A Beginner's Point of View 784-785

Day 784:

Today was okay for me. My leg felt okay. I did two sets of Iaido kata, including the 4th kata with some feeling.

In Kendo, it was a kata day. I did all 10 kata and I feel I did well. I need to take smaller steps backwards to avoid going too far back and making the maai awkward.

We then did kiri-kaeshi, kihon, men-debana-kote, men-nuki-doh, and ji-geiko. This is because Sensei wants us to practice taikai techniques for a better match. I felt assertive today, so I scored many points in ji-geiko.

Day 785:

In Iaido, I did 2.25 sets of kata fairly fast. My leg isn’t great. Apparently, I overdid it last class. My healing is slower than I expect. The fumi-komi in the 4th kata last class hurt me. I hope I’m healed enough for the test.

In Kendo, it was a stamina day. We did kiri-kaeshi, kihon, men-debana-kote, men-nuki-doh, and ji-geiko quickly. We spent the second half of class doing a practice tournament for the beginners who will have their first tournament next month. I got to practice being a shinpan for several matches before getting three matches of my own. I fought a sandan, another sandan, and a nidan. My results were to tie, lose by one point, and then tie. That’s not too different than how I do in real tournaments.