Kodokan seminar high grade and dojo leaders practice - by Kazuyo Matsuda

After the introduction of Uegaki sensei, Mori sensei and Kojiro sensei made by Budden sensei, the seminar started with the high grade session and with Uegaki sensei's speech about how one should behave and be the role model for his or her students as an instructor. There are four things to consider

1. Always demonstrate correct etiquette inside and outside the dojo - all students are watching how you behave and likely to copy, even the manner of speech
2. Communication with students and trust establishment -point was made to exercise with students as much as possible and not only give verbal orders on what to do. With the latter it is difficult to establish trust
3. Pay attention to small details
4. Kendo is "heart to heart" - full commitment with good kiai given to your opponent and especially in the response, this is also fundamental etiquette

There was a short explanation for the above points with a small discussion and then we visited to the entrance door to see how the shoes had been left outside the door. Some tried to correct the way they were left. Uegaki sensei referred to a Japanese old saying 'untidiness of the shoes represents untidiness of the mind'. (Ashimoto-no midare wa kokoro no midare). And the correct ways of leaving shoes tidy was demonstrated.

Further small details were also pointed out. For example, 'Ki-za' or the correct use of the toes during both sit down and stand up movements was emphasised. 'Sa-za-u-ki' or left to sit down right to stand up was explained. Safety issues were also pointed out such as the importance in the tightness of the naka-yui. He explained the importance of safety checks otherwise the risk will be left with the students. Other details in sitting and standing bow, nuki-to, osame-to, tai-to, tei-to, sonkyo, gripping of shinai and bokuto, metsuke, and more about kiai were covered during the session.

The morning session focussed on a particular way of kirikaeshi for lower grades, who should be focussing on large and correct strikes rather than small and fast. (And reference was made that lower grades should include up to 3rd dan, intermediate are 4th and 5th dan and 'high grades' start only from 6th dan in the current Japanese system)

Uegaki sensei emphasised that this exercise contains all the techniques required in Kendo. When one masters the basics of kirikaeshi correctly your kendo will progress and will benefit further from studying Kendo in depth. The emphasis for beginners and lower grades was on how we keep the left hand in the central axis and lift the shinai straight up for right and left strikes rather than going through 'natural paths' slightly off the centre line, which is ideal ultimately. Also, the 3 men strikes should be done with extended arms after each strike, rather than taiatari. If you teach taiatari too early it will establish bad habits such as arms always bent. He suggested that all students should practice this way up to 3rd dan. Then everyone practiced this method of kirikaeshi with the arms straightened and no taiatari. All of the exercises were done without armour until the lunch break.

The afternoon session was run by Mori sensei. His demonstrations of the waza were so wonderful that everyone was so eager to absorb every single moment. (and later we were to know more about his speciality of course) Kirikaeshi was exercised in the same way with armours this time. Men, Kote and Do strikes and kote-men then Ouji-waza against men and kote. All sounds quite standard however having Mori sensei it was all something very special. Points were made such as men strike should be practical (indeed he later proved to us), kote as if stepping onto opponent's right foot, importance of tame etc. Also the importance of practicing kihon for the practical context and one should never do kihon just for the sake of it.

His clear, encouraging and polite instruction was quite unique. All practitioners were so keen to learn more and more even though the session was quite hard. This was followed by Uchikomi-geiko (with large and correct strikes) and Kakari-geiko (more practical strikes) then we had the first jigeiko with the teachers in mawari-geiko style so everyone practiced with everyone else while the sensei located themselves in such positions that we didn't have three teachers in a row. We couldn't quite believe the first day menu being so hard at this point - "how are we going to survive the seminar which hadn't really started yet?"

Kojiro sensei joined the practice during these sessions which were attended by 5th, 4th, 3rd and 2nd high grades, dojo leaders, some shodan and kyu grades. Namely and to their credit, all of the Maltese members participated in this session as they had arrived specially on Wednesday in order to attend.