September 05

 

Thursday, September 01-05

A good kendo training. Afterwards my teacher gives me the following advice.

• When I bring my left hand up in suburi I am not changing my hand position into the optimal place for a powerful snap. He demonstrates by punching me flat, then punching me with karate snap. The results are worlds apart. 
• I need to keep my right knee slightly bent and my left leg straight. This will lower my centre of gravity to my hips. 
• Lastly, in a reference to the SF book Ender's Game,  'The gate is down!'

I think all three pieces of this advice are going to help my kendo and I resolve to practice them at home.

 

 

Day 372: Friday, September 02-05 - Day 374: Sunday, September 04-05

A busy weekend with lots of visitors and many things to do. I slip in my suburi when I can grab the time.

Over the weekend it strikes me that you cannot do 'perfect practice'. Maybe on the odd occasion something exceptional might occur, but I guess that has to be spontaneous - 'come the moment, come the man' type of thing. But before that moment is just hours of diligent work. 

This also makes me think of a caption I read below a picture of the Japanese kendo squad during mokuso. The author noted the sincere look on their faces. 

I wonder, can improvement in kendo, or any other facet of our lives, take place without these two things - diligence and sincerity - being present? 

 

Day 375: Monday, September 05-05

More suburi. I continue to bear my teachers advice in mind. I also ignore the little voices in my head telling me 'You've done enough now. You can quit'. 

 

Day 376: Tuesday, September 06-05

I read an interesting article on Morihei Ueshiba on the Aikido FAQ. He talks about masakatsu and agatsu. These are explained as:

'Masakatsu Agatsu: True victory is victory over Oneself
One must first learn to control oneself before attempting to harmonize and control others. Without good balance and control over oneself, one can neither avoid an attack nor apply an effective technique on others. It is through self-control that one can learn to enjoy a harmonious way of life.'

These ideas have a resonance for me as a kendo practitioner and an individual. 

I go home and keep cutting that onion:)

 

Day 377: Wednesday, September 07-05

I am writing this entry five days after the event and I really can't remember what happened today, let alone anything about the suburi. I assume they go well.

 

Thursday, September 08-05

There is a holiday and I spend the day loafing around. I have breakfast in an open air restaurant in a cobbled market square then spend an hour browsing the local book shop.

In the evening I go to kendo. My teacher says that my men might score in shiai, but they are not men. I know what he means. I am still afraid to strike a proper men, particularly against him. And I still don't have it in the hips. 

 

Day 378: Friday, September 09-05

A friend is leaving for two weeks to walk some the Way of St. James between Madrid and Burgos. I give him some o-settai and a poem which I admire. I am pasting it below as I think there is a resonance for kendoka.

 

He who would valiant be

He who would valiant be ’gainst all disaster,
Let him in constancy follow the Master.
There’s no discouragement shall make him once relent
His first avowed intent to be a pilgrim.

Who so beset him round with dismal stories
Do but themselves confound—his strength the more is.
No foes shall stay his might; though he with giants fight,
He will make good his right to be a pilgrim.

Since, Lord, Thou dost defend us with Thy Spirit,
We know we at the end, shall life inherit.
Then fancies flee away! I’ll fear not what men say,
I’ll labour night and day to be a pilgrim.

John Bunyan, 1684

 

Saturday, September 10-05 - Sunday, September 11-05

Special training over the weekend. It is something of a shock after the lax summer. 

On the first day we do kirikaeshi, uchikomi geiko, kakarigeiko, waza-geiko, ji-geiko and 100 hayasuburi to finish. I notice that my general level of fitness has improved, perhaps as a result of my rather half-hearted jogging.  

We practice the following waza, which I am writing down here so that I practice them at my club. 

• Osae-men
• Kote-katsugi (?) men
• Kote-men (with a pause between the two)
• Kote - eye-contact for men - do (the emphasis here is placed on keeping the left hand in centre)
• Hiki-men
• Hiki-men for chikkamaai.
• Hiki-gyakudo (keeping centre)
• Gyakudo

I think that was it. 

In the evening I have dinner with my aunts. One aunt has become slightly obsessive about tortoises and comes up with all sorts of anecdotes and facts about their gestation periods, care during pregnancy and drinking habits. I ask her husband if he is a tortoise-lover too. He assures me he is not. There does seem to be a strain of eccentricity in my family that manifests itself during middle age. Not that I will ever be a victim to it. Ho ho ho. 

Another one of the aunts got onto the British dressage team. Until her horse died they trained every morning at 6.30 regardless of the weather or season. 

