Kendo III - A Newcomer

   My first Saturday practice, and I arrived late! Apparently practice had started over half an hour earlier than its usual time, but because they didn't yet have my contact information on hand, they hadn't been able to tell me. I'd completely forgotten my information form at work and told them that I would bring it in on the next practice.

   I was really surprised because not only did practice begin early, but there was another new student. Another kid, of course -- but it meant that I wasn't the only person with sportswear!

   Since I arrived late, I missed cleaning and warmups; I warmed up a little on my own, then grabbed my borrowed shinai to jump into practice. Since I knew what my problems were, I tried to watch other peoples' feet and stances when I wasn't actively practicing with sensei. It was interesting, because a lot of the younger kids tended to stand with angled feet and run rather than doing it the way that sensei was teaching me; the older kids were good examples, though.

   I was also intimidated by some other students I'd not seen before; some older students joined in on the practice -- I guess they were high school students. Apparently they used to go to that dojo, but stopped once school activities and kendo club took all their time, though they still go back occasionally.

   On the up side, I also saw a student I actually knew! She was glad to see me, too, though a bit surprised. Of course, she was also in bogu.

   I learned basic kote and dou strikes, which are wrist and body, respectively. Whereas last time I'd had problems with raising my shinai too high and back too far, this time I was so tense and nervous about performing properly that I didn't raise it enough!

   It's incredibly hard to relax sometimes, because I'm trying to remember everything I do wrong so I can correct it all before I strike. Overthinking in action.

   I was also pretty embarrassed because I missed the kote strikes a few times and completely missed the men strike once.

   One major point that sensei kept reminding me of is that I need to remember to turn around and resume guard once I've struck (or missed) the opponent and moved past them. For a while, I was just striking, moving past, and then walking to the line brooding over my mistakes.

   Something about practice: the people in bogu generally fight each other one-on-one, practicing whatever technique sensei designates. Those without bogu as well as the occasional odd one without a partner, or sometimes, two or three because there isn't enough room for everyone, stand in line and wait to practice against sensei at the front of the dojo.

   The basic practice consists of a straightforward men strike (those in bogu strike and push back), followed by four advancing strikes and five retreating strikes. After doing that one more time, there's a men strike where you travel past sensei and turn around to face him and do it again, ending up with you standing back where you started.

   One thing I noticed is that the kids seem to spend a lot of time fighting in line or swinging their shinai around dangerously (to those of us not in bogu). Kids.

   I kept needing to remember to step forward more than the kids, since with my height and longer shinai, I tended to smack the pictures hanging high on the wall behind us. Oops.

   After practice, sensei took me aside again; instead of a lesson on Japanese terms, he talked about Chinese! There are a bunch of papers taped to the walls, covered in Chinese. Sensei explained that they were originally from China, brought by teachers who taught their students, who became teachers and taught their students, and so on. The Japanese way of reading it is different from the Chinese way, though it preserves the meaning.

   He explained that all of the children had memorized everything, and one day I would have to as well. In addition to that, there was also the kyouiku chokugo (Imperial Rescript on Education) to memorize!