Fumigomi practice

Last Saturday I went to the morning keiko (Asageiko) at the Taipei Japanese School again, where Kamiyama (上山) Sensei (7th Dan Kyoshi) heads the training.

After the keiko he gave very valuable advices on the correct fumigomi and the practice for it, which I will describe in the following.

Step 1: Take one large step forward with the right foot. One main point is that when the right foot makes contact with the floor, there is a sheer-like force going, not straight down, but forward-down as shown in the picture below.

Step 2: Quickly draw the left foot to the right one, and stand on the soles of the feet, so that the body is going slightly up.

Step 3: Repeat the exercise.

This is really the tip that I have been looking for to improve my men-strikes, for a long time. So I'm eager to share with you guys here! Hope it helps!

New Homepage of Taipei Kendokan

Check out the new English page for the Taipei Kendokan, that I made. Come to visit by all means when you are in Taiwan!!

Click here for the link.

Back to live in Taipei

I finally moved back to Taipei from Hsin-Chu, which means that I can go for training at the Taipei Kendokan more often. My goal is to train from twice a week moving gradually to three times a week. However, living in Taipei while working in Hsin-Chu means that I need to get up at 5:30 in the morning and go to bed at 10:30pm in order to catch the dedicated bus going to my company. Everyone awed at my new schedule, and some bet that I won't be able to last long, because it's too tough. Well I'm tough, too. ;-)

Speaking of toughness, the weather is becoming unbearable to train at the dojo. I need to make sure that I have enough water in-take well before the training. Last night I felt so dizzy towards the end of the training. When I practised in Europe, I thought taking break during the training was a shame. But I tell you, in this climate this is really a matter of life and death. We usually take a 5-10 mins break after 1hr, just before mawari-geiko and jigeiko.

Yesterday I put a lot of attention on my feet, making sure that they are not too far apart. And also their fluency when executing zanshin after the strike, for both forward strikes and hiki-men strikes. There should be a smooth coordination.

Looking forward to the next practise.