One of the things that bothers people who have been practicing kendo for a few years, or even decades, is that they just can’t seem to break their bad habits.
Today, I’d like to write at length about this topic. This article is extremely long, considering it doesn’t really cover anything particularly important, so if you’re busy, I recommend not reading it.
What are so-called ‘bad habits’ in kendo?
For example:
Always doing tsugi-ashi when striking,
Taking a furi-kaburi way beyond 90 degrees,
Leaning backward or forward when taking kamae,
Always using your dominant eye to look at your opponent,
Right hand always slips down the tsuka when striking the men,
Right hand too dominant when striking the men,
And many more.
Just looking around me,
Oh dear…
I’m not the only one struggling with bad habits.
All the kenshis seem to be fighting this battle with themselves every day…

It seems like
everyone is struggling, too
In my case, well, there are a lot of things,
but the one I haven’t been able to overcome for a long time is Ki-Ken-Tai-Icchi.
It’s so painful to even say it.
For years, no matter where I practice, various Senseis always point it out to me.
Somehow, my right foot always hits the ground first, before my shinai hits the men.
So, I thought “This isn’t good! I have to fix this right away…”
“Hands and feet are together! Hands and feet are together!”
I kept reminding myself when I practice, but it just wouldn’t improve.
I even nearly had a mini-neurosis…
Since I couldn’t change myself at all, I started to wonder if there was something wrong with my physical abilities.

I am sick of myself…
Still, I wanted to fix it, so I asked Chudan-kun to practice with me and we recorded videos of our self-practice to compare my mental image of what striking men is supposed to be like, with the reality of how I’m actually striking men.

Haru senpai,
let’s work hard together
However, no matter what I tried, again, I just could not fix my bad habit.
When I was about to give up, thinking, “I don’t know what to do anymore!”, by chance,
suddenly, I was able to strike men with Ki-Ken-Tai-icchi.
It happened during one practice session.
We were working on the theme of learning to control our own bodies.
Sensei told us, “Try striking men with a shinai-first way, striking men first and then landing
with your right foot, without intentionally aligning Ki-Ken-Tai icchi.”
I thought, “Okay, strike men first, then the right foot lands, okay…” and I did it.
Then, Sensei turned to me and said,
“Huh? That’s not what I wanted you to do, but Kendo Cat, what you just did is Ki-Ken-Tai icchi striking.”

Hey,
you did
Ki-Ken-Tai icchi striking
What does that mean?
It might just be a fluke, so I tried it again.
I tried to strike men while focusing on ‘shinai first.’
“Yes, it’s correct after all.” Sensei mentioned to me.
“Yeah! That’s the Ki-Ken-Tai icchi strike.” Everyone else said the same thing.

I’m happy I did it,
but what’s does that mean?
I don’t understand
So, what this incident proves is that there’s nothing wrong with my physical abilities, and my body is capable of Ki-Ken-Tai icchi striking.
So, it seems there’s something wrong with my cognition regarding Ki-Ken-Tai icchi.
Where is it? Where is it? What am I misunderstanding?
I watched my practice video with Chudan-kun over and over, searching for the answer.
As a result,
The suspicion arose that I wasn’t trying to coordinate my right foot with the ‘mon-ouchi’,
but rather my right foot with my ‘hands’.
Yes, it felt like I was trying to coordinate my hands, which are gripping my shinai, with my striking.
My men swing is not a sharp, quick one, so If I try to match my right foot and my hands, the ken-sen (mono-uchi) inevitably lags behind my right foot.
I realized what happened.

I see!
That happened!
From then on, I tried to strike men by coordinating not my right foot and hands, but right foot and mono-uchi!
I was chanting “Foot and mono-uchi, foot and mono-uchi!” like a mantra when I struck men.
Well, I feel like it’s gotten a little better than before,
and in fact, I’m getting fewer corrections from people around me,
But just to be sure, I checked my practice video again.
Gulp…
I steeled my heart and watched the video of myself striking men,
and in terrifying slow motion,
Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!
It’s only a difference of a split second,
But even so, my right foot still ‘clearly’ lands first.
Even if it’s only a small difference,
It’s completely meaningless if they’re not coordinated.
Oh no… I thought I was doing correctly, but it’s still not done.
I was briefly shocked,
But actually, I think I knew it myself.
That’s because, in the past, although it was very rare,
The sensation of striking was completely different….
Yes, that feeling of striking men was much stronger and feel like,
“Come on, everyone, let’s go together!”
Then, I really felt like everything was coming together.
Whoa! I even felt like I’d entered another world.
It felt so good.
That’s what I felt.
So, I knew whether I could do Ki-Ken-Tai icchi or not.
But,
I wonder…
Why can’t I do it yet?
I once again opened my heart and asked myself the question.
Physically, I should be able to do it,
But I must be still missing something, or maybe I just haven’t noticed something yet.
What is it that I haven’t noticed yet?
Hmmmm…
Ah! I get it!
Maybe! It’s something like this!
Okay, from here, a skit suddenly begins.
🌸🌸🌸Let’s begin!🌸🌸🌸
Once upon a time, there was a mother and her three daughters.
The eldest daughter, Left foot, wasn’t particularly resourceful, but she obediently listened to
her mother’s instructions and tried to carry them out diligently.
If mother says, “Left foot, you will be the leader, pushing everyone forward from behind, OK?”,
Left foot would say,

