Day 271:
Before advanced class, I was stretching off to the side when one of the others offered to do kata with me. I jumped at the chance. He walked me through the first five kata. I spent this time memorizing the steps for the fourth and fifth katas.
In advanced class, it was a very tiring class. There were multiple rounds each of kiri-kaeshi, men-ouchi, kote-ouchi, and doh-ouchi. Then we worked on hiki-waza. We practiced men-hiki-men, men-hiki-kote, and men-hiki-doh. We then strung them all together for uchikomi-geiko. After that, I was totally out of breath. I had to sit out for a while.
When I recovered, I went back in for keiko. I had several keikos, including a nidan who loves to practice jodan. That’s good, I love to practice anti-jodan techniques. We had several good exchanges, including a great nuki-men done by me. Even the sandan teaching the class called it ‘perfect’.
We then broke up into kata. I did the first five kata as if testing. I received much criticism for my spacing. The first, fourth, and fifth kata especially I was pressing too far forward and not backing off enough to keep spacing. I was told I would fail if I did not correct my spacing. I need to concentrate on keeping myself in check.
Day 272:
Today, we started off with a few rounds each of kiri-kaeshi and men-ouchi. We tried doing suriage-men drills at full speed. That was hard. I kept blocking but not landing a good strike. Well, at least that was done. We moved to kote drills. I did well at kote, especially quick-kote. Small movements to just clear the shinai or circle around the tsuba. I got a compliment for my small kote strikes from a nidan. We then practiced debana waza. Men-debana-kote was the drill and we all did well at it. We then strung a drill for sanbon-kote-ouchi-sanbon-men-ouchi-gohon-men-debana-kote. That was tiring. We did a few keikos before I had to rest.
We did more kata practice. I need more kata practice before I’m ready for testing. I did the first five kata with a nidan. He liked my kata, especially seeing as I controlled my spacing.
We learned a new kata. The sixth kata. The uchidachi starts in chudan while the shidachi moves to gedan. Three steps forward. Shidachi slowly raises up, then tries to slice upwards on the kote. The uchidachi jumps backwards into jodan and then slides back into chudan. The uchidachi tries for kote. The shidachi performs suriage-kote and then moves forward diagonally to the left into jodan for zanshin. The uchidachi steps backwards and the shidachi steps sideways into line to finish. That was hard to remember, but it’s very interesting.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Thursday, May 19, 2011
A Beginner's Point of View 269-270
Day 268:
Today, a godan came to practice with us. He’s from the instructor’s old dojo in the Midwest. He’s here on his own business, but decided to come practice with us for fun.
We did lots of kiri-kaeshi, men strike, and kote strike for warm-ups. The instructor also started doing something new. The first time he wanted us to do a drill, each side did it three times. After we rotated, we would do the drill five times. Rotate and do it seven times. Rotate and do it nine times. This pace of ramping up really takes a toll on your endurance. I found myself wheezing and huffing more quickly. Our normal way of doing in five times every time was much easier. Perhaps that’s the point.
We also did lots of ji-geiko, including with Guest Sensei. Each time, he would stop his ji-geiko to teach something. For me, he taught me to not step backwards from tsuba-zeriai. Instead, I should leap back to avoid sneaky counterattacks.
Day 270:
Today, Guest Sensei was back for the last time. We trained extra-hard just for him. It was more kiri-kaeshi, men, and kote. We threw in extra kote-men, too.
During my ji-geiko with him, he commented about how I am raising my shinai too soon, revealing my plans. I should step in first, then raise up more quickly to avoid telling where my target is.
We had lots of free practice with any partner we wished. I fought with Guest Sensei twice tonight, and three others to test my lessons. I was doing well with Kendoka close to my rank. There was no kata tonight. I need to work on some more kata. It’s only about a month until the tournament and promotional.
Today, a godan came to practice with us. He’s from the instructor’s old dojo in the Midwest. He’s here on his own business, but decided to come practice with us for fun.
We did lots of kiri-kaeshi, men strike, and kote strike for warm-ups. The instructor also started doing something new. The first time he wanted us to do a drill, each side did it three times. After we rotated, we would do the drill five times. Rotate and do it seven times. Rotate and do it nine times. This pace of ramping up really takes a toll on your endurance. I found myself wheezing and huffing more quickly. Our normal way of doing in five times every time was much easier. Perhaps that’s the point.
