over compensating my leaning back by leaning too far forward, leading to my back leg flicking up. O'Sullivan sensei says my posture is still looking a bit ungainly and awkward, i'm unsure if this is due to my leaning forward/backward issues or something different.

59 days until grading....

Good luck to those grading at watchet this weekend!