Okay, I get it, mom
It took a few days, but Left foot was able to follow her mother’s orders.
“Good girl, good girl, you’re great, you did a good job, Left Foot♡,” her mother said, stroking
Left foot’s head in relief.
The second daughter, Right foot has been a very easy child since she was born. She reads the
mood and does what she needs to do on her own, even without being told by her mother.
When her older sister, Left foot, says, “Let’s go, everyone!”,
Right foot coolly replies, “Ok…!” and takes a big step forward.

Ok…
Watching Right foot like this from afar, her mother thought to herself, “It’s really a relief that
Right foot doesn’t require much attention.”
Now, the youngest daughter, Left hand, is a spoiled brat, always vying for her mother’s
attention.
No matter how many times her mother tells Left hand, “Don’t do it like that, do it like this!”,
Left hand just says,

Heh heh heh
No no no
heh heh he
She’s a very difficult daughter.
But as the years go by, Left hand gradually starts to listen to her mother.
It took some time, but the mother finally breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the three of
them were finally working together and making great progress…but just as she did, one day, she suddenly received a call from school.

Hello?
Is this Right foot’s mom?
“This is about your Right foot – she was picked up by the police today for shoplifting. Please
come to school immediately!”
Stunned, the mother interrogated Right foot as soon as she arrived at school.
“What’s wrong, Right foot? How could a good kid like you do something like this?
You idiot!”
Slap!
Shocked and panicked, the mother instinctively slapped Right foot.
Then, as if a dam had burst, Right foot began crying and pleading.

Wahhhh!
“Wahhhh!!! Mommy is always thinking about Left foot and Left hand!”
“Have you ever thought about me?”
“Have you ever paid attention to where I am or what I’m doing?”
“I’m tired of being such a good girl! I want Mommy’s attention!”
Right foot’s mother had a sudden awakening.
It’s true that up until now, mother has only been focused on Left foot and Left hand,
and hadn’t paid enough attention to Right foot or where she was doing.
In other words, she’d been neglecting her.
I say again! Right foot had been ‘neglected’ by Mommy.
Repenting, the mother of three daughters vowed to pay as much attention to Right foot as she
did to Left foot and Left hand.
🌸🌸🌸End 🌸🌸🌸
Oops! This blog is still ongoing.
By the way, am I, writing this blog, going completely crazy?
Am I becoming neurotic again?
Anyway, what I wanted to write about is
Now I’m sure, the reason why I still could not do Ki-Ken-Tai icchi, even though I’m so close to
achieving it, is because I wasn’t trying to feel the movement of my right foot.
Even while chanting “foot and monouchi,” “foot and monouchi”
I wasn’t paying any attention to the movement of my right foot at all.
When I started to strike, I was paying attention to the movement of my left foot while maintaining my center of gravity,
and I was also paying attention to how I was using my left and right hands in preparation for the strike, but I never even considered where my right foot was during the strike, or even how long it took for my right foot to land after it left the floor.
Unconsciously I thought that my right foot just kind of does something on its own…
No, no!
That’s why Right foot turned to shoplifting.
I think I need to feel the movement of my right foot more.
Yes.
If I’m missing just one thing, it’s no good.
I’d suddenly get a zero.
I’m once again reminded that this is really what kendo is all about.
But somehow, I have a feeling that this time, I might finally be able to do Ki-Ken-Tai icchi♡
I can’t wait to try it…
Wow, my path to Ki-Ken-Tai icchi is really long.
Today, I even did 🌸a skit🌸.
So, dreaming of the day when my Ki-Ken-Tai icchi strike becomes a natural part of my movement,
I will go to practice again tomorrow♪