The Heat Cometh

Today I was the first one to arrive at the gym. I like these times because it gives me the opportunity to relax a little and put myself in the zone, so to speak. It also gives me the chance to warm up on my own while I sweep the floor, running back and forth with the big brooms Not only is this a good lengthy jog, but I get to practice my te-no-uchi  on the broom handle. Also, sweeping the gym floor is a good way to relax my mind. It’s something I learned while doing kyudo, initially, but sweeping is kind of meditative, especially when I’m alone.

 Itou Sensei was absent from practice so things were a little less intense. Usually the warm up routines at Monday practices are pretty exhausting, and unfortunately tend to be where I give most of my strength.

Satou Sensei lead practice today instead. Warm up with and without bogu was relatively short. We did a brief three round mawari geiko followed by twenty minutes of ju geiko.

The summer heat is just starting to become oppressive in the dojo, even if it’s still bearable outside. I need to remember that a full 2 liters of water should be consumed before going to practice. Of all the difficulties I was prepared to encounter before practicing kendo in Japan (strict sensei, language barrier, strong kendo players unforgiving of a novice etc) the summer heat has got to be the absolute worst!

Last year during the scorching heat of summer, practicing in a dojo that was 35 degrees Celsius and 66% humidity, my friends were shocked bordering on horrified that we practiced for two hours in Canada, but if I were told that I had to practice in a Japanese summer heat for two hours without a water break I’d say it was impossible too.

Anyone who has ever enjoyed a summer day lazily lying in the sun knows that the heat makes you lethargic. Add humidity into the mix, jumping around in a box of cotton, leather and lacquer and sometimes I’m amazed that I can even make it to the mawari geiko portion of practice.

Several times during the summer last year I was fighting dizziness and fatigue while practicing and it was frustrating to the point of tears at least once that I was removed from practice because I couldn’t get my eyes to focus enough to actually see where my opponent was.

This year my goal is to acclimate myself to the heat as quickly as possible both inside and outside of practice. Running up as many of the 250 stairs of Tanukidani Fudoin in the morning should help with that. I’m going to keep careful track of my liquids consumption and above all, take a breather if / when I become dizzy.

I think one of the mistakes I made when I first started practicing here was giving too much all at once. I expected that the sensei and the others would have very high expectations of me. Likewise, I wanted to demonstrate that Canada and my club in particular teach good kendo. While neither of these is an erroneous way of thinking, it made me put a lot of physical stress on my body that was unnecessary. I had joined a recreational club, just as I had wanted, specifically to avoid the hyper competitive atmosphere that surrounds many university clubs.

Perhaps the best way of looking at it was said at a practice at the Kyoto City Police Head Quarters during a particularly hot evening last year. Translated and paraphrased it follows:

“We are here to study kendo, and so we should put our full efforts into studying kendo. However, if your body is feeling bad, please take a rest.”

I think it’s a good bit of advice to carry with you during practice in extreme weather conditions. Of course we must always try to improve ourselves, and improvement comes from stretching the limits a little further each time, but if we damage our bodies, we will only hinder our advancement. If we are injured or feeling unwell we should take our practice slowly.

A final thought on this is a bit of advice given to me by Itou Sensei: “Watching is as much of a practice as participating.” So even if we are forced by physical limitations to sit out for a few minutes or even a whole practice, we can still benefit by watching others and learning from their techniques.