About Gedan no Kamae in Kendo

by Felipe
(Brazil)

I'd like to ask about the Gedan no Kamae in modern Kendo.

What do you think about using this stance in keiko and shiai?

Is it effective for a strong seme? What are the benefits of this stance? Was there a famous kenshi who used to use this stance?

I decided to ask about this because recently I went to the national championship and I was very surprised watching to a kenshi assuming Gedan in order to do a stronger Seme, and he was successful in his strategy.

He is a rokudan experienced kenshi who went to world championships, and I'm still a nidan, so my question is only for study purposes.

Thank you, as always!

Answer: Thank you for your question and sorry about the delay of my reply.

For the modern kendo, since we don't attack the lower body including the legs like naginata, it is a bit disadvantageous. Of course, there are no such rules to prohibit gedan, I don't see why not.

You should have a good strategy when you use such kamae though. Some sensei say that you use gedan to get in to surprise your opponent and execute your technique. But not many keep the gedan for a long time. I've never seen anyone taking the gedan for a long time.

Nothing wrong with studying it and try it with your mates. I don't think you should try it against sensei that you don't know. They might feel disrespected. But if your sensei allows you and supervises you, there should not be a problem.

In shinai , you can assume any kamae in my opinion. I mean we learn them in kata. But like I said, it will be disadvantageous to take gedan or wakigamae in the modern kendo because you are not allowed to attack the lower body.

Also chūdan is the basic stance so you should learn it thoroughly before you take any other stance. That is the step we should take. If you learn chūdan thoroughly you should be able to learn other stances (relatively) easily.

Hope this helps.

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