We also did lots of ji-geiko, including with Guest Sensei. Each time, he would stop his ji-geiko to teach something. For me, he taught me to not step backwards from tsuba-zeriai. Instead, I should leap back to avoid sneaky counterattacks.
Day 270:
Today, Guest Sensei was back for the last time. We trained extra-hard just for him. It was more kiri-kaeshi, men, and kote. We threw in extra kote-men, too.
During my ji-geiko with him, he commented about how I am raising my shinai too soon, revealing my plans. I should step in first, then raise up more quickly to avoid telling where my target is.
We had lots of free practice with any partner we wished. I fought with Guest Sensei twice tonight, and three others to test my lessons. I was doing well with Kendoka close to my rank. There was no kata tonight. I need to work on some more kata. It’s only about a month until the tournament and promotional.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
A Beginner's Point of View 267-268
Day 267:
Today was the subject of baiting. We started with a few rounds of kiri-kaeshi, and then started baiting. Baiting means you give a little opening in hopes that your opponent will attempt to strike the opening. When they attack the way you want them to attack, you use an oji-waza to counter and then attack their exposed targets. We used mostly kote-suriage-men. I think I did well when I was expecting the attack. I made sure to slow down make more deliberate motions. We did this many times.
We also did keiko. My first keiko was with Sensei. I made sure to remember not to come in for tai-atari because I might reinjure his knee. I used oji-waza to try to make openings and vary my attacks. He used several extremely fast hiki-waza to show me how much I still have to learn.
After a few rounds of keiko, we broke up into kata. One of the instructors dedicated this time to teach me. We went through the first four kata using each role. He made a few comments such as making sure that the distance in the fourth kata was just right or else I would be too close for the spinning block and counterattack.
We then practiced the fifth kata. It’s fairly straightforward. The uchidachi moves into right jodan while the shidachi just adjusts chudan to threaten the uchidachi’s left kote. Three steps forward. The uchidachi attacks men. The shidachi takes a half-step backward while performing suriage-men. The shidachi then takes a full step forward to strike men. Dragging the blade down and backwards, the shidachi slowly starts to move backwards. For zanshin, the shidachi moves backwards into left jodan. Then the shidachi moves backwards into chudan. The pair than take three small steps back to center.
I need to remember to keep my left foot straight. If my left foot feels comfortable, then I’m probably not straight. That’ll be tough to keep in my thoughts.
Day 268:
Today Head Sensei was here. At the start of practice, he asked ‘do you want a hard practice or a soft practice’? Not really knowing the difference, we said, ‘hard practice’. We then set up to do hard practice, which means once we are assigned our stations and drills, we do the drill, then rush to the next station without being told to rotate. This is supposed to have a continuous flow for a near-constant practice without much rest. We tried to do our best, but some of us caused bottlenecks in the drills. Eventually, we moved to a soft practice approach. We did kiri-kaeshi for a bit.
Today’s best drill was something Head Sensei was trying to teach us. He wanted us to do a very quick and very small kote strike with charging in to tai-atari immediately. The drill seems simple enough, but the catch is that you only need to lift the shinai just enough to clear the opponent’s shinai. It’s trickier than it sounds, however I was really into the drill. I like doing a small kote and charging in. After a few tries, I seemed to have the drill down pat. Head Sensei even had me demonstrate for the call about how to do it correctly. I never felt so proud! We did that drill a lot.
We also did a drill where the attacker hits men five times. The receiver would receive men, hit aiouchi-men, receive men, hit debana-kote, receive men. We also moved to having the attacker attack kote while the receiver did the same responses. We rounded out class with a men-hiki-men-men-hiki-kote-men-hiki-doh-men drill.
Head Sensei seemed to be in pain for all of class, but he never sat down. He never halted class. He did need to have his foot taped up or the tape taken off. He did stop a moment to stretch his back, but it took less than a minute. Then he got right back in. That guy must be made of iron.
