A Beginner's Point of View 226-227

Day 226:

In Iaido, I practiced the same movement over and over all class. Left foot, draw horizontal, swing up and around to over the head, cut vertical, right leg back, sheathe sword, stand up, step forward. Sensei was not there as he was on travel. However, one of his students is a nidan so he instructed. There was another student who is also unranked, so the instructor split his time between the two of us. He gave me the advice to remember to keep pulling the saya backwards to correct the shoulder stopping point, although he admitted that since I do not have a proper obi it will be difficult. I put in an order for a proper obi through Sensei. When he gets back from travel he will give me the club price.

In Kendo, it was more footwork practice. I’m glad to see the footwork practice. Everyone, including me, could use more suri-ashi polishing. We did more suri-ashi, including a strange fumi-komi drill. You stay standing, swing up, then you swing down and follow the shinai into fumi-komi. You hold for a moment, then bring your left foot up to meet the right. This goes against every footwork drill with a shinai that I’ve ever done. I did not do so well with this. We also paired with a partner and forced them backwards holding chudan, then allowed them to drive us the other way. We finished with a group serpentine to tie it all together.

In advanced class, we had a guest student. He was a former classmate from one of the instructor’s college. I think they said he was ikkyu, but I’m not sure. We did lots of kiri-kaeshi, one-step men, and one-step kote. The lecture today was about momentum. Striking kote and then moving the saki aside to pass by. Bumping your opponent back to take his space. Making sure to pass by and the turn around and take chudan immediately.

I had to step out because of my lack of breath. They did a full rotation of ichi-komi while I rested. I sat out for a long time, until the group itself called for a rest. I came back in for some keiko. I did fairly well, all the time trying to remember ‘eggshells’. I’m starting to think if I use my left hand to move the shinai while using the right hand only to guide it downwards, maybe I’ll do better. I even did a keiko with the new student. I think I did much better than he did because of spirit and momentum. He was no slouch for counter-attacks, but it seemed to me that he was doing the same things over and over by rote rather than improvising. He would rarely try different things, although he did trick me with a quick doh strike once. Then again, maybe I’m wrong. I’m only ikkyu after all.

Day 227:

Today was our annual Balloon Kendo tournament and potluck dinner. There was only a very abbreviated Iaido class, which I skipped. Instead, I suited up in bogu and made ready for the tournament. Both Sensei and Head Sensei were present for the occasion. Also my old Sempai and another of our former students arrived. They never miss the Balloon Tournament and potluck. We did rei-hou and then Head Sensei wanted us to put on men right away with no stretching. I was one of the first out in full bogu, so Sensei asked me to receive kiri-kaeshi from beginner students. I did this for more than half a dozen people before Sensei replaced me and told me to get in line with Head Sensei. After waiting in line, Head Sensei did keiko with me. He did not tone it down much. I was thinking and striking and passing through and baiting and trying oji-waza just to hit him. Practically nothing worked but they were close. I get the feeling that he saw it all coming but did not discourage me. Eventually, he declared ippon and we went at it. I tried fast, simple strikes, but all I could accomplish was aiouchi-men or aiouchi-kote. After a few strikes, he left himself open and I struck shomen and passed through with enthusiasm. I did a couple of kiri-kaeshi, including one with Sempai. She was saying something as I would finish each section, but there was so much noise in the dojo I couldn’t head her.

Then we did the tournament. Instead of a mock shiai, we did competitions such as having the nidans wear a balloon on their men and having students in a line try to be the first one to pop the balloon. The youth division went swiftly. The first three of the four got a prize. There were two brackets of mudansha. I was in the first. I was the second to pop the balloon so myself and another advanced. The same happened in the second bracket. The finals were four of us and I was the second done. The first mudansha popped his balloon a split second before me. We got some kind of brainteaser puzzle as a prize. Not bad. The nidans resident in the dojo had a best-of-three points shiai between the two of them. They chose not to have balloons. So, the four remaining fighters had two keikos simultaneously. It was wonderful to see. After the keikos, which lasted for two minutes, we changed out of uniform and had dinner together. I brought an entrée and a dessert. Apparently, people liked the entrée but not the dessert. Oh well.