Quick Update

Yes, yes, I know I said I'd put up the second half of the special post. Sorry about that, I had to concentrate completely on the exams. But fear not! They are coming, along with the two other belated posts from last week. More on this tonight, as this one is going to be a quick update.

This Saturday's session will be on kata, but Marleen-sensei is going to try something different. We're going to do the kata with bokuto as usual, but bring the shinai as we'll be doing waza which correspond with the kata. Confused? Just remember to bring both shinai and bokuto, and expect the unexpected.

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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)