Day 116:
Today, we just practiced some basics. Kiri-kaeshi, one-step men, and one-step kote. We did mix in a little doh and tai-atari, but it was just men and kiri-kaeshi the whole time.
There was a visitor today, although he did not have a zekken. He had to be a dan from the way he moved and struck crisply.
I learned that my doh strike does not start right. My left fist should raise up center and come down center. I have been waving both fists to the right . Maybe this will make my doh strike easier.
Day 117:
Today was a day of hard work. We did seemingly endless bouts of kiri-kaeshi and one-step men. There was only Sensei and three of us, so we rotated quickly.
I was shown over and over that I tend to lose focus as thus do not always take center. This is why I often miss when trying to strike kote. We also did a lot of doh practice. I think my doh strike is okay, but getting a better maai will improve it.
One of the beginner students was with us and I wound up spending a lot of time coaching her in striking me as well as a one-sided keiko. I would say a target and she would strike it. I noticed that she also tended to not take center very often, and I commented on it. She was grateful and did as I asked. When she did, she struck much better.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
A Beginner's Point of View 114-115
Day 114:
I am going back to class again even though my wrists bothered me all weekend. I’m trying to not push myself too hard but I’m also trying to not let them grow stiff. I took some medicine to help with the pain and then I just went to beginner class.
It actually happened! I always like to be prepared, so I often think ‘what would happen if…’ and then plan it out. However, I really wasn’t expecting to be the highest-ranking student present. Sensei had some things to take care of and then put bogu on, so he asked me to lead the class in warm-ups.
I stood in the place that is customarily taken by Sempai (whoever is leading) and I gave the orders to warm up. I led the class in the simple opening ceremony, I warmed up the class with stretches, and then I led them in practice swinging. I nearly forgot more stretches and swinging but I powered through. The routine that I had tucked away in my mind for just this occasion failed to be pulled up from my mind. So, I did the best I could and it was good enough.
After warm-ups, I led the class in a formal rei-hou. With the way we do things now, I’m not sure if I did it perfectly, but I did it with respect. I did it seiretsu, seiza, moksuo, shomen, and sensei. It seemed to be good enough for Sensei.
After we finished, Sensei led us in some exercises about striking kote. He told us to keep looking him in the eyes and we will hit the target. Then he had us practice doh, still looking in the eyes. He altered the drill a little so that we strike kote and doh just as he moves his shinai just a little. I was slow, but I kept practicing.
At the end of class, I decided to go home. No sense in pushing my luck with my wrists. I have plenty of time to heal before the next tournament.
Day 115:
Sensei was not here tonight as he had private business to attend to that could not be put off for another time. Instead, he asked Sempai to teach the class. We started with warm-ups and then had a very standard class full of basic strikes. He was teaching the beginners to work up to a proper one-step strike for men, kote, and doh. It was good practice for me to sharpen my skills.
I was gratified when Sempai would use me as a target dummy to illustrate his examples. It makes me feel useful when I help out, even in small ways. After the end of class, I had to leave to prepare for an early shift at work the next morning.
My wrists seem mostly healed now. Maybe I should go back to advanced class to prepare for the next tournament next month.
I am going back to class again even though my wrists bothered me all weekend. I’m trying to not push myself too hard but I’m also trying to not let them grow stiff. I took some medicine to help with the pain and then I just went to beginner class.
It actually happened! I always like to be prepared, so I often think ‘what would happen if…’ and then plan it out. However, I really wasn’t expecting to be the highest-ranking student present. Sensei had some things to take care of and then put bogu on, so he asked me to lead the class in warm-ups.
I stood in the place that is customarily taken by Sempai (whoever is leading) and I gave the orders to warm up. I led the class in the simple opening ceremony, I warmed up the class with stretches, and then I led them in practice swinging. I nearly forgot more stretches and swinging but I powered through. The routine that I had tucked away in my mind for just this occasion failed to be pulled up from my mind. So, I did the best I could and it was good enough.
After warm-ups, I led the class in a formal rei-hou. With the way we do things now, I’m not sure if I did it perfectly, but I did it with respect. I did it seiretsu, seiza, moksuo, shomen, and sensei. It seemed to be good enough for Sensei.
