Practice at Kyoto University

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I spent the day with Okusa Sensei and David, exploring some of Kyoto’s great sight-seeing spots, as this is David’s first time in the city. We had a brief rest at the house of a mutual friend before heading off together to Kyoto University. The recreational facilities at Kyodai are incredible! They even have a fencing team! I wish I could have watched the fencing practice a little, but I had to focus on kendo.

The heat in the dojo was absolutely phenomenal. A couple of guys were practicing their own martial arts while we were getting ready and there was not a dry spot on them!

Heat aside, it's actually a very nice dojo. It’s a wide, open space big enough for two courts with very nice, sprung floors. Unfortunately, the windows provide very little ventilation, and there were only two electric fans to save us from the heat.

As it turned out, it wasn’t a regular practice as it is currently a school break. An informal practice is a little more forgiving, and fortunately, Okushima-sensei suggested that we pace ourselves in the heat. As people began to trickle in we started practice with a few basic warm up drills. Frustratingly, as has been the case recently, the heat made my arms feel 5 times heavy than they are. What makes it more aggravating is that no amount of pushing myself seems to be able to resolve this.

Even pulling up my last reserves of strength and shouting with everything I have seems to produce only a sluggish motion that is half what my usual capacity is, after a very short time. It’s embarrassing and disheartening, and it makes me wonder if I’m not trying hard enough or if, having grown up in these conditions, my Japanese friends are simply used to the effects of summer heat and I need to catch up to that.

In any case, the warm up was embarrassingly exhausting and as more people came in, I caught my breath and watched. What was surprising (and a little uplifting) was that the members of the club came to me and asked me for matches. This doesn’t happen in my regular clubs because I’m the lowest on the totem pole and so it’s my responsibility to request the time of others. At Kyodai, however, as a guest most of the members there wanted to try me out. It gave me a bit of a boost which was sorely needed, however, I couldn’t keep up the energy for very long, which is a shame, because I wanted to keep practicing with them.

To their credit, they are very fast, and energized. They move quickly and seem to have limitless stamina. One thing I did notice, however, is that they don’t hit very hard. In fact, I barely felt I was being tapped. It was a strange experience considering that some of the guys I practice with at Fuchou hit me like a sledgehammer. Still, it’s invigorating to practice with someone who can always keep me on my toes. It would be nice to practice with them again, but only if I can do so in the winter.