44th All Japan Jodo Taikai

Last Sunday, 8 October 2017, the 44th All Japan Jodo Taikai was held in the Tokyo Budokan in Ayase in North-Eastern Tokyo, organised by both the ZNKR and the Tokyo Kendo Federation. As with the EJC, the AJJT changes location every year, usually alternating between East and West Japan and, this year, it was East Japan’s turn.

Although the doors weren’t due to open for us until 8:45 (there was also what appeared to be a high school kyudo taikai also taking place, for which the participants were allowed in at 8:30), most people arrived well in advance. This year, 262 pairs entered the taikai from as far afield as Hokkaido and Kagoshima (no Okinawa representative this year), split up in grade categories from 1dan to 7dan, and flooded in as soon as the doors opened. We signed in at our grade’s reception desk and received a program and tshirt before making our way up to the gallery and each prefecture commandeering a bunch of seats for their competitors. Nishigaki-san and I had a look at the 5dan lineup, by far the largest with 64 pairs, and immediately thought “oh well, there’s always next year.” Our first match was against Kozuka-san and Ouchi-san from Miyagi, both very strong students of Murakami s. Although we hadn’t been able to train with each other as much as last year (Nishigaki-san had been ridiculously busy at work and I’d also had other things on my plate) and had only managed three keiko, we were both feeling pretty good…until we saw those two names.

Still, after the opening ceremony consisting of words of encouragement from some of the top sensei and the national anthem, the morning was given over to the 1dans to 3dans while we and the 6dans and 7dans were not due to go on until the afternoon so we got a bit of last-minute practice in. Unlike both the Kanagawa-ken Taikai and every taikai I’ve attended in Europe, for the AJJT, competitors enter in pairs, both side of which are judged, 6 shitei-waza are set and the weapons are exchanged after the first three waza. The shitei-waza had been released months in advance and, in my experience have never changed:

1dan: 1-6

2dan: 2-7

3dan: 3-8

4dan: 4-9

5dan: 5-10

6dan: 6-11

7dan: 7-12

There are also no pools, only knock-outs, the specific number of rounds per category being dictated by the number of pairs. As with previous years, Nishigaki-san and I agreed that he would be shijo for Sakan, Monomi and Kasumi while I would do Tachiotoshi, Raiuchi and Seigan. The court managers well-organised. They had us lined up ready to go well before any of us were due on and had us take it in turns to do aisatsu. We were the fifth match so we had a bit of time but that time seemed to vanish instantly and we were soon entering the shiaijo.

I don’t actually remember much of the match itself but, even though I felt it went quite well – I felt relaxed, all my techniques felt like they were hitting their marks and I’d even managed to take most of the power out, my own biggest demon – I wasn’t surprised when two flags went up against us, our one flag being given by our own Abe s.. Iwata s., Nishigaki-san’s teacher, was kind enough to film our match (minus Sakan), and from that footage, it’s clear why we lost: my second tsuki in Raiuchi was noticeably low but Abe s. couldn’t see that from where he was sitting. While we would’ve liked to have progressed beyond the first round, it was a relief for it to be over.

While Kanagawa tends to do quite well, this was not the case this year, with only Ishida-san and Sano-san beating Ochiai-san and Takawashi-san, two police officers from Tokyo, to win the 6dan category. As far as the other participants from Shinbukan go, Lucy and her partner from Suigetsukai, Shimizu-san, got knocked out in the third round by Hidaka-san and Tani-san of Tokyo and both Mr and Ms Ishibashi went out in the first round.

This year was definitely Hokkaido’s year, with last year’s 5dan winners, Nozawa-san and Asano-san, successfully defending their title; both first and second place in the 1dan and 4dan divisions as well as the first place in the 3dan division being won by Hokkaido pairs. The full results can be found here and the 4dan-7dan finals have been uploaded here (the first two matches are 4dan (left) and 6dan (right), the second two are 5dan and 7dan).

The day finished off with the shinpan embus, both koryu and seitei at the same time (this time we even got a Suio Ryu embu in the koryu group), before the closing ceremony, prizes and various photo ops. For Nishigaki-san and I, the next challenge will hopefully be the Tokyo Taikai in July 2018 but, for now, we’re taking a couple of months off taikai training. Personally, I’m looking forward to getting stuck back into koryu for a few months before I also start thinking about my next grading in 2019.

