Commentary by Simon Larsen Kikuchi opens with his off centre tactic like we saw in his last match however Takizawa obviously has trained against this and uses some pretty great footwork to start the final step first. Halfway through what looks like a normal step it turns into a full strike. You can see he keeps... Continue Reading →
Match 42: Mens Individual: 17th All Japan Tankendo Championships
Commentary by Simon Larsen Alex's second match. Due to his injury he has started attempting fewer men strikes which I think is a good idea, he has a fast do strike and that scores a lot more often. On top of my personal feelings regarding men vs do there is the risk factor of having... Continue Reading →
Match 69: Semi Final 2: Mens Individual: 17th All Japan Tankendo Championships
Commentary by Simon Larsen I don't know enough about the grading rules for tankendo but surely an 8th dan has to be reasonably old. Usually when you see the matches with a decent rank discrepancy the higher rank person uses less energy and relies on technique and experience. Not Kikuchi! He can bounce around like... Continue Reading →
Match 12: Mens Individual: 17th All Japan Tankendo Championships
Commentary by Simon Larsen Alex had injured himself the day before the match and was wearing a brace on his striking arm. Fortunately his opponent is wearing one of the older style do futon which is very bulky and provides great protection in training but I find they are very restricting. So I guess that... Continue Reading →
Match 68: Semi Final 1: Mens Individual: 17th All Japan Tankendo Championships
Commentary by Simon Larsen Attacking from Geidan straight to nodo. Exciting start by Takizawa! Geidan is risky and so is nodo but Matsura was slow off the starting line and it almost worked. None of the judges even twitched their flags though and I think that jukendo / tankendo judges love to award shou ippon... Continue Reading →
Match 67: Quarter Final 4: Mens Individual: 17th All Japan Tankendo Championships
Commentary by Simon Larsen I like matches where the competitors are both happy to get a little physical, especially when they are larger fellows. Unfortunately I think many larger people don't get to train being physical much as the damage you can do to smaller people is something you have to keep in mind, especially... Continue Reading →
Match 66: Quarter Final 3: Mens Individual: 17th All Japan Tankendo Championships
Commentary by Simon Larsen When shodan goes up against 6th dan you often get an interesting match. Shodan are often younger and super fast but 6th dan often have better senses of oportunity. Kikuchi tests the reaction of his opponent with a fake for kote. I have seen a few people use this and stolen... Continue Reading →
Match 65: Quarter Final 2: Mens Individual: 17th All Japan Tankendo Championships
Commentary by Simon Larsen In training leading up to this tournament Hisatsune sensei had stressed two things to me. Firstly that shaking the tanken up and down for no reason was a good way to give your opponent a sense of your timing. Secondly that standing still let your opponent choose the distance to fight... Continue Reading →
Match 64: Quarter Final 1: Mens Individual: 17th All Japan Tankendo Championships
Commentary by Simon Larsen Quarter Finals Time! ALSOK are a security company and they are usually one of the stronger teams. Matsuura starts to go for men, as soon as he has drawn Kojima into blocking the men Matsuura reverses and strikes do. As Kojima comes back down from the blocking position he loses centre... Continue Reading →
Match 45: Mens Individual: 17th All Japan Tankendo Championships
Commentary by Bert Hsu The opponent was supposed to be stronger than my first round. I thought I needed to be more careful… while I was thinking about that, the opponent had jumped into my coverage to strike. In a losing status, there was no choice for me but to attack aggressively. Then my opponent started... Continue Reading →