A Beginner's Point of View 535-536

Day 535:

Today we had only three people: myself, the instructor, and sensei. We did practice three-man style. This means you rotate in three positions of attack, receive, and rest. In the end, it seemed easier to catch your breath but your heart rate stayed up with no rest for it.

We went through drills of kiri-kaeshi, kote-kiri-kaeshi with tsuki, doh-kiri-kaeshi with tsuki, men-ouchi, kote-ouchi, doh-ouchi, kote-men-ouchi, kote-suriage-men-ouchi, kote-debana-men-ouchi, kakari-geiko, and ji-geiko. By the time we were doing kakari-geiko, my men started to feel loose. I didn’t understand why, so I kept going. When we finished, I discovered that my men-himo had started to come undone. So that’s what that feels like.

We ended practice with performing all ten kata. I was really awkward and stiff with my movement because I couldn’t remember half of them. I had to fulfill the role of both shidachi and uchidachi. Several times I had to repeat performances as uchidachi because I was just learning the shidachi’s role. However, the instructor also had to repeat performances because he was still trying to master the kata. Sensei did well, though. He’s had more practice.

Day 536:

Today was a special day. It was our annual holiday party. I showed up early to try some Iaido to see how much I’ve backslid. However, the traffic was dense and cleaning up the dojo took longer than expected. By the time I was finished, there was only 15 minutes until Kendo time and Sensei did not show up until afterwards.

However, Head Sensei showed up. It’s been two years since I’ve fought with him. He decided that we would have half an hour of rotating keiko while we are split into two lines. Every person rotates through Head Sensei to fight him. I was lucky enough to be last in line, again. I was able to fight Head Sensei and be more or less even with him. It’s probably because he was tired from fighting everyone who showed up. We finished with an ippon with the entire dojo watching. It was energetic from all of the cheering. Still, after several exchanges Head sensei snuck in a kote and men. He was kind enough not to claim them and let me fight some more. I did not let up until he called an end to the match.

Afterwards, we had our potluck dinner. I was the only one to sign up to being a dessert so I made some chocolate chip cookies.