50 Years Mumeishi

         September 14- Departure from London. Some unpredicted events forced me to live home earlier and in a hurry. I forget a few travel items but nothing important. Heathrow is busy as always, people from all over the world come and leave. I am about to depart for Japan and become part of the Mumeishi Kendo trippers team- a trip dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Mumeishi kendo dojo. 

        September 15- arriving in Japan. It is a pleasure to travel with Lufthansa. Docked in a comfortable sit I enjoy dinner, a small glass of red wine, a cup of Japanese tea and a long nap. After that, I wake up and my mind travelling faster then the plane comes to Japan even before my body, remembering my previous visits. I am a kendo freak and historian and both ways make me look into the past. However, with our practice, we do not attempt to become Samurai-warriors but to improve ourselves, to become better persons and of course, this goal makes kendo actually part of the future, as society badly needs more nicety and passion to others... At Haneda airport, I start my Japan Rail Pass, buy a Wi-Fi card and head on to Shinagawa station where I take Shinkansen. This is the first time I travel with Shinkansen. It takes about 8 hours to get to Kagoshima. Along the way, I meet wonderful people who help me understand my ticket and transfer. Finally, I am at Kagoshima Chuo Station. Cheerful schoolboys show me the tram I need to get to the hotel. Shortly after Masami san calls. The hotel is nearby from Kagoshima's marine with a view of the Sakurajima volcano. I am in a room with Adam and Vaydas. We have to be at the lobby at 4.45 in the morning dressed for Asa-geiko. 

        September 16- visiting Yoshino Ken Yu (friend)  Kai. Party with members of Yoshino Ken Yu Kai. The day starts with Asa-geiko. Sueno sensei pics up us at the hotel. His dojo, Yoshino Ken Yu Kai is situated in a school, Jim. Ken, You means “comrade in arms” (swords) and in fact, Sueno sensei has been last few years a friend to Mumeishi as he's been coming to do seminars in London every year. Practice starts with Mumeishi members being motodachi. Hard job, and harder in hot and humid weather of Southern Kyushu. Then we have jigeiko with Sueno sensei and other members of Yoshino dojo. Everyone is helping us, and I guess in the end we have grown a bit in our Kendo path. Our next stop is Terukuni jinja. Jinja or shrine is a Shinto temple. This particular one is devoted to kami, or spirit of 28^th Lord of Satsuma Domain, Shimazu Nariakira. Near the entrance of every shrine, there is a water fountain for purifying hands and moth. It is quite an elaborate procedure and requires mastering over time. Shinto shrines also offer amulets for happiness, luck, love and all the wishes a human could have. After all, we are late for breakfast. It becomes a bit of a task to find a place that serves morning meals even at a famous shopping area of Kagoshima, Tenmonkan. A Tenmonkan restaurant also hosts the welcome dinner party arranged by members of Yoshino dojo. We have a chance to meet several specialities of Kagoshima undoubtedly delicious cuisine and have a cup or two of its finest shoju. Sadly tomorrow morning we will have to say goodbye to Kagoshima and the people of Yoshino Ken Yu Kai.

        September 17- Fukuoka. The hotel is just in front of Fukuoka's Hakata station. Here is the point where Safras Azis is joining the Mumeishi trip, after participating World Kendo Championship in Korea. Our guide is Max, a member of the Mumeishi dojo who lives in Fukuoka. After the shopping session, we stop briefly at a Pub for a pint of fine Japanese beer. Restaurant adventure is next. Tables are Japanese style. The speciality of this particular restaurant is boiled on the table, on portable cooker beef with vegetables and cubes of tofu. Beers follow as usual. Memories of kendo matches, trips and seminars been shared as the end of the evening was approaching inevitably. Thosе of us who were strong enough continued the party in a pub; the rest headed towards the bed.

        September 18- Osaka. For three days our residence will be Viainn, a hotel situated in the vicinity of Shin Osaka station. Our plan for the day is to visit the shinai factory and  Himeji castle, apparently the largest Medieval castle in Japan. Shinais are made in different length, shape and wеigth, but although length and weight are specified to the difference in gender and age, the shape is left to individual preferences. And this is from where difficulties of buying a shinai come. Of course, the quality of bamboo is important too, but there is nothing to confuse with: better quality means longer lasting shinai and perhaps higher price. I've been told that only I would know what shinai do I need. Apparently, I don't know and somehow I never paid attention to this particular part of Kendo. Caught unprepared I leave the mater for future consideration. Unfortunately, by the time we finished in the Shinai factory, Himeji castle closes and as no one wants to spend time wandering around the castle, we continue to the hotel.

