The Range of Practice

First practice after the tournament. I was expecting Itou Sensei to be very strict today, because it seemed that we did poorly at the tournament. In the past, after tournaments or tests, Itou Sensei has always pushed us a little bit harder, but today it seemed like just a regular day.

To start with, I got to the dojo early, because I get off work early on Mondays, so I have time to help set up, and clean the floors and get myself pumped up for practice. Koyama san was there early as well. He told me not to bother with the floors today, He wanted to go over kata with me. Of course I was thrilled. I love doing kata with Koyama san. He’s a very good teacher. He’s very patient and he keeps things simple.

First, he instructed me the mechanics of the bow, both standing, and sitting. The bow to the kamiza should be 30 degrees, where as the bow to your opponent should be ten. As you are lowering yourself, breathe in. Keep your eyes on your opponent. Breathe out at the lowest point of the bow, and take another breath in when you rise. Breathe out when you are straight again.

His point of advice today in ippon-me was that shidachi should exert seme on uchidachi to make him move. In this way, even though uchidachi usually initiates all movements, shidachi forces uchidachi’s hand. This is important when the two meet in the center (uchidachi in hidari jodan, shidachi in jodan) During that brief pause at center, shidachi should give uchidachi a “shove” of seme. The theoretic thought is that shidachi is preparing to strike and uchidachi must then strike first, faster. Shidachi doesn’t actually move during this “shove", (at least in so far as taking a step forward) but he should exert a powerful pressure against his opponent.

For nihon-me, shidachi should wait until  the tip of uchidachi's bokken has descended to about chin level before dodging the kote. The counter strike should then be a large motion, with enough room to view uchidachi’s kote from under shidachi’s fists.

In regard to roppon-me, which I am still learning, shidachi should again exert a powerful push of seme toward uchidachi to force him to back up into jodan. Uchidachi, realizing he acted too hastily, should then immediately take a step back into chudan and strike a small, quick motion at shidachi’s kote. Shidachi responds similarilly to nihon-me, however, instead of dodging, deflects the strike with a turn of the blade, and counter strikes to uchidachi’s kote in a likewise small, quick motion.

We finished our kata practice 15 minutes before regular practice. Itou Sensei was watching closely, which is always a little bit nerve racking. He laughed when I tripped, which is nice. It’s comforting to know that if I make an error, I won’t get burned for it.

Practice started in the usual way, with warm up exersises and then suburi practice. I like doing the one on one suburi practice because it’s a good opportunity to warm up my voice and my spirit before I get weight down by bogu. It’s small things like that which boost my confidence for the rest of the practice. Itou Sensei had me do choyaku-suburi with him, however, and because my stamina has decreased recently, I struggled near the end. The trick for when you’re struggling is to increase your kiai. Even if you’re exhausted, this works on many levels.

1)    It taps into the reservoirs of strength you have, energizing you and giving you strength.

2)    It tells your opponent that you’re not beat yet, and can even be a little intimidating.

3)    It encourages you to push yourself a little beyond your limits, which will make you stronger in the future.

Thankfully, Itou Sensei didn’t make me do it twice which he would have usually, if I had been more energetic. In just a couple more weeks I’ll be able to do it 100 times, however.

The following waza practice was as it usually is. We did some stamina exercises which I hate, but appreciate at the same time, I did better than I thought I would do, which is encouraging. We didn’t do any mawari-geiko, however, and did 30 minutes of ju-geiko instead, like on Friday.

I got Koyama san to help me again with waza. We mostly worked on ai-waza, with a little suriage as well, and some seme practice which was really nice.

After practice, he explained that he doesn’t really want to teach me complicated defensive waza like suriage because he doesn’t want my basic men strike to become corrupted. I can understand. The Fucho club has put a lot of effort into making my men straight and accurate, and they often say that it’s become very beautiful now.

I also know that for many teachers a straight, precise set of basic techniques is far more valuable than more complicated manouvers, and that for my next endeavor of san-dan, correct posture and strong seme and accurate footwork are more important than blocking and pulling off complex techniques.

At the same time, however, I can’t help but be reminded of my opponent at the tournament, who had in her arsenal a range of strikes and blocks that I am not well versed in. I feel some times that I run the danger of being a boring opponent with my limited range of effective techniques.

Yuko says that it is because my opponent was from a university dojo, and that they teach their members how to win at kendo, which isn’t necessarily the point.

In the end, I can appreciate their concerns, and their views, and I will continue to be grateful and studious of what they will teach me. However, when the opportunity presents itself, I will still ask to practice with them the more complicated moves that are just as much a part of kendo as the basics. I don’t need to make it the focus of my training, however, I do wish to make myself familiar with them so that when the time comes that I do need them, I won’t be completely helpless.

