Hello everyone,
Thank you for reading the following blog post! I'm Kota Suzuki from Japan. I've been practicing kendo since I was seven years old in Japan－I am currently 3rd Dan. Right now, I am studying abroad in the United States and regularly practice at the university kendo club here.
Today's topic: Kirikaeshi. Many people practice kirikaeshi in the beginning of keiko every time. What do you pay attention to when you're doing kirikaeshi practice? Some people think kirikaeshi is just a warm-up, but it is not true. Kirikaeshi includes many kendo basis, so you can improve a lot of things through practicing kirikaeshi correctly.
Today, I'm going to introduce 8 important elements of kiriakeshi, so please remember these points when you practice kirikaeshi in the future keiko. I hope these tips help you improve keirikaeshi as well as your kendo itself.
1. Make a loud voice 2. Swing fast and strongly in the first men 3. Body contact with your body not arms 4. Target both sides of men using wrists 5. Swing up using shoulders 6. Swing down at the height of the opponent's men 7. Keep making a voice as long as possible 8. Be powerful until you finish the last men
1. Make a loud voice
The first important point is making a loud voice. This is always impotant because you cannot get a point without your loud voice in kendo matches. Before hitting the first men of kirikaeshi, you should make a loud voice like "Yaaaaa!" This is important because you are able to feel confident by making a loud voice in the beginning of kirikaeshi and that leads to good kirikaeshi with great power (kiai). I also recommend making a loud voice when you feel nervous before kendo mathes and dan-tests since you can remove the nervousness by your loud voice.
2. Swing fast and strongly in the first men
The first thing is always important because it affects the quality of the rest. If you hit the first men fast and strongly with the correct posture, the rest of kirikaeshi will be better than hitting very slowly and weakly with the wrong posture. Kirikaeshi could be done in the very beginning of keiko, so it is probably hard to swing fast and strongly if you are slow in the beginning. However, I believe the first men is the most important in kirikaeshi since you can make a great power in the rest of kirikaeshi.
3. Body contact with your body not arms
After hitting the first men, you make a body contact against the opponent. The important thing when you make a body contact, you should contact with your body, not arms. I see some people push the partner with their arms, but it is not a correct body contact. We call a body contact "taiatari" in Japanese, and "tai" means "body", so you should make a body contact with your body. I recommend folding your arms and place your arms with your body when you make a body contact.
4. Target both sides of men using wrists
Using wrists is the very basic thing when you practice kirikaeshi. You need to hit right men and left men each time, using your wrists. One thing you need to pay attention to is the swinging angle. Just swinging straight and hitting both sides of men are not correct as a kirikaeshi practice. The right way to swing correctly is that you tilt your wrists a bit in order to match the shinai angle with the swinging angle. If you don't use your wrists in this way, you probably cannot swing correctly.
5. Swing up using shoulders
When you do kirikaeshi practice, you basically need to swing fast and hit right men and left men continuously. Many people tend to swing very small because the speed of kirikaeshi is quite fast. However, the important point is swinging by using your shoulders. If the swings are small, you cannot attack strongly. Therefore, you should swing up using your shoulders in order to hit strongly. It is difficult to swing up largely and swing fast at the same time, so the first step is swinging up largely and the next step is swinging fast.
6. Swing down at the height of the opponent's men
The next point is swinging down at the height of the opponent's men. As I mentioned in the last session, you need to swing fast when you practice kirikaeshi. That's why, some people don't swing down at the height of men. They stop a shinai upper position, which doesn't work. Swinging down at the height of men is not easy even for experienced players because it is very hard, however, you can train your arms and you will swing faster if you swing down to the correct position.
7. Keep making a voice as long as possible
When you practice kirikaeshi, keep making a voice as long as you can. You would get out of breath after kirikaeshi practice because this is very hard, but this is also a good practice to train yourself. I think you cannot complete kirikaeshi just for one breath, so you can take a breath during kirikaeshi. However, I recommend taking a breath in a very short time since that was harder than you take a enough breath. Try to train yourself physically and mentally.
8. Be powerful until you finish the last men
The last important point is being powerful until you finish the last men. What I mean here is that you should hit the last men correctly, go through fast after hitting men and turn to the opponent quickly (zanshin). Some people don't try to be powerful in the last part of kirikaeshi becasuse they are tired, but I think the last part is also important in kirikaeshi practice. I know you are tired and you want to take a break as soon as possible, but try to overcome the difficulty and be powerful until you complete the whole kirikaeshi.
Thanks for reading this article! Kirikaeshi is the basic pracrice, but it includes many important elements in kendo. I recommend you remember these eight important points that I showed you in this article when you practice kirikaeshi next time. I hope you do the best kirikaeshi ever before, and that is helpful for improving your kendo.
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