        September 19- Kyoto. Today our guides are Risa and Yuka. They brought us to the magnificent Arashiyama bamboo grove. Huge bamboo trees cover the view in every direction. The road between them is crowded with tourists. Forest itself exudes calm. It is people who violate it. As we approaching Tenryuji temple I see a little girl that purified her hand at the ritual water basin. I thought I will do it also, but that was a mistake and it was followed by an argument. It is strange how the pressure between people builds up slowly. Kendo begins and ends with etiquette and also involve discipline. It is simple and clear and probably works pretty well in Japan. I believe also that those concepts are applicable in any other culture. But I also believe that a teacher has to be much more responsible then a student, especially when teaches children. Nobody is born with knowledge. Knowledge comes with learning and practising. You can bring the donkey to the river, but you cannot make it drink. If you kick it out it might make it hate you and also the water. Meanwhile, Ayako arrives. She is as always cheerful and alive. Next is practise at Kyoto Castle, Shu Do Kan Dojo. Hosokawa san pics us up from the station. The leading teacher at the dojo is Inoue Sensei 8th dan. Everyone tried hard and looks like this Kendo session is a success.

        September 20- Osaka. Today's practise is at the dojo of Kubota company where a Mumeishi member, Tanaka sensei works. The session is led by Hayashi sensei, 8^th dan Kyoshi. I try hard. It doesn't work well. There is no spirit. I am trapped in between two no-lands. Dinner follows. Food and drinks are superb. As always, Kendo is been discussed. Kubota's kenshi reminds me how important is etiquette, and they did it from their hearts. Here I probably have to write more, but somehow I prefer silence.

        September 21- Travel to Tokyo. Everyone gathers at the hotel lobby at 9 O'clock and we heading up for Tokyo. After buying lunch at Shin Osaka station we get on Shinkansen. It is two and a half-hour in Tokyo but everyone is busy, reading, eating. Adam sleeps. Seem that dumplings and cheese-cake bought from a fancy shop at Shin Osaka are very delicious. Sadly I can't try them..... thought cheese-cake brings me memories. Mumeishi group prepares to go to Nippon Budokan and after that dinner. I don't feel fit for this, although I wanted to see Budokan. The hotel looks empty and silent. The keyboard of the computer is unusually inviting. I realise every one of us has to walk his own path during this Kendo-trip. 

        September 22 - Training in Tokyo. The training was organized by former members of Mumeishi and Wakaba living in Tokyo. We meet smiley kendoka that we haven't seen in years. Former children have grown up. Adults have hardly changed. I feel torn between the kindness and warmth of the Mumeishi kendoka and my own restless thoughts. So is my training. A gala dinner follows in the most suitable place for the purpose - a sports kendo bar. Instead of football matches, matches from the last World Kendo Championship are played on the big monitors. This is the culmination of the festivities. Happy 50th anniversary of Mumeishi!

Sueno Sensei Seminar, 2016

 The structure of Sueno sensei's seminar is almost the same but looks like I needed repetition. As kendo is a completed whole, one wrong movement makes a difference. That's why our practices are the same again and again. Despite that every seссion we learn something new. Those are the points I noticed this time:

• Shinai has to do an ideal circle over the head.
• As close to the head is the circle that short will be the way of the shinai.
• Sinai has to be held lightly but firmly. There has to be no gap between the palm and the shinai's tsuka. 
• When one practice suburi on his own correctly his body remember the movement and do the same movement on any occasion.
• Don't break posture after the attack.
• Mountain can be climbed on many different routes.

        Learning kendo makes us understand ourselves better, and although this thought is repeated many times almost to become a cliché, it still excites me. When you understand kendo better, you come to completely different conclusions. However, how does this affect your skills? Am I at the same level of the mountain or a little higher? I didn't understand everything Sensei was teaching. Or rather, I understood it through the prism of my thinking, which is based, not surprisingly, on the amount of practice I do per week. Not enough!

Harai-waza

 Fourteen years ago, when practising suriage-waza, our sensei told us that we were doing harai instead of suriage. My opponent seemed very confused. He asked me after the practice if I knew that although harai-waza was a shikake-waza (initiating attack), suriage-waza was an oji-waza (counter-attack). I understood his point. In fact, my response was the same, I didn't quite get sensei's advice. There were so many things to figure out those days that somehow we forget to ask our sensei what he meant by contrasting suriage with harai. 

