Jissen Volume 3 is an instructional video produced by Hertz Ltd. featuring Hachidan Hanshi Chiba Masashi and Nanadan Kyoshi Hayashi. There are several reasons why I skipped to volume 3; 1) It is entirely dedicated to jodan-no-kamae and like all good low-dans I just want to skip ahead to jodan 2) The first two volumes have already been reviewed in Kendo World magazine (some of you read it don’t you?) and 3) Each DVD cost ￥10,000 (approximately $100 Yankee dollars) so I can’t really afford to review all three.
The DVD is 53 minutes long featuring numerous chapters and some high light footage of Chiba-sensei at the recent Meiji-mura Taikai. The DVD is region free so it can be played in any DVD player. The Hertz website is in Japanese only, so if you want to order this DVD you will need to get a friend who speaks the language to help you.
The video begins with a brief introduction of jodan and progresses in detail through the basics of the kamae all the way through advanced shikake and oji waza. Chiba-sensei goes into detail about grip, footwork, and posture comparing his technique with other common interpretations of this kamae all the while providing a clear and simple explanation why. Although the information provided on this DVD is vast and detailed, it is not overwhelming and quite easy to understand even for those who have no experience with jodan. Another feature I was pleasantly surprised with is that there is an entire chapter dedicated to the finer points on how to unravel jodan from chudan.
Well you know it couldn’t all be peaches and cream; there are some downsides to this video. The first and probably biggest problem is that if you do not understand Japanese you will not benefit very much from this video. While, yes you can interpret quite a bit from just watching the action, you lose out on the more in depth explanation provided in each chapter. In which case if you don’t understand Japanese then it may only be helpful to an individual experienced with jodan. If you care about production quality then you may be a little disappointed. The quality is not terrible but I could have easily done this in my high school telecom class. Also at certain points in the video it is little difficult to hear Chiba-sensei speak with his men on, however cranking the volume easily remedies that. Lastly, as I already stated in the beginning the video costs ￥10,000, that includes postage within Japan, however it will almost definitely be more expensive for those ordering from overseas. For the struggling kenshi this money might be better spent on shinai and dojo fees.
Despite the few issues I listed above I would highly recommend this to anyone who fights from jodan or is interested in learning. After all it is pretty much the only jodan resource of it’s kind available, and you really cannot get much better than Chiba Masashi. If you have the money to spare, get it.
Image from Ski Journal and video is available from Hertz International.
I have this DVD. For any budding jodan players, it is a must.
Just bear in mind that there’s many ways of doing jodan and you don’t *have* to do like Chiba-sensei does. The basics, however, are the same and this DVD highlights them well.