@Naisho07 - no need to apologize, I appreciate the comments. I'm currently working heavily on drawing more power to my center and "grounding" it through my lower body (and trying not to let that affect my upper body smoothness!).
Nice! Congratulations on passing your exam. I think the thing I would say to work on would be the large overhead strikes. If you thinking about starting to cut from the beginning of the strike, your form will look stronger. Keep your center "stomach?" tight. It looks like you are just putting the sword on top of the target. Sorry, hard to explain in words. Great job and keep it up. Cheers
From my point of view it looked a bit like Koryu/Seitei mix. Take the first kata the two gents in the foreground do. When they do the verticle cut, the footwork of both, and the blood flick of the furthest looks like my version of koryu. But his noto finish looks seitei(no blade seating). whereas, the closest one does a full seitei finish.
I do Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu. My guess is Shinden Ryu. I would love to know if I am right, so please let me know.
@Ijinyanen You are correct, it was a bit strange to not see the proper noto for koryu, which has to be done not from the tsuba area, but from the middle section of the sword (at least in Shinden Ryu which I practice). At the end of the kata, one must touch the tsuka, a single point so different from the seitei, which I didn't notice. And for a 3rd dan-to-be, the guy in front is noticeably fumbling with the sword during the noto, it doesn't come natural as it should be.
@Ijinyanen You are correct, it was a bit strange to not see the proper noto for koryu, which has to be done not from the tsuba area, but from the middle section of the sword (at least in Shinden Ryu which I practice). At the end of the kata, one must touch the tsuka, a single point so different from the seitei, which I didn't notice. And for a Yondan, the guy in front is noticeably fumbling with the sword during the noto, it doesn't come natural as it should be.
Sure... the Dan system has many ranks. Usually starting with the kyus (white through brown 1), and then the practitioner gets his/her first dan (black belt). That is all fine, but I prefer the old way. 4 ranks: Shoden, Chuden, Okuden, Menkyo Kaiden. The practitioner focuses more on his/her iai, and doesn't worry about rank. As far as skill goes, rank is meaningless in my view. Iai is difficult to judge at the upper levels, and making the ranking system into a stepping stone system...
making the practitioner focus on testing and achieving rank. Good iai focuses on iai... nothing else. It's just personal preference of course, but I feel that the dan system is too confining. It constricts the practitioner. But that's me... Some people flourish under the Dan system, and they need the tests every half year, or every year.
I find it a distraction.
I was being too dramatic when I said I HATE the dan system... I prefer the old way, and I dislike the Dan system.
I sort of agree, but... I think the ranking system is a good set of "checks" to make sure people are moving along as they should. It's also a good indicator for the level that they should be working at within the kata.
I often think of "stopping testing" - and in fact, with Kendo have never competed for the same reason - too much focus on winning, not enough on proper kendo (IMO). Of course, my instructors seriously disagree with me on that - and I'm biased by years of karate competition. I just wanted to train, and get lost in the practice without worrying about winning. I could see someone having the same feeling about exams.
@djbressler I heartily agree. Though I can see the point of competition as a means to focus on the training, and putting you on the spot, as it were, I don't feel I gain that much from it as I do just simply practicing. And that goes for grading and exams as well.
Well done, it was a good solid performance. I especially liked your tsuke kage. I've only been practising for two years and find the turn and rise on tsuke kage particularly difficult. Great looking kata when done right though. Keep training hard, and look our dojo up if you're ever in Scotland.
Yeah, totally agree with your comments on your cuts. Although they are nice and big, there doesn't appear to be much kime, I can't really tell where the cut is going to be hitting (although sound would be a dead give-away as well). Also, if I were being really picky, there is a slight body pop during the noto on ukenagashi. Very slight but noticable. Otherwise I liked it, nice posture. Not so impressed with the shinden guy next to you though - his opening rei was poor(Dave, MJER, Edinburgh)
gaijin is so funny
Mitzrael19 1 year ago
By your execution your lineage looks familiar. Mind listing your lineage back to Japan?
Proton1 1 year ago
So, um, what's your lineage?
Proton1 1 year ago
I am a MSR student, so I am unfamiliar with "Tsuke Kage", but it looks very close to Seichuto in Omori-ryu. Are they the same / similar?
NeinWunOne 1 year ago
I hope the exam went well. :D
*humble MJER Shodan*
kendoka0girl 1 year ago
Thank you.
Just about 10 years. It's quite fun.
djbressler 2 years ago
Actually, I'm traveling every Wednesday until the week after Nationals. I'll be at the dojo on Saturdays. I can't believe it's been a year!
djbressler 2 years ago
Dave... I just found your video by accident. You looked great! I hope to see you on Wednesday...
Dave8972 2 years ago
@Naisho07 - no need to apologize, I appreciate the comments. I'm currently working heavily on drawing more power to my center and "grounding" it through my lower body (and trying not to let that affect my upper body smoothness!).
djbressler 2 years ago
Nice! Congratulations on passing your exam. I think the thing I would say to work on would be the large overhead strikes. If you thinking about starting to cut from the beginning of the strike, your form will look stronger. Keep your center "stomach?" tight. It looks like you are just putting the sword on top of the target. Sorry, hard to explain in words. Great job and keep it up. Cheers
Naisho07 2 years ago
Nice job. I'm still learning the seitei kata but my instructors study muso jikiden eishin ryu.
xenadon 3 years ago
Hello. Could I ask what style is this?
