May 05

 

Day 282: Sunday, May 01-05

 

I continue working on my hips. To get it right my feet have to be in the correct position. More and more I am able to do katate suburi with relative ease. I hope this is an indicator that my technique is improving.

Nothing special to report. Just another day. 

 

 

Day 283: Monday, May 02-05

 

For the first time I think, 'Will I be able to finish this?'. Not in any bad way, but a realisation that despite chipping away for over a year I am still in the foothills of the mountain. 

What a crazy idea this is! 

I file these thoughts away, hopefully to somewhere they can't grow stronger. 

 

 

Day 284: Tuesday, May 03-05

 

More of the same. Recently I have been doing mainly shomen suburi, two forwards and two back. But just out of sheer boredom I have started mixing in kote, sayumen and do. 

I am doing more and more katate suburi, and even practicing with a big style waza such as kaeshi-doh and kote-kaeshi-men in the vague hope they will appear during keiko and shiai.

I wonder sometimes if I am not missing something in the basic premise of the challenge. Maybe by saying '1000 suburi for 100 days' the meaning is simply 'you cannot do the impossible' or 'you're kendo will never be perfect whatever you do'. I don't know if this is true. Kendo has always been very practical and grounded, without zen-like tricks or what I believe are called 'praha 'in esoteric Buddhism..  

Who knows! My experiences recently is that you can tie yourself in knots trying to double guess people. Just continue straight ahead as the shortest way. 

 

 

Day 285: Wednesday, May 04-05

 

My wife's aunt looks after our daughter and we go out for dinner and booze. We return late in vino veritas.

I do my suburi. Like an idiot;)

 

 

Thursday, May 05-05

 

I go to kendo, my first training in about two weeks - and it feels like it. We do lots of hiki-waza and I am still conscious of the fact that I tend to cut only with my hands going backwards, and not with my hips.

A good training to get back into things.

 

 

Day 286: Friday, May 06-05

 

I do my suburi, but have the impression that I am just going through the motions. Nothing special to report. 

 

 

Saturday, May 07-05 - Sunday, May 08-05

 

Special training over the weekend. It is challenging on many different levels. The quality is high and small habits I have picked up in club kendo are ruthlessly exploited. 

We practice kihon waza, particularly osae-men. We start by stepping in and pushing the aite's shiani to one side, then cutting men. Then we progress to snapping the left foot forward while making osae, then cutting from distance. Finally we make osae, the aite protects men, we make as if for katsugi-kote, which the aite protects, then finally men. 

If performed properly from the receiving end it's a great tactic, but hard to execute. Something else to work on.

At the end I ask a few people for advice. They all point to my footwork, namely:

- Make sure I don't leave my left foot behind when making a cut as this is preventing me from cutting the correct distance;

- From someone who knows I am doing these suburi, my feet always move the same distance in attack as they do in suburi. In fact I should be able to keep my back straight and cut further. A way to develop this is to imagine that my right foot is trying to follow my left hand.

I was also advised to buy a new hakama because my feet show too much. 

I go home both days exhausted. It's tough, but fun. 

 

 

Day 287: Monday, May 09-05

 

I do my suburi thinking about the various tips I picked up over the weekend. I do 100 or so with big steps, then a hundred or so with small. I am trying to think of all the variations that I find in keiko. 

I also do katate waza. For example, men-kaeshi-doh and counter-attacks against kote. I think that some of these things are coming out in my keiko and giving my kendo more dimensions.

The weekend left me feeling super-motivated about kendo. All I want to do now is train hard.  

 

 

Tuesday, May 10-05

 

I meet my teacher a 7am to check out a stage where we will be performing a demonstration on Thursday. Later that night we meet for dinner, then godo geiko, then we take the train home. 

I tell him, 'I am sick of looking at your face.' 
'I am sorry we did not fight' he replies. 'Then you would be sick of looking at my shiani too'. 

A good ippon from a worthy champion.

Our monthly practice for all the clubs in the area is up to its usual standard. Lots of exciting fights.

Following on from the weekend, I again extend my maai. Up until now I have always fought from issoku, because that's the distance most people adopt. However, if I fight from toma then I get more time to react to an attack, and I can take advantage of my height. 

I am also distancing myself from the desire to win or the fear of losing. I just take each opponent as they come and try and get into their skin. It's quite liberating.

A good though exhausting session. All I want to do is sleep! All my teacher wants to do is fight.

 

 

Day 288: Wednesday, May 11-05

 

I start reading an book called 'One Touch at a time', written by a Hungarian-American fencing instructor. Adalar Kogler has taught fencing at elite levels and developed methods for building mental strength for successful fencing.

Interestingly, many of his conclusions coincide with Japanese kendo philosophy, but he manages to explain them in practical language. He offers come excellent exercises which could easily be applied to kendo, as well as identifying strategies for keiko and shiai (bouting and competition.) 

A great book, well worth the read. 

