Kendo Basics: 5 footwork mistakes, and how to fix them. Kendo training

[@Kendotips]

What do you struggle the most when it comes to footwork?

[@RyuishiGoto]

What a coincidence that this was just shared by Martine Mussies on Kendo World Network’s Facebook page - we addressed most of the same issues at our practice today 😊

[@Kendotips]

Well I hope that my videos in any way help the improvement and grow of Kendo!!!!

[@senbonzakuya]

Very very useful, thank you

[@Kendotips]

I am very sorry that I didn't reply earlier, I thought I did, any ways thank you very much for the feedback, if you have any suggestions or request for future videos please let me know

[@SingaporeanInKorea]

I see! When I practised as a kid, we were going waving up and down and up front and back if it makes sense. I stopped kendo for more than 20 yrs and I still do that.

[@DaveDevourerOfPineapple]

Solid efforts man and well presented. Really enjoyed.

[@Kendotips]

Thank you very much. Really appreciate the feedback.

[@Bruzpelz]

I had that habit of landing with my heel doing Fumikomi. It wasn´t that bad on a basketball court, but when I moved back to Mexico and had to practice on pavement, man, after three months I couldn´t do fumikomi at all. Took me more than a year to heal. Thank you for the video!

[@Kendotips]

yes please avoid injury at all cost, and take care of your self. it is hard to do strong fumikomi on concrete, I would always advise to not focus on the sound but instead on the function of fumikomi.

[@stevenh736]

Nice effects man. good video keep it up!

[@Kendotips]

Thank you, Took me a minute to learn, and a bit more to do, but I think its so cool. and well I guess now I can have a light saber lol

[@avatharo]

Nice tips! kudos from Brazil 👏🏻

[@Kendotips]

Thank you very much.

[@rexmaricastro]

Hi, sensei🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️

[@profesorbooty]

For the last one, you will actually see a lot of older kodansha who use the rear leg in a hamni like position. Using the inner thigh is a good thing, as it is for power because you also can use the rear hip. This is part of "old man kendo", which also tends to involve using more weight on the back leg. Young people who try and emulate this have the problem you showed precisely because they aren't using their hips at all. What the kodansha are doing is using the hip flexors to open the joint outwards to drive themselves forwards. You may also notice the "dip" that you referred to earlier as being wrong, among older 6thdan+. Again they're using it as a weight transfer/power generation technique a part of "old man kendo".

[@Kendotips]

Thank you for commenting and getting me to further think and study footwork. I agree completely with you about the use of the hip and angle of the leg, I think you do see it in a lot of sensei in Japan and in my experience they are sensei that also practice other martial arts like battodou (although they normally don't teach students to do this, again my experience and I believe is because if misunderstood it can lead to a lot of bad habits) About the "dip" i'm not really sure I understand what you mean, I think furukawa sensei is a great example to study footwork in his tournaments, and instructional videos, and one thing you will see is that he is always driving his body forward instead of up, but again i'm not really sure I understand what you tried to share do you have any videos that maybe I can watch and study?

[@profesorbooty]

@@Kendotips The dip referrs to the dropping of the body maybe 2-3cm towards the ground once the front foot hits the ground. If you've ever done keiko with an older sensei who basically hits in place, but it feels like you got hit by a truck, they really knew how to relax and put all their weight into the technique. The problem is that most beginners do this wrong because of the reasons you mentioned, so I usually don't talk about it or show beginners. Some of the "upwards" movements come from people who use the piston style of footwork. See this study on it. kendonotes.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/studies-of-body-movements-in-kendo-men.pdf I'm not a fan of that style, but it is pretty common. Of course the footwork that older/highly advanced kenshi use is a bit different than the explosive style youthful competitors use. Like you mentioned, its more "correct" if you study iaido.

[@Kendotips]

I think you are referring when sensei does those types of strike that have a very short step but feel like they’ve been running to create momentum? Lol I guess that’s the best way for me to express it. But I think I’m getting a lmk idea of what you mean. When the foot work is very compact but at the same time explosive? Maybe that would be atopic I can discuss in the future. About your article I will sit down when I get home and take the time to read it. Seems very interesting. Again thank you very much for sharing. Really means a lot.

[@profesorbooty]

@@Kendotips Check out that website sometime. There's hours worth of material to read. Might be good for content for your channel too! Yeah they sometimes do it in a short step, other times its almost in place. Old guys are scary!

[@williamliu7445]

It would be better if you were explaining while actually doing the moves and not sitting on a chair.

[@Kendotips]

I agree with you, please understand I did this video during the covid break and as it is is hard some times to find a decent recording space where I can also control the sound. I believe my recent videos are better at this but if you have any suggestions I would welcome them. Thank you for watching!