Week Of

Monday: Blah....

Tuesday: Studying differential equations
Nito Ryu Kendo style; Satomi Sensei instructed me very patiently

Wednesday: Felt horrible and couldn't bring myself to get out the house

Thursday: Nothing...

Friday: Wife wasn't feeling well so I took Aden to Kendo with me. He was really good during the time practice was going on

Saturday: Ran 3 miles in My Vff's. My knees don't hurt but my calfs are killing me. The muscle strain will go away after a while though.

Sunday: Usually I'll go to Anytime Fitness before work but plans changed a bit and I stayed at home and talked with Megan about odds and ins.

Help New Zealand Kendo Mates

My Kendo instructor (Hiro Imafuji Sensei) lived in New Zealand for about 6 years. The center of where the earthquake took place a couple of days ago. His friends were affected and has set up a donation to help them out. I know times are tough but if you have even $1 to donate it would help out. Here is the site to donate if possible. http://www.kendo-guide.com/Support-Kiwi-Kendo-Mates.html

Essay: The Benefits of Kirikaeshi

Kirikaeshi is regarded by the ones who practice the Art of Kendo as containing all the necessary basic elements of kendo. Kirikaeshi, meaning continuous cuts, helps one to practice and better understand the basic movement, coordination, tounochi, striking distance, timing, and breathe control. All of these elements are important in becoming a skilled kendoist.

Commonly kirikaeshi is the first and last exercise of every practice. Some basic movements used in kirikaeshi are large men strikes, strikes with fumikomu and strikes with sliding step footwork. Initially when beginning kirikaeshi at issoku itto no maai position. For this initial strike fumikomu foot work is used with a large men strikes. Doing so helps to develop good posture with striking at the furthest distance possible. Following are nine sequential cuts, 4 forward and 5 backward using a sliding step type of footwork. Practicing sliding step foot work helps increase speed and cutting sharpness. Large men strikes are used for all cuts in kirikaeshi helping to develop a range of solid and full cuts. The cuts with fumikomu are straight and the cuts with sliding foot work use sayu-men which help to practice variances in strikes.

Coordination is developed in all actions that are in kirikaeshi. The initial bow and greeting becomes more fluid and coordinated. The knowledge of how far away or close to get to modochi comes with more practice and changing the various types of footwork becomes more coordinated with practice.

Tenouchi is practiced during every cut in kirikaeshi. Properly practicing tenouch helps to develop a sharpness and firmness with all strikes in kendo. Also more control is gained by increasing tenouchi strength. Each strike is ended with tenouchi and practicing kirikaeshi helps to release and grip the shinai in a repeated fashion.

Striking distance in kendo is extremely important. Kirikaeshi provides an excellent opportunity to better understand the importance of these distances. The cuts with fumikomu are at far distance and the cuts using sliding step foot work are at a much closer distance. Kirikaeshi practice helps one to realize variable distances and how to compensate appropriately. After the first two cuts with fumikomu the shidachi uses tai-atari to place modachi in the appropriate distance to continue striking. Knowing where an opponent needs to be is important in making valid cuts and kirikaeshi provides adequate practice for evaluating the appropriate distance. It is also necessary on the final strike that shidachi passes through and turns to modachi after the appropriate distance has been traveled. Making enough distance while passing through is important so that an opponent is out of striking distance while turning around.

Striking at the timing of the fumikomu is an important technique. This is practiced on three occasions in kirikaeshi. Just as important though is the basic footwork used in the nine sequential cuts. The timing for each strike must be correct. Doing so helps to make strikes strong, sharp and accurate. Timing of the kai-ai must also be correct to keep fluid amount of energy through all of kirikaeshi.

The appropriate amount of kai-ai is necessary in all the cuts through kirikaeshi. If shidachi expels too much kai-ai in the first cut then there is none in reserve for the next nine sequential cut and all energy flow will be wasted. If not enough kai-ai is used then the first cut will seem empty and the next sequential cut will not have enough energy and they will be seem like empy cuts as well. Kirikaeshi should be completed with 2 breaths and practicing this will build a stronger kai-ai. Also, in practicing kirikaeshi this way it helps to build a stronger sense of urgency and how quickly one is recovers to keep on striking.

There are many benefits in practicing the basics in kendo. Everything in kendo seems to have a basic movement that it relates to. There are even benefits of receiving kirikaeshi. From helping a flow of energy pass between shidachi and modachi to improving ones coordination by anticipating strikes. The benefits of kirikaeshi continually evolve as one becomes more skilled at kendo.

Current status

Kendo: The current status of Kendo

I achieved a rank of 2nd Kyu recently. My confidence is shown within my kendo, my strike, my knowledge and my eagerness is all apparent. My focus now is the strike. The forward movement of the thrust to match the downward strike. Foot work is still most important.

I am going to attempt to get the 1st kyu rank in Detroit Feb 12th and participate in the tournament on the 13th



Running: As new to running, I find the more I do it the more my knees hurt. It's been suggested that it's my shoes. I am currently looking into getting a more expensive pair but I'm not sure what to get. I've very interested in the new Vibram Five Fingers but the $120 price tag is a bit too much for me.

I'm averaging about 8 miles a week. 2 to 3 sessions every two weeks. I can run for about 40 mins with ease.


Body Training: I've set up a training plan in paper to follow. It takes time to fill out but it's a record of what is done through the week to help keep consistency. I've managed to Bench Press 75lbs (45 bar + 30).