Re: I don't think technique is lost in kendo.
Quote:
Originally posted by Mat
I think kendo armour helps to enhance the technique. Here's why:
Admittedly kendo was developed as a competition art, but the basics of kenjutsu are still trained in kata, and the continuation of most winning strikes are clearly delivering the cut in a fashion that would cut through the target if using live blades.
The problem is that they hit with the shinai, they don't do a cutting motion. I like Chambara better as the swords are soft, they bend when you get a cutting motion so you don't get a point unless it bends. In Japan a few years back they took a bunch of high level kendoka (Who had not trained in iaido or kenjutsu) and had them do tameshigiri (practice cutting agaist rolled, soaked straw mats, and most of them could not cut. I still spar with shinai though but try to do cutting motions rather than wack.
Re: Re: I don't think technique is lost in kendo.
Quote:
Originally posted by shinbushi
The problem is that they hit with the shinai, they don't do a cutting motion. I like Chambara better as the swords are soft, they bend when you get a cutting motion so you don't get a point unless it bends. In Japan a few years back they took a bunch of high level kendoka (Who had not trained in iaido or kenjutsu) and had them do tameshigiri (practice cutting agaist rolled, soaked straw mats, and most of them could not cut. I still spar with shinai though but try to do cutting motions rather than wack.
Agreed, it's a hit not a cut. That's why I used the word strike. But when you do a winning cut to the men you are supposed to follow through with the arms at 90 degs to the ground (or thereabouts) and 'push' through with the kissaki, which is tantamount to the usual cutting through motion of a head strike in the kenjutsu I've been taught. That's why I said the follow through, not the strike is important.
Similarly, when a winning cut is performed to the do (much harder to score) you have to 'roll'/'slice' the kissaki and then further down the 'blade' around the armour.
I wasn't saying that the strike was a cut, I was saying they had similar dynamics! And the thread is about full contact stick fighting, not cutting people into bite-size chunks!!!
I'm surprised about the tameshigiri result, though I know I shouldn't be. A lot of high-schoolers are taught kendo with no knowledge of the relationship to the sword, and I suppose it continues from there.
My sensei has always given me his live blades to play with anyway.
Kinjit; agreed, they feel nothing like each other other than in weight.
Should try some chambara, my old WC dojo (sorry kwoon!) was shared with a chambara gym (sorry dojo?!)... looked interesting.