A Beginner's Point of View 28-29

Day 28:

Today, my normal sempai did not show up to teach the class. Instead, another senior student took that place. Since we were only a class of two today, we did our own warm-ups and put on full bogu. We practiced footwork and men strikes to finished warming up. Then, we practiced receiving men, kote, and doh strikes from sempai. The point was to get us used to being hit and not flinch.

It was easy for me since I’ve been used to being hit in ice hockey. When students hit me, it’s a quick annoyance. However, sensei also practiced hitting me and I have a red mark on my right arm (just under where the kote protect). It’ll go away overnight, but it shows how serious some of the more advanced practitioners can be. It also teaches us to try not to cause too much pain to our opponents out of respect. After all, you wouldn’t want them hitting you too hard out of revenge, right?

One thing did bother me. The top-sides of my men were pinching my head all the time I wore it. Sempai told me that was most likely because I tied the men himo too high around my head and put the knot too high. I should bring the men himo around the side of my head rather than the top. That way, it won’t pinch. I’ll try that next time.

Day 29:

Today was brutal. Again, we suited up in bogu and exercised on our own. The Iaido class before us was squeezing in extra practice to perfect their kata for the upcoming seminar and testing, so they ran a few minutes over our Kendo time. That’s okay, let them have it. I’m sure they would give us a few minutes extra time before a Kendo tournament.

After suiting up in full bogu, I remembered to tie the men himo lower behind my head this time. The men did not pinch me, although it did seem to tilt forward the whole time. I kept wondering if I didn’t tie it right until sensei mentioned that I was actually lowering my head under the weight of the metal cage in front of the men. I need to remember to keep my head back so the weight drags it to center.

We spent over half of class striking each other with men, kote, and kote-men strikes. It was very good practice and I still ran out of breath several times. However, I seem to be recovering quicker. I think that since joining Kendo, I have lost five pounds of weight off my body. It’s good exercise for endurance.

My partner for striking was hitting me very hard on the men and kote. I think I recognized his enthusiasm as the kind I felt when I first started. Sempai would often tell me that it’s not necessary to hit so hard for drills. Now I know what it feels like to be hit in the men too hard.

I was also struck on the kote too hard. It stung very much over and over with little breaks in between. Every third kote hit actually missed my leather and hit me on the arm. Now, that hurt a lot. That red mark sensei gave me last class is only one-third the size of the new one. Still, it will heal overnight.

I’d like to apologize to sempai and sensei for all the pain I caused in my zealousness to impress them. I think I’ll scale back the power of my strikes as to not cause so much discomfort. I can still move quickly without being too powerful.

Finally, our head sensei showed up tonight. I like it when the head sensei makes the effort to add a little something to our class. He’s polite enough not to overshadow the instructor while they are teaching, but he does say the best things. Sempai and sensei tell us technical matters. They say our shinai is too high for chudan, they say that our back foot is not straight, and they say that we need to life higher before strikes to practice good form.

The head sensei doesn’t tell us technical details, he fills in the rest of the blanks. He will repeat what the instructor says and then tell us “why” we do it that way. He strings together all of the individual details into the full, flowing end result, and then lectures about the non-physical aspect of Kendo.

Tonight he talked about the attitudes of Kendo. He said something like, “If you try to strike kote, miss, and then give up, that is not Kendo. If you try to strike kote, miss, try to strike men, miss, then give up, that is not Kendo. If you try to strike kote, miss, try to strike men, miss, pass on through, not turn around to threaten your opponent, then give up, that is not Kendo. Kendo is giving all of your energy in every strike and claiming every attack as a victory. If you miss, then you try again. If you pass on through, you turn around and try again. Having the attitude of constantly making every single attack be the one that claims victory and then setting up to do it again automatically, that is Kendo.” (Of course, I am paraphrasing his words.)

Our head sensei is very smart about Kendo because he not just memorizes the moves, he also strives to perfect his attitude at the same time. That way, his students receive the answers to “why” as well as “how”. Having only part of the answer can be frustrating.