A Beginner's Point of View 255-256

Day 255:

In Iaido, I felt stiff form the Kendo tournament, so my kata was a little stiff. I gave my paperwork for the next Kendo tournament to our officer. Now I can concentrate. I’m still not quite turning well in the second kata, it’s the final slide of the foot when you draw the sword. It’s still awkward doing the final adjustment. Also, the ninth kata is awkward when you draw and then tsuki. I always feel like I am leaning too far forward when I do the tsuki. I can’t wait to learn the third and fifth kata so I can feel rounded out enough for a seminar and promotional.

In Kendo, it was a day full of fundamentals. The panel of sensei at the promotional exam last weekend expressed their desire to see more fundamentals practiced instead of raw tournament energy. We did many rounds of suri-ashi, followed by inserting men strikes over and over. Eventually, I was asked to be motodachi for the students, teaching them kirikaeshi, men strikes, and kote strikes. In the end we gave some of our students one of their first keikos. In my line was one student instead of two students, so the same student got two keikos with me. I made sure to follow instructions and tone down my assertiveness and level of pressure to encourage the student instead of dominating them. I would gently attack and let myself be attacked to show the student not to be afraid and to look for openings. Just once, I took jodan to give an opening for doh. The student recognized it and went for doh strike, only to hit me in the bony part of my right elbow. Ouch. Well, I guess that’s what I gave my instructors when I was starting to learn.

Day 256:

In Iaido, I started off doing my normal rei-hou and 1-2-4-6-7-9-12. Partway through call, our new student was looking lost with what he was doing and had questions about the leg movements of the first kata. Normally, the instructor would answer those questions, but at the time no instructor showed up. So, I showed him how I do the first kata and emphasized the leg movements involved. About halfway through the second run-through, the instructor showed up and took over. I hope he’s not upset with me for just answering a question. Sensei eventually showed up and talked to us about cleaning the blade. He mentioned about how aluminum-zinc blades do not need so much care but steel blades do. I have a steel blade, so when Sensei offered to order a cleaning kit at the same time he would order clothing for himself, I eagerly agreed.

In Kendo, we did a vigorous set of suburi, with extra emphasis on men and kote strikes. We did lots of suri-ashi across the floor with men strikes trying to sharpen our fundamentals. We also did a drill of learning to strike quick, firm, continuous men with tenouchi. I learned to not hesitate so much between raising up the shinai and bringing it down firmly. I also learned that tenouchi was more squeezing with the left hand than the right. I may have to ask the instructor about that in future classes. I was asked to be motodachi along with three others and Head Sensei. Head Sensei and our instructor reserved being motodachi for the younger students. We rotated through the lines receiving kiri-kaeshi, men strikes, kote strikes, and doh strikes. Some of the newer students did not quite strike kote well because they were afraid of hurting me. I appreciate the sentiment but the need to actually hit in order to learn. So, I encouraged them to hit harder.