The final drill was pushing the proper way. We would strike men and collapse into tai-atari. You are supposed to then push your opponent to arm’s length, raise your shinai, and bring it down for a follow-up men strike. You could call it a men-push-men drill. It’s difficult because you really need to push far enough but not too hard. If your opponent falls because you shoved him down, that’s a foul for you.
Today was the subject of baiting. We started with a few rounds of kiri-kaeshi, and then started baiting. Baiting means you give a little opening in hopes that your opponent will attempt to strike the opening. When they attack the way you want them to attack, you use an oji-waza to counter and then attack their exposed targets. We used mostly kote-suriage-men. I think I did well when I was expecting the attack. I made sure to slow down make more deliberate motions. We did this many times.
We also did keiko. My first keiko was with Sensei. I made sure to remember not to come in for tai-atari because I might reinjure his knee. I used oji-waza to try to make openings and vary my attacks. He used several extremely fast hiki-waza to show me how much I still have to learn.
After a few rounds of keiko, we broke up into kata. One of the instructors dedicated this time to teach me. We went through the first four kata using each role. He made a few comments such as making sure that the distance in the fourth kata was just right or else I would be too close for the spinning block and counterattack.
We then practiced the fifth kata. It’s fairly straightforward. The uchidachi moves into right jodan while the shidachi just adjusts chudan to threaten the uchidachi’s left kote. Three steps forward. The uchidachi attacks men. The shidachi takes a half-step backward while performing suriage-men. The shidachi then takes a full step forward to strike men. Dragging the blade down and backwards, the shidachi slowly starts to move backwards. For zanshin, the shidachi moves backwards into left jodan. Then the shidachi moves backwards into chudan. The pair than take three small steps back to center.
I need to remember to keep my left foot straight. If my left foot feels comfortable, then I’m probably not straight. That’ll be tough to keep in my thoughts.
Day 268:
Today Head Sensei was here. At the start of practice, he asked ‘do you want a hard practice or a soft practice’? Not really knowing the difference, we said, ‘hard practice’. We then set up to do hard practice, which means once we are assigned our stations and drills, we do the drill, then rush to the next station without being told to rotate. This is supposed to have a continuous flow for a near-constant practice without much rest. We tried to do our best, but some of us caused bottlenecks in the drills. Eventually, we moved to a soft practice approach. We did kiri-kaeshi for a bit.
Today’s best drill was something Head Sensei was trying to teach us. He wanted us to do a very quick and very small kote strike with charging in to tai-atari immediately. The drill seems simple enough, but the catch is that you only need to lift the shinai just enough to clear the opponent’s shinai. It’s trickier than it sounds, however I was really into the drill. I like doing a small kote and charging in. After a few tries, I seemed to have the drill down pat. Head Sensei even had me demonstrate for the call about how to do it correctly. I never felt so proud! We did that drill a lot.
We also did a drill where the attacker hits men five times. The receiver would receive men, hit aiouchi-men, receive men, hit debana-kote, receive men. We also moved to having the attacker attack kote while the receiver did the same responses. We rounded out class with a men-hiki-men-men-hiki-kote-men-hiki-doh-men drill.
Head Sensei seemed to be in pain for all of class, but he never sat down. He never halted class. He did need to have his foot taped up or the tape taken off. He did stop a moment to stretch his back, but it took less than a minute. Then he got right back in. That guy must be made of iron.
The final drill was pushing the proper way. We would strike men and collapse into tai-atari. You are supposed to then push your opponent to arm’s length, raise your shinai, and bring it down for a follow-up men strike. You could call it a men-push-men drill. It’s difficult because you really need to push far enough but not too hard. If your opponent falls because you shoved him down, that’s a foul for you.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
A Beginner's Point of View 265-266
Day 265:
Today was a hard practice all about harai-men. We had kiri-kaeshi, men, and kote drills, but they were leading up to a special drill where we would make openings in preparation for striking men. I was encouraged to make my movements small to keep center as much as possible.
In fact, the secret seems to be using less shoulders and more hands to make openings. This keeps you on target for men. At the end of class, I made the request to add lots of kata from now until the promotional. I need to get back into practicing the first three as well as learning the fourth and fifth katas.
Day 266:
I had the day off from work today, so I decided to go to both basic and advanced Kendo class. Instead of being a motodachi, practically the whole class was in bogu, so we rotated like normal, except for anyone less than 17 years old, who would be in the instructor’s line. We practiced kiri-kaeshi, men, kote, and doh strikes.