 

 

Thursday, May 12-05

 

My teacher and I do a kendo demonstration at the opening ceremony of an exhibition on Japanese martial culture. The stage is about the size of a postage stamp in the castle's courtyard.  

We do all ten kata, with the exception on sanpon me. It is an OK performance, but lots of mistakes. Then we don armour and go crazy. This is much more fun. 

I have always wanted to do kendo in a castle, and in the tight space our ki-ai carry well. It is also great to spend time winding up my teacher, and being wound up by him.

But more seriously, it is a way to practice under extreme pressure - in this case watched by about 100 people and in a very small space. I hope this may improve my competitive kendo. 

 

 

Day 289: Friday, May 13-05 - Day 292: Monday, May 16-05

 

A long weekend. Time to relax with my wife and daughter who I have hardly seen all month. 

I do my suburi, struggling even to swing the bokken straight. I wonder if it is a case of overkill. Nothing I try works. 

My heart is less in the challenge. I always have to force myself to do a set, which makes them unconvincing. Anyway, I will find the positive side and keep going as this becomes a mental challenge more than a physical one.. 

Gambare! 

 

 

Day 292: Tuesday, May 17-05 - Day 293: Wednesday, May 18-05

 

I have had too little training recently to make these suburi satisfactory. I am aware than all this 'theory' is good only if I can apply it practically in keiko.

Few insights to break the monotony of suburi, just nose to the wall stuff plodding onwards. 

 

Thursday, May 19-05

 

Kendo training. My teacher admonishes me for placing my body too close to the targets when striking. It reminds me of a 4th dan's whose kendo I used to admire - head straight and elegant cuts. This is what I need to move my kendo forward.

He also critiques my seme. I have the habit of launching a counter-attack too soon against a provoked attack. Not good. 

So much to work on. I will find the positive side!

 

 

Day 294: Friday, May 20-05 - Day 297: Monday May 23-05

 

Another weekend that passes all too quickly. My kendo teacher comes to supper and I make lots of cheap shots. Of course, all he has to do is mimic my kotes from Thursday and my end of the table falls strangely quiet. 

I keep working on my basic movement, particularly on using my feet and hips in both big and small styles. Indeed, all I do on Monday is footwork from kamae. 

 

 

Day 298: Tuesday May 24-05

 

A good session with fluid movements and lots of energy until the last 200 when I notice that I am not quite as coordinated as I like to think I am. 

As usual, I mix in katate waza, including unusual combinations such as kote-tsuki and men-do. 

I read Jet-Li's website. It offers some excellent insights into his training and the things he did, and was forced to do, to improve his wushu. These include training with a broken foot, practicing moves thousands of times over, using adversity to carve out a brilliant performance. 

What is perhaps most striking is his confidence which emanates from the page. Based, no doubt, on the endless hours of practice. It's a great motivation and makes me want to train harder. (Gulps)

 

 

Day 299: Wednesday May 25-05

 

I think that doing my suburi have become a daily ritual like brushing my teeth. Sadly, I cann't say the same for my keiko.

Since my wife decided to restart kendo after her pregnancy my regular training have dropped to once a week. These are supplemented by a monthly godo geiko and and two days national squad training. That averages out at once every 4 days or so, down from once every 2 and a hald days last year. 

To remedy this I am considering joining a gym to increase my explosive power, up my general fitness and maybe lose a few pounds. 

But, as they say, there is no substitute for training.

 

 

Day 299: Wednesday May 25-05

 

Kendo training. I am very excited as I walk to the dojo. I savour the feeling. It reminds me that I do this for enjoyment and fun. 

I recently made the decision to try and improve my kendo fundamentals. This decision has been prompted by discussions with my teacher who said that we should be working more on seme and feeling out the weaknesses of the opponent. This was further reinforced by Marsten-sensei who wrote on the Kendo World forums 'I thought I would never pass 4 Dan, had to completely retrain and re-learn kendo to pass.'

I think this is really the key to making the transition between 3rd and 4th dan and I know that I have been ignoring the area with excuses like, 'Well, I probably have it and just don't realise'.

So during ji-geiko I really try for seme, probably too much, and I receive lots of strikes as a result. Somehow though this is quite pleasing. I look at it as the start of another road for improving my shoddy kendo.

On another note, my teacher admonishes me again for breaking my posture when hitting do. He even makes an exercise to help approach do from a completely different angle, but I am too ignorant to grasp it until he points it out. 

Another aspect I am working on is my approach to ji-geiko. I have become too laissez-faire and don't make adjustments that would adapt my kendo to best fence against an opponent (Honda-sensei writes about this here). 

I have to get out this complacent mindset or face the consequences.

 

 

Day 300: Friday May 27-05

 

Suburi!

 

 

Saturday May 28-05

 

I don't do my suburi and it feels...

awful!

 

 

Day 301: Sunday May 29-05

 

Suburi

 

 

Day 302: Monday May 30-05

 

You'll never guess.

 

 

Tuesday May 31-05

 

Asa-geiko - my kendo is crap.