After we finished, Sensei led us in some exercises about striking kote. He told us to keep looking him in the eyes and we will hit the target. Then he had us practice doh, still looking in the eyes. He altered the drill a little so that we strike kote and doh just as he moves his shinai just a little. I was slow, but I kept practicing.
At the end of class, I decided to go home. No sense in pushing my luck with my wrists. I have plenty of time to heal before the next tournament.
Day 115:
Sensei was not here tonight as he had private business to attend to that could not be put off for another time. Instead, he asked Sempai to teach the class. We started with warm-ups and then had a very standard class full of basic strikes. He was teaching the beginners to work up to a proper one-step strike for men, kote, and doh. It was good practice for me to sharpen my skills.
I was gratified when Sempai would use me as a target dummy to illustrate his examples. It makes me feel useful when I help out, even in small ways. After the end of class, I had to leave to prepare for an early shift at work the next morning.
My wrists seem mostly healed now. Maybe I should go back to advanced class to prepare for the next tournament next month.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
A Beginner's Point of View 112-113
Day 112:
No class since I am injured. Sprained wrists again.
Day 113:
Today I am back to class. I decided to go to the beginner class to work my wrists back into shape before going back to the advanced class. While the advanced students were putting on bogu, Sensei had us practice kote strikes. We would kiai, strike, pass through, and repeat for a total of three times. I felt good doing such a simple drill. I really flew in my movement and I was very loud in my kiai. Sensei even made a point of using me as an example of kiai.
After that drill, he asked me to put kote on. He used me as a partner in explaining kote strikes and debana strikes. I was glad to help, even though the speed of Sensei’s shinai made me look very slow. After that, the advanced students came out and we did kiri-kaeshi for the rest of class. I was trying to catch my breath but I was not completely out of breath. During the drill, Sempai instructed me that during kiri-kaeshi, I should move my opponent not with my arms but with my body. My arms should be loose and ready to strike.
I continued to use the wide swings that the visiting Sensei instructed me to use. It looks flashier and it really does work well in striking sayu-men. I just need to keep practicing and get my targeting down well. I also need to keep flexing my wrists slowly but surely to get back into shape. It was good that I rested, but now I should be exercising them and not let them get stiff.
No class since I am injured. Sprained wrists again.
Day 113:
Today I am back to class. I decided to go to the beginner class to work my wrists back into shape before going back to the advanced class. While the advanced students were putting on bogu, Sensei had us practice kote strikes. We would kiai, strike, pass through, and repeat for a total of three times. I felt good doing such a simple drill. I really flew in my movement and I was very loud in my kiai. Sensei even made a point of using me as an example of kiai.
After that drill, he asked me to put kote on. He used me as a partner in explaining kote strikes and debana strikes. I was glad to help, even though the speed of Sensei’s shinai made me look very slow. After that, the advanced students came out and we did kiri-kaeshi for the rest of class. I was trying to catch my breath but I was not completely out of breath. During the drill, Sempai instructed me that during kiri-kaeshi, I should move my opponent not with my arms but with my body. My arms should be loose and ready to strike.
I continued to use the wide swings that the visiting Sensei instructed me to use. It looks flashier and it really does work well in striking sayu-men. I just need to keep practicing and get my targeting down well. I also need to keep flexing my wrists slowly but surely to get back into shape. It was good that I rested, but now I should be exercising them and not let them get stiff.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
A Beginner's Point of View 110-111
Day 110:
No class since I am injured. Sprained wrists again.
Day 111:
No class since I am injured. Sprained wrists again.
No class since I am injured. Sprained wrists again.
Day 111:
No class since I am injured. Sprained wrists again.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
A Beginner's Point of View 108-109
Day 108:
Today Head Sensei was here and did he ever work us hard. We seemed to do endless iterations of kiri-kaeshi to get it right. After that, it was a series of drills that were variations on the theme of menouchi. We would do five men strikes and then let our partner do five men strikes. We would sometimes have it where the lesser-ranking partner would do five men strikes and then both would do five times aiouchi-men. Over and over we did this.