Class was running late and by the end of it, the instructor made up big drills with multiple iterations of kihon strung in a long chain to test our endurance. We did a men-kote-doh combination and then a huge men-kote-doh-men-kiri-kaeshi drill. That last one stressed my lungs as I tend to scream my kiai a lot. About ¼ of the way into the kiri-kaeshi, it felt like my lungs had shut down. I’m sure they didn’t really shut down, but my kiai suddenly became really hard to do, quiet, and my body felt like it was shutting down. I nearly collapsed. Fortunately, that was the end of class.
In advanced class, we started with kiri-kaeshi for a few rounds. There were only four of us, so we got to ask each other what we would like to work on. After a few rounds of kiri-kaeshi, my lungs felt like they were shutting down again. I stepped out of practice and took off men. I stayed out for a long time. My body gives me ‘false positives’ for signals when it’s recovering from anything. I’ll feel good enough to practice when I’m not really ready. This is true for injury as well as fatigue. Instead, I listened to an instructor who was teaching a beginner student all about how to take apart and maintain a shinai.
After a while and a few drinks of water, I really did feel better. So, I watched the others practice a debana drill, focusing on how to read your opponent and try to know when to start. I put on men and stepped in to practice a nuki-men drill. We would pair up and perform four aiouchi-men. On the fifth exchange, the ‘attacker’ would use a nuki-men to avoid the attack and win. We quickly practiced a drill using men-men for the purposes to defeat a nuki-men. It’s not very good at scoring, but it is good for disrupting nuki-men.
We then broke up for kata. It was getting late, so we just cut to the chase. Another student and I practiced the first three kata and took comments. I still seem to have the same problems of ‘pressing’ my partner backwards and not backing up to the starting point. Also, I was told I was getting lazy with bowing by doing it from the neck instead of the waist.
We then learned about the motions of the fourth kata. I learned I can still move into waki-no-kamae fairly well as long as I pay attention to the feeling in my right wrist in order to hide the blade behind me. We practiced both sides of the fourth kata several times before it was time to end practice for the night.
It was later than usual, but I was moving slowly from body pain. That’s the signal for ‘great workout’. The instructor and I were the last to leave, so he took that opportunity to give me a full in-depth analysis of my Kendo and what I’m lacking for shodan. I didn’t take it personally. He was trying to help me. I stayed standing on my incredibly aching feet the whole time.
He told me in great detail about how I was a ‘strong ikkyu’ and that wasn’t enough anymore. I need to start being a shodan. I need to stop relying on my speed and strength. I need to control the match and use more strategy. I need to practice more of my ‘other tools’ that I’ve been learning. He also suggested I ask other dans what they think I need to work on for the shodan exam. I think that’s a good idea.
Today was a hard practice all about harai-men. We had kiri-kaeshi, men, and kote drills, but they were leading up to a special drill where we would make openings in preparation for striking men. I was encouraged to make my movements small to keep center as much as possible.
In fact, the secret seems to be using less shoulders and more hands to make openings. This keeps you on target for men. At the end of class, I made the request to add lots of kata from now until the promotional. I need to get back into practicing the first three as well as learning the fourth and fifth katas.
Day 266:
I had the day off from work today, so I decided to go to both basic and advanced Kendo class. Instead of being a motodachi, practically the whole class was in bogu, so we rotated like normal, except for anyone less than 17 years old, who would be in the instructor’s line. We practiced kiri-kaeshi, men, kote, and doh strikes.
Class was running late and by the end of it, the instructor made up big drills with multiple iterations of kihon strung in a long chain to test our endurance. We did a men-kote-doh combination and then a huge men-kote-doh-men-kiri-kaeshi drill. That last one stressed my lungs as I tend to scream my kiai a lot. About ¼ of the way into the kiri-kaeshi, it felt like my lungs had shut down. I’m sure they didn’t really shut down, but my kiai suddenly became really hard to do, quiet, and my body felt like it was shutting down. I nearly collapsed. Fortunately, that was the end of class.
