Bokken Training - Warm Up and the Left Hand

Today, owing to a busy schedule this morning I was not able to get to the gym so instead spent a little time doing some suburi with my bokken (or bokuto). So today I am going to talk about what I did and also share a video I found on how to train your left hand (stop smirking) and also a link on joge-buri tips.

My Bokuto

I actually have two - the standard tachi size and a suburito the heavier bokken - apparently made famous by Miyamoto Musashi.

Today's Training Goals - Warm Up

My aim in the morning was to warm up physically and mentally so I do some men suburi and some men suburi in horse stance (great for the quads - especially if you pulse - push up on the upswing and go down on the cut).

I also practiced some katate suburi or one handed (left-handed) cutting, with the aim of strengthening my cutting hand. In the past my right hand has always dominated which as a consequence has detrimentally affected my cutting: tending to pull it off centre.

Solo Training in Kendo - What to Watch Out For

When training by myself I like to keep an eye on a few things:

• wrist position - I want to make sure that my hand and wrist do not flatten out. That is if I drew a line from the top of my wrist along the back of my thumb it should describe an angle of around 30 deg. 

• tenuchi - I want to ensure that at the point of cutting I am squeezing the tsuka, wringing it like it was a towel (a good way to learn tenuchi by the way). Tenuchi will also assist with ensuring you have the right wrist position.

• swing - unless I am practising joge-buri - I try to keep my kensaki (the tip of my blade) above my head. My rule of thumb is that pommel of your sword (the tsukagawa on a shinai) should NOT be visible and the kissaki should point in the direction of the sky.

I found a good link in the Kendo-Guide.com on jogeburi - this has illustrations and tips and pointers. Well worth the refresher.

Training your Left Hand

By the way if you are looking for a way to strengthen your left hand (stop smiling guys! you know what I mean :)) check out this video from Hiro Imafuji - all you need is a bottle:

Until next time, Ganbatte!