Osaka Mini-Musha Shugyo

A couple of weeks ago, I undertook a musha-shugyo (“warrior’s pilgrimage”) to Osaka, largely inspired my George McCall’s own musha-shugyo to Tokyo but also at the invitation of Hosokawa s.. Hosokawa s. used to train and teach at Mumeishi, way back when I first started kendo, now works and practices in Osaka and had invited me numerous times to come visit and practice. My memory of his teaching at that time was as a very hard and strict taskmaster who would more often than not send my spotty teenage self flying into walls or unsuspecting parents because I wasn’t moving fast enough. I nonetheless keep a very fond memory of that time and was very happy to reconnect with him a couple of years ago at the Terry Holt Memorial Keikokai.

Shudokan

So, my bogu having made me the least popular person on the morning commute, I left work at about 12:00 on Thursday and took the shinkansen (bullet train) to Osaka, arriving at my business hotel at around 16:00. The first keiko Hosokawa s. had arranged to take me to was at the famous Shudokan in the grounds of Osaka Castle and didn’t start until 18:30 so that gave me a bit of time to unpack and repack before setting off. After signing in and changing, I was taken around to the three 8dans to be introduced and we got stuck into keiko. The first thing I noticed at Shudokan was how smooth the floor was and my first kirikaeshi was very unstable as I figured out how to adapt my ashi-sabaki and weight distribution to avoid falling over. We started off with a slow and methodical shomen kirikaeshi, not unlike that we normally do at Ishikawa, focusing on synchronising the movements of the arms with those of the feet, before moving on to standard kirikaeshi and kihongeiko for about 25 minutes. After a short break, the last 30 minutes were given over to shidogeiko with the 8dans and 7dans but I unfortunately only got two keiko with Hayashi s. and Hirano s., Osaka’s newest 8dan. With the former, I worked on kote-uchi with particular focus on taking the power out (currently, the bane of my kendo) and improving tenouchi and, with the latter, I worked on men-uchi. I found the general feel of both sensei quite different from the Kanto 8dans but they were no less formidable and both keiko were incredibly valuable. The evening was capped off in the best way by a few beers and gyoza with Hosokawa s.

Photo courtesy of George McCall

The next day, I joined the summer keiko at Otemae High School, thanks to George McCall who is part of the faculty and runs the kendo club there. Being catered to high school students, needless to say, the keiko was much more intense than the previous and, although I joined right from the warm-up, I had to step out for a drink a couple of times, particularly during oikomi-geiko. The keiko I usually attend here in Kawasaki usually being geared to adults (I’m pretty sure I’m the youngest adult there), it’s been a good number of years since I last had such an intense keiko; come to think of it, I don’t think I ever have. Still, it was a fantastic experience to practice with high school students (there were a couple of real pocket rockets!) and teachers, not least because, having read his Kendo Coaching book, it was great to see the theory being put into practice.

With Hosokawa s.

The Otemae keiko finishing at around 16:30 and giving me just over an hour before my next keiko, I headed to a nearby conbini for more fluids and a bite to eat before heading back to Shudokan. This keiko followed the same format as the previous day’s and, although I was a bit more used to the floor, it was still a bit of a challenge for me to stay upright. I worked some more with Hayashi s. on my kote-uchi (with limited success, I feel) and got another keiko in with the attending Hanshi (I’m currently drawing a blank on his name). Despite having just done a very intense (for me) keiko, I actually felt great during this second Shudokan keiko and was very relaxed. Again, the evening was finished off by beer and sushi with Hosokawa s..

Saturday morning, I went back to Otemae High School for another intense summer keiko, this time making it further through the oikomi-geiko before having to step out for a drink. Luckily, George had also arranged to Hirano s. to come and teach so I was able to have another keiko with him and, this time, it was just a regular jigeiko. Perhaps it was due to the two keiko the previous day, but my keikogi and hakama felt as though they’d been soaked in water (of course, my bogu hadn’t been dry since Thursday); I headed back to the hotel to hang them up and, since I hadn’t arranged any keiko for the afternoon, headed back out to do some touristing around Osaka Castle and buy omiyage (“souvenirs”) to bring back to Shimbukan and work.