From my point of view it looked a bit like Koryu/Seitei mix. Take the first kata the two gents in the foreground do. When they do the verticle cut, the footwork of both, and the blood flick of the furthest looks like my version of koryu. But his noto finish looks seitei(no blade seating). whereas, the closest one does a full seitei finish.
I do Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu. My guess is Shinden Ryu. I would love to know if I am right, so please let me know.
Ijinyanen 3 years ago
Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu, All Japan Kendo Federation, Iadio division.
So, the first two kata were from my koryu, the last three were seitei. The other two guys (I'm the third guy) I believe are both muso shinden.
I'm glad you recognize my "blood flick" as jikiden. At least in the first two kata.
djbressler 3 years ago
@Ijinyanen You are correct, it was a bit strange to not see the proper noto for koryu, which has to be done not from the tsuba area, but from the middle section of the sword (at least in Shinden Ryu which I practice). At the end of the kata, one must touch the tsuka, a single point so different from the seitei, which I didn't notice. And for a 3rd dan-to-be, the guy in front is noticeably fumbling with the sword during the noto, it doesn't come natural as it should be.
DarumaLookalike 1 year ago
@Ijinyanen You are correct, it was a bit strange to not see the proper noto for koryu, which has to be done not from the tsuba area, but from the middle section of the sword (at least in Shinden Ryu which I practice). At the end of the kata, one must touch the tsuka, a single point so different from the seitei, which I didn't notice. And for a Yondan, the guy in front is noticeably fumbling with the sword during the noto, it doesn't come natural as it should be.
DarumaLookalike 1 year ago
No offense, but I hate the Dan system for iai. Great job though.
kfkonrad 3 years ago
Mind explaining why?
Proton1 3 years ago
Sure... the Dan system has many ranks. Usually starting with the kyus (white through brown 1), and then the practitioner gets his/her first dan (black belt). That is all fine, but I prefer the old way. 4 ranks: Shoden, Chuden, Okuden, Menkyo Kaiden. The practitioner focuses more on his/her iai, and doesn't worry about rank. As far as skill goes, rank is meaningless in my view. Iai is difficult to judge at the upper levels, and making the ranking system into a stepping stone system...
kfkonrad 3 years ago
making the practitioner focus on testing and achieving rank. Good iai focuses on iai... nothing else. It's just personal preference of course, but I feel that the dan system is too confining. It constricts the practitioner. But that's me... Some people flourish under the Dan system, and they need the tests every half year, or every year.
I find it a distraction.
I was being too dramatic when I said I HATE the dan system... I prefer the old way, and I dislike the Dan system.
kfkonrad 3 years ago
I sort of agree, but... I think the ranking system is a good set of "checks" to make sure people are moving along as they should. It's also a good indicator for the level that they should be working at within the kata.
djbressler 3 years ago
I often think of "stopping testing" - and in fact, with Kendo have never competed for the same reason - too much focus on winning, not enough on proper kendo (IMO). Of course, my instructors seriously disagree with me on that - and I'm biased by years of karate competition. I just wanted to train, and get lost in the practice without worrying about winning. I could see someone having the same feeling about exams.
djbressler 3 years ago
@djbressler I heartily agree. Though I can see the point of competition as a means to focus on the training, and putting you on the spot, as it were, I don't feel I gain that much from it as I do just simply practicing. And that goes for grading and exams as well.
Erkynar 2 years ago
how else would you do it? then.....no rank???
twsewell 3 years ago
No rank??? Yes... you don't worry about rank, and just work on skill.
What a concept eh? ;)
In the old ways... they had basically 4 ranks. Menkyo Kaiden being the highest, which meant you had "graduated" from the school.
I find the dan system sort of redundant for iai, and tends to hold people back from a conceptual point of view.
Just an opinion though... :)
kfkonrad 3 years ago
Dave,
There isn't much sound, because I don't have a hi on the sword. I'll take a look at the noto you mention.
I did pass, as did the guy next to me. He has a disabling and permanent shoulder injury... so perhaps they took that into account?
Now that the exam is over, I feel a whole lot of stress lifted, and hopefully some of the lack of crispness was due to stress of the exam!
David
djbressler 3 years ago
Well done, it was a good solid performance. I especially liked your tsuke kage. I've only been practising for two years and find the turn and rise on tsuke kage particularly difficult. Great looking kata when done right though. Keep training hard, and look our dojo up if you're ever in Scotland.
hickster5000 3 years ago
BTW, did you pass?
hickster5000 3 years ago
Hi - I did. Not sure if I responded earlier, so apologize if this is a duplicate!
djbressler 3 years ago
Yeah, totally agree with your comments on your cuts. Although they are nice and big, there doesn't appear to be much kime, I can't really tell where the cut is going to be hitting (although sound would be a dead give-away as well). Also, if I were being really picky, there is a slight body pop during the noto on ukenagashi. Very slight but noticable. Otherwise I liked it, nice posture. Not so impressed with the shinden guy next to you though - his opening rei was poor(Dave, MJER, Edinburgh)
hickster5000 3 years ago