Comments on: Tsubazeria rule changes in high school kendo

By: atgm

atgm — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 01:33:48 +0000

I have to agree strongly with George, here. Even at the junior high and elementary school levels, I see a lot of tsubazeriai and hikiwaza. It’s a “safe” thing to do; half-hearted men-uchi, close to tsubazeriai, then hang out there until you think you see an opportunity or can push the other person back using brute force.

Especially for younger kids, it turns into a “who’s bigger/stronger” contest where someone just pushes the other person back. I guess as a growing kid, the natural thing to want to do is try to exploit whatever you have available and it just becomes a habit that goes on through junior high and high school, though that’s oversimplifying things a lot.

By: kendo tsuki | Kendo Matt's Kendo Blog

kendo tsuki | Kendo Matt's Kendo Blog — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 02:29:44 +0000

[...] Tsubazeria rule changes in high school kendo « [ kenshi247.net ] [...]

By: George McCall

George McCall — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:37:49 +0000

HI Nick,

Thanks for your comment.

Its my thought that adults (tend to) do kendo more “maturely” anway, so this really is an really an inconsequential change when looked a the length of a persons kendo career. At least this applies to things here in Japan.

As for jodan… if the boom here continues at the rate its churning along, I wonder if munezuki will be re-introduced at some point….

(p.s. Geoff is a friend)

By: Nick Sordon

Nick Sordon — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 04:10:50 +0000

George McCall :Thanks for your great comments Nick! Check out the post on kendoinfo.net: http://kendoinfo.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/tsubazeriai/

Thanks for the link, George, I wasn't aware of this site. I'm sure you attaching the link wasn't only because Geoff referred to your "excellent blog" on the topic... (Just kidding!). It's a good piece however Geoff does raise an interesting point in believing it's only a matter of time before this bubbles up into adult Kendo. This will definitely cause more than a ripple through the Kendo community and I imagine may be a significant trial period before being implemented. As a Jodan player, naturally I prefer a short Tsubazeriai and break away so my opponent and I can get back to business! Cheers,

By: George McCall

George McCall — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:03:47 +0000

Thanks for your great comments Nick!

Check out the post on kendoinfo.net:

http://kendoinfo.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/tsubazeriai/

By: Nick Sordon

Nick Sordon — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:55:52 +0000

Thanks for sharing George. Like some of the other people above, I found some of the rules – including the one about giving a hansoku for attacking “mid-distance” – to be a strange one and initially echoed Kent’s thoughts. That said, however, after reading your comments regarding the point of Kendo in the education system, the rules now make a lot more sense. Some of these rules may seem peculiar in the spectrum of adult Kendo. However as far as my rudimentary understanding of some of the issues in School Kendo go, these changes will allow for fair play and should allow individuals to evolve into better Kendo players if they continue to practice into adulthood. Thanks again.

By: Nanini

Nanini — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:15:28 +0000

Zé is saying a very important aspect of kendo, and a very important aspect of the kendo that our former sensei – a 86 year old kendoka that passed away a couple of year ago – was always been saying: “A beautiful victory, a beautiful defeat”

the english translations seams strange, but what he was saying is that you have to apply the correct and straight kendo in a fight.

By: zekend0

zekend0 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:18:56 +0000

The widespread or even massive use of tsubazeriai, even in important competitions like WKC or Zen Nihon, trying to avoid the ippon, its a shame. It’s very sport like and have little of budo in it. Almost like many of us had forgotten that the victory is an important goal, but is not the only one or even the most important one.

By: George McCall

George McCall — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:49:46 +0000

I disagree because I think the point is being missed. You are concentrating on a very minor modification of the physical aspect of kendo in a shiai situation and missing the point of kendo in the education system.

I run a high school kendo club, know loads of school kendo teachers, and go to shiai on a regular basis. I can assure you there is no talk of “swords” and little chat about the kendo rinen (though teachers should and do keep that in mind). What is important is playing fair and respecting your partner. There are of-course people and teams that will do anything to win.

Too much time wasting in tsubazeria, blocking, hikiwaza, etc, are all real problems in high school kendo. I believe these modifications can aid in clearing up some of these issues. As noted above, once it was decided officially to use these rules they were tried out for 6 months in official shiai before being fully implemented. Even before that there were trials.

In otherwords, this is not a sudden change for no reason.

Of-course, if you live outside of the Japanese high-school kendo environment you might not be able to fully conceptualise whats going on. No amount of looking at shiai on youtube will help this.

At the end of the day, I still stand by my point in the last paragraph:

“what is spelled out by these changes are simple hallmarks of good kendo anyway”

By: blackknight

blackknight — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:17:07 +0000

This strikes me as over-legislating the issue. The shinpan already have the ability to call wakare…they just don’t do it. If they did, all this would be unnecessary.

I especially dislike the stuff about striking from a “middle distance” being hansoku. I think it takes us further away from the “principles of the katana” which are supposed to underlie the practice of kendo.

A kenshi should never be able to assume they are “safe” from the opponent’s sword during shiai, and this “middle distance” exception is a serious violation of that principle.