Training video

Two Sempais, Chang and Liang, both 5th Dan doing jigeiko. Sorry about the noise of the electric fan. If I turned it off everyone would be steamed to dead in the summer climate.

Building up my waza skills

Recently I've been trying hard to improve my waza skills. It is very hard to practise against my sempais, because they are so fast. A little mistake in the posture and timing renders the waza ineffective. They have also been giving me lots of useful advices.

• Debana-men: taking the center line is important. And since the opponent comes forwards, the right foot does not need to take such a large leap as usual. This makes the strike also faster.
• Debana-kote: taking the center line is also important here. Make sure also that the left hand is pushed forward.
• Sometimes my left heel is raised too high.

Although there are always difficulties here and there, I think my skills improve little by little anyhow. Especially, recently I have been able to "see" the winning strike at the moment when the opponent is about to strike. I seem to have a better feeling of what situation is the right moment to execute for which waza. Now I just need more practise and against more different players.

Keep it up!!

I am 3rd Dan

Haven't written the blog for quite a while already, because there is too many other projects going on right now. One being my new website for promoting science communication in the Chinese speaking world, combining art, design, entertainment and science education. It's http://dr-i.info/ and the facebook fan page is http://facebook.com/newartandscience. For those who can ready chinese or have friends who can, please support my joining the fan page!!

Anyways, back to the main subject. I became 3rd Dan as of today. It was 2 times kirikaeshi and 3 times 3-mins jigeiko(which I think are too long). If one passes the above then comes the kata.

There are three things I concentrated on:

• Show a good Kamae, especially with a straight back. I found that only half of the examees below 4th Dan held a good kamae with the back straght. And most wiggle the shinai too often without a purpose. So having a steady kamae immediately stands out and gives the judges a good impression.
• Show the understanding of seme. Not striking relentlessly like 1st Dan and the 2nd Dan holders. Every time before launching the strike, I made sure I applied the pressure to my opponent, and showing it by inching forward with the body.
• Show a few (2 or 3) oji-waza, and kote-men strikes. Ok, in my opinion and many otehrs, kote-men is an essential technique to master in order to pass the 3rd Dan. So I have to show that I can do it regularly and fluently. And I struck also debana-kote and kaeshi-do.

Kata

Fortunately, I didn't make any major mistakes, despite being a bit last minute. I should practise it more regularly!

Where to go from now on?

Being a good 3rd Dan I need to be much stronger than I am. I need to work on:

• striking at the right moment. Meaning I have to create the striking moment. Put more effort on waza practice, and use them in jigeiko. Especially concentrate more on the seming and timing.
• Bring more explosion into my strikes. That also includes bring my whole body forwards instantaneously.

Last but not least, I really appreciate the Senseis and Sempais who have constantly helped to improve my kendo by giving good advices and pointing out my weak points. Thank you!!

Stepping right foot to the left while striking kote

The weather in Taiwan is getting more and more humid, and in last Friday's training I felt that I could throw up in any minute after 30 mins into the training. Fortunately, the kakari-geiko stopped just in time. Phew~

When I practised with Ho Sensei, my kote strikes landed several times on the fist-part of the kote, which isn't valid for a point. I think the problem is that my right foot didn't step to the left side.

And I should make my men-strike more explosive.

2011 Taipei Youth Cup

Last Saturday was this years Taipei Youth Cup. It's been almost half a year since the last competition, which had been a major disappointment, not being able to even show a good kendo style. Since then I went to the training persistently, worked on the basics as well as trying to find what wazas work for me the best. And at the same time slowly building up more confidence. I can't say I'm totally satisfied with my performance this time, but at least there is significant improvements. Including:

• I don't attack without first putting pressure on the opponent.
• I can use wazas at the right time (Though not 100% successful).
• I can analyze the current situation and adjust my fighting style immediately. For example, if I find myself starting breathing heavily, then I would hold my kamae and spend more time on pressuring my opponent while gaining the breath.

The reason for me being hit was almost the same for all matches: Lack of concentration. This made me not being able to judge the maai, and let the opponent come too close.

Another major thing to improve on is that my left foot still sometimes lag behind during seme. So, when I launch the men attack I couldn't push my body forwards enough.

Overall, I received good and encouraging words from Ho Sensei and So Sempai. It's funny that no matter wining or loosing, I have a feeling that it's all what matters. And I learned a lot from this competition experience.

By the way, thanks to the friends who came to see me. I never ask people to come to see my match, but in fact I deeply appreciate the gesture. Afterall, kendo is such a big part of my life, and I devote so much time and effort on it, although most of my friends have no idea of what it is and why I'm so attached to it. So thank you!!