Eventually, Head Sensei would teach us “attacking kote” strikes. A “defensive kote” strike would be hiki-kote. Here, we would learn the forward-motion kote. We learned to make a smaller up-and-down motion to clear our opponent’s shinai and then we keep a forward motion while striking kote. We then step into our opponent to close the distance and keep them from counter-attacking us. We pull our shinai and arms to the left and back a little when we come in to stand face-to-face with our opponent.
I finally lost the last of my breath and had to sit down. I drank some water from my water bottle and relaxed for a bit. After a few minutes, I put my men and kote back on and got back into line. Then we would mix up what we did in line. Sometimes we would strike men and pass through. Sometimes we would strike kote. Sometimes we would strike kote-debana-men. When I got back to sensei in line, he told me that I was not flexing my right wrist as much as I should. If my right wrist is too stiff then I rob myself of reach. I started flexing it and got a little more reach for men strike. He had me do multiple kote strikes and men strikes to practice flexing and one-step charging into my opponent.
After that, I was exhausted again with no breath. I had to stop. I took off men and kote and just sat out the rest of class. My endurance must be improving because my heart does not hurt when I push myself. Still, having no breath makes my kendo sloppy and my shinai drift off-center. The class did keiko for a while and then Head Sensei showed us something new. It was called “kakari-geiko”. The teacher would give a slight opening and the student would immediately attack the opening with no counterattacking from the teacher. Once the student attacked, he either passed by or charged into the teacher and retreated. Immediately the teacher gives another opening and the student immediately attacks again. This goes on over and over very fast until the student is completely exhausted. This is meant to teach the student to strike any suki he sees without thinking and push the limits of his endurance. It looks like fun, but I’d want to be rested before I would try it.
Day 109:
Today was a lot of men strikes. We were practicing our one-step men hits for most of the class. Head Sensei reminded us that we attack with our spirits first by doing kiai. Second, we attack with our bodies by stepping forward. Finally, we attack with our swords by swinging.
We did a lot of drills where the dans would line up on one side of the dojo and the kyus would go from line to line, forming a two-person deep waiting line if need be and just keep going. Very efficient.
Today a few students from another dojo came to practice with us, including my former sempai. During a kiri-kaeshi drill, she reminded me that when performing kiri-kaeshi, each men strike should be “pretty” like it was the only men strike you should do. I think she was telling me to slow down and get the strikes right first before speeding up.
Also, my current sempai (who just got promoted to nidan this past weekend) did a trick where he would offensively flinch multiple ways to throw me off guard. It worked. My brain locked up and I went defensive. He explained to me that if someone does that, I should just attack because they are wide open.
Today Head Sensei was here and did he ever work us hard. We seemed to do endless iterations of kiri-kaeshi to get it right. After that, it was a series of drills that were variations on the theme of menouchi. We would do five men strikes and then let our partner do five men strikes. We would sometimes have it where the lesser-ranking partner would do five men strikes and then both would do five times aiouchi-men. Over and over we did this.
Eventually, Head Sensei would teach us “attacking kote” strikes. A “defensive kote” strike would be hiki-kote. Here, we would learn the forward-motion kote. We learned to make a smaller up-and-down motion to clear our opponent’s shinai and then we keep a forward motion while striking kote. We then step into our opponent to close the distance and keep them from counter-attacking us. We pull our shinai and arms to the left and back a little when we come in to stand face-to-face with our opponent.
I finally lost the last of my breath and had to sit down. I drank some water from my water bottle and relaxed for a bit. After a few minutes, I put my men and kote back on and got back into line. Then we would mix up what we did in line. Sometimes we would strike men and pass through. Sometimes we would strike kote. Sometimes we would strike kote-debana-men. When I got back to sensei in line, he told me that I was not flexing my right wrist as much as I should. If my right wrist is too stiff then I rob myself of reach. I started flexing it and got a little more reach for men strike. He had me do multiple kote strikes and men strikes to practice flexing and one-step charging into my opponent.