Finally, Taikai!

My first taikai in Japan was held at the Budo Center today! I wanted to participate last year, however, my shodan certificate had not yet been issued, so I was unqualified to enter. This year, however, there was no problem.

As an all day event, the matches under yon-dan are split by dan, age and gender, so I was guaranteed to be fighting another ni-dan woman in her 20’s. That’s always a bit of a confidence booster.

As it turned out, my opponent was from Doshisha university, which wads a bit nerve racking. University clubs turn out highly competitive kendo practitioners, so right away I knew I was going to be in a difficult spot.

At the first call to start, we had a few turns of testing out each other’s skill, feigning and pressing each other. As it turned out, I got the first ippon, a solid strike to the men that, even when looking at the video afterward, I can appreciate as being a good hit.

However, because it was a three minute match, she couldn’t afford to let me have that single hit. So, and the subsequent calls to start, she beat me with two rapid hits to the men. After looking at the video afterward, I could see that she was just a little bit faster than I was. It’s too bad. Next time I’ll do better.

Yuko started against Majima san, and lost her match too. In fact, the only one of us who made it decently far in the tournament was Sato Sensei. His final opponent, however, was tenacious! His kamae was dead center, it never once wavered. Wherever Sato Sensei moved, his opponent's kensen followed, like it was tracking him.

What’s more, his opponent's seme was intense. That cold, determined, calm pressure. Even I could feel it and I was watching from the sidelines. Sato Sensei was forced to retreat several times dangerously close to the court lines.

The fight was a long one, and in the end Sato Sensei was defeated. No one, however, could say that it wasn't an amazing match to watch.

It seemed that some of the fights had a never ending enchou. After the three minutes, some fights kept going for minutes on end! It’s hard to believe that anyone could keep fighting so intensely for so long!

There were a couple people who were doing nito-ryu, and several people who opened their matches in jodan. I still find both to be rather intimidating, though I think it’s because we’re rarely taught how to defend or avoid those sort of tactics. Murata san in particular advanced very far in the tournament using nito. I’ve practiced with him in the past. His strike is heavy and it’s one of the very rare times that I’ve felt physically hurt in kendo. Even after countless bruises and muscle strains, I rarely feel those in actual matches, but I can feel it every single time I’m hit by Murata san.

To be fair, he does give me pointers on how to avoid a hit, or how to think when fighting someone who does nito. I wouldn’t mind trying to learn how to do nito myself one day, but for now, I need to focus on my regular kendo, and try to advance that as well.

As the tournament progressed to higher levels and more skilled kendo, the matches became more aggressive. In several cases, players were knocked down or shoved directly out of the court. Some matches were determined because a player was repeatedly knocked back too far by his opponent.

During the team matches, this happened several times by our own team. Once we got a foul for being too aggressive in shoving a player out of the court. The second time, however, when the opponent was pushed out, I was surprised that we weren’t issued a foul. I was also surprised that the opponent’s shinai didn’t snap, considering that he used it as a prop up as he was falling. It bent in a really uncomfortable looking way.

It reminds me that I always need to be aware of where I am when I’m in the court, and that opponents can be this aggressive, and I must meet that aggression with my own. It's also a good reminder to keep myself centered and balanced when I’m fighting, so that my opponent never has the opportunity to knock me down. This is why good, solid footwork is the foundation of good, solid kendo.

Always, always back to basics.

A New Zekken

I finally got my Kyoto Fucho zekken! Yuko was so great to call Tozando and order it for me on such short notice. It ended up being 4000 yen, but it was well worth it. Everyone at the dojo commented on how cool it looked. It really makes me feel like I’m a part of the team.

Everyone asked if this tournament was going to be my first. They all said it was my debut which gives me that much more pressure.

Practice was sort of heavy today. Stamina was pretty low and it made keiko a bit sluggish. I got a great bruise on my upper arm and my kote is pretty sore after pratice too. Hopefully my game is up a bit for the tournament.

I don’t usually feel pressure for tournaments. The pressure is saved for tests, usually. Tournaments for me are for seeing friends and meeting new people. Hopefully this tournament is as fun as the last ones I’ve been to.

Stormy Season

The weather has been really bad recently, which has made it difficult getting to kendo practice. The days start out clear and sunny, but by the end of my shift, almost invariably, thunder rolls in and a complete down pour starts. Because I take my bike to kendo, this makes things difficult bordering on dangerous, not to mention water damage to my equipment.

I hope these storms clear up quickly. I need to get some practice in before the tournament.