Sunday, June 29, 2014

A Beginner's Point of View 586-587

Day 586:

I was able to finish three sets of Iaido today. That felt good. Keeping metsuke can be hard when the weather is humid. The new student has kneepads now so his sliding on the floor for seated kata. Today was really hot and humid.

In kendo class, it was the WORST DAY EVER. I have never had such a horrible practice in my Kendo career. I could not strike a simple men-ouchi even once all day. My arms would not raise above horizontal all day. I think I was tense and could not feel it. Among the drills that I could not complete are kiri-kaeshi, men-ouchi, ai-ouchi-men, step-men, and step-men-follow-up-men.

Day 587:

In Iaido, I could only finish 2.67 sets of kata. I was really off-kilter all practice. Very distracted and thinking about my errors. The new student is getting better. He also seems to arrive earlier than I do regularly to start sweeping.

Today, Kendo was a better class than last class. I slowed down and calmed down a lot. We did kiri-kaeshi, men-ouchi, ai-men-ouchi, men-men-ouchi, step-men, and kakari-geiko. A couple of times, the sweat and heat inside my men made me not understand the drills. I would retaliate when I should have just let my partner hit me.

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

A Beginner's Point of View 584-585

Day 584:

No class today as I am injured.

Day 585:

No class today as I am injured.

A Beginner's Point of View 584-585

Day 584:

No class today as I am injured.

Day 585:

No class today as I am injured.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

A Beginner's Point of View 582-583

Day 582:

In Iaido class, our new student learned horizontal cuts, vertical cuts, and the twelfth kata. I was able to complete 2.75 sets of kata again. That seems to be my new quota during the humid summer.

In Kendo class, we did suburi and okuri-ashi. After that, we had a lot of lecture. It was a Kendo lab all about proper tenouchi. We got to practice tenouchi for most of the class.

Day 583:

Today, Sensei in Iaido class as well as our other dan are out for a seminar. He asked me to teach the new student in both classes.

For Iaido, we reviews vertical and horizontal cuts. We practiced the twelfth kata and made sure to draw the tsuba in front of our faces and above the head. Then I taught him the first kata. He was really awkward with coming up on his toes and sliding forward. I advised more practice.

In Kendo, I took the new student aside and we practiced kihon-waza. At first we cut the air. Then I had him strike my shinai held above my head and off to the side. Once we got comfortable doing that, then I put on my bogu and had him hit my men, kote, and doh. I made sure to show him issoku-ittou-no-maai. He struck well with that. Then I taught him most of kiri-kaeshi. One men, tai-atari, four sayu-men, five backward sayu-men. He took to it well, but he keeps twisting his feet sideways. He also twists his left hand and sometimes misses the target. I told him to slow down and it worked.

Saturday, June 7, 2014

A Beginner's Point of View 580-581

Day 581:

Today was really hot and humid. It really does not feel good to exercise today. Still, I did 2.75 sets of Iaido. I was a little wobbly on my feet. I should be a little slower. We have a new student today and Sensei showed him some elementary cuts.

In Kendo, I stepped into suburi and was winded already. I pushed on and did men-ouchi, kote-ouchi, uchikomi-geiko, keiko, and doh-ouchi. We had a Guest Sensei today, who is a sandan. After waza, we had rotating practice matches. I got some advice in not using full-sized fumi-komi or else risk running into my opponent, especially if they are just as tall as myself.

Day 582:

In Iaido class, Sensei spent time teaching the new student the twelfth kata. He likes to start with the final kata because it’s the simplest. I did 2.75 sets of kata again, like a trend. The humidity really makes me unwell. Today I tried to fix my metsuke and grip my iaito when backing up with a firm right hand instead of the loose right hand.

Today we had a huge Kendo class. As big as the class ever was when I started years ago. I was asked to be in the dan line to help train the students. The student formed lines and waited their turns. When the repetitions were done, the dans would rotate to be more efficient. I got lots of time to recover my stamina from the humidty. Still, after rotating two full lines we got to practice against the senior-most student in the line. That was good. We did kiri-kaeshi, men-ouchi, kote-ouchi, doh-ouchi, and uchikomi-geiko. I really did my best to demonstrate best Kendo when it was my turn to practice.

One of the students, who was ready to test for shodan, announced it was his birthday. Our dojo has the tradition of hotseat keiko with the who dojo when that happens. It was about 12 opponents without a break. He finished and even fought evenly with Sensei at the end.

Day 582.5 Tournament:

Putting on our tournament is always a fun affair. I was put in charge of Court B again. I knew what I was doing and we did our job swiftly. When it was my turn to fight, I had two matches. I lost the first match to someone who was seemingly my mirror. He was as fast as me. He baited like me. We circled together. He was just a little more accurate than me, so he got two points. My second opponent was slower than me, I out moved and got two points. I did not advance but I put forth a good effort. At the end of the day we had our team match. I was put into Taisho position to fight the other ‘captain’. This was to let our other people fight the people in the middle. I fought against a yandan. It was easily predictable but I was able to push my opponent to bring his best effort. I even got to strike two good doh-ouchi against him. Too bad he was able to strike my men before my doh strikes.