Lesson: Suriage Waza & Breaking the Opponent's Barrier

On Wed., Jae Choi Sensei came and taught me valuable lessons.

1.  Suriage Waza

After a few keiko session with him, he stopped the keiko and taught me a Suriage Kote.

He worked on the one where I deflect the opponent's shinai from my left side and hitting either Kote or Men.  Although he taught me the very basic (where my shinai goes under the opponent's shinai then drawing an arc when deflecting), I could not do it properly, so I had to try many times.

After the first practice session, he asked Spencer Sensei to hold Kamae and evaluate my Suriage Kote by letting me hit Spencer Sensei's Kote w/ Suriage Waza.  When I tried, Spencer Sensei said that my Suriage felt "light."  So, Jae Sensei told me to hit the fat part (near Tsuba) of the opponent's shinai.

Jae Choi Sensei also said that I could also knock the opponent's shinai from my right side.

(After all the second practice, while talking to Yamaguchi Sensei, when I asked him how should I do Suriage Waza, he said that I should watch out not to swing my shinai to right and left -- in other words, make that clear arc)

2.  Breaking the Opponent's Barrier

While teaching me the Suriage Waza, Jae Sensei said:

"These are specific techniques you must master..

Spirit is good..Kiyai is good..hard work is good, but Kendo has specific techniques you must master..

Offense is manifested in different ways.. either by Ki, body movement or shinai.  But, they all are manifested through physical ways in Kendo.  Also, your offense must be focused when attacking in order to effectively break the opponent's barrier...

When I observed you during the keiko, you just stand there and cannot break my (the opponent's) Kamae (which is the defensive barrier).  So, you become frustrated and cannot even attack.. you just don't know what to do...

In order to effectively attack, you must first break the opponent's barrier.  To break that barrier, you must first effectively perform your offense with specific techniques to break that barrier (such as Suriage Waza).  To do that, you must work on your specific techniques each time you come to practice Kendo...

Each time you come to Kendo practice, you must have an objective of what to work on that day... Then, you must carefully master those techniques... and not to mindlessly go through the drills...

Suri-age Waza is one way to break that opponent's barrier.  But, also, you should be mindful that when doing Suriage Waza, after you break the opponent's Kamae, if your Kamae is also off, then your offense is not effective.  Thus, you must break the opponent's Kamae while quickly maintaining your Kamae (offense).  If you do the proper Suriage Waza (by making that quick clear arc), you can achieve this.

Now, some opponents expect you for the Suriage Waza and they counter your Suriage attack with Kaeshi Waza.  That's another area you should work on.  But, for now, work on breaking the opponent's barrier with Suri-age Waza..."

(It was not specific verbatim but almost all of the above is what he said to me)

His lesson was shocking to me b/c he specifically pinpointed the frustration that I was having with Kendo.  I should think about this lesson more.