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notsoincog-nito-ryu · 2 months

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More Keiko today, and a constructive one at that!

This relaxed kamae thing has made it a lot easier to strike debana kote! And I feel so free and flowy! It's great! Obviously, not a fix all; my zanshin is far from perfect, and I think I need to fix that to ensure I get those ippon in the upcoming uni Taikai, but my hard work feels like it is actually paying off! 😁😁

I also took some film photos on my Nikon F2! 800 ISO meant that I could take shutter speed all the way to 1/2000, so hopefully some super crisp shots of strikes! If I get some good ones I may post them! 😊

#kendo #kendoka #nito ryu #kihon #keiko

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notsoincog-nito-ryu · 2 months

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Double posting in one day! Damn! Noone (currently) follows me, so I'm basically monologuing to myself! Which is what this blog is for!

Within a span of two days, I was told twice to relax my shoulders to improve the speed of my strikes, especially for Nito.

So, the last two Keiko at the club, I've been trying to work on relaxing my shoulders, in both Chudan and Nito, which has led to the adoption of a new style of kamae, which makes me look a lot like my Sensei! And he's awesome!

Problem one is that he is a lot better at kendo than me, so I still can't maximise the advantages of this kamae!

Problem two... I keep tensing up my shoulders again, ruining the whole exercise! I know that with time, active-correction, and persistence I'll get there, but it is super frustrating!! 😭

Problem three... I'm achieving faster strikes in Nito, but with a slower reaction time. I really need to work on moving with less fear and hesitation, and just hitting when I see movement. This obviously will make me more susceptible to parrying, but... If I'm fast enough, I don't think it will matter, and Nito is harder to time parry-riposte techniques for!

Well... Clearly a lot to work on! And it's great to have somewhere to write it down, so I don't forget! 😅😅

#kendo #kendoka #nito ryu #keiko #kihon

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notsoincog-nito-ryu · 2 months

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It's been a while since the Scottish University Kendo Taikai, but it did indeed happen!

It was incredibly stressful to more-or-less be in charge of running an event like that, and a rude wake-up call to learn seminar and competition etiquette for the future!

Great results for Edinburgh University Kendo Club too!

I came Second 🥈, beaten by my Japanese Senpai! A really great kendoka! Super calm, really clean kendo, and sooo fast! (My first silver medal in kendo!)

Together, and with 3 others, we won the teams category, adding 5 more gold medals to the club collection!🥇 (My first gold medal in kendo!!! Although, I feel I was the team weak point! 😅)

In the end, the medals made up for the stress, and relentless planning, absolutely indispensable helpers, and hours of coding nearly fully automated spreadsheets paid off to create a smooth event!

#kendo #kendoka #nito ryu #taikai #shiai #we are Edinburgh

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notsoincog-nito-ryu · 3 months

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Got back from the British Army Invitational Taikai late last night!

Was a great experience, and getting immediate feedback about what techniques work and don't work is always useful! I have a lot to work on in my next few practices!

We didn't win, but we made it through pools, and gave it our best go, and got knocked out by an amazing team. No regrets, and I'll definitely be back next year!

#kendo #kendoka #nito ryu #taikai

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notsoincog-nito-ryu · 4 months

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So I've decided to make a blog...

I'm not positioning myself as an authority on kendo or anything. I guess I just want somewhere to put my thoughts, and who knows, maybe I can become a z-list internet celebrity or something one day! 😂

#kendo #nito-ryu #kendoka

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