The final keiko was in Kobe Oji Koen and was similar in structure to my usual Saturday morning keiko, whereby, after the opening rei, people line up for sensei or just grab whoever they feel like practicing with. It was great to attend that kind of open keiko and I was able to fight some really strong kendoka, including a Kobe police officer named Takanashi s.. Keiko finished at 12 and I headed back to Osaka. Since I’d booked quite a late shinkansen back (around 20:00), just on the off-chance that there may have been another keiko, I had a few hours to kill so I settled myself in a coffee shop with my copy of Inoue s.’s Kendo Seidan.

All in all, it was an exhausting but fantastic experience. It’s a shame that I wasn’t able to make it longer (due to work constraints) and that there wasn’t keiko on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, but still, five keiko in three days isn’t bad and I will be sure to do it again! My gratitude goes to both Hosokawa s. and George McCall for allowing me to attend their respective keiko and introducing me to the numerous high-level sensei and, of course to those sensei for their invaluable teaching.

 

2017 Kanagawa Selection Seminar

Every year, the first seminar after the Prefectural Taikai is the Selection Seminar, or senkōkai, where the prefecture’s representatives to the All Japans in Hiroshima are selected. The All Japans take place in October (the location changes annually and alternates between East and West Japan), but the categories are limited to 5dans-7dans, each prefecture sending a single competitor per grade. I’m not aware of how other prefectures select their representatives but I suspect the process is similar. In Kanagawa, those selected are also usually the winners from the preceding Taikai but back-up representatives are also chosen in case any of the first choices cannot make the All Japans for whatever reason.

Bright and early Sunday before last, Lucy, Jane and I set off from the dojo with Kancho to the Budokan for the Selection Seminar. As usual, the morning is devoted to a seminar, according to the usual seminar format, with those wishing to be considered for selection signing up throughout the morning to give an embu straight after lunch, and the seminar continuing for the remaining time.

After the usual opening ceremony of announcements and the presentation of the newly-minted 7dan and 6dans, we split up into grade groups, each group overseen by a 8dan and further splitting up into, in our case, three sub-groups, each of which was taught by a 7dan. We were lucky enough to be assigned Nakada s. as our 8dan, assisted by Takeuchi s., Sekii s. and Yokotsuka s.. Given that a new edition of the book has just come out in April, the main emphasis for all the groups was on consulting the book and checking not only what it includes but also what it omits and, in my group, Sekii s. had us do each kata once, after which we would gather and go through the description in the book. Sekii s. would then emphasise particular weaknesses he noticed and we would do the kata again once or twice with Nakada s. floating around and jumping in with additional points and clarifications. Even though our sub-groups rotated every fifteen minutes and didn’t get that much actual practices, the heat coupled with the usual summer humidity meant that even standing or sitting still involved sweat, my summer keikogi doing little to lessen the stifling heat.

6dan Embu

After lunch, the embu participants gathered and were given a short pep-talk by Kiyota s. which also included the shiteiwaza (two koryu, 3, 6, 9) before we were arranged in groups of four in the order in which we had signed up. The 5dan group consisted of 19 embusha, followed by 16 6dans and 7 7dans. The panel consisted of one Hanshi (Kubo s.) and four 8dan Kyoshis (Furuichi s., Nakada s., Nakanishi s. and Morishima s.) I’d chosen to do Jushin Ryu for my koryu, both of which went well, aside from a slight screw-up right at the beginning of the second one. Ukenagashi felt like one of my better attempts and I genuinely can’t remember that much from Morotetsuki but my first cut in Soetetsuki felt like could have been knocked off-course by a newborn kitten, and this was compounded by the fact that my left foot found the one sticky part of the floor in the entire dojo interrupting the step back. Otherwise, considering this was my first embu since my injury, it didn’t go too badly and, best of all, I didn’t spill any more blood! Yoshimura-kun was kind enough to film everyone’s performance so I was able to look back and pick up on the points I need to work on, namely, my body being too late after the cut in Ukenagashi, and my kissaki dropping and my upper body (particularly  my shoulders) doing a slight movement akin to a gathering of power before the yokochuburi in Morotetsuki.