In advanced class, we started with kiri-kaeshi for a few rounds. There were only four of us, so we got to ask each other what we would like to work on. After a few rounds of kiri-kaeshi, my lungs felt like they were shutting down again. I stepped out of practice and took off men. I stayed out for a long time. My body gives me ‘false positives’ for signals when it’s recovering from anything. I’ll feel good enough to practice when I’m not really ready. This is true for injury as well as fatigue. Instead, I listened to an instructor who was teaching a beginner student all about how to take apart and maintain a shinai.
After a while and a few drinks of water, I really did feel better. So, I watched the others practice a debana drill, focusing on how to read your opponent and try to know when to start. I put on men and stepped in to practice a nuki-men drill. We would pair up and perform four aiouchi-men. On the fifth exchange, the ‘attacker’ would use a nuki-men to avoid the attack and win. We quickly practiced a drill using men-men for the purposes to defeat a nuki-men. It’s not very good at scoring, but it is good for disrupting nuki-men.
We then broke up for kata. It was getting late, so we just cut to the chase. Another student and I practiced the first three kata and took comments. I still seem to have the same problems of ‘pressing’ my partner backwards and not backing up to the starting point. Also, I was told I was getting lazy with bowing by doing it from the neck instead of the waist.
We then learned about the motions of the fourth kata. I learned I can still move into waki-no-kamae fairly well as long as I pay attention to the feeling in my right wrist in order to hide the blade behind me. We practiced both sides of the fourth kata several times before it was time to end practice for the night.
It was later than usual, but I was moving slowly from body pain. That’s the signal for ‘great workout’. The instructor and I were the last to leave, so he took that opportunity to give me a full in-depth analysis of my Kendo and what I’m lacking for shodan. I didn’t take it personally. He was trying to help me. I stayed standing on my incredibly aching feet the whole time.
He told me in great detail about how I was a ‘strong ikkyu’ and that wasn’t enough anymore. I need to start being a shodan. I need to stop relying on my speed and strength. I need to control the match and use more strategy. I need to practice more of my ‘other tools’ that I’ve been learning. He also suggested I ask other dans what they think I need to work on for the shodan exam. I think that’s a good idea.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
A Beginner's Point of View 263-264
Day 263:
Today I went back to advanced practice. I need to keep coming to advanced practice to get ready for the promotional in a couple of months. Today was very hot. The instructor warned us to be careful of our health and to take breaks when we need to. We started off with a couple of rounds of kiri-kaeshi and men strikes. We even learned something called ai-kiri-kaeshi. Each side attempts to strike men using the same 4-5 pattern after the attacker strikes the first men. This way, both shinai crash together at the uke, forming a block. It’s really energy-draining, but a nice change of pace.
The focus today was on taking and keeping center. We did a neat little drill where each partner takes chudan and then holds it firm. Both step in and try to touch tsuki gently. Only one can do it if they hold center. By experimenting, we found the best way is to have loose hands for the first half of the distance, then squeeze the hands the rest of the way. We added a single sideways step to the drill to try to open up the angle. Finally, we did the drill in the center of the room around the center of the court. Sparsed around the drills we had the occasional ji-geiko focusing on using the center drills we were learning.
Today I thought I would have to take multiple breaks, but I did not need a single break. After the energy of the early class, I recovered on my own.
Day 264:
We started off class with a long lecture about how keeping shushin, or center of your spirit, powerful through your sword can make you near-invincible. When you have a strong spirit, your sword takes the center and your opponent cannot strike men, tsuki, or kote. We then did some ai-kiri-kaeshi and men strikes.
We then worked on a new drill. The attacker tries to strike kote. The defender strikes aiouchi-kote to nullify the point. Later, we enhanced the drill by having the defender follow up with a men strike to teach reactionary strikes to win. We then had a series of exchanges where we pressure the other into striking while we use oji-waza, such as harai-men.
Today I went back to advanced practice. I need to keep coming to advanced practice to get ready for the promotional in a couple of months. Today was very hot. The instructor warned us to be careful of our health and to take breaks when we need to. We started off with a couple of rounds of kiri-kaeshi and men strikes. We even learned something called ai-kiri-kaeshi. Each side attempts to strike men using the same 4-5 pattern after the attacker strikes the first men. This way, both shinai crash together at the uke, forming a block. It’s really energy-draining, but a nice change of pace.
