Special Double Issue (part 1)

Whoa. Talk about belated entries. Up and coming - a special, two-part issue worth four session reports!

Well, this week I'll put up the blogs I didn't have the chance to write up (due to a plethora of feasible reasons, I assure you). And I do realize how it shows my zanshin is still pretty sloppy. Hai. Rest assured, I'm not going to bombard the site with a massive block of text, so it'll be the last four sessions (minus Saturday, 14 October) divided into two sections to give anyone reading it a fair chance. Alright, here goes.

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Training on Tuesday, 29 September 2007

Hurrah! I'm well enough to start practicing seriously again! A few problems here and there, but otherwise a good re-start.

- Training Schedule on Tuesday, 29 September 2007

• Warm-up
• Normal exercise
• Group jumping suburi - 20 each = 280 in total
• Basics Review
• Fumikomi - focusing mainly on ki-ken-tai ichi
• 1 men cut, with zanshin (2x)
• Focus points - keep proper posture and cuts at all times
  
• 2 men cuts, with zanshin (2x)
• Focus point - breath control - must change breath after first strike fast enough to launch the seond.
  
• 3 men cuts, 1 breath, with zanshin (2x)
• 4 men cuts, 1 breath, with zanshin (2x)
• 5 men cuts, 1 breath, with zanshin (4x)
• Keiko
• Kirikaeshi - 6x
• Focus on large swings
  
• Big men cuts, no seme - 3x
• For motodachi:
  
• Only let down guard once partner is fully prepared
• Kiai to maintain tension and spirit
• Keep appropriate distance, especially after partner has followed through.
• Continuous men cuts, 10 each - 3x
• Motodachi must maintain distance to allow partner to immediately resume after zanshin.
• Both big and small men.
• Ai men - 3x
  
• Finish off with kirikaeshi - 1x

A few announcements were made, mainly

• A reminder from Robin-senpai on dojo (or equipment?) etiquette, most of which he spoke about during the Tuesday session. To recap his main points,
  
• Don't make senpai/sensei wait - be prompt when told to line up and put on men.
• Arrange the men-himo so that the men can be put on as quickly as possible once the order is called out.
• Line up -
• Knees against the blue line during seiza,
• Kote and men parallel to and in front of the blue line,
• Tsuba on the inside of the blue line (the side facing us).
• A reminder from Marleen-sensei on dress etiquette,
• Keeping a high standard when dressing (eg. making sure everything is tidy and properly tied) will improve performance in kendo.
  
• Didn't quite get how she explained the way it works, but I assume that not having to worry about your hakama slipping off in the middle of a keiko session would help you concentrate better and therefore improve more quickly.

Well, now for a short personal rant (skip this part if you wish). It was pretty frustrating to see just how much I got weaker after two weeks being sick. I wasn't able to finish the group jumping suburi warm-up completely, and spent the next half hour completely drained. Hahaha. Robin-senpai and Fumiko-senpai commented on me looking like a doll with its strings cut. I've got a lot to learn about perseverance, in that matter. Oh, well, more points to concentrate on next session.

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Training on Tuesday, 2 October 2007

Not much to say to start this session report, other than it's a kata-oriented one. More after the schedule.

Kata Session, 2 October 2007

• Warm-up
• Usual warm-up routine
• Group jumping suburi
  
• Cut review
• Men cuts
• Kote cuts
  
• Ippon-me kendo kata uchidachi cut
• Kata session
• Three groups were set up, which were
• Those who have not yet learned or are unsure of ipponme and nihonme kendo kata,
• Those who have learned ipponme and nihonme kendo kata, but have not yet learned sanbonme kendo kata, and
• Those who have learned/are comfortable doing ipponme, nihonme, and sanbonme kendo kata, but have not learned/are uncomfortable with yonhonme kendo kata.
• Most of the session was used to go through the technical aspects of each kata (with the third group reviewing all three as well), and ended with a demonstration from each set of partners.

Some feedback from the senpai (Jeffrey-senpai, Leo-senpai, Robin-senpai, and Terry-senpai) that I wrote down during the demonstrations:

• Don't smile - it ruins the sense of tension that the kata is supposed to generate.
• React, rather than predict the partner's actions - if both sides simply go through the kata by rote, it's pointless.
• Beginners - will eventually gain confidence through more training.
• Don't let the sword come up when bowing.
• Sword in Jodan position should only be a fist away from forehead.
• Pay attention to every detail - eg. after rei, go immediately into taito.
• Do not correct the mistakes of a partner during a demonstration.
• Keep gedan lower than own kneww.
• Keep eye contact at all times to maintain tension

And something I didn't know we could do,

• If you make a mistake during a grading, it is better to stop and ask the shimpai (judges) to start over rather than ignoring it and continuing. Acknowledging you made a mistake and (more importantly) know how you made might show the shimpai that you are *ahem* worthy of a second chance.

Ah, well, that's pretty much all I got for this session. Not much to talk about, unfortunately. For some reason, it's still lacking the intensity and the tension I felt during the Winter Camp (though I'd probably have to be nanadan or so to really understand their deeper meanings :D). Perhaps because we're doing it with people we (to a certain degree) trust with our lives, and thus we unconsciously relax? I'd like to hear what people think about this; it would be a nice little topic to comment on, if a little abstract.

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Alright, part one down, one more to go! (note: this means tomorrow's session's record will come up probably on Friday)