Advanced Men Technique

Hello everyone, 

Thank you for reading the following blog post!
I'm Kota Suzuki from Japan. I've been practicing kendo since I was seven years old in Japan－I am currently 3rd Dan. Right now, I am studying abroad in the United States and regularly practice at the university kendo club here.

Today's topic: Men. Men is one of the hittting parts of kendo which is placed on head. Men is the most typical technique of kendo which is very important. You should practice men-uchi many times in the basic practice. Today, We are going to review the important points of men-uchi that you should pay attention to.

1. Footwork

First, footwork is important for better men-uchi. Especially, you need to step (fumikomi) well because men is placed the most far from you. For basic attacks (kihon-uchi), you should step without moving your left foot, which is called tsugi-ashi. When you let your left foot close to your right foot before hitting, an opponent tends to notice that you start to hit. You should try not to pull your left foot, and try to move forward faster.

After hitting men, you should go through fast in order to move away from your opponent. This footwork is called okuri-ashi which is slightly different from suri-ashi. Suri-ashi is a tiny step and move very small, but okuri-ashi is more powerful and faster movement after hitting. Fast okuri-ashi makes attacks more powerful and faster whish is useful for getting points.

2. Powerful attack

Second, powerful attacks are obviously important for better men-uchi. Even if you get correct hitting part of men, you cannot get a point unless you hit men strongly. For powerful attacks, it is important to swing a shinai fast. You can focus on strong attacks when you practice men-uchi as a basic attack. 

However, you should not swing largely in actual kendo matches because it is easy for an opponent to target kote or dou. Therefore, you should practice small men-uchi as well as big men-uchi in the usual practice, but it should be strong enough as well. Small and sharp men-uchi is the best men-uchi, so you can pay attention to powerful attack.

3. Different patterns

Third, you should try different types of men-uchi especially for experienced kendoka. Usually, you should practice straight men-uchi that is the basic attack, but there are some other kinds of men-uchi. These different men-uchi are useful because you are able to change how you hit men, depending on how an opponent respond to in kendo matches.

For example, you can put an opponent's shinai away and then hit men after that, whici is called harai-waza. You touch an opponent's shinai a little in order to open men. These different types of techniques should be useful, so I recommend you learn not only basic techniques, but also many variety of techniques in the usual practice.

Thanks for reading this blog post! Men-uchi is very typical waza of kendo, but you will be able to leand more deeply. Try to keep improving men-uchi that is important for your kendo life. If you have any questions, please ask me. Also, you can give me a coment if you have any requests of the blog posts!

#kendo #剣道 #頑張れ剣道