Thursday, March 10, 2011

A Beginner's Point of View 249-250

Day 249:

My first day back from my mild sprain. I hope I don’t re-injure myself again.

In Iaido class, I took it easy by moving at half speed for my kata. I practiced rei-hou, and then 1-2-4-6-7-12. My fourth kata was very awkward since I haven’t been practicing. Sensei gave me advice about the second and fourth katas. He thought I was moving awkward. He told me to pivot on my left toe in the second kata and finish the turn by drawing the sword. In the fourth kata, always turn the head first, then move the body. That will keep movements in order. His advice did make things a little smoother. I also made sure to tie my sageo closer to the end than before. Tying it too close to the saya end doesn’t allow you to sayabiki properly. I have to practice tying it without looking.

In Kendo, I did my suburi carefully so not to push my wrists. I hope they’ll be unhurt tomorrow morning. I chose not to put on my bogu tonight so the motodachi would take it easy on me. Of course, ‘taking it easy’ means not striking me back or making me bump kote against kote in kiri-kaeshi. That might re-sprain myself. They still would push me to exert myself to the limit otherwise. We did kiri-kaeshi over and over. We did men strike over and over. We did uchi-komi over and over and over and over until we were out of breath. I was totally out of breath a few times, but happy to be so because I could show everyone how not to quit. I found myself striking harder and harder as the night went on. Taking head-sensei’s lesson to heart, I started mixing power and tenuchi to make a firmer strike.

At the end of class, after rei-hou, a few of us finally received our menjos from the tournament and testing last autumn. Apparently, this is how long it takes to get a dan certificate. Man, that’s a long wait for a piece of paper, but it was worth it.

Day 250:

In Iaido class, a new prospective student showed up. He said he had dabbled in Taekwondo and Aikido when he was younger. Since I was the only Iaido student in the dojo at that time, I explained a few principles of Iaido and Kendo and told him to watch a demonstration of the class doing kata. I did my rei-hou, and then proceeded to practice 1-2-4-6-7-12 over and over. Sensei did not arrive today, so I decided to practice turning around like he showed me. When I applied more force and rolled my left toe, my turning around in the second kata was much better. Also, I seem to be finding a semi-comfortable spot in the fourth kata to sit down and relax for a few seconds. The senior student eventually showed up and gave the prospective student a few drills in vertical cut and horizontal cut.

In Kendo class, I still chose not to wear bogu so I could take it a little easy. There were a near-record number of students today, so space was tight during suburi. The instructors divided up the class into people with no bogu and people with. I went to the no-bogu class to practice. I found myself striking harder and harder, but still using tenuchi. I think my wrists are getting better. Gently pushing myself more each time did not hurt them. We practiced our suri-ashi, men strike, and kote strike. It all led up to a long round of uchi-komi. I tried to incorporate fumi-komi with my drills and make my strikes and passing through smooth. I sharpened them well, hoping the younger students would see how they should be making their own strikes smoother.

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