The team was asked to perform in front of the Queen during her anniversary celebrations. During the rehearsals the day before all the noise and commotion made her horse skittish and my aunt was humiliatingly ordered from the arena. In despair she phoned her sister, a groom, who advised her to get some horse earplugs.

The solution worked, and on the day the performance went very well, until the very end. When my aunt and her horse curtsied before the Queen you can clearly see the bright orange earplugs drooping out of the horse's ears like a pair of comedy socks. 

OK, enough of being cruel. It is partly due to her inspiration that I am doing these suburi and training with the national squad. 

The next day was shiai-geiko followed by ji-geiko and 100 hayasuburi.

My fights were ma-ma. A case of renshu busoku, I think. Afterwards I was advised to lower my kensen and not to raise it when doing seme. I also need to spring forward with my left leg straight and stop bunny hopping. On the whole it was a great weekend. I am just sorry that I do not get to practice with these people more often. 

I get home about midnight. I check on my daughter, reaching inside her cot and feeling her warm little hand in the dark. 

 

Day 379: Monday, September 12-05

I go to work feeling slightly battered. The bruises on my elbow impede my smoking arm; but I love that feeling of exhilaration.

I read some funny and timely advice on the blog of a Japanese doctor living in Maryland. I particularly like:

'Everybody looks much bigger in their bogu.
Everybody looks much fiercer in their bogu (except me. I look like a little blue fire hydrant, which is hardly intimidating)'

You can find the rest of it here. 

I start my suburi about 10pm. Nothing special to report. 

 

Tuesday, September 13-05

Training for about 5 of the clubs in the area. It is slightly weird - I am not happy with my ji-geiko, but I feel like I learn a lot.

I have to remember that I am fencing with my feet. By this I mean that it is my feet that get me into the right position and distance, my feet that initiate attacks and counter-attacks and allow me to strike during 2nd or 3rd phases.

To give an example, sometimes I see that I am in a good position for hiki-waza, but my feet are so tangled that it doesn't work. I need to see things from the perspective of my whole body, particularly my feet. 

It is also a relief not to have to do my suburi!

 

Day 378: Wednesday, September 14-05

I go jogging at lunchtime and manage not to take my traditional break after a particular hill. Gradually I feel myself getting fitter. I have even lost 2 kgs leaving only a mere 6 until I am back to my desired size. 

I do my suburi soon after I go home. I incorporate lunging suburi into the set after reading this article, and following advice over the weekend. Frankly I am knackered. It is physically one of the hardest sets I have done for a while. 

I fall asleep on the sofa at 9pm. It's a thrill-a-minute in my house. 

 

Day 379: Thursday, September 15-05

I decide at the last moment to skip kendo and go home. I don't feel like I have seen my wife and daughter for a while. I get back - no one home. I call my wife. She is at the dojo. The net result is that I don't do kendo and I don't see them either until later. 

I do my suburi instead. I am thinking just about my hips and feet. An ordinary set.  

 

Day 380: Friday, September 16-05 - Day 382: Sunday, September 18-05

The temperature drops about 8 degrees and autumn arrives. Where did summer go? 

My daughter has started to walk. She takes two or three uncertain steps and totters into my arms. I take her up the hill to see the pigs. We both wrap up warmly against the chill autumn air.

My wife and I start reminiscing about Japan. We met when we were JETs. It is always sad to talk about those times, happy times we can never go back to. 

Later on we pull out photographs. All the recent ones are of our daughter. It reminds me that fantastic things are happening now. One day I will be nostalgic for this very moment.   

I do my suburi. My main adversary now is laziness. My mind is always suggesting appealing shortcuts. But that wouldn't be right, would it. It is pointless just doing 1000, or even 800, sloppy cuts for the sake of form.  

 

Day 383: Monday, September 19-05

A Maori friend lends me the 2nd Lions vs All Blacks test on DVD. I put it on when I get home. This takes almost 4 hours as I watch it in slow motion, counting all the unpenalised fouls the ABs commit. It makes shocking viewing, especially that number 10, Dan Carter. Has any player cast a darker shadow over international rugby?

 

:)

 

Day 384: Tuesday, September 20-05 - Day 387: Friday, September 23-05

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Saturday, September 24-05 - Sunday, September 25-05

I go to a kendo competition. There are competitors from about five different countries, including a number of European champions and national team members. The opportunities for mitori-geiko, let alone shiai, are quite staggering. It feels like a small version of the European Championships.

Day 1 is team competitions. We win through to the semi-finals with some quite nice kendo. Everyone seems to be on fire and we score points on every target apart from tsuki (although this is not for want of trying!) 

