A Beginner's Point of View 86-87

Day 86:

Today was one of the hottest days of the year. Sensei decided to only have a little bit of full practice with shinai and bogu for fear that many would overheat. Instead, we did lots of kiri-kaeshi and then some one-step men strikes. After that, it was time for keiko. I started with my partner doing a few men strikes and kote strikes to try to get past his defenses. My partner is much better than me, so I was not completely successful. He did leave some openings for me to exploit, which I am grateful.

However, in my excitement, my Kendo footwork became sloppy. Somehow, some way I struck the fleshy part of my inside left ankle against a bony part of my right ankle. IT HURT! I thought I could go on, but I had to stop and bow out. My ankle was throbbing for several minutes and I feared I had sprained it. I took off my bogu and just flexed my ankle slowly to test it. By the time keiko was over, my ankle was much better. Sensei then called for kata. I love kata, even if it can be difficult at times. I partnered with two people who were testing for a Dan rank later this year. I actually learned the basics of kata 4 and kata 5, then we polished kata 3.

Kata 4 involves a flashy move to deflect a forward thrust while spinning the bokken around to strike shomen on your opponent. Sensei says that in this kata requires you to show “fire” in your eyes as you attempt to strike shomen. It is easy to see how this would work. It is a very impressive move. The shidachi also needs to assume the stance that requires you to hide your bokken behind your back. This requires awkward footwork and lots of space behind yourself or else you may strike something, like I kept striking a railing behind me. The blade of the bokken must dip lower than your waist, so it can be awkward.

Kata 5 is a refinement of kata 1. Instead of just stepping back, you swing your bokken up and lightly make contact with your partner’s bokken as his comes down. It shows the suriage technique, which in this case opens the men for attack. The tricky part is during the initial stance, the shidachi must angle their bokken not in a stance, but just to be ready to slice the exposed kote of the partner.

Refining kata 3 is all about the timing. The tricky part is to count out the footsteps 1-2, then 1-2-3. Counting five steps becomes confusing and will mess you up.


Day 87:

My wrists feel like they are mildly sprained, so I am not going to class. I am going to wear the braces for a bit and see if they heal faster. My wrists seem to sprain easy and heal slow.