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.