Kendo Kata Seminar 2010 Report
This was the theme of the second Kendo Kata seminar run on 27/28th March 2010, by two of the (only) five 7th dan BKA kendo sensei residing in the UK and hosted by Hizen dojo in London. The theme was “Reason, reaction, result” and the practical focus, for those already familiar with the basic kata, was the three kodachi (short sword) forms.
Perhaps I may be permitted some artistic licence when I personally interpret that phrase as follows:
Reason (to attend) 1: Because kata is integral to kendo – indeed the methodoly of teaching through kata is where kendo came from and is the most direct link we have back to the authentic samurai tradition.
Reason 2: Or, perhaps because kata can, when taught correctly, add more profund depths to your kendo – from an understanding of maai and seme, through to stuff about what it means to be human.
Reason 3: Or perhaps, just because, you need to do it right for your grading and if you are 2nd/3rd dan or above, it is not good enough just to know the basic choreography of the forms – you need to start understanding what they mean and why the moves are performed as they are… something you may not get from even 4th or 5th dan teachers…
Reaction: John Howell sensei, Nanadan Kyoshi and Jeff Humm sensei, Nanadan Renshi host a two day workshop on Kata.
Result: The seminar is well attended – but mostly by members of the host dojo.
So where was everyone else?
Is kata so boring? Did your sensei just not mention it? Are you an expert at sandan or yondan and think you know it all?  Or was the Formula 1 easier to cope with?
Because you missed out. Big time.
On the Saturday, to be fair, the National Kata Taikai took up the bulk of the time, so the practice was limited to a few hours prior to the actual competition. But for anyone who’s kata was in any way shakey, these hours were an intense recap.
As I mentioned at the start – the overall theme of the seminar was to explore why you move in kata. What is the reason for you to cut. What is the reaction this creates. And what is the ultimate result. This has obvious and direct links back to improving you shiai kendo because it’s all about distance, control and seme.
Why, for example, does uchidachi make the first cut on ipponme? What’s the psychological trigger that gives uchidachi the impetus to try for a kote in nihonmai or tsuki in ropponmai? What should you be thinking when you look death in the face as shidachi’s sword wavers between your eyes on sanbonme? Why doesn’t he kill you?
And then there were the practical issues. If you owned a sword that historically probably cost you as much as a modern car – would you run the edge up the blade and hit the tsuba – potentially either blunting or chipping the blade – as you are instructed to do in the third kodachi form? And how would the do cut actually disembowel someone in nanahonme? Do you cut, slash, slice, place, or just hold the blade in position to wrap around your opponents abdomen as they step on to it? How would that actually work – with a real person, a real body?
The 2010 taikai results can be seen here. A clean sweep for Hizen. As it’s my own dojo, I’d like to say how proud I am – but I’d be even more proud if there had been lots of strong entries from other dojo to give us a run for our money.  And looking at the results from prevous taikai here, I can see that there are several dojo that have done very well in this event in the past. Did you just give up? Were we just so intimidating? Where’s the fighting spirit? Please, next year, enter some teams!
2010 Kata seminar attendees with the winners of the taikai
Sunday. A long and physically hard day. Yes, kata can make you sweat.
The group was divided – those who could not yet do 1-5 focussed on these. Shodan and nidan attendees focussed on the kodachi forms – something that has caused several upsets at recent gradings for sandan, when participants have been asked to do these forms and not been able. And those who were sandan plus started with a session aimed at refining their kodachi techniques and then moved on to other things.
Midday, John Howell sensei gave a lecture on the history of kendo, explaining how it had survived through the Meiiji Restoration and early modern period in Japan – when the sword arts had appeared impossibly outdated and as fashonable as flairs. Almost dieing out for lack of participants. And then again, the crisis that followed WW2, when sensei had buried their armour to hide it from the occupying powers and the tenuous link that connects us to medeaval Japan was almost broken forever. The role of the kata forms in the survival of kendo – and their necessity in preserving it’s authenticity, were key themes of Howell sensei’s talk.
And then back to practice. But practice with a difference as Humm sensei demonstrated a selection of koryu techniches (again, focussing on the use of the kodachi). These were noticably more ‘violent’ than the three kodachi forms incorporated in our current sylabus, but gave you real pause for thought when considering the real utility of a short sword. It was a fascinating show – which really helped inform our understanding of the use of the kodachi and of the link between modern kendo kata and of it’s bloody origins.
In addition, a final session gave students some tools for visualizing a real fight with real, full length swords – again based on the kata forms. Humm sensei showed a version of the kata ‘sewn together’ and performed at speed and with deadly intent. Suddenly, the kata came much more to life. Gone was the laborious reiho – bow, draw, three steps in, cut, zanshi, chudan, kamai-otuku and five steps back routine which is ground into us for grading purposes. Now there was fluidity, force and real fear. All seven long sword forms were performed as a single integrated unit with each cut followed by the next so that the entire set looked like a real exchange of blows between two combatents – with give and take, parry and ripost, attack and defence following on from each other. Given the chance to try this out ourselves, we gradually became more confident with the basic cheorography of the form and added greater intent, kiai and speed to the movement, so that by the end one had an exhilerating and exhausing exchange which, if a move was missed or forgotten, posed the real risk of a crack on the head or hand or wrist from your partners bokuto. This was a thought experiement, explained Humm sensei, not an attempt to revise of change the actual kata forms, but a means to help you understand their underlying principles and their practical merit.  Well, yes that’s certainly true – but it’s also the most fun I have had learning kata in years!
So congratualtions and thank you to John Howell sensei and Jeff Humm sensei for a fascinating weekend, which both polished our practical kata skills and provided us with a deeper understanding of the forms, their dynamics, their mechanisms and their meanings. As I said at the start: the reason you move, the reaction this creates and the result you achieve.
Paul Gray
5th April 2010
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Posted: April 6th, 2010 under Kendo.
Tags: Kendo, Kendo Kata Seminar, Taikai