Finally, Women's Practice

Finally! A women’s practice at Butokuden that I can attend! This is my first time practicing at the Butokuden, and after having finished my research on the place, I’m really excited to be practicing there. There’s so much history surrounding the Butokuden, so many great teachers and students practiced there. Hopefully I don’t disappoint.

 

The nice thing about having the occasional practice that’s longer than usual ones is that it puts into perspective how easy usual practices are. I always felt this way after Gasshuku in Vancouver, “If I can do 8 hours of kendo in one day, then it’s nothing to go back to 2 hours a day.” I feel the same now after women’s practice. If I can survive 2 hours of this practice, then normal practice is nothing.

To start with, I arrived at the Butokuden way too early, so I sort of lingered around the grounds until someone showed up to open the doors. I told her that I was sent by Yuko, which seemed to be enough for her to not ask any further questions.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to have an invitation before attending a new club’s practice. If you don’t already know someone who can get you an invitation, then the best way to get an invitation is to arrive at the practice in street clothes (don’t presume you’ll be allowed to practice the first day you meet someone) and politely either wait until someone approaches you, or ask someone to tell you about the club. I’m my experience it’s better to have the organization explained before you ask to join a practice. Most places will be happy to have a new person to practice with, but being invited to join a practice (with permission of the head teacher) will make a good impression.

Another good reason to have an invitation first, is that most clubs have a different set of etiquette that they follow. Some clubs are very strict about where and when you can talk, drink, rest, where to place your things, where to sit/stand, how low you bow and to whom. Having an invitation gives you an ally who will guide you through the rules of the club.

As I arrived early, I didn’t have Yuko to explain things to me, so I just sat in a corner where I thought I could do the least amount of damage until she arrived. It turned out that there was a fee for the practice: 300 yen for adults, 200 yen for students. Likewise, drinking is not permitted within the Butokuden.

After I had all this sorted out, it was time to start practice. Warm up was lead by a group of university girls, and it was quite different from what we do. The leader counts to four, and the rest of the group waited for a 3 count before finishing the count to eight. Why this is was not explained to me. I think the older women were just as confused as I was.

There was also a squatting suburi drill that was new. I’ve done the drill where, from an upright position, one bends the knees to a squat with every swing, but this squat was stationary. Fortunately I’ve been working on my leg muscles recently and keeping that squat position for 30 swings wasn’t very difficult.

After that it was time to put our men on. There were so many people there, and so little time for introductions that it was naturally impossible to tell where in the ranks I should be, so I placed myself somewhere in the middle. No one voiced an objection so that's where I stayed.

We started off with a bit of large men-uchi drilling, small men drilling, large kote-men and small kote-men. Each of these drills were done four times each by both side. Younger practitioners were asked to do five strikes each time, and older practitioners were allowed 3 strikes. I asked Yuko which category I belonged to, and she said she wasn’t sure, so I let my motodachi decide for me how old I was. I got mixed results.

This was followed by kirikaeshi, which we did a total of 9 times. The first three times were slow, large motion, the next three times were faster motion, and the final three times were one breath only, though instead of two sets of 4 forward 5 back, we just did one.

After that, we had a 10 minute break for water and air, and I was introduced to some of Yuko’s friends. It’s nice to get to know some of the people you’re practicing with. At times, seeing only a pair of eyes between the grill of a mask can be intimidating, as all you see is an enemy, and not a friend, especially since naturally, we put on a more aggressive posture when we practice, where as outside of kendo, many of us are very warm, friendly people. It’s comforting knowing that there are actually kind people under all of the armor and fighting spirits.

The following drills were all debana-waza. They were timed drills, which I would guess to be about ten minutes a piece, though I wasn’t watching the clock at the time. The first set, the motodachi would strike for men and the responding strike could be suriage-waza, kaeshi-waza or nuki-waza, though strikes zones were limited to men or kote only. Motodachi would rotate to the end of the line after their role had been fulfilled, to then act as the responder.

Following was another shorter, five minute break for water and air before we all lined up once again to put on our men and begin two minute rounds of mawari-geiko. This was a lot of fun, though I slipped a few times on the floor. The Butokuden floor is lovely. It has a great spring, and the floorboards aren't varnished like newer gyms so there isn’t any chance to stick to the floor, as I so often have a problem with. The problem can then become that you slide too easily. Still, it’s a great feeling when the floor vibrates under you and launches you upward when you do fumikomi.

I had to take a break after three rounds though, as my knee began feeling very weak once more and the last thing I want is for it to give out on me and completely pull out of the socket in the middle of a hit.

After mawari-geiko, the head teachers lined up with the motodachi and we did kakari-geiko. I always hated kakari-geiko in Canada, because I’ve never been a stamina athlete. In track I could dominate the 100 meter, but anything longer than that was very difficult. Stamina is still something I’m working on building now.

I think, though, because kakari-geiko was the last thing we did at the women’s practice, and because my body was already well warmed up and the adrenaline was pumping, and also because there was a line of two people per motodachi, kakari-geiko was much easier today than it usually is. I didn’t actually feel tired at all. All I felt was the feel of the floor under me, and the timing of my shinai on the targets. Each round only lasted for roughly the time of five hits, then we rotated, but it felt really good.

The practice ended with a final round of kirikaeshi and then we were finished.

There were many people to give aisatsu to afterward, and since I didn’t know who were the teachers present, I just followed Yuko.

In all, it was a very rewarding practice that I recommend to any female practitioner visiting from abroad. The teachers were all very kind and explained things to me when I didn’t understand what was going on, the practice was rigorous, but not impossible, and the highly repetitive drilling made for the trial and error of technique that is necessary for improvement.

Tips of the day:

#1: Do not raise the shinai after a strike. This is a very bad habit that I’ve acquired over the years, mostly from fighting people taller than I am. The strike should end where it fell and not bounce high up into the air once again. The balance of not raising the shinai, but creating enough clearance room to complete a through motion of zanshin is still something I’m working on.

#2 Be sure to complete a solid fumikomi, with an audible stomp to complete each hit.