April 05
Day 263: Friday, Apr 01-05
It strikes me that my kendo challenge now lies in widening my idea of what kendo is about.
Every moment is training.
Saturday, Apr 02-05
Kendo training at the local ballet school followed by a one-to-one instruction from my teacher to me and a nidan. Points to remember are:
Kata (Uchidachi)
- Glide smoothly into distance, not stomp 1-2-3
- Remember seme when taking an on-guard position
- ippon-me: cut to the hands, and remember to stay in the forward position until resuming chudan
- nihon-me: strike quickly!
- yonhon-me: hips stay centred in hasso
- roppon-me: after the kote exchange spring back to attempt a swift harai waza (stopped by shitachi's jodan)
- nanahon-me: after the men cut, too many mistakes to note here.
In short, reflect on the meaning of the kata, don't just perform by rote.
Ji-geiko
- Adjust kensen to height of opponent
- Hands in chudan should be in the right position to allow effective, sharp tenochi (the kote don't give the hand position)
- tsuki - hahaha
Day 264: Sunday, Apr 03-05
I feel wooden doing these suburi.
Kendo just seems to get harder and harder. There are so many new things all the time. I realise that my kendo is really quite 2 dimensional.
I must be myself, all the time, whatever the pressure.
Day 265: Monday, Apr 04-05
My wife goes to kendo, so I put my daughter to bed, and do my suburi.
It feels a lot more relaxed today. I just do shomen suburi as I decide to go back to basics. I mix in katate-men too to relax my left hand.
Nothing special to report.
Day 266: Tuesday, Apr 05-05
A good set as I make the time and the space to really go for it. It is a nice set.
At other times during the day I try to remain alert, in a similar level as when doing keiko. It is difficult to maintain, but I will practice.
Day 267: Wednesday, Apr 06-05
I watch my daughter take her first crawling steps. It is a big moment. She is so big now, about the size of a piglet.
I go for a few quiet pints with a sempai after I have put her to bed. He has taken part very successfully in the European Kendo Championships over the past few years and we talk about old battles and old opponents. I envy him his experience at fighting at the top level in Europe.
I go home late and do my suburi, concentrating only on tenouchi at this late hour. An unsatisfying set. Better to do than to talk about it.
Thursday, Apr 07-05
Kendo training. I slope out of work early and get to the dojo around 6pm, in time for some kata. I try and put into practice the things we covered over the weekend. Writing it down certainly helped me remember.
We do lots of kihon, then ji-geiko. I do hiki-gyaku do a couple of times, which is quite satisfying. Other than that, a normal training.
Day 268: Friday, Apr 08-05
Another day, another suburi.
Day 269: Saturday, Apr 09-05
Some weeks ago I received a phone call from Japan. Am I still alive? Somehow my kendo teacher got the idea that I was in Thailand during the tsunami. I speak to him today.
Kendo really gave us the vehicle to step across boundaries of culture and language. Speaking to him on the phone it felt like I had seen him just the day before. I felt happy to talk to him - about kendo, his family, our mutual friends, the small village in Kumamoto where I spent two years - and terribly sad that that chapter of my life is now closed and all I have are memories and, of course, kendo.
We practiced together three times a week and he opened doors for me so I could practice all over the prefecture. Other times we would go with the children we taught to competitions, or to watch kendo here and there.
I wonder what my life would been like if we had never met. I was certainly going nowhere.
Whenever I pull on my kote with 'Yamashita' written on the sides I cannot help but think of him and his family, and our extended family of kendo friends. I hope to see him again next year. I hope he will be proud of my kendo.
Day 270: Sunday, Apr 10-05
A good set. I do my suburi in front of a white curtain so I can see easily in my cuts are straight or not.
I just try and keep my hands relaxed, my posture light and my mind focussed. I am learning new things all the time - and I didn't think I would be able to say that at this stage!
During the set I do 300 consecutive katate men suburi. I realise they become easier when I keep my spine really straight.