After that, I was exhausted again with no breath. I had to stop. I took off men and kote and just sat out the rest of class. My endurance must be improving because my heart does not hurt when I push myself. Still, having no breath makes my kendo sloppy and my shinai drift off-center. The class did keiko for a while and then Head Sensei showed us something new. It was called “kakari-geiko”. The teacher would give a slight opening and the student would immediately attack the opening with no counterattacking from the teacher. Once the student attacked, he either passed by or charged into the teacher and retreated. Immediately the teacher gives another opening and the student immediately attacks again. This goes on over and over very fast until the student is completely exhausted. This is meant to teach the student to strike any suki he sees without thinking and push the limits of his endurance. It looks like fun, but I’d want to be rested before I would try it.
Day 109:
Today was a lot of men strikes. We were practicing our one-step men hits for most of the class. Head Sensei reminded us that we attack with our spirits first by doing kiai. Second, we attack with our bodies by stepping forward. Finally, we attack with our swords by swinging.
We did a lot of drills where the dans would line up on one side of the dojo and the kyus would go from line to line, forming a two-person deep waiting line if need be and just keep going. Very efficient.
Today a few students from another dojo came to practice with us, including my former sempai. During a kiri-kaeshi drill, she reminded me that when performing kiri-kaeshi, each men strike should be “pretty” like it was the only men strike you should do. I think she was telling me to slow down and get the strikes right first before speeding up.
Also, my current sempai (who just got promoted to nidan this past weekend) did a trick where he would offensively flinch multiple ways to throw me off guard. It worked. My brain locked up and I went defensive. He explained to me that if someone does that, I should just attack because they are wide open.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
A Beginner's Point of View 106-107.5
Day 106:
Today was the day we train hard for the tournament. We started off by doing kiri-kaeshi and one-step waza drills. We also added a lot of drills where we start off together at issoku-no-maai. One side would start a strike and the other side would try to strike debana against them. For example, my partner would try to strike men, but I would be expected to strike kote-debana-men against her. It was a good drill.
We put on a free-form tournament where we would arrange fights between various people that sensei would put together. We also formed a four-person team match. It was good to see everyone’s fighting style and fight against several other people.
We also took turns being shinpan. It will be a long time before we will need to learn to be shinpan, but the early training is good. We even learned how to rotate positions. We really dug in to learn about how to put on a tournament.
Day 107:
Today sensei wanted to have an easy day in preparation for the tournament. He says that he used to train extra hard right before a tournament, but then he would be too tired to do his best.
So today we did kiri-kaeshi and then just a few waza. We actually filled half of the class doing kata. I practiced the first three kata over and over, trying to get it perfect. I still make mistakes and my movements are jerky and blocky, but I am learning.
We had a part where everybody would pair off and would do kata as if they were doing the promotional test. It was called so sudden that I was taken off-guard. I had my bokken in the wrong hand and I messed up the opening stance for the first kata because I did not know which part I would play. Overall, I looked very foolish but nobody laughed. When it was over I watched others pair up and do kata, including a pair that did seven kata together.
Day 107.5:
Today is the day of the regional championships. Our dojo and another one are the ones running it. My part was to carry some boxes of tournament supplies to the building and then help set them up. There were approximately 250 kendoka there competing. That does not even count the number of supporters and family present. It was huge. Everybody was assigned to a court to help run it. There were six courts all running matches simultaneously. It was a good thing that we were inside a huge indoor track building with a clear middle area that housed over four basketball courts.
First, we put on the youth division A, B, and C. Also, we put on the women’s division A and B. I was helping court C with the youth division. I was recruited to learn how to keep score. At first I messed up tallying the score since I added up the points vertically. You should always add up points horizontally since that’s how it’s set up to be done.
When that was done, it was time for mudansha division, which is mine. I stayed to help for a little while, but then it was time for me to get ready. Someone filled in for me while I put on men and kote.
