[thehhhyips]

Just finished watching the DVD of the 58th AJKC that came with the January issue of Kendo Nippon. How sweet it is.

One thing that struck me anew was how effective Takanabe senshu's men-uchi is. I mean, he's known for his fast men-uchi, but it's just sooo damn good. I actually counted all of his points. Of the eight points that he scored during the tournament, seven were men-uchi, including this doosie against Hatakenaka senshu, at about 2:20.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRaXIKyf1Wo

Actually, it looks even more impressive on the Kendo Nippon DVD for some reason -- maybe because I watched it on a large TV and not on youtube.

What are they feeding these guy in Kanakawa? A worthy successor to Miyazaki sensei maybe? I suppose time will tell.

[jPNy2BP5]

niiiiice

[gfkasjhfg]

It's weird, the last thing I think about when I hear Takanabe is Miyazaki. When I think of Miyazaki, I think of the winning. He had a super-fast men-uchi (and kote too) but to me Miyazaki is all the victories. It's the kendoka who could win at the All-Japan's without playing rough and the same year change his style to match Korea at the World's (and win!). He's won at the WKC, AJKC, the 7th dan championships, etc. Not perfect kendo like Naoki Eiga, just winning kendo. He is, for lack of a better word, a monster.

When I think of Takanabe there's that defeat to Team USA in Taiwan that sticks out. A loss during the team matches to Korea in Brazil as well. He lost the AJKC in 2008 to Teramoto after going up by one point in the final (shouldn't happen). I can't imagine Miyazaki doing that, in fact he always got stronger AFTER he got the 1st ippon, contrary to about 99% of kendoka.

When Takanabe wins more than one championship maybe I'll think of Miyazaki... but he's got that reputation to recover from first.

[mr.videomen]

I don't know Takanabe has a good Men and he has always been an outstanding player but I don't think anyone will be as dominate as Miyazaki was in his day. Dare I say maybe even a young Miyazaki might not be as dominate especially with the 10 minute matches. Takanabe just because he finally won after having so many strong performances especially winning the All Police Tournament sort of reminds me of Harada Satoru. There is so much pressure for the senshu to win the All Japan Championships it feels now that not everyone is willing to commit 100% to a strike always. That is why alot of the matches went the whole distance or encho. I remember Kawasaki's match with a jodan player was 20 minutes long. Uchimura didn't even qualify to make the All Japan Kendo Championships a couple years ago. Maybe in a couple years the big name players might be replaced by younger rising stars. I'm sure in a couple years we might be seeing Hatakenaka in the finals.