A Beginner's Point of View 505-506

Day 505:

Today was a good day of lots of work. Kiri-kaeshi, men-ouchi, kote-ouchi, kote-suriage-men-ouchi, and men-suriage-men-ouchi over many repetitions. There was a lot of lecture and demonstrations, which is good. That way I could catch my breath and keep that equilibrium of energy and breath good. We finished with a few rounds of ji-geiko. I seem to be getting better as long as I have some breath in my body. I feel faster when I do.

At the end of practiced, I had a kata lesson on the sixth and seventh Kendo kata. On the seventh, I had bad footwork as shidachi. I kept counting two steps and kneeling down on my left knee. That’s wrong. I need three steps and kneel down on the right knee. At the end, sensei said to augment my kata with more seme to impress the judges.

Day 506:

This was a day of technique over brute force or working us until we drop. After some kiri-kaeshi, men-ouchi, and kote-ouchi, we do a drill that we haven’t done in a while. We did ten ai-ouchi-men over and over. Head Sensei likes this drill because it builds stamina not just in the body but in the mind. One more time…one more time…one more time…

After a while, I had to sit out. Not because I was out of breath or out of energy. My left hip was sore about ten minutes into practice and just kept getting worse. I tried to ignore it as best as I can but after a while I just couldn’t stand anymore. I was able to step back in for ji-geiko.

I got to do some more kata with a different instructor. He gave different advice. He was more metaphysical than sensei. I like metaphysical, especially if it is relevant to the kata in question. He let me know about striking doh at the same time in order help me get over the mental stumbling block of how many steps to take. He also told me to fix my fourth kata as uchidachi, the attack is NOT jodan. I kept thinking that it was jodan and that’s why I keep swinging sideways. I should fix my hips afterwards to be straight.