        Latter after I have been corrected again and again about my suriage being harai, I did check in the textbooks and thought about it. Harau means "to deflect by knocking opponent's shinai". Then suriage or suri-ageru is deflecting the opponent's shinai by swiping it up. This movement is quite difficult to master and that's why many beginners do the easier harai. But why such a technique as men-harai-men doesn't exist, or at least it is not in the "Official Guide for Kendo Instruction" of All Japan Kendo Federation? My modest guess is that suriage was the more efficient move when those techniques were employed in combat.

 

        Today at Mumeishi we practised harai-kote and kote-suriage-kote in contrast. It is true that harai-kote is usually practised in the way that the attacker simply knocks aside opponents shinai and hits kote. Although, when it comes to use such a technique in jigeiko this simply doesn't work. Terry sensei taught that the timing for harai-kote is when the opponent is in the move and his shinai is easy to be deflected. So I checked for clarity what was written in "Official Guide for Kendo Instruction" about harai-kote: "Harai-wasa are techniques which are employed when the opponent is ready in kamae or in the defensive stance, and there is no opportunity to attack; it consists of striking after deflecting the opponent's shinai to the upper-left or right, or to the lower-left or right, and breaking the opponent's stance. It is particularly effective when the opponent either begins an attack or steps backwards..... Harai-kote- Engage the opponent in chudan. Apply seme with the kensen. When the opponent prepares to attack by lowering their kensen, deflect the shinai up to the right, and strike directly at the opponent's kote."

Kyoto Taikai, 2014

         Sometimes in the nineties when I was beginning Kendo, a Bulgarian kendoka gave me a copy of Matsumoto sensei’s videotape of Kyoto Taikai. Knowing little about kendo, my friends and I watched in awe those magnificent shiais. In fact, at the time when the internet wasn't grown up, this videotape was the only example of kendo shiai we had, a source of learning and inspiration.....  Although since that time, I have seen many kendo shiais and my knowledge of kendo has been grown a bit, I never forget the old videotape. And yet, this year I had an opportunity to watch the 110th All Japan Kendo Enbu Taikai, held at Butoku-den in the Kyoto-shi Budo Centre.

It was early morning at Heathrow airport. My bogu and shinai were packed safely in the bag, documents and money were with me, I only needed to relax and enjoy the travel. Although, the fact that I was going to see for the first time the famous Kyoto Taikai, and practise kendo in Japan made me excited and a little nervous. My little knowledge of the Japanese language and culture made me exposed to all sorts of mistakes and misunderstandings. After a brief flight to Amsterdam airport and some waiting finally, I boarded an aeroplane that was going to bring me to Japan. Armed with the recent Salmon sensei’s books I sunk into virtual travel through kendo, pausing from time to time to think where I am on the path of kendo. After a long flight, the plane landed at Kansai Airport in Osaka, and I had a chance to see Osaka and train in Shudokan. The next day began Kyoto Taikai.

Kyoto Taikai is one of the most important kendo events with a long history. First, it was held in 1895 and this year (2014) is its 110 edition. The event continues for 4 days. On the first day perform various koryu and iaido and jodo masters. The following 3 days kendo competitions start, when over 2000 participants with 6th, 7th and 8th dan have shiai. The venue of the event is Butokuden, an old Budo building made of wood with traditional mat sits, most of the time fool of people who wanted to watch the matches. Every morning starts with asa-geiko from 6.30 to 7.30 in which everyone, even beginners like me, can take part. All motodachi are 8th dan. They stay in the middle of the hall and in front of them are long queues of eager for practice kendoka. If you cannot put your men on fast enough you end up at the bottom of the queue and the chance to have more then one practice is very little. I didn’t perform well with putting my men on and couldn’t have a chance to practice as many times as I wanted but, I could manage to practice with Sumi sensei, Iwata sensei, Sueno sensei and Iwatate sensei.

The competition starts at nine. The first day begins with kendoka who is 6th dan then continues with kendoka who are кyoshi and after that start the shiais of 8th dan. Every kendoka performs at only one shiai. Those shiai represent not only proper kendo, performed well, without any wrong or unnatural movement. They represent the true spirit of kendo. When you watch them you learn the art of grandmasters. But it is not only watching important. It is one present in the way of absorbing the spirit of that great kendoka. On the other hand to be there, to sit properly, to watch quietly, relax and concentrate is a kind of practice called mitori-keiko. I wonder if my brain and body can memorise and later copy such incredible kendo.