We were given a short ten minute break before continuing with the seminar, finishing an hour later. The selections were announced at the closing ceremony and were made up by the taikai winners: Sakurai-san (5dan), Nakano-san (6dan) and Harada s. (7dan). The back-ups were our very own Kato-kun (5dan), Hiraoka-san (6dan student of Nakada s.) and Fujikawa s. (7dan). Asking for advice from each of the panel as well as Kancho and Kiyota s., aside from my koryu malfunction, the recurring theme was my lack of kihaku (Geoff Salmon s. covers this from a kendo point of view but it should be easily understandable to iai people) and, looking at the video, I can see exactly what they mean so this will be work in progress.

37th Kanagawa Prefectural Iaido Taikai

Last Sunday was the 37th Kanagawa Prefectural Iaido Taikai and, as usual, Kancho drove a few of us (Jane, Lucy, a 4dan visitor from China called Cho, and me) from the dojo bright and early at 8:00, arriving at the Budokan at 8:30. Although my arm is for the most part healed up, I’m still not able to fully extend my arm without discomfort so competing was out of the question but, as 5dans are usually assigned a shiaijo to help manage, I decided to go along for that. While everyone else was getting changed, I tried to help out as much as possible with the setting up of the shiaijo and registration desks but, as usual the Tokai University Iai Club were there to handle most of it so I busied myself with doing the aisatsu rounds to the many sensei as they arrived.

I lost count of the number of times I had to explain to people that I wasn’t competing and why but each and every time was met with expressions of concern over whether my injury would have any long-term effects and sighs of relief when assured that I’d be back in full working order in a couple of weeks. Even those who hadn’t suffered any such serious injuries knew people who had so everyone shared my shoganai (“it can’t be helped”) attitude and wished me a speedy recovery.

1dan – 3dan Finals

Everything kicked off on time and, after the usual announcements were made and the prefecture’s newest 6dans and 7dan presented (we skipped the national anthem), everyone dispersed to their shiaijo, two of which were overseen by 8dans (Nakada s. and Morishima s.) and the other two by 7dans (Ono s. and Takeda s.). On our court, I took up record-keeping duties while Lucy and a couple of fellow 5dans I’d never met before called Kajiwara-san and Yonesawa-san between them made sure everyone was at the right place at the right time. Opening reiho was on court for the first match only (except for the finals which included both opening and closing reiho on court) and the shitei-waza were:

1dan – 3dan: 1, 3, 6, 7, 8

4dan – 6dan: 2 koryu, 3, 6, 8

The morning consisted of the 1dans-4dans while 5dan and 6dan took the afternoon but our court actually finished quite early, most like due to the number of byes.

7dan Embu – L-R Tada s., Kaneko s., Yamada s., Harada s., Wakabayashi s., Date s.

In terms of results, Shimbukan did quite well, with Suzuki-san winning the 4dan and Yoshimura-kun coming second in the 3dan division. Despite it being their first time in their respective categories, Kato-kun and Cho-san got quite far, both losing to the eventual winners, and sadly Jane, Lucy and Isomatsu-san all went out in the first round. Lastly, Davide de Vecchi, visiting Furuichi s. from Italy, did very well, making it all the way to third place and losing to Sakurai-san from Fujisawa.

8dan Kyoshi Embu – L-R Morishima s., Nakada s., Furuichi s., Kiyota s., Ozaki s.

We finished up the day with the 7dan and 8dan embus which, as with the Jodo Taikai, were a pleasure to watch as always. Full results can be found on the Kanagawa Kendo Federation Iaidobu website.

8dan Hanshi Embu – L-R Kubo s., Ishido s., Shojima s.

Introduction

When I initially moved to Japan back in October 2012, I started up a blog called Itchy Feet with the intention of keeping a regular record of happenings both in and out of my budo life. Since then, my activity on there has been sporadic at best but, starting from this month, I’ll be maintaining a much more diligent note of my activities and decided to run two blogs separately: travels and other experiences on Itchy Feet and all things budo on here.

Thus, this blog will be given over primarily to kōshūkai, gasshuku and any keikokai of note. If anyone reading spots anything they’d like more information on or I make a mistake, please let me know! In the case of the former, I’ll respond via post or message and for the latter I’ll make the necessary correction.

Lastly, I only aim to convey my own experiences and opinions as one of many budōka in Japan, and do not claim that these represent the entirety of the budō experience in Japan. Furthermore, all translations are my own unless otherwise stated and I therefore take full responsibility for any errors and mistranslations.

Happy reading!