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: Fighting against Jodan. Many people may have difficulty in fighting against jodan players because they usually don't practice with jodan and they don't know what to do in kendo matches.
In Japan, we usually have at least one jodan players in each kendo clubs so that members can practice against jodan for real kendo matches, but you might not practice against jodan since there is no jodan players in your dojo or kendo clubs. If you don't practice against jodan players, it's going to be hard to fight with jodan them.
Today, I'm going to introduce three important tips for fighting against jodan. I've ever been practicing and fighting against them many times, so I can give you some advice from what I learned from my kendo teacher as well as what I learned from my actual experience.
1. Don't stop footwork
You should not stop footwork for fighting against jodan effectively. Jodan players place shinai upon their head, so they can hit your every hitting parts very quickly. Once you stop moving and try to protect with your shinai, jodan players are able to switch target and you get hit easily.
The most important thing to avoid getting hit from jodan is keep moving footwork. Jodan players don't want you to keep moving because they cannot target specifically.
However, it doesn't mean you only move around in a kendo court. What you need to be careful when you fight against jodan is "maai" (distance). Even if you move a lot in very close maai to jodan players, it doesn't work at all, and they can hit you very easily. You don't need to move too much, but you should be ready to react to small movement of jodan instead of stopping in the close maai where jodan players can reach you easily.
2. Use hidari-gote and tsuki effectively
The most basic waza strategy against jodan is hidari-gote (left-kote) and tsuki (the part of the neck). Jodan players lift their arms up, so their left hand should be in front of thier right hand. The hidari-gote is the opponent's left hand kote that is close to you. Tsuki seems to be forbidden in some areas because it's dangerous, but we usually use tsuki against jodan as well.
You always have a chance to attack hidari-gote OR tsuki. When you try to hit hidari-gote, jodan players tend to pull their left hand open (right direction from you), so you have a space to hit tsuki easily. On the other hand, when you try to hit tsuki, they tend to pull their left hand close (left direction from you), so you have a space to hit hidari-gote.
These are basic waza strategy against jodan players. Also, you can attack migi-gote (right-kote) as well. It is a little bit difficult to attack migi-gote because it is far from you, but migi-gote is also the useful waza for getting a point.
3. Move right forward direction
Against jodan players, you should move right forward when you do seme (trying to be closer for hitting). What I mean here is moving to the opponent's hidari-gote direction, which works the most for you.
It is difficult for jodan players to hit fully if you keep moving right forward because they basically use left hand for attacks. They cannot attack with much power to the left direction with their left hand, and they tend to hate this seme pattern. If your shinai points the opponent's hidari-gote and move right forward, jodan players don't hit men easily since they could be attacked kote at that time.
Moving left is not a good idea because jodan players can hit both men and kote easily. If you try to move back to avoid getting hit, there is few chance to get a point. Therefore, you should move right forward direction to attack and protect effectively.
Thanks for reading this article! I'm worry about whether I explained enough to understood because these are very complicated strategies. However, these techniques should be very useful to fight against every jodan players. If you don't fully understand what I was explaining, please ask me any kind of questions and I'm happy to help you!
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