A Beginner's Point of View 738-739

Day 738:

Today Sensei did not show up. It was just myself and our new Iaido student. I answered questions about the 7th and 9th katas. He seems to want to do Iaido but he’ll have trouble when he gets his metal sword with how strong he swings the sword. For now, he’s using the wooden saya we have in the closet.

In kendo, I really wanted to skip class. My left leg is hurting in both hamstring and Achilles tendon. However, Sensei was sick. Also, the other nidan passed the responsibility off to me. So, I decided on a “lab day” where we care more about technique than brute force.

We did suri-ashi drills to fix fumi-komi, several rounds of kiri-kaeshi, kihon with seme to take center, and then ji-geiko. We saved time for lessons on Kendo kata. I took the time to teach the lower-ranking kata 1, 2, and 3. One student is very weak with his chudan-no-kamae. He’ll need to fix that when he eventually tests for ikkyu.

Sensei left a message that he may also be out next class. Our other nidan said he won’t be available for next class. I’ll have to come up with something.

Day 739:

In Iaido, I was glad to see Sensei show up. He wore his uniform but did not come with bogu. I completed 2.25 sets of kata.

In Kendo, Sensei coached from the sidelines. We had yet another guest sensei show up. I’ve seen him at our tournaments. We did kiri-kaeshi, kihon, and then several rounds of ji-geiko. Sensei gave a lecture about keeping center. The guest sensei gave me silent lessons by holding center against my doh. I need to be less spastic and take center. We had a discussion after class about how I lose momentum when I take strong center. He mentioned that he had the same problem, but you can only learn to use your left leg to propel yourself proper.