A Beginner's Point of View 14-15

Day 14:

Today was a small class, only 2 of us learning. We did much more striking and learning the finer points of what happens before and after the strike. Too often, it is overlooked about when you declare your target. Many people fall into the trap of shouting, “Men” after the strike, which is bad form. You are supposed to shout it before the strike, preferably on the way down with your shinai.

Also, you must be prompt when turning around, lest your opponent whack you before you’re ready to defend yourself.

After dealing with men strikes, we practiced kata again. We practiced only Kata #1, which shows a men strike. Sensei practiced with us and showed us more than just the forms. He also taught us to show lots of energy and intensity as we go through the motions. As we progress in rank, our kata should come closer and closer to the body of our partner. At the Dan level, we should be able to stop our bokken just touching their hair. That will take a lot of control. I like practicing kata. It may not be the competitive side that tournament fighting involves, but it is fun.

Day 15:

Today a lot of new people showed up to join the club. This means that Raven went back to teaching the basics from the beginning. That’s okay. I can never have too much practice with footwork. We did a large amount of stretches and opening drills. That was fun, but I did get to experience something I wanted to experience since seeing it at the tournament.

We had a group of nine students all performing Shomen Suburi together in unison. Our voices rang out loudly and in synch. I’ll bet people across the street could hear us. It’s that camaraderie and unison that I see in Kendo that was so attractive in the tournament.

We did not split up the class like I thought we would do, but those of us who have been here for a while got to perform kote strikes against Sensei while the newer students did men strikes. We took a long time since there were a lot of us. Also, Sensei and Sempai said a lot of encouraging words to give us incentive to stick with it. As a result, we stopped practice late. Some people stayed behind to keep practicing, but I had to go home.