On Striking Through Nito

Practice at Fuchou today. I still have a couple sniffles and a general cloggled sinuses feeling, but I’m more or less well enough to do kendo again. Kendo today was then as expected. There were only a few people at first, but things started to pick up as the practice wore on.

I was complimented on my new shinai today. Apparently it has a really nice balance. I suppose that’s why it feels so nice and fluid in my hand. I tested out a bunch of shinai while I was at Tozando and this one was the one that felt best. Doing a few practice swings I was surprised to find that the oval shape of the tsuka helps me keep the center of my swing a lot better, and my cuts seemed a lot sharper for it. I was really impressed.

I was further impressed when we started practice. The very first men-uchi drill we did, the strike connected so sharply, with such a nice pop that I could feel it up my arms. Even I could tell that was a nice hit, and after practice Yuko told me that my first men-uchi was really nice.

Practice went well from there. We did the usual drills, men-uchi, small motion men, kote-men, ai-kote-men and then three rounds of mawari-geiko. Unfortunately not being able to breathe through my nose really slows me down, and after the second mawari-geiko I was almost completely out of breath.

I managed to get through the first two fortunately, with decent strength and stamina, which was especially necessary when fighting Murata san’s nito style again. I think I’ve gotten a little better, though, I only judge this by the fact that I’m hitting him more than I did before. My timing is a little bit better, though I still have to wait for him to strike first before I have a chance of hitting him in return, which is a disadvantage.

The other thing I’m noticing when fighting him is that I can’t tell what the appropriate distance is. I’m used to judging distance by my opponent’s height and the relative distance between our shinai. Because he has his shinai up, I lose that way to track distance so he always seems to be too close (in fact, from my perspective he is too close) and it gives him a further advantage to strike me first. I’m still trying new ways and tricks to get an opening on him. I’ve learned that it’s impossible to try the usual tricks to get a valid hit, so everything I do with him now I’m making up as I go. I don’t even know if any of it is valid! Maybe I’ll ask someone to watch us next Friday and give advice.

By the time we started ju-geiko, my throat was completely dry and sore, so I took a little break for a throat soother and a discussion on suriage-waza. I think I’m going to try and increase my study of basic suriage. It’s a good technique to know, and I want to at the very least, not completely be in the dark with it.

Afterward, Tanaka san challenged me to a match that I didn’t do stunningly well on. My shoulders were too tight through the entire practice, and I know I was too tight when fighting him too. Strange how some days everything is relaxed and others it’s all tight and knotted. Somehow I managed to relax enough to get a good enough hit that he called an end to it, and from there, practice was over.

I need to get myself a better knee brace too, I think. My right knee felt a bit like jelly today, not willing to support my weight which isn’t a great thing considering how much pressure I put on it. I’ll go to the drug store when I get paid next.

Jumping the Hurdles

In the summer, it’s the heat that most often prevents kendo practice. In the fall and winter, it’s a cold virus. While progressively, the longer I stay in Japan cold affect me less and less, they still punch harder than when I was in Canada. Different country, different strain, different immunity I suppose. Last night I went to bed with a dry throat and this morning, I woke up with a full set of cold symptoms. Unfortunately, it means no kendo for me today. Walking down the stairs alone takes a huge amount of concentration. I’ll spend the week resting and hopefully be healed enough for Friday and Saturday. I want to go to the once a month women’s practice at the Butokuden on Saturday! It’s a two hour practice. I don’t know what to expect, but Yuko tells me that the sensei there are incredible. 

Kendo 101

Some friends from out of town arrived today, looking to experience some of Japan and Kyoto. Aside from all the normal tourist spots there are to go see, the only place I could really think to go was the Butokuden. It’s got a lot of history, the grounds are pretty, and we might even get to see some action.

As it turned out, there was a high school tournament at the Budo Center, so we all watched for a time. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the sight and it reminded me of the first time I watched kendo. It was also nice to be able to explain the rules of the sport, and maybe interest a few people in trying it out. It actually took some work to convince them to leave.

On the way back, Ari bought me a new shinai, as my last two are getting pretty badly beaten up. For the first time I have an oblong tsuka! It was an expensive shinai, but it feels great in my hands and it’s really light. Hopefully it feels great during practice. I’ll try it out tomorrow.

All Fired Up

It’s great to feel pumped for something, to feel completely on the ball and ready for action. Today was one of those days. I’m sure it was a combination of factors, but usually, if I take a week or two off of kendo after a longer stint I come back all fired up. We just got back from our Tokyo vacation and kendo felt great today!

Before practice, however, I noticed that both my regular shinai, and my back up shinai have sustained some serious damage. Ino san helped me unwind my shinai and shave away the splinters. As a quick fix, we rotated the slats so that the slat that is usually at the top is now at the bottom. I’ll pick up a new shinai either this week or the next.

It was a bit of a small practice, just 11 of us there but I prefer the smaller practices. It feels a bit more like I’m having fun with friends, rather than going through the motions with people I don’t know.

We started with a shorter than usual warm up and then jumped right into some basic drills. Recently, we’ve been doing less basic drilling in exchange for a longer ju-geiko. Today we did a longer mawari-geiko; five rounds of 2 minutes each.

It’s rare that I can go more than 2 rounds without needing some bit of a breather, or at least, that’s how it’s felt all summer, but today I got a little bit of validation that my recent poor performance in kendo has been almost entirely because of the heat. I went the full five rounds of mawari-geiko at full strength and awareness with no difficulty. It was a well needed confidence boost.

I took a short water break before starting ju-geiko. I managed two more fights and some uchikomi-geiko. I absolutely bombed the uchikomi, because I’m not used to it anymore. I’ve become much more used to reacting to an opponent’s attack, rather than an opening. In part this is because my opponents here are so tight that openings rarely present themselves. I have to try to make them myself.

I fought Murata san’s nito technique again today and was even fired up for that. He still beat me down, but the only thing I felt was more determination. I still haven’t come up with a decent strategy to get through to hit him. He’s really fast and a very aggressive player, so I’m not left with a lot of time to plan or to even assess the situation before he’s attacking again.

I tried to keep my kensen on his left wrist (every time I keep a centered kamae, he knocks it out of the way anyway) and sweep between his two shinai when he strikes. This technique was met with a small amount of success that was stifled mostly by his speed in both blocking and striking at the same time and my inexperience with an uncentered kamae. I want to try to use some suriage techniques with him, but I’m not knowledgeable enough with them yet to attempt it with someone who does nito.

Finally I fought Ino san, who is always a lot of fun to practice with, despite that it often feels like being hit by a train. He’s a very nice guy outside of practice, but he’s one of those people who has an extremely intense ki within practice. For whatever reason, fighting people like him energize me as well, and I try to match his energy when we fight. He’s a lot taller than me, which makes me have to plant myself when we crash together. One of the unfortunate side effects of this, however, is that I get into the habit of leaving my left foot behind to ground me in an effort not to be bent backwards by his higher center of gravity.

Points of the day:

1)    Push forward from the hips. I noticed it a lot early in the practice that I was reaching for the strike with my arms instead of leaping for the hit with my hips and legs. It was pointed out after practice as well. I hope it got a bit better toward the end.

2)    Keep a strong stance in both keiko and in drill training. Shoulders squared, back straight, and strong ki. Don’t drop the zanshin after a hit has been made (or lost).

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.