This is a long one, you got the coffee and biscuits ready?
One of the things that I have noticed in my almost a year here (next monday is D day!) is that generally (not every case, mind you) people back home think differently about ippon, and what it is when compared to most of the people I practise with here.
Now, everybody knows the basics, right? Ki Ken Tai Icchi and all that. But from what I remember of kendo in Britain and Europe, from my practise with visiting friends, from my shiai in Helsinki, it seems that even amongst those who should know better, there is still alot of, well, not confusion, maybe lack of direction is the best phrase.
Over the past year, I’ve tried to make myself generally stricter with myself about what I give myself as far as ippon is concerned (don’t pretend you don’t congratulate yourself when you get a goody!), and one of the things this includes is the moment of impact, and the cut through. Now, it’s not perfect by a long way, but generally I think that the impact is more convincing for me, and I can see it when compared to some other people I regularly practise with. But when I compare it to back home, or visiting mates, the difference is unfortunately wide, and I can see a lot of what I used to do in there too. I think one of the biggest things is being happy with simply hitting the target, with simply “getting there”, a kind of “if it’s in, it’s ippon” mentality, which can often manifest itself in light strikes (this is one bad sympton of British kendo, unfortunately) or bad hasuji from side ways attacks, or a kind of tap, where the shinai is actually PULLED away from the datotsubui in the act of some artificial movement-only zanshin. Looking around, and watching shiai and DVD’s, the points that are scored are usually (again, not always) the ones where there is still some semblence of a “cut”, in some form, through the target, and the speed of the retraction of the shinai afterwards is a result of the force and speed with which it was applied, and not a pulling back to wave your arms above your head.
And talking about it, speed is another difference. I’ve finally (really, finally. Like within the last 3 months at best!) come to realise that speed is more a compliment to a decent set up, as opposed to an important be all part of your attack. OF COURSE the faster you are the bigger the advantage, but the set up and having the hole to exploit is way more important. This is, of course, why all these old guys can still do something with the younger faster ones, because they create the hole to use at their own speed, as opposed to crashing through something whilst trying to move at the speed of sound. When looking back on even my own kendo (and then, even until fairly recently, like I said) and also other peoples from back home, too much emphasis is placed on beating the other guy to the punch, as opposed to being the ONLY guy at the punch, and this then leads to a dead end in a persons kendo, as they can’t just continue to get faster and faster and faster in some effective manner. In addition, it also accompanies a manifest problem in blocking, as where as the person creating the opening has to have the confidence to put themselves at risk at some point and in some way to make their chance, the speedster simply runs away, produces a hugely bendy block, and generally won’t interact with their opponent, preferring to wait until they can use their speed.
Which leads on to another, and maybe the biggest, difference, which is pro-activity in the set up. I’ve seen plenty of examples, even with a gent I practised with recently, where the set up involved waiting for the guy to come, and slapping out something reactionary, making use of their speed of course, and then basically hoping that it goes in and then waiting again to try to same thing, as opposed to setting up some sort of stunning opportunity that leaves the guy thinking “what just happened there?!” This for more is one of the most important aspects of my “All New Understanding of Ippon”. Maybe the best way for me to explain it is thusly: yuukou datotsu, in english, means valid strike or thrust. An unquestionable requirement of ippon. But yuukou can also mean effective, and in this way I’ve started to prefer to think of it as A strike or Thrust with an effect. The effect in this case being on the opponent. If you go as quick as you can hell for leather and speed a kote out on to a dude, he may well be impressed, he might think it was fast. If you lure him in, make him think that it’s there and that he’s already won, when in fact he’s right in your trap, and at the last moment as he goes and is commited, you reveal your cunning plan and take EVERYTHING back from him, and his debana kote to boot, he is going to think “Jeeeeeezuuuuuus! What the hell just happened?!”
This to me is an achingly big difference. I can recall a couple of times when this happened to me back home, but it happens with a far far greater frequency here (usuall kaeshi bloody dou…..but thats a different story!) but it really highlights the difference in set up. One goes for speed, and hits it some times, one goes for the set up, and hits it more, and more convincingly. Going back to the gripe about cut strength and bounciness, I think it’s also usually quite easier to argue that the convincing ippon in this case is also the convincing one when cut strength is concerned too. Likewise, the fast one, might sometimes, have the cut behind it, but equally as often, because the speed is the focus and not the cut itself, it’s not all there, compounding one low point with another.
And finally (really finally!!), is zanshin. And this is probably, maybe while not the biggest difference, is certainly one of the more obvious ones, though I guess more at an individual level. But when the difference is there, it is huge. Zanshin translates literally as “remaining” and “spirit” or “mind”, therefore it’s not just a movement, but an alertness and preparedness. A good example is the guy who does men and as he turns around is aware enough of his opponent to block or counter oikomi waza. But when I see the bad stuff, it’s like a predefined movement that has to be done simply in order for the attack to score, and these are usually the ones that lose aforementioned oikomi waza.
This is not meant to all imply that everybody here does it all perfect, and kendo at home is generally lacking in it’s ippon, far from it. I’ve seen much on both sides that is counter to what I’ve written, but the frequency is higher back home. And there is a difference, and at times a hugely recognisable one in these areas that has made me think a massive amount about my own attitudes to what I think about regarding what would and wouldn’t be a decent strike, not just ippon in shiai. After all, shouldn’t they be the same? And shouldn’t I demand of myself something that I would be pleased with, and not just ippon.
