[streMunford]

Last April I attended a kendo seminar in Colorado Springs where these kata were introduced. Ota sensei explained their rationale as wanting to emphasize kendo as being based on a sword (indeed) and not being a sport. The idea is that using a bokken/bokuto to perform these kata will expand the sense of these actions when using a shinai.

[DexOnenlyCymn]

Last semester at budai we did those kata one class per week with Ijima-sensei. I think they have some points to them but they get pretty boring when you do them 1,5 hours in a row. The biggest weakness in my oppinion is number 7, kote - debana kote. There is no way that you can get the feeling for debana kote by doing that kata. Even though you take the kata serious ther is no way that you will get the same reaction as when you do debana kote in ji-geiko. Number 4 hiki-do suffers from the same problem but not to the same extent.

As for the question of how number 4 is done, kakarite does shomen uchi, motodashi blocks and you end up in tsubazeriai. Then you just hiki-do your way out of there.

The kihon kata works well to show the basics of kendo but couldn't in any way replace ordinary kata. They could replace doing shinai kihon for kyu grades but kata has qualities that the new kihon kata lacks. That at least my oppinion after doing them for four months. But don't take my word for it, I'm only 1 kyu.

[sasaderesada]

they plan to remplace them for the exams until 2nd or 3rd dan.

Oh, hell, no. I like them but not as a REPLACEMENT.

I'm getting old. I bristle at any attempts to change kendo.

[UnmariKam]

Where did you get this info from ?
Im asking because unless its from a director of ZNKF...its not true.
According to Sumi sensei these will not become part of gradings for a few years.

Budai kendo club head teacher, Makita Minoru (8th dan). I dont know if he is a director of ZNKF or not, but these guys all know eachothers so I wonder why he would gave false information to his student. But, he also said that it would take a few years.

[pkxlugbsbv]

They were not designed as a replacement for the Kendo Kata. Hence, they don't even use the word kata in the actual name. They were made as an introduction to the basic kendo techniques, but using the bokuto. They are designed to be close to shinai kendo, but also to serve as a platform for learning the Kendo Kata as well. They are a great addition to kendo teaching materials.

[VeniHemealm]

Are these supposed to replace the current kata?.

Jakob