The value of chanbara

[matt rogers]

We recently tried to implement the chanbara as well as foam rubber covered wooden bokken into our kendo kata practise in effort to bring a little more earnestness to uchitachi's attacks. We broke the centre piece on the chanbara pretty quickly! We also discovered that it would still be quite easy to injure with the foam covered bokken.

It did help us to adjust the distance necessary for evasion in Kata number 1 and pointed out a weakness in kata number 7 ( the uchitachi whose sword is sincerely going for the head strike will follow shitachi's head somewhat as shitachi enters so he better enter quickly and drop his level suddenly.) They were all but useless for katas #5 and #6 which have some blade to blade contact in the deflection and counter.

I think a foam covered shinai would have better resilency but would also have the same shortcomings as any rounded weapon posing as a facsimile for sword. Not bad for distance awareness, though.

Matt Rogers

[choombatta]

I own one of those things, and I can say they are at least a lot of fun, lol.

As for usefulness... Well, they have the benefits of granting you a full contact fight, which can be good for timing and distancing. However, I've also seen them reinforce the bad habits of inexperienced sword-fighters to the point of actually slowing their progress. People who play with them a lot but don't spend enough time practicing their basic cuts develop a lot of REALLY bad habits. Like back-swinging and believing it to be a cut, or just tagging the opponent with the chanbara instead of doing an actual supported cut.

Soooo.... they're fun, but generally I'd say they're more harmful than beneficial.

[Rough Rider]

It did help us to adjust the distance necessary for evasion in Kata number 1 and pointed out a weakness in kata number 7 ( the uchitachi whose sword is sincerely going for the head strike will follow shitachi's head somewhat as shitachi enters so he better enter quickly and drop his level suddenly.) They were all but useless for katas #5 and #6 which have some blade to blade contact in the deflection and counter.

Has anyone tried kendo kata in bogu. I know that Budden mentions it in his book and doing so might be helpful in judging the evasion distances more carefully. Plus it might help with the old "perform kata like keiko, and keiko like kata" maxim becoming more of a reality.

[matt rogers]

RE: Roughrider's suggestion

Sounds like an excellent idea to me. Especially the use of kote and men. Sometimes one may believe one is at a safe distance when in fact one is not!

Onna ha itto-ryu employs a special deerhide kote to allow proponents to hit without reservation.

[Chidokan]

we do it in bogu, but take out the one,two, three stepping motion and replace it with a 'look for the opening' style of approach. Its surprising how people panic even though they know what to expect!

[DCPan]

FYI, this is taken out of the May 2002 issue of Kendo Nippon.

The person using the Chanbara stick is Kaneda sensei, 7th dan, Muso Shinden Ryu, travelling around Japan for his busha-shugyo visiting various sensei.

The person on the left is the sensei that was photographed for the revised seitei hardcover book before the addition of #11 and #12.

FWIW

[hamlet]

I'm a new guy yes, but a reader for a short amount of time.
This is one of the funniest threads on this website
CEB summed this thread up. Also the stormtrooper jpeg had me on the floor rolling!
I just have to repeat the pic. COMON GUYS THESE THINGS ARE THE SILLIEST THINGS OUT THERE! lol
We had a guy bring these into the dojo. Actually a sempai running class. He wanted to try them. It was so hard first of all to take it seriously. It turn into a laugh fest. May the force be with you was said out loud complete with lightsaber sounds from the gallery. lol
So again, I show you the new Karate sparring gloves, thanks CEB.

[hamlet]

I am scared just looking at it. Man I'm glad those guys don't train at my dojo!

[hamlet]

This is my sensei of the Jedi-Ryu
Yes I'm getting silly. But I am on the floor laughing while I'm typing this!

[DCPan]

Originally posted by hamlet
I am scared just looking at it. Man I'm glad those guys don't train at my dojo!

Mr. Mills...doctoring pictures of well-known sensei is not very becoming...ever thought people would recognize those folks without a second thought?

The sensei to the right is Baba Kinji sensei who wrote the book Kendo, Traditional Skills.

The sensei to the left is Arazeki Nitosai, the sensei who wrote Nito-Ryu Narai Kata.

The jedi picture is amusing...but the photoshop of the above photos are hardly tasteful.

Regards,

[hamlet]

Sry guys didnt mean to offend anyone. I'm not a kendoka, just saw a random pic on the net.
Thanks to the moderator for removing it. Next time I'll use my pic.

[Chidokan]

Oh no, look at the jedi grip, its SOOOO wrong! And he's burnt his shoulder... Looks like a photo for the KKKK thread...