March 04

 

Day 1: Monday, Mar 29-04

Get up at 06.20 feeling very motivated. Creep out of bed and go into the corridor. Pick up heavy oar bokken and decide to hold it quarter-way down the blade to avoid hitting the ceiling.

Start suburi, trying to regulate breathing so that I can do 5 strikes for 1 breath. I get to about 20 before I hit the ceiling. I worry that I have woken my wife up, but she doesn’t stir.

I decide to practice empty-handed, which proves physically very difficult. I do suburi in sets of 120 or so, until the last 250. Then I pick up a shinai and practice moving forward and backwards without cutting. My balance feels good and my kamae solid. 

I finish my first 1,000 feeling well warmed up. When I finish I try to forget about them and get on with my day. I feel very concentrated and alert at work, but I have to sternly force myself to stop congratulating myself and feeling smug. 

That night at kendo I manage to score with a hiki-men during combat, the first time I have every done this. It was a strike where you don’t realise you’d done it until you’re back in kamae and the judges flags are up. Is this a result of the suburi?

Click here for the the next thrilling instalment