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.