A Beginner's Point of View 756-757

Day 756:

In Iaido class, I completed 2 sets of kata. I didn’t pay attention during the 4th kata and I stabbed myself at the base of my index finger. It stung, to say the least. It didn’t bleed very much, though.

In Kendo, we got to do kiri-kaeshi, lots of kiri-kaeshi and men-ouchi. The instructor wanted us to sharpen our kiri-kaeshi for form and speed. We had a lot of ji-geiko after that.

Day 757:

In Iaido, I completed 2 sets with my First Sensei’s new sword. He brought it to class as part of a larger effort to sell older sword to others. I like his steel iaito. It’s a little shorter and very, very well balanced. I plan to buy it. The balance is so good that I don’t feel at all tired doing kata.

In Kendo, I was asked to teach again. I decided today was a good day for kata. We did kiri-kaeshi, kihon, kote-men, men-nuki-men, and ji-geiko. Worked on fundamentals and brought them into a nidan-waza.

In kata practice, I took the beginners and taught them the first part of shidachi for the first kata. I love kata. It’s the “why” of Kendo to balance the “how” of waza practice.