For me, Kyoto Taikai had also another importance. I met several teachers some of them I knew from before (as Sumi sensei, Matsumoto sensei, Tashiro sensei Iwata sensei, Sueno sensei) but I was just introduced to Iwatate sensei. It turned out that all those interactions put me in a few challenges I couldn't withstand. This tells me that my spirit was not strong enough and I didn't manage to maintain my zanshin at any time.  Also, this important kendo event led my mind to unexpected thoughts regarding some aspects of Kendo. I tried to rethink the meaning of kendo for me. Watching the performances of grandmasters who showed no presence of fear or desire to win but to perform proper kendo. It looked like they didn't care to win against their opponent. Then what was important. I think I can find the answer to the atmosphere of the entire event. The relationship between participants, shimpan and audience. Their posture, self-control, zanshin, rei. All those thoughts led me to the heart of kendo: "forming the human character through the way of katana. I think this is the most important legacy of Kyoto Taikai.

Watchet Seminar, 2014

        This was the first time I was going to the Watchet Seminar. I decided to go at the last moment and didn't put a lot of organisation into it. Driving 6 hours from London I ended up somewhere deep into the forest near Watchet after midnight. The little farm that was gonna be my hotel was in deep sleep. I was greeted only by the nothing-missing dogs. Having a sandwich and a beer I tried to use the seats of my van as a bed. After all, it turned out to be not so bad and in the morning refreshed I went to the venue of the seminar. The weather was perfect and also the seminar was attended by around 100 participants.

        The practice at the seminar can be divided into two parts: kata and kihon. We did kata on the grass enjoying the good weather. I tried to take as much as possible from the rare chances to do kata.
        The focus on kihon practice was on opportunities to make ippon. We did different technics emphasizing the moment before the actual technique is performed when you prepare the situation that can help you perform the successful technique.
        Someone mentioned that all the sensei at this seminar are from Mumeishi where I was practising anyway. What was then different for me in this Watchet practice after all? First, we did two days of practice focused on specific elements of kendo and second I had the opportunity to practice with people that I didn't practice before.

        And... what do you suppose to do when meeting someone on a 5 miles-long one-way road? 

London Cup, 2013

 

        This year's (2013) edition of the London Cup Kendo Tournament coincided with Easter and St. George's Day weekend. It was a good idea to honour the two-day warrior saint in which kendoka from Britain, Germany, Switzerland and France competed in kendo matches.

    In kendo, competition is considered the best way to train and the best way to learn new things. I was not in good shape this spring for a number of reasons. It was almost impossible to prepare well for the London Cup in two weeks. Anyway, the race was now and now I had to make an effort at least my spirit to be at a high level. Now I realize that no matter how well prepared you are for a race, you just have to go and play without worrying about how bad you are. From the several matches I played in the team competition and one in the individual competition, I realized that the distance I maintain is too far and when I attack or I do not reach the opponent or he feels me in time. Besides, when I played against Jodan, although I kept a close distance, which confused the opponent, I could not make a technique that would be successful in this situation.

The match in which my opponent played harder than usual was also interesting. This managed to shake my spirit and concentration and I could not find a gap in his defence. In the last match, I may have felt the best but there I missed a very good chance which was purely and simply due to insufficient training.

     Now that the race is over and all my weaknesses are still clear in my mind, it's time to make a plan for my further training. First and foremost, I need to improve the physical condition of my body by becoming more mobile, lighter and react faster. For this, I have prepared exercises both during training and at home. My next goal is to learn how to do a few techniques well and try to apply them successfully in jigeiko. Finally, I need to increase the intensity with which I train - so I can take the initiative in a competition in random situations, just what I failed in the London Cup.

   

     It is a pity that we did not manage to continue with the team in the next round, but on the other hand, it is an incentive to continue training with even greater enthusiasm until the next competition, where we will be able to do better kendo with a purer spirit and greater success.

Return

 The goal of my training today was to get back in shape two weeks ago, but I had to be careful not to get injured.

From 10 to 11.30 basic exercises and kihon. I've been trying to fix my posture for a long time. I'm leaning forward a little. They say that you achieve success when your posture is good - you are upright, and this happens quite naturally. I know that it doesn't work for me - I have to make an effort both to keep my back straight and to think again and again to tighten my stomach.

    After 12.30 it's Jigeiko's turn. My rules for judge are as follows:

• do not think,
• attack with full force,
• don't judge
• use all the energy of your spirit,
• be relaxed

    It is true that these are not easy to follow rules. But I don't like easy rules either. I was lucky enough to make a few jigs. It was instructive and interesting. My shape from before will not come back easily. So the goal for the next workout is clear to me.