In the semi-finals we win the first match and lose the second. It is up to me as chuken to get a victory. I fail. Miserably. The team crashes out. 

We restore some pride in the play offs for third place, but I leave feeling quite despondent over my performance. 

In the evening I have my first opportunity to judge 2nd and 3rd kyu examinations. I don't believe it is appropriate to make any specific comments on the examinations here. I will say that it is an incredibly difficult job, but I recommend anyone who has the opportunity to take it as it provides a valuable insight into the judging criteria. 

The second day is individual competitions. Fortunately, my pool shiai are early in the day. I manage to win both and progress into the next rounds. I then meet a French kendoka, who I eliminate. My next opponent is an Italian. His last fight went to encho, and our fight goes into overtime too. He is a very awkward person to fence against. He doesn't give any openings, but he does not make them either. He eventually lands a men. 

From this fight I guess I have to learn how to make openings more positively. I also think I was also a little too wary of his speed. 

As I mentioned, it was extremely interesting to watch - and to shinpan - fights involving some of Europe's top kendoka. In one exchange between Kimura and Tibault (sic?), they exchanged strikes so quickly it was almost impossible to see what was going on. On the whole this weekend shows me that:

- I need to have more positive and, in some respects, more explosive kendo;
- I need to learn how to get and keep the initiative;
- I have to be able to produce the more advanced waza I know even under the stress of competition.

During lunch on day two our teacher reminds us that for the next shiai he is only going to pick the people who turn up regularly to practice. He says that it is an honour to be chosen and the next club team will be those who truly represent the club by turning up regularly. We have already discussed this issue, and my infrequent 'guest appearances' at keiko. I resolve to pull my finger out.  

On a final note I would like to say how much I appreciate the various encouraging comments I have received either through the guest book or in person. I recently considered giving up this blog because it had become a real hassle. I have decided to continue because of your encouragement.

On a related note I would like to make links to kendo blogs I read, other than those listed in the Links page. These are Inedit's Kendo Today, Jakob's  Kigurai, and Theodore's Kendo Blog. I know that many other people link to me and I will make a full list soon. 

 

Monday, September 26-05

Kendo training. Lots of people fired up after the weekend competitions. Our teacher stresses the importance of hand position on the tsuka and we practice stopping an advancing aite on the mune. My tsuki also comes in for a fair amount of flak.

 

Day 388: Tuesday, September 27-05

Following the weekend, and comments on Monday, I have decided to change my suburi schedule.

Up until now I have normally performed around 500 shomen suburi a day. At the weekend I scored mainly men and perhaps two kote. After the team fight I lost one of the spectators from our dojo said, 'We kept waiting for you to launch the unstoppable men'. 

Now I know this is a fairly flippant comment, but it makes me realise that my men, for the time being, is OK. The same cannot be said of my other strikes. So I decide to concentrate on tsuki and do.

Why these?

Tsuki involves some important elements, particularly using the hips and tenouchi. Tsuki suburi, such as they are, are normally started from the chudan position, and I need to work on this kamae. I also suspect that practicing tsuki will also make my sashi men strikes smaller and sharper.

Do because my do is unbelievably clumsy. I never produce it in high-pressure situations and traditionally opponents don't expect a tall kendoka to execute this waza. I am also less embarrassed of my do than of my kote (vanity).

For the time being I plan to follow the following schedule:

100 x shomen 
100 x tsuki 
100 x do (left, then right)
100 x tsuki
100 x do (left, then right) 
100 x tsuki 
100 x do (left, then right)
100 x tsuki
100 x do (left, then right) 
20 x men
20 x sayu-men
20 x kote
20 x do
20 x men

As you can see I have more or less ignored kote. I am not convinced that this is the right thing to do, but I think the other cuts will improve my it. 

 

Day 389: Wednesday, September 28-05

I follow my new schedule and it seems to go well, although my shoulder muscles hurt after all those tsuki. I really concentrate on moving from a solid kamae without my kensen pointing too high. 

I go to bed and my wife, a Canadian, is giggling over a book called, 'Watching the English'.

'How many cups of tea does it take an Englishman to change a light bulb?' she asks. 'Ahahahaha!'

 

Thursday, September 29-05

Kendo practice. We do the new kendo kihon kata. I seem to have forgotten the complete order.

We are divided into three groups depending on experience. I try to keep my back straight, by keeping my lower spine tucked in, in order to get ki-ken-tai-ichi. I also need to raise my hands higher in kirikaeshi. 

During ji-geiko I encourage my partners to use the kihon we practiced earlier. I should take my own advice sometime! 

 

Friday, September 30-05

Okuden waza practice.