A Beginner's Point of View 234-235

Day 234:

Today in Iaido, Sensei was preparing the others for a trip to a seminar and promotional testing. We did the full set of bowing in, kata, and bowing out over and over. My classmate did the first five kata, while I just did the first and twelfth. It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve done the twelfth so I should review my notes. Another student who is shodan got to pick her kata from the whole set of twelve that she knew. At the end of class, Sensei timed my classmates on their whole performance. He even set up chairs and designated a line to adhere to. It was interesting to see.

In Kendo, the drills on fumi-komi and men strike continued. It seems as if Sensei is rotating nidans to get them to practice teaching students. I wonder if that is part of becoming a “sensei”. The end of class was interesting. We lined up in two lines facing each other across the dojo floor. One side would hold up their shinais to block men while the other side would strike men with fumi-komi. It seems as if I don’t have a lot of time for advanced class anymore since my job is so early, so advanced class seems to be for special occasions. I guess I’ll save them up for preparation for promotional testing and just lose sleep then.

Day 235:

In Iaido, Sensei was getting ready to take the others to a seminar for testing. We went through a practice exam. You stand at the ready with your sword out of your belt but held up to it. You wait for the judges to say “meijo” and then you approach. You stop at the line, ready to go and wait. Once the judges say “hajime”, then you begin by bowing to shomen and then bowing to the sword. You perform your routine of kata as previously decided and then finish by bowing to the sword and then to the shomen. You put the sword to your belt but not in and hold still. Once the judges say “eijo”, you do the special walk away. I learned a new kata, which is the second one to increase my routine. The second kata is like the first one, only reverse. You start off by facing the shomen, then turning away and moving to seiza. When you are ready, you grip the saya and tsuka like usual, bringing your toes up. Then you move your left big toe behind the right big toe. Using the left big toe as a pivot, you spin around to face the shomen, then draw and cut horizontally. You then bring your right leg up and cut vertically while bringing your left foot forward. Your legs are reversed in position from the first kata. Then you perform chiburi with reversed legs. My combination to do for the practice test was 1-2-12-1-12. Apparently, six minutes is the ideal time to try for, so you must get as close to six minutes without going too long. My time was five minutes and thirty seconds. Not bad.

In Kendo, we continued with men strike with fumi-komi. Most of us put on men to give and receive strikes. My schedule is becoming unfriendly to Kendo now. I usually skip advanced practice because it’s too late in the evening. By the time I would get home, my adrenaline would keep me awake until an hour after midnight. My alarm sounds only a few hours later for my job, so I need my sleep. The time that I normally spent napping before Kendo is now spent in Iaido. Well, I’ll just have to save it for special occasions like holidays or preparation for promotional, especially Kendo kata.