When it was time for me to fight, I made sure to step in like I was taught. Many people just don’t seem to take the bowing-in or bowing-out ceremony very seriously. I’m not sure how the shinpan view this, if at all. When I started, I decided to try kote-debana-men against my opponent, who seemed full of energy. He seemed to have his strategy, which was to fake step forward and flash an opening. He wanted me to strike it while he would try to debana my attack. I tried to play his game back on him and make him open his men. Many times I would try to strike his men, but he retreated too fast for me. For all his speed, he was awkward and clumsy. His strikes would not be good until he got a lucky kote strike against me. We went until time ran out and then the judges gave him the victory 1-0. I suppose I have only myself to blame for not trying something different the entire match.
After that, there was an interruption as they decided to play a match that had been delayed before. After that, I stepped in for my second match but my opponent did not show up. I was given a zero-point victory. I don’t feel good about that, but I have no room for argument.
After that, I was eliminated since someone in my bracket had two victories. In fact, it was the one who defeated me who wound up winning the entire mudansha division. That’s becoming a habit with me to lose to the champion. I wonder if the universe is telling me something.
Once mudansha was finished, it was time for lunch. Lunch wasn’t very good this time. It was a good ham sandwich wrap, but the tomatoes tasted off and there was mayo on it. Well, I had a good apple and bag of chips. The sports drink was free so I have nothing to complain about.
I stayed at my court to help out some more as we put on the shodan/nidan division and then the sandan and above divisions. This time I was the one to loudly proclaim the current match and upcoming match. I would call out names and colors of ribbons to be put on them.
When the sandan and above circuit was finished for court C, I went and collected my equipment to be ready for the team match. When we got our team together, our sempai assigned ranks. I got taisho again, which made me smile. She didn’t want taisho even thought she is ikkyu. She took the fourth position.
When we started, we found out quickly that our opposing team was the ‘A’ team and we were the ‘B’ team. My own opponent was very, very good. I don’t know his rank but if he was less than shodan I would be surprised. We all got ‘killed’ with a score of 2-0 against us, every one. It was not fun at all, but the other team won fair and square. After that, I volunteered to go from court to court helping out with impromptu sessions and there were many, many teams. I went from timekeeper to tying on ribbons to calling out matches. It was chaos. However, we got it all done and on time to clear out of the building on our deadline.
After a brief bowing out ceremony, I changed and took my stuff out to my car. I also came back in to help gather up our leftover stuff and take the boxes that I brought in back with me home. I’ll give them back to sensei next practice.
Overall, it was not my best effort. I did try my best, but I’m sure that if I just did my Kendo more calmly then I would have done better. I’m still not happy with my only win as the result of a forfeit.
Today was the day we train hard for the tournament. We started off by doing kiri-kaeshi and one-step waza drills. We also added a lot of drills where we start off together at issoku-no-maai. One side would start a strike and the other side would try to strike debana against them. For example, my partner would try to strike men, but I would be expected to strike kote-debana-men against her. It was a good drill.
We put on a free-form tournament where we would arrange fights between various people that sensei would put together. We also formed a four-person team match. It was good to see everyone’s fighting style and fight against several other people.
We also took turns being shinpan. It will be a long time before we will need to learn to be shinpan, but the early training is good. We even learned how to rotate positions. We really dug in to learn about how to put on a tournament.
Day 107:
Today sensei wanted to have an easy day in preparation for the tournament. He says that he used to train extra hard right before a tournament, but then he would be too tired to do his best.
So today we did kiri-kaeshi and then just a few waza. We actually filled half of the class doing kata. I practiced the first three kata over and over, trying to get it perfect. I still make mistakes and my movements are jerky and blocky, but I am learning.
We had a part where everybody would pair off and would do kata as if they were doing the promotional test. It was called so sudden that I was taken off-guard. I had my bokken in the wrong hand and I messed up the opening stance for the first kata because I did not know which part I would play. Overall, I looked very foolish but nobody laughed. When it was over I watched others pair up and do kata, including a pair that did seven kata together.
Day 107.5:
Today is the day of the regional championships. Our dojo and another one are the ones running it. My part was to carry some boxes of tournament supplies to the building and then help set them up. There were approximately 250 kendoka there competing. That does not even count the number of supporters and family present. It was huge. Everybody was assigned to a court to help run it. There were six courts all running matches simultaneously. It was a good thing that we were inside a huge indoor track building with a clear middle area that housed over four basketball courts.