The focus today was on taking and keeping center. We did a neat little drill where each partner takes chudan and then holds it firm. Both step in and try to touch tsuki gently. Only one can do it if they hold center. By experimenting, we found the best way is to have loose hands for the first half of the distance, then squeeze the hands the rest of the way. We added a single sideways step to the drill to try to open up the angle. Finally, we did the drill in the center of the room around the center of the court. Sparsed around the drills we had the occasional ji-geiko focusing on using the center drills we were learning.
Today I thought I would have to take multiple breaks, but I did not need a single break. After the energy of the early class, I recovered on my own.
Day 264:
We started off class with a long lecture about how keeping shushin, or center of your spirit, powerful through your sword can make you near-invincible. When you have a strong spirit, your sword takes the center and your opponent cannot strike men, tsuki, or kote. We then did some ai-kiri-kaeshi and men strikes.
We then worked on a new drill. The attacker tries to strike kote. The defender strikes aiouchi-kote to nullify the point. Later, we enhanced the drill by having the defender follow up with a men strike to teach reactionary strikes to win. We then had a series of exchanges where we pressure the other into striking while we use oji-waza, such as harai-men.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
A Beginner's Point of View 259-262.5
Day 259-262:
These classes have sped by fast. We are in preparation for the Kendo tournament this weekend.
In Iaido, I have been trying to kneel down in iai-heza like it has been suggested to me. That is painful. You need to curl your toes up on your left foot and then keep them up, including when you lean back after noto. That’s when it gets really painful. I need to shift my weight onto my knee to take the burden off my toes.
In Kendo, we have been working up to keiko and practice shiai. Men strikes, kote strikes, and doh strikes over and over, trying to get each perfect. In one of my practice matches, I went up against a nidan using nito. I used alternate kamae and speed to strike men twice. I tried using the “sticky doh” method to try to score a point, but the judges did not award it. I stuck with the quick men strike to win. The nito player seemed afraid whenever I would threaten tsuki. I would also try to use oji-waza to let him try to attack and then parry and counter-attack. I think I did well. However, our nidan is still learning nito. It will be much harder against an experienced nito player.
Day 262.5 Tournament:
I’ve never been to this part of the country before. My directions weren’t quite accurate on the last part, so I had to turn around a couple of times. Combine that with traffic from road construction and I wasn’t there when the doors opened. Good thing I made it in time for opening ceremonies and to check-in to inspect my shinais.
In mudansha division, I did my usual effort. I passed the first round as the winner. I got a by-in for the first match because of scheduling and I fought against an older woman for my first real match. It was an ikkyu-nikyu division, so I’m guessing she must have been nikyu. I decided to use my speed to defeat her and I was right. I scored two quick men strikes and advanced. My next opponent was all that was standing in my way to a third place medal. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of being “too nice”. My opponent came to tsuba-zeriai often and then would half-back away, then rapidly attack my men. After several strikes, the judges decided he had enough zanshin and gave him two points. I was disappointed. I should have gone after him more and with more energy.
In team matches, they put me on the A team this time, in second place. We faced a team I’ve never fought before. Watching the first match, I saw them stick like glue to tsuba-zeriai and stay there for the whole match, trying to ruffle their opponents into making mistakes of anger. I figured out to break the glue is to run into them and then propel them backwards. Too bad I wasn’t quite accurate enough to land a good strike or else I would have won my match. Nevertheless, our team lost because their captain did not do that tactic, instead he fought normally and edged out a victory.
The drive back was long and I was hungry when I got back. I think I should rest and recover.
These classes have sped by fast. We are in preparation for the Kendo tournament this weekend.
In Iaido, I have been trying to kneel down in iai-heza like it has been suggested to me. That is painful. You need to curl your toes up on your left foot and then keep them up, including when you lean back after noto. That’s when it gets really painful. I need to shift my weight onto my knee to take the burden off my toes.
In Kendo, we have been working up to keiko and practice shiai. Men strikes, kote strikes, and doh strikes over and over, trying to get each perfect. In one of my practice matches, I went up against a nidan using nito. I used alternate kamae and speed to strike men twice. I tried using the “sticky doh” method to try to score a point, but the judges did not award it. I stuck with the quick men strike to win. The nito player seemed afraid whenever I would threaten tsuki. I would also try to use oji-waza to let him try to attack and then parry and counter-attack. I think I did well. However, our nidan is still learning nito. It will be much harder against an experienced nito player.
