Training Session Tuesday 31 July, 2007

First entry's always the messiest...and possibly the most reluctantly patched-up. So here's my take on last Tuesday.

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Today’s Schedule

Beginner Class

• Reviewed chudan no kamae.
• Reviewed footwork.
• Reviewed jogeburi.
• Reviewed men strikes.
• Reviewed kote strikes.

Senior Class

• Warm-up
• Put on kote, trained kirikaeshi
• Note:

Motodachi receives 9 strikes; 4 backwards and 5 forwards. Footwork for motodachi is like walking during kata – hold shinai parallel to body, left side first (right men strike always first).

• Put on men and kote, trained more kirikaeshi.

• Reviewed fumikomi (stamping with a strike)

• Learned “leaping” (not sure what it’s called; basically a long skip forward after fumikomi)

• Learned “leaping” back (for kirikaeshi)

• Did kirikaeshi with “leap”

• Did single men strikes with stamping

• Learned kirikaeshi with extra step in – need to learn real Japanese name.

• “Anti-motodachi” (excuse the liberties taken) steps in once, motodachi steps back once in response. AM steps in again, M lowers guard. AM strikes, kiai is men. For the whole process until the strike, AM does seimei (yaaaaaaaaa.....-men) continuously.

• Learned kote kirikaeshi – again, must see official name

• Sidestep, wait for M to expose RIGHT kote (not left – they’re supposed to hit and be able to escape to the right of M), strike at angle to prevent coming back to chudan with risk of giving M an accidental tsuki (throat jab).

Afterthoughts

Two people told me tonight that I seem to be improving lately. Which is rather strange, considering that I barely practice at home due to lack of time, space, and (I’ll be honest here) motivation. Maybe it has to do with me thinking about kendo all the time? Unless I’m studying or utterly engrossed in blogging/chatting/doodling, my mind keeps going on to the last kendo session and replaying what I did back then. I do make mental notes about where I didn’t do so well and think about what everybody else seems to be doing easily. Like regret, but more constructive.

Or it may be that I just find kendo as something I immensely enjoy doing. It’s like the icing on the cake for good days, and both a wakeup slap and a pick-me-upper for those less than happy days (e.g. boring labs, lack of sleep, essay deadlines...). So I try to give it my all, kiai like I mean it, and let everything off my shoulders for the next 4-5 hours. And I try not to think about anything else during training, which may (or may not) help my attention span. Whatever it is, I’m happy that my strikes are not wild blows, though the presentation leaves much to be desired. That’ll be for another session, hopefully.

Also, I’m putting on my bogu about 1.5 times as fast as I did last week, so it’s giving me more confidence when doing kirikaeshi (my performance last week was a total letdown, hence extra training at home in putting on the bogu). Barely half as quick as the senpai seem to be able to do it, but it's a decent start so far.

So overall, good practice, good fun. Had a little muckaround at the end with some of the boys, though Sensei would probably disapprove of such behaviour. Great fun.

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