A Beginner's Point of View 465-466

Day 465:

There hasn’t been any new work done in the dojo, much to our disappointed.

The new student had more lessons, so we did two and a half sets of Iaido kata.

In Kendo, the instructor actually asked me to lead the class. I led us in warm-ups, suburi, and suri-ashi drills. I tried to do it the same way that the instructor did.

The instructor took over and we put on men. We had a regular class of kiri-kaeishi, and men-ouchi. During class, the instructor gave me the advice that to improve myself to nidan, I should be swinging down with my shinai faster than I swing up. I also should fix my left foot some more.

Because of the warmer weather (and that I did not have to do all of the suri-ashi drills) I did not have to sit out even once.

Day 466:

Instructor gave me lots of advice on how to lead a class, keep class moving, talk less, only talk if someone not doing it right, don’t slow down by end, need more practice but that’s okay, good advice

The dojo floor had more work done. Only a little bit more work. We could have avoided the area, but the owners insisted we not practice in there. So we had to practice in the carpeted room again.

We did another two and a half sets of Iaido kata. A higher-ranking student corrected me in jodan-no-kamae. I was holding the sword at forty-five degrees to the side. It should be more slight, otherwise it’s out of balance. The new student learned kata one and twelve.

I lead Kendo class in warm-ups and suburi again. I wonder if this will be the new way from now on. We mixed it up to keep things fresh. We practiced the Kendo kihon waza with the bokken, called "Bokuto Ni Yoru Kendo Kihon-waza Keiko-ho". (Say that three times fast.)

The first is men-kote-doh-tsuki. The second is kote-men. The third is harai-men. The fourth is hiki-doh, which is very awkward to do. We’ve practiced this before a couple of years ago.