A Beginner's Point of View 313-314

Day 313:

In Iaido, I used the time to practice my kata. I’m getting better at turning around in the second kata. I just keep my weight on my right knee and pivot with my left foot. I just gotta remember to draw back my saya a lot just before the cut.

In basic Kendo, we did stretches, suburi, and footwork drills. Then we put on men to receive for menouchi and koteouchi. The final drill was for the motodachi to do kiri-kaeshi on the students for a single time.

In advanced Kendo, I was not feeling well. My heart was racing and my breath was shallow. I don’t understand what was wrong. There were only four of us for advanced Kendo. We did a couple rounds of kiri-kaeshi and then practiced doh-kiri-kaeshi and kote-kiri-kaeshi. Those drills can get dangerous if you move too fast. We did several drills of three waza switching attackers for four sets. That was a single drill. We did a few drills like that. I was out of breath and I had to stop and sit out. I watched the others do three-square before they took a break.

During the break, I learned they were not feeling well also. Maybe it was the weather. We went back in and did three rounds of jigeiko and a full ninety seconds each. I was in good form with nuki waza and debana-kote.

We then broke for kata. I love kata. I actually learned the seventh kata. Both come out three spaces in chudan. The uchidachi steps forward with a tsuki, which the shidachi parries and steps back. The uchidachi swings for oh-men strike while the shidachi strikes doh and steps forward and to the side. The shidachi crosses left over right and then kneels on the right knee. Both look at each other and pass through waki-game into chudan. The uchidachi steps back and the shidachi stand up with a forward step. Then both circle around each other while crossing their feet over each other until they are back to the start. The shidachi takes small steps while the uchidachi takes big steps. This brings both back to start. I got to learn both sides tonight.

Day 314:

In Iaido, I’m beginning to establish a pattern for turning around in the second kata. If I use the turning around to draw back the saya it works. Then the final adjust of the left foot coincides with the actual draw of the sword. Class was very crowded today, so I held off on practicing the seventh and ninth kata mostly unless the way was clear. The air was very humid so the floor was kinda sticky.

In Kendo, I led the class in rei-hou, warm-ups, and suburi. The instructor joined us for the second half of suburi with a few comments. We did several footwork drills involving men, kote, and doh strikes across the floor. I tried to make my fumi-komi smaller but more deliberate. We then put on men and received many, many, men and kote strikes form the students.

In advanced Kendo, we did a lot of waza drills. Menouchi and koteouchi with several ji-geiko inbetween for extra hard work. I almost made it to the end of waza practice without stopping but I did have to stop. There was no hotseat or four-square today, so I stood by and called out ‘yame’ when the time for ji-geiko was over.

We then broke up for kata. I love kata. I spent the time teaching the third kata to my friend who is two ranks lower than me. Eventually, he’ll need the first three kata for his ikkyu test. He kept not getting the footwork right. So, I walked him through both uchidachi and shidachi sides over and over for the rest of class.