Day 262.5 Tournament:
I’ve never been to this part of the country before. My directions weren’t quite accurate on the last part, so I had to turn around a couple of times. Combine that with traffic from road construction and I wasn’t there when the doors opened. Good thing I made it in time for opening ceremonies and to check-in to inspect my shinais.
In mudansha division, I did my usual effort. I passed the first round as the winner. I got a by-in for the first match because of scheduling and I fought against an older woman for my first real match. It was an ikkyu-nikyu division, so I’m guessing she must have been nikyu. I decided to use my speed to defeat her and I was right. I scored two quick men strikes and advanced. My next opponent was all that was standing in my way to a third place medal. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of being “too nice”. My opponent came to tsuba-zeriai often and then would half-back away, then rapidly attack my men. After several strikes, the judges decided he had enough zanshin and gave him two points. I was disappointed. I should have gone after him more and with more energy.
In team matches, they put me on the A team this time, in second place. We faced a team I’ve never fought before. Watching the first match, I saw them stick like glue to tsuba-zeriai and stay there for the whole match, trying to ruffle their opponents into making mistakes of anger. I figured out to break the glue is to run into them and then propel them backwards. Too bad I wasn’t quite accurate enough to land a good strike or else I would have won my match. Nevertheless, our team lost because their captain did not do that tactic, instead he fought normally and edged out a victory.
The drive back was long and I was hungry when I got back. I think I should rest and recover.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
A Beginner's Point of View 257-258
Day 257:
In Iaido, I practiced 1-2-4-6-7-9-12 again. The first few times I did them, I did well. My body was flowing smoothly. After that, I started to become sluggish and miss steps. I think it was the heat and humidity. They were very high today. When I was doing the fourth kata, the instructor told me to bring my toes up for the movements. I can’t see where to bring them up smoothly, so I think I need to watch the DVD again. I should look at the twelfth kata again also. Do I pull my right leg back for chiburi or should it already be back there in preparation? I was sweating and my heart was beating hard by the end of class. I should pace myself for Kendo class.
In Kendo, our instructor was late so we did a normal set of suburi today. When he did show up, we did a continuation of the last class. We worked on all of the components of the perfect men strike. We started with suri-ashi, both solo and with partners. We went all the way down and back with big kiai and not stopping for extra breath. Our breath is our endurance. We did not put on men or kote, we would just block with the shinai. We received with a partner for all of the pieces of the perfect men strike. Proper distance, stab the ceiling, not pausing between motions, over and over. At the end we were doing eight haya-suburi with a single breath. My partner was doing wrong footwork the entire time. I tried to gently point it out. He wasn’t even aware he was doing it. I also tried to check my own footwork to do it right. Closing remarks form the instructor said that we should be doing kiri-kaeshi with two breaths and maybe a third one for the final oh-men. That’s a tall order, but it is in the direction I should push myself. I guess I should do it that way when I get the chance.
Day 258:
In Iaido, I started doing my normal 1-2-4-6-7-9-12. I tried to remember to insert moving my toes up in prep for the fourth kata and sliding my right leg back for the twelfth kata. However, one of the instructors came over to correct me. Apparently, you are not supposed to slide your left foot backwards to sit in iai-heza. You are supposed to come down like you are going to seiza and then modify it, with your toes still flat at the start. You rise up and bring your toes up. This was logical as it helps with the forward motion of striking with the tsuka. However, when finishing you must keep your toes up and slide back onto your left knee and slide your right leg back during noto. That was painful. I’ll have to ask Sensei what he thinks. He did not teach it to me that way, but apparently a high-ranking sensei taught the instructor like her way. I’ll have to try to do both until I get a clear answer. Later in the day, I got an e-mail from Sensei saying that he supports the high-ranking Sensei’s way of doing it. He taught me the other way as a beginner’s way to start learning the kata and because his Sensei started teaching him that way.
