A Beginnner's Point of View 3

Day 3:
We met again in the same practice area as last time. Apparently, this was the usual dojo from now on. Only a few students showed up this time. Maybe the others were busy. I decided to stretch my way again. Last time, my muscles weren’t so sore after stretching both my way and Kendo way. I think I’ll keep doing that.

By the time I was finished, our Kendo instructor was calling for us to line up again. As we assembled, she called seiretsu (say-ret-su). Everyone else seemed to know what she meant, so I just followed along again. Later, I would search on the internet for some common Japanese Kendo translations and learn that meant for us to line up for instruction. We skipped the ritual bowing this time and went right into footwork and basic strikes. This time, I nailed down exactly what word she was saying. It was men (men), meaning helmet. We also learned the strike and word for hitting our opponent’s armored gloves, called kote (koh-tay).

Now Kendo was getting interesting. We learned a basic combination for striking our opponent. This was repetitive and difficult, but I was learning it quickly. Still, I had trouble keeping my shinai raised as I charged by sensei in bogu.

I also seemed to notice a problem with constantly twisting my left ankle like in a Foil Fencer’s stance. This was pointed out several times by my instructor and it frustrated me. My instructor was not embarrassing me, but I was still embarrassed. It just felt so natural to turn the heel slightly to coil the legs muscles for movement power. However, it’s not proper for Kendo. Maybe I’m just trying too hard. I’ll have to try to fix my footwork at home over the weekend, or at least try.

After drills, sensei told us to get our bokken for the next drill. The advanced students would drill with us using bokken in a two-person series of rehearsed movements, called kata (kah-tah). This was also a lot of fun. We would not strike each other, but we would come close. The point was to show the exchange of attacks and defenses between katana swordsmen. We learned an exchange demonstrating the men strike and another one demonstrating the kote strike. We would eventually need to memorize these kata for the tests to ascend in ranks.

Practice for us went much longer than usual and I had to leave before it was over. I had to eat dinner and get ready to go to sleep. Still, I left with mixed feelings. I enjoyed the camaraderie and the drills of Kendo. Still, I just couldn’t fix my footwork to something proper. I’m sure that’s why I have trouble moving and standing. I’ve been showed over and over how to stand, but I just keep drifting back into a Foil stance. Argh.