It is a significant moment in as much as posture is always stressed during kendo, but I have finally realised how important it is. With good feet I can have a straight back. My shoulders then come into position and movements become easier.
I don't think this is a matter of strength - although I do notice that my left shoulder and arm are more developed than my right.
It's a nice little insight to tuck away and come back to when I am having problems later.
Tuesday, Apr 12-05
Monthly training with 5 other dojos in the area. The level is really high. I am in the middle of the line wondering if I should be lower.
Before the session I feel myself getting competitive. I want to beat these people. Then I realise what a ridiculous and inhibiting reaction this is, and I just relax. It's very liberating. I believe my kendo improved as a result (although someone advised me afterwards that I strike too much with my arms, and not with my hips).
I fence with I guess 15 people in mawarigeiko. I don't want to waste one moment. If ippon-shobu finishes quickly I ask for another. I am still hungry for it, even after all these years.
Day 272: Wednesday, Apr 13-05
I do one nice suburi. Afterwards I tell me wife:
Me: I just did a nice suburi!
My Wife: What? Just one!?!
Day 273: Thursday, Apr 14-05
I have 4 vaccinations and am advised not to do sport that day. When I come home I just crash - totally annihilated.
I get up and do 1000 suburi in kamae, just using my legs. My arms ache, but I am proud to have done them.
Day 274: Friday, Apr 15-05
End of week euphoria. I breeze through the set feeling like I could go on for ever.
Day 275: Saturday, Apr 16-05
Friends come for dinner and I snatch sets beforehand and between courses. Very sad, I know. Unsurprisingly I have nothing to report.
Day 276: Sunday, Apr 17-05
I hope to go to the kendo championships, but I am stopped by snow. I lounge around with my family all day instead, getting the results by text.
It snows all day until it is piled a metre high. I enjoy the enforced idleness.
I should do my suburi early and get them out the way, but I never do. I start them late and, although I enjoy them, I wish I had done them in the morning so I would have the whole day free.
Another set, that piles up like the snow outside and melts by morning.
Monday, Apr 18-05
Kendo training. I am in a giggly mood. I don't know why. I make a joke when my sensei is using me to demonstrate something. I can't stop smirking.
I can't get ki-ken-tai until I lower my hips. My teacher demonstrates how the angle of the tibia can change the nature of a do cut. It is very subtle, but I find it improves my cuts - which is not difficult!
Afterwards he tells me that the Yugoslavian team visited the dojo last Thursday - and where was I? I am disappointed to have missed this excellent opportunity.
Day 277: Tuesday, Apr 19-05 - Day 279: Thursday, Apr 21-05
Very busy at work as I prepare for a trip abroad. I sneak in my suburi, but that's about it. Too much to do and not enough time to do it - everything suffers.
Day 280: Friday, Apr 22-05 - Day 281: Friday, Apr 29-05
I go away for a week-long seminar, and my suburi suffer. I only do two sets the whole week - clearly something I am not proud about. What was the trouble.
Certainly sloth played its part. I do not have a television at home, and faced with 2 movie channels, 2 news channels, Super 12 and Heineken Cup rugby, and other programmes I was quickly sucked into flipping on the television set.
Culture shock played a part. Taking a taxi to a restaurant, children begged through the window. Goats and sheep were herded through the streets, and beside the hotel was a shanty town. In the morning I watched soldiers with rifles slung over their shoulders wander through the grounds. Step out of the hotel and become the centre of a melee of beggars, street children, pick-pockets and prostitutes.
No excuses, however. Ideally we should be able to keep a clear mind whatever the distractions. A lesson for me in case I should ever become complacent.
Day 282: Saturday, Apr 30-05
It's good to get back into the groove. Having spoken to a karateka about how he generates forceful strikes I work on snapping my hips into the cut. Stepping forward puts my right hip in front of the left. I snap my left hip forward to make them square and generate the snap of the bokken. I do the reverse going backwards. It seems to help, so I will keep going.