It is with great pride that we announce that our sempai, Davide De Vecchi, achieved the third place in the Godan (5th Dan) European Iaido Championships in Budapest this weekend! We can only look up to his dedication and his performance and all take something of it to bring back to our everyday regular practice! On this link it is possible to download the Official Results, divided by Dan Category. Bravo, Davide!
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Today we are going to talk about shiai or Iaido competitions! One element that characterize Iaido from the International Kendo Federation/All Japan Kendo Federation is the presence of a competitive aspect that the vast majority of the other associations lack. But how does a Iaido shiai (literally "duel") work? First of all, as opposed to Kendo, in Iaido competitors are divided by rank: so kyusha will fight against kyusha, shodan against shodan, nidan against nidan and so on. Each shiai is fought between two competitors, who will show a set of kata side by side in front of a panel of three Judges. At the end, the Judges will raise a flag for the competitor deserving a victory in their opinion; whoever manages to get at least 2 out of 3 flags, will win that encounter. There is also a timing factor, as there is a maximum allotted time in which the competitor has to do initial and final rei/torei and the prescribed forms. The criteria for a victory are many, including how many mistakes were made and of which entity, the quality of the technique, the power, precision and cleanliness of the cuts, and the overall level of the performance. The presence of this agonistic aspect, which is done at regional, national and international levels, is actually an important training tool: it adds tension and testes the nerves in a similar way to an exam, and yet, even more challenging. In this way we are able to keep our senses and technique honed and retain at least some level of the "real" duel feelings that samurai or ronin had when facing an opponent with a live, sharp sword. Plus, we are usually nowadays able to go back home on our legs, afterwards! Jokes apart, it is very important to understand that the purpose of these competitions is not to win a cup or a medal, but to test ourselves in unfamiliar, unfriendly circumstances and learn something valuable from the end result, however that might be. Our Iaido course in Singapore just started last summer, but we are already planning, in the future, to add and complement our trainings with some competitive aspects and, who knows, maybe even challenging sometimes other schools and groups in friendly tournaments and celebrate together this beautiful art! To close, I'd like to post here a couple of shiai, on the National and International level, that saw our sempai, Davide De Vecchi, win; they are a perfect example of the power, grace and emotion that we have to try and achieve as a best expression of our strongest Iai! |
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