Thursday, April 28, 2016

A Beginner's Point of View 778-779

Day 778:

Today I got to practice 2 sets of kata plus a few spare iterations of the first two katas to try to not cut too high. I’m too eager to thrust the sword out and cover distance which raises the ki-saki.

In kendo, we had a kata day. Myself, my other nidan, and an ikkyu candidate practiced Kendo kata. I need to practice more since I seem to be tense and standing a little too far away.

After kata practice, we did kiri-kaeshi, kihon, and then lots of uchikomi-geiko in a three-person constant-rotating drill. Kinda like hotseat. I was really sweating afterwards since it was myself, the other nidan, and Sensei really going at it full strength.

Day 779:

In Iaido, I completed two sets of kata. Today I was really impatient. I was constantly just drawing too quickly and too forcefully.

In kendo, we started with suri-ashi training with fumi-komi drills. We tried a new drill where we chase our partner down the length of the floor while striking men with fumi-komi constantly.

We then did kiri-kaeshi, kihon, and then another set of hotseat uchikomi-geiko.

Friday, April 22, 2016

A Beginner's Point of View 776-777

Day 776:

No class today as I have an appointment.

Day 777:

In Iaido, I completed two sets of kata, trying to keep the breathing going. Sensei gave me advice that my horizontal cuts were too high. I need to have them lower on the first and second katas, otherwise I miss the target. It needs to be a natural cut with the ki-saki just a tad lower than horizontal.

In Kendo, we had quite the lab day. A Guest Sensei wanted to teach us to have good fumi-komi. There was a lot of okuri-ashi and group drills. Like lining up and the kakarite charging down the line striking the shinai in order with fumi-komi. I usually call those “Kendo games” because they are so fun that they don’t feel like work. We haven’t done those in a long time. We finished with some kiri-kaeshi and ji-geiko.

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

A Beginner's Point of View 774-775

Day 774:

In Iaido, I had to slow down and do the breathing. This means I only got to complete two sets of kata. Sensei gave a lecture about how in hasso-no-kamae our left hand is in front of the solar plexus. I might be holding it too high.

Sensei was still too injured to teach the class, so he asked me to teach it. My throat was sore today, so I thought I could just skip Kendo and go home. I guess not.

I led the class with okuri-ashi, kiri-kaeshi, and kihon. The whole time I focused on zanshin. The class is getting lazy after the strike and just walking around. We need to strike well, pass by and then turn around with kiai. Also, the motodachi needs to follow the kakarite to issoku-ittou-no-maai to speed up the waza. We finished with ji-geiko. I used my belly to talk more than my throat, so I hope that will help not hurt myself more.

Day 775:

No class today as I am ill.

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

A Beginner's Point of View 772-773

Day 772:

In Iaido I did 2.3 sets of kata. Then Sensei reminded me for chiburi in the first two kata, I need to have the ki-saki lower than my knee. I thought I was doing it but I guess I need to remember to do that.

Sensei had been to a tournament over the weekend and he was devoid of energy. Our other nidan and myself ran the class. We decided to stick with fundamentals. We did lots of kiri-kaeshi to fix the motion and make it smoother. We also focused on issokou-ittou-no-maai. Kiri-kaeshi, kihon, kote-men, and kote-doh. Kote-doh really requires you to have good maai to strike well. Several rounds of ji-geiko finished class. I got whacked in the arms and legs several times.

Our shodan had passed the shinsa over the weekend and is now a nidan. We have three nidans now. I guess we should now rotate teaching classes and beginners.

Day 773:

No class today because my left big toe is injured. I can’t even walk well, much less charge forward without great pain.