[KENDO RANT] - Gyaku Jodan? Shouting Targets?

#kendoislife

[tb]

My Sensei got me doing Gyaku Jodan because I'm a carpenter and he thought it might be fun for me. It is. But aside from my advantage of having a powerful accurate right hand from swinging a hammer for 25+ years the only other is being right foot forward. I personally like it better than Hidari Jodan but I agree with you, the latter is more practical. I have yet to use it at a Taikai and only practice it with nidan and above. More for my safety than anything else.

[PaulHBShin]

Andy -- The new lighting set up looks good. But the camera looks like it's searching for focus periodically. Might want to do manual focus on the camera if the new set-up allows.

[egehannalbant]

That new format is awesome :). The men and do look great in the background !
I'm just waiting to see the focus be fixed.

[bikergolfer]

nice setup! much better but as others have mentioned already just need to adjust the auto focus setting. probably just need to keep it fixed.

[Ironowl]

Looks great. The auto focus is going off so like other comments I would change to manual and then it will be awesome. The lighting is good but maybe look up some videos on 3point lighting. You can make some ambient lights by having a a cheep light off to the side and then having a piece of printer paper diffuse it a bit. I don’t know if it is just me but there is a bit of an echo. Maybe there is a wall behind the camera and your voice is coming back and hitting it.

[masterlesstheband]

Wow... My men himo have only had to changed once in 6 years so far and the current set which are at least 3 years old look like they'll be absolutely fine for my next shinsa.

[rajamicitrenti]

On the camera focus issue, it looks like occasionally, as you are shifting around, the camera decided to focus on the do's mune. Sitting more still would probably help, though you seem to be very animated when talking about kendo (though not as much as the Christmas video!), but it also might help to wear a shirt that isn't solid-color.

As far as bogu costs, I've yet to see someone shamed for the cost of their bogu, although my sensei did at one point say that there was some sort of tradition he had picked up that is a little bit elitist in the other direction. I doin't remember the specifics, but it was something like you should spend $100 x the dan grade you are testing for in upgrading your bogu prior to testing.

[kingkerfuffles]

Hello Andy,
There are a few times I’ve visited other dojo’s where I’ve seen kendoka drink water periodically in between practice shiai, typically when switching opponents. Luckily they use straws so they don’t take up extra time undoing their men, but is this considered bad form? I’m of the mind that staying hydrated is extremely important, but is this type of disruption something to avoid regardless?

[etceteraretecte]

Hi Andy! Thanks for all the hard work with these videos! Extremely novice kendoka here (6 months) with a question about something I've seen in videos of competitive kendo. I've noticed right after someone executes a tsuki they quite often seem to pull the shinai back and then sort of slap the ground with it. Is this just part of the expected "zanshin" after tuski? Is there any reasoning behind it or is it just what people do? Sorry if this is a silly question - I'm obviously a fair ways off from being taught the ins and outs of tsuki but it's just something I was curious about. Thanks in advance!