First, we put on the youth division A, B, and C. Also, we put on the women’s division A and B. I was helping court C with the youth division. I was recruited to learn how to keep score. At first I messed up tallying the score since I added up the points vertically. You should always add up points horizontally since that’s how it’s set up to be done.
When that was done, it was time for mudansha division, which is mine. I stayed to help for a little while, but then it was time for me to get ready. Someone filled in for me while I put on men and kote.
When it was time for me to fight, I made sure to step in like I was taught. Many people just don’t seem to take the bowing-in or bowing-out ceremony very seriously. I’m not sure how the shinpan view this, if at all. When I started, I decided to try kote-debana-men against my opponent, who seemed full of energy. He seemed to have his strategy, which was to fake step forward and flash an opening. He wanted me to strike it while he would try to debana my attack. I tried to play his game back on him and make him open his men. Many times I would try to strike his men, but he retreated too fast for me. For all his speed, he was awkward and clumsy. His strikes would not be good until he got a lucky kote strike against me. We went until time ran out and then the judges gave him the victory 1-0. I suppose I have only myself to blame for not trying something different the entire match.
After that, there was an interruption as they decided to play a match that had been delayed before. After that, I stepped in for my second match but my opponent did not show up. I was given a zero-point victory. I don’t feel good about that, but I have no room for argument.
After that, I was eliminated since someone in my bracket had two victories. In fact, it was the one who defeated me who wound up winning the entire mudansha division. That’s becoming a habit with me to lose to the champion. I wonder if the universe is telling me something.
Once mudansha was finished, it was time for lunch. Lunch wasn’t very good this time. It was a good ham sandwich wrap, but the tomatoes tasted off and there was mayo on it. Well, I had a good apple and bag of chips. The sports drink was free so I have nothing to complain about.
I stayed at my court to help out some more as we put on the shodan/nidan division and then the sandan and above divisions. This time I was the one to loudly proclaim the current match and upcoming match. I would call out names and colors of ribbons to be put on them.
When the sandan and above circuit was finished for court C, I went and collected my equipment to be ready for the team match. When we got our team together, our sempai assigned ranks. I got taisho again, which made me smile. She didn’t want taisho even thought she is ikkyu. She took the fourth position.
When we started, we found out quickly that our opposing team was the ‘A’ team and we were the ‘B’ team. My own opponent was very, very good. I don’t know his rank but if he was less than shodan I would be surprised. We all got ‘killed’ with a score of 2-0 against us, every one. It was not fun at all, but the other team won fair and square. After that, I volunteered to go from court to court helping out with impromptu sessions and there were many, many teams. I went from timekeeper to tying on ribbons to calling out matches. It was chaos. However, we got it all done and on time to clear out of the building on our deadline.
After a brief bowing out ceremony, I changed and took my stuff out to my car. I also came back in to help gather up our leftover stuff and take the boxes that I brought in back with me home. I’ll give them back to sensei next practice.
Overall, it was not my best effort. I did try my best, but I’m sure that if I just did my Kendo more calmly then I would have done better. I’m still not happy with my only win as the result of a forfeit.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
A Beginner's Point of View 104-105
Day 104:
This lesson was all about the center. Consider a vertical line that splits your opponent in half. This is the center line. Before you attack, you must always take the center line. Because two opponents always face each other, their center lines match up. This means that only one kendoka can have their shinai in the center line. The other is pushed out of the way. The one who has the center line is the one who will strike the target if they attack. We spent some time performing kiri-kaeshi and then we practiced pushing each other’s shinai out of the way to strike kote. Kote is much easier to hit if you take the center for yourself.
During the center line drills, I cut my toe on an exposed nail in the floor. I mentioned it to the group and Sensei made mental plans to speak to the people responsible for maintaining the building. They will have to drive in the nail and cover it up to avoid anyone else getting more seriously injured than I was.
