There were 7 senseis visiting from Japan, including Nakamura sensei (中村先生), the 17th shihan of Niten Ichi Ryuu (二天一流十七代師範). I even got my book signed by him. :-p There were about 30 attendees to the seminar. To my pleasant surprise, I actually knew a couple of people. Stroud sensei from Idaho and Sasaki sensei from Omaha were also there. Stroud sensei was Joon's sensei in Oregon and had visited UIUC once. I met Sasaki sensei at the MWKF summer camp 2 summers ago, where he generously shared his Patron w/ us. ^_~
I didn't do much else at Utah besides kendo, but I did spend some time with my sister and her fiance, including some board game time. We played an aborted game of Catan and a couple of games of Ticket To Ride: European Edition.
Saturday 4/26
We had jigeiko (地稽古) from 4-6PM, w/ a 20 minute break in the middle. It was supposed to be a chance for them to get to know us since there was large range of capabilities among the attendees, from beginners to 7 dan (Stroud sensei). Since I wanted to present the best of my ability, I did ittou (一刀) for most of the practice. I practiced with Fujii sensei (藤井先生), Satou sensei (佐藤先生), Nakamura sensei (中村先生), Inoue sensei (井上先生), and Stroud sensei. Inoue sensei (井上先生) was the only one I practiced nitou (二刀) against.
Fujii sensei (藤井先生)
Chudan no kamae (中段の構え). Try to have the knuckle of the left thumb be in the chushin (中心).
Then tip goes slightly towards opponent's left eye. No bigger angle than that.
If you move in, this naturally deflects your opponent's shinai. If you raise up, this naturally does kaeshi waza. If you go in, you can pressure down your opponent's shinai (竹刀) as you go in for men (面).
Satou sensei (佐藤先生)
Go forward. If you go back, it's weak and you loose. Even if hit, go forward.
Stroud sensei
Pressure, don't wait. Have the feeling of coming in and being able to change your strike if need be. When I mentioned that I feel like I've been seme(攻め)/pushing in too hard and losing because of that, he demonstrated seme w/o actually moving in. I need to practice similar things more (if I can figure it out :-p). I think I am hesitating because I want to see the opening before going. Maybe the idea of being able to change my strike as needed will help. He also said I backed up too often.
Sunday 4/27
We did footwork, suburi (素振り) using the bokutou (木刀), and kata (形) in the morning from 10AM-1PM. After breaking for lunch, we watched some paired demonstration matches between the sensei tachi (先生達) from Japan, which had different combinations of ittou (一刀), sei nitou (正二刀), and gyaku nitou (逆二刀). I took videos of this. Then we did kihon (基本) strikes and waza (技) in bogu. Then we had a couple 2 minute demonstration matches (I got to fight one) and concluded with one round of jigeiko (地稽古), where I got to fight Nagasaki sensei (長崎先生).
Footwork: They focused on a different footwork, one that is supposed to be what the samurai traditionally used. There was a lot more focus on the movement of the koshi (腰) [hips], and keeping one's hips squared. One of the big reason for this is because when you step forward with the foot that you are striking with (think sei nitou (正二刀), right foot forward) you would open up your body if you do not bring your opposite hip forward. I'm not sure how much this applies to how I do it, gyaku nitou (逆二刀) with the right foot forward. But I would have the left foot forward for dou (胴), so it's something I need to consider and practice regardless.
Nitou Suburi (二刀素振り): Visualize the jyuushin (重心) [center of gravity] of the sword going straight down towards the mune (胸) [chest] of opponent. Hand goes into chyuushin (中心) [center of the body] and strike. The sword should rotate or pivot about the center of gravity, not the end of the handle.
Sei Nitou Kote (正二刀小手): Should form a shape like ku (く). The center of gravity stays in the chyuushin (中心) while the right hand crosses over.
Gyaku Nitou Dou (逆二刀胴): Hasuji (刃筋) is same as sayuu men (左右面). The center of gravity stays in the chyuushin (中心), so the left hand crosses over. Left foot goes in front, but right hip needs to follow. Hiraki ashi (開き足), most likely. My observation is that instead of keeping the left hand in the center on the strikes, you're keeping the center of gravity of the sword in the center.
Saying: There is a saying in kendo called ichi gan, ni soku, san tan, shi riki (一眼二足三胆四力) [one eyes, two feet, three courage, four strength]. Apparently there is a similar saying for nito, which is ichi tan, ni shyou, san tai (一丹二小三大) [one body, two shoto, three tachi].
First it is the movement of the body. Then the shouto (小刀) is what you seme (攻め) with. Finally you think of hitting w/ the tachi (太刀). Note: I'm not sure I got the kanji or the saying completely correct. I only really remember the explanation.
