Suburi

First set up your phone. Then do suburi.

Camera and stance

Put the phone to your side, upright, at about waist height. A shelf or a chair works best: if you hold it in your hand, the picture will move.

Stand far enough away that your head, body, hands and feet are in the frame. On a computer you see the whole frame: you can drag the picture and zoom in with the buttons.

Stand side-on to the lens, not facing it. That way the swing, the strike and the step are visible. Let the light fall on you, not from behind you. Only one person should be in the frame.

The level clock runs only while the camera sees you. If you leave the app or take a call, the set pauses.

In wide trousers or a hakama the camera may not see your feet well, and steps will count less reliably. It is better to train in clothes that leave your feet visible and to make sure your legs are fully in the frame.

The video stays on your phone and is not sent anywhere.

What to do

• The “Suburi!” button starts the levels one after another. Each new exercise comes with a short explanation first.
• Only a correct movement counts. A step without a strike and a strike without the right step don’t count.
• You don’t return to kamae between strikes: the next swing starts at once. The exception is fumikomi suburi: after the lunge, chudan first, then the swing.
• On the strike the tip of the shinai is not below your hands. The exception is joge suburi: there the strike goes down to about knee level.
• A counted strike gets an orange glow around the edge of the picture, a strike that doesn’t count gets a red one. Hints appear on the screen.
• With sound on, the trainer says each new exercise in Japanese and calls the start and end of the set, and a strike that doesn’t count makes a dull sound. If more than 5 seconds pass without a counted strike, the hint is also spoken.

What doesn’t count

• Standing facing the camera.
• Shomen suburi and joge suburi without a step forward or back.
• A step with the feet without moving the body.
• A shomen suburi strike below men level.
• Returning to the centre without a strike. Strike backwards from where the step forward ended.
• Just stepping back without a strike.
• Matawari suburi in a full squat or with no squat at all.
• Fumikomi suburi without a clear lunge, or lunging to the other side. After the lunge you need to come back.
• Joge suburi if the tip did not drop down behind your back.
• Too slow a strike.

You can use a sword, shinai, bokken or any other sword substitute.

Levels

Level one is 10 strikes with no strict time limit (the clock shows “∞”), so you can work it out calmly. Faster earns more time points, but they never go below zero. On levels 2–4 you need all the strikes within the time limit: 30 in 1:40, 50 in 3:10, 60 in 4:10.

Level five has no overall time limit. Exercises come at random, and the same one never comes twice in a row. The level ends after three seconds without a correct suburi; when the exercise changes, you get six seconds for the first strike. The points for what you did stay.

Rating

A nick and a code of up to four characters. You choose the code: it is the password for your nick. The nick becomes yours with your first saved result. One best set goes into the monthly table. The same nick and code work in the kendo test. The rating is shared with the Russian version of the page.

Streak: reach level 5 seven days in a row (Moscow time) and save the result with your nick to earn the fire 🔥 in the achievements. Missing a day resets the streak.