Sensei had to leave class after it was mostly over to conduct the club’s business. One of the senior students ran the class. We practiced some men strikes and then did keiko. After the keiko, we paired up and did kata. I specifically chose my partner because he did not yet own a bokken and he had not really studied kata before. I took my shinai and taught him the first two kata, both uchidachi and shidachi. It was enjoyable to teach another person what I knew. He will definitely learn the kata well with practice.
Day 105:
Today the Guest Sensei showed up again. We practiced more with taking the center and striking. Most of the time I would be paired with a student who was not in bogu, so I had to be the target. Often the student would be rushing and miss the target, whether it be men or kote. I had to tell them to slow down and take center before moving in. The advice worked.
Occasionally, our rotations would get out of sequence and I would spar with others. When I would practice with Guest Sensei, I would strike him and then pass by and strike while retreating. I was enjoying practicing hiki-men and hiki-doh. He told me to not rely so much on multiple strikes. To impress the shinpan, I only needed to strike once and pass through. I guess he’s right. I should only use hiki strikes when my initial strike fails.
There was a segment where we did keiko after keiko. I did two in a row and began getting really tired. Then I was scheduled to keiko with Guest Sensei. I did not want to show him that I was a quitter. So even when I was breathing hard, I did keiko with him. After time passed, I felt weak and ready to pass out. Still, I pushed forward and kept fighting. After it was over, I bowed out and left the floor to sit and rest near the equipment bags.
After a while of watching more keiko, it was time for kata. I paired up with someone who would be testing for ikkyu, so we did the first three kata over and over. I learned to refine my second kata by making sure to take a diagonal step back rather than take a sideways step back if I am shidachi. I wasn’t aware I was taking a side step, but it would explain why I automatically swing the bokken a little circular style (to avoid hitting my partner’s shinai).
This lesson was all about the center. Consider a vertical line that splits your opponent in half. This is the center line. Before you attack, you must always take the center line. Because two opponents always face each other, their center lines match up. This means that only one kendoka can have their shinai in the center line. The other is pushed out of the way. The one who has the center line is the one who will strike the target if they attack. We spent some time performing kiri-kaeshi and then we practiced pushing each other’s shinai out of the way to strike kote. Kote is much easier to hit if you take the center for yourself.
During the center line drills, I cut my toe on an exposed nail in the floor. I mentioned it to the group and Sensei made mental plans to speak to the people responsible for maintaining the building. They will have to drive in the nail and cover it up to avoid anyone else getting more seriously injured than I was.
Sensei had to leave class after it was mostly over to conduct the club’s business. One of the senior students ran the class. We practiced some men strikes and then did keiko. After the keiko, we paired up and did kata. I specifically chose my partner because he did not yet own a bokken and he had not really studied kata before. I took my shinai and taught him the first two kata, both uchidachi and shidachi. It was enjoyable to teach another person what I knew. He will definitely learn the kata well with practice.
Day 105:
Today the Guest Sensei showed up again. We practiced more with taking the center and striking. Most of the time I would be paired with a student who was not in bogu, so I had to be the target. Often the student would be rushing and miss the target, whether it be men or kote. I had to tell them to slow down and take center before moving in. The advice worked.
Occasionally, our rotations would get out of sequence and I would spar with others. When I would practice with Guest Sensei, I would strike him and then pass by and strike while retreating. I was enjoying practicing hiki-men and hiki-doh. He told me to not rely so much on multiple strikes. To impress the shinpan, I only needed to strike once and pass through. I guess he’s right. I should only use hiki strikes when my initial strike fails.
There was a segment where we did keiko after keiko. I did two in a row and began getting really tired. Then I was scheduled to keiko with Guest Sensei. I did not want to show him that I was a quitter. So even when I was breathing hard, I did keiko with him. After time passed, I felt weak and ready to pass out. Still, I pushed forward and kept fighting. After it was over, I bowed out and left the floor to sit and rest near the equipment bags.
After a while of watching more keiko, it was time for kata. I paired up with someone who would be testing for ikkyu, so we did the first three kata over and over. I learned to refine my second kata by making sure to take a diagonal step back rather than take a sideways step back if I am shidachi. I wasn’t aware I was taking a side step, but it would explain why I automatically swing the bokken a little circular style (to avoid hitting my partner’s shinai).
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