In Kendo, we had a different instructor. He wanted to spread out the lessons to cover much of everything we could rather than focus exclusively on one thing. We did suburi and then put on men right away. Class started earlier than usual so I was late coming in. I missed the stretches but arrived for suburi, so I was not on the dan side of the dojo for waza. We did kiri-kaeshi, men strikes, kote strikes, doh strikes, kote-men strikes, and more kiri-kaeshi. We worked up with advanced waza such as seme to make the opponent flinch and then strike their kote. We then lined up for keiko and sparred with a partner for a few minutes. I had two opponents who were lower-ranking than myself, so I had to fight with them but leave openings for them to strike. I tried hard not to show off but to encourage. Afterwards, we were separated into six-person teams. I had a team match against someone who was unranked. I tried to win, but leave room for counterattacks. It went well. I won 2-1, and felt like the other person was encouraged by their attacks. I also learned that I need to focus on sharpening my form and distance even if I’m leaving openings.
In Iaido, I practiced 1-2-4-6-7-9-12 again. The first few times I did them, I did well. My body was flowing smoothly. After that, I started to become sluggish and miss steps. I think it was the heat and humidity. They were very high today. When I was doing the fourth kata, the instructor told me to bring my toes up for the movements. I can’t see where to bring them up smoothly, so I think I need to watch the DVD again. I should look at the twelfth kata again also. Do I pull my right leg back for chiburi or should it already be back there in preparation? I was sweating and my heart was beating hard by the end of class. I should pace myself for Kendo class.
In Kendo, our instructor was late so we did a normal set of suburi today. When he did show up, we did a continuation of the last class. We worked on all of the components of the perfect men strike. We started with suri-ashi, both solo and with partners. We went all the way down and back with big kiai and not stopping for extra breath. Our breath is our endurance. We did not put on men or kote, we would just block with the shinai. We received with a partner for all of the pieces of the perfect men strike. Proper distance, stab the ceiling, not pausing between motions, over and over. At the end we were doing eight haya-suburi with a single breath. My partner was doing wrong footwork the entire time. I tried to gently point it out. He wasn’t even aware he was doing it. I also tried to check my own footwork to do it right. Closing remarks form the instructor said that we should be doing kiri-kaeshi with two breaths and maybe a third one for the final oh-men. That’s a tall order, but it is in the direction I should push myself. I guess I should do it that way when I get the chance.
Day 258:
In Iaido, I started doing my normal 1-2-4-6-7-9-12. I tried to remember to insert moving my toes up in prep for the fourth kata and sliding my right leg back for the twelfth kata. However, one of the instructors came over to correct me. Apparently, you are not supposed to slide your left foot backwards to sit in iai-heza. You are supposed to come down like you are going to seiza and then modify it, with your toes still flat at the start. You rise up and bring your toes up. This was logical as it helps with the forward motion of striking with the tsuka. However, when finishing you must keep your toes up and slide back onto your left knee and slide your right leg back during noto. That was painful. I’ll have to ask Sensei what he thinks. He did not teach it to me that way, but apparently a high-ranking sensei taught the instructor like her way. I’ll have to try to do both until I get a clear answer. Later in the day, I got an e-mail from Sensei saying that he supports the high-ranking Sensei’s way of doing it. He taught me the other way as a beginner’s way to start learning the kata and because his Sensei started teaching him that way.
In Kendo, we had a different instructor. He wanted to spread out the lessons to cover much of everything we could rather than focus exclusively on one thing. We did suburi and then put on men right away. Class started earlier than usual so I was late coming in. I missed the stretches but arrived for suburi, so I was not on the dan side of the dojo for waza. We did kiri-kaeshi, men strikes, kote strikes, doh strikes, kote-men strikes, and more kiri-kaeshi. We worked up with advanced waza such as seme to make the opponent flinch and then strike their kote. We then lined up for keiko and sparred with a partner for a few minutes. I had two opponents who were lower-ranking than myself, so I had to fight with them but leave openings for them to strike. I tried hard not to show off but to encourage. Afterwards, we were separated into six-person teams. I had a team match against someone who was unranked. I tried to win, but leave room for counterattacks. It went well. I won 2-1, and felt like the other person was encouraged by their attacks. I also learned that I need to focus on sharpening my form and distance even if I’m leaving openings.
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