Kendo XVIII -- Steam Man

   No relation to the animated film Steam Boy, though.

   Today, after a very intense practice, after I took off my men, steam was rising from my head for a while and the kids couldn't resist poking fun at it. The dojo was very cool and I was very hot, hence the steam.

   Practice started with kata review. Kendo has seven basic kata using a wooden katana, or bokuto. Each kata has two halves; the uchidachi's (teacher) and shidachi's (student). I know the shidachi's halves better for obvious reasons, though I'm able to do the uchidachi for the earlier ones. I've been taught the first five kata.

   Since we had an odd number of students today, my partner was sensei. I always like having him for a partner; he's a great example and partnering with him somehow makes me more confident in my own abilities.

   Some of the things I say after this may not make a lot of sense; I need to remind myself that this blog is as much for me as it is for other people! Writing about this stuff helps me commit it to memory and also provides a way to look up things in the past.

   The first kata is really interesting to me because it really forces you to consciously think about the basics of kendo (as I see them): grip, footwork, and distance. The uchidachi attacks the shidachi with a men strike, but the shidachi steps back and then forward, striking the uchidachi's men. As the uchidachi starts to draw back, the shidachi's sword remains ready as it draws down the center of the uchidachi's face before the shidachi steps forward, raising his bokuto to high guard.

   One of my main problems (as I see them) with this kata is the flow from the strike to high guard. When sensei does the first kata as shidachi, I can "see" the meaning behind the movements... and though I feel like I understand the meaning, when I do it myself, there are herky-jerky pauses that upset the rhythm. Those pauses show up in a lot of my kata, actually... I don't practice them as much as I'd like to since I can't find anyone at the kendo club at school who knows them. Well, one guy knows them, but he hasn't been going lately...

   A similar problem I have is in the fifth kata, where the shidachi deflects a men strike before dealing his own, then his sword traces a line down the middle of the uchidachi's face AS he moves his body to step back into high guard. I've been using my arms to draw the line, then stopping at the bottom of the uchidachi's face before going into high guard. It should all be one fluid motion, though. Sensei worked with me on this for a bit and I feel a little better, knowing what I should do and what to look out for.

   I really, really love kata.

   After kata, we lined up and I made the mistake of sitting down first and putting out my gear; I was fixated on getting everything on the ground properly and completely forgot about etiquette. Oops.

   I felt pretty bad about that.

   At this point, Tozuka-sensei came in.

   Then we went into practice mode. My third practice in armor! Little did I know that it would be my roughest so far.

   Practice began with kirikaeshi; a large men strike, a push back, then four diagonal men strikes while pacing forward followed by five diagonal men strikes pacing backward. Then, to cap it off, two large men strikes with a follow-through that leaves you behind the opponent. It's a basic exercise because it involves footwork, distance, and grip. You have to match yourself to your opponent's rhythm to make sure you stay within proper striking distance.

   Until now, I've pretty much always been doing it with sensei, so I'm used to his rhythm and the distance his steps take. It was really jarring doing it with the kids -- sometimes I found myself way too close, and then when I tried to compensate, way too far.

   I'm also not used to being uchidachi in kirikaeshi, so my footwork in walking backward/forward while parrying is really inconsistent. It's something I need to pay more attention to and work on.

   After a few rounds of kirikaeshi with different people (including two with sensei), we changed modes and started jigeiko.

   Jigeiko is Japanese for "run around screaming until you feel like you're going to die".

   Not really, but it should be.

   It's free practice; you and your opponent go at each other trying to make valid strikes, though nobody's keeping score. It's supposed to simulate an actual match without score and time constraints. Man, did my respect for the kids shoot up after jigeiko.

   Not only did they seem to have boundless amounts of energy, but the strikes I used to think were slow and clumsy from the sidelines are pretty good face-to-face. I totally got my ass handed to me by a bunch of kids.

   During jigeiko, since I only had the slightest idea of what I was trying to do, I just went for men all the time, which may have contributed to me getting hit a lot. I got whacked a few times in bad places -- the arm, my thigh, just above my chest armor, and once a shinai got under my men to whack me in the throat... This isn't to say I was perfect, either. I smashed a kid's fingers once. The same kid I smacked in the ribs last time, actually... I get the feeling he hates me now.

   Jigeiko lasted about an hour and a half; we rotated consistently, changing partners. Tozuka-sensei went a lot easier on me than the kids; the kids just wailed on me constantly, while Tozuka-sensei gave me openings and let me go for them.

   One of the things I had problems with at the beginning was the follow-through. I'm used to simple practice for men strikes where you strike, dash past, and then turn to prepare for another strike. In jigeiko, you can't really do that; or perhaps you can, but I'm not abl e to do it. It leaves you open for more strikes as you pass.

   So I got in the habit of dashing in, striking, and stepping diagonally to the side while turning to prepare for another attack. Sensei really got me into that habit after my first jigeiko with him; he kept whacking me on every open spot I had as I ran past him. Now I see the power of a 7-dan...

   Jigeiko was incredibly fun. Just incredibly tiring, too.

   Not only was I running and swinging, but I tried to get a good kiai (shout) out with every swing as well. I was constantly breathless and tired; at one point I leaned against the wall to keep from falling over. Things that seemed a little hard at the beginning of practice suddenly seemed nigh impossible toward the end!

   I guess this just shows how out of shape I really am... a problem that should remedy itself with more practice.

   Speaking of more practice, practice at the dojo is canceled for this Saturday and next Tuesday as well. I can't practice at school, either, since club activities are closed because a set of big tests is coming up soon. No kendo for a week!

   Maybe I can still use the school dojo and practice by myself or something... better than nothing.

Kendo XVII -- Hitting Children

   My second time wearing armor.

   It seems like my feelings about my kendo tend to go up and down with each practice session. Today was definitely a down.

   I don't like hurting people; that's one of the reasons aikido appealed to me so much initially -- it promised the art without the violence. It seems odd that I would also be interested in kendo, which consists of hitting other people with bamboo swords... right?

   Well, not quite. Kendo is one of the safest sports in the world; most injuries are self-inflicted from tripping or are some kind of bone/joint injury resulting from... tripping or swinging too much.

   I should also say that I like kids. You know, in the grand scheme of things, there are a lot of things out there that are worse than kids. And in the grand scheme of things, there are a lot of people out there worse than kids. At least kids have the general excuse of youth and inexperience... which is also a point in their favor; they tend to be more honest about their feelings.

   Well, today I felt kind of bad about my kendo because I was hitting kids... incorrectly.

   In one case, the do strike, I kept missing his do entirely and hitting his ribs above the side of his do. I felt really, really bad about it, but I couldn't seem to get used to his height. Until now, I've only been practicing with sensei, who is slightly shorter than me, or other adults. Since I'm in armor, I'm supposed to practice with the kids, but it's definitely hard going -- they're all much, much shorter than I am!

   I try to hold back the power on my men strikes, and I do, pretty successfully. The same on kote strikes. It's the do strikes that give me problems -- even before I put on bogu, I had pretty bad control over my do strikes.

   So yeah, I walked out of today feeling like crap because I hurt a kid.

Wearing Armor

   I just wanted to add something to my thoughts about armor... so I can read this in the future and laugh at myself.

   Miyasaka-sensei helped me put on his armor, then I walked out to the main room and went to sensei for approval. He smiled and nodded, then told me to go do it how I always do it. I was going to go, but Miyasaka-sensei stopped me and told me to go look in the mirror.

   I really, really wanted to look in the mirror, but I'd been resisting up til then because I didn't want to look like a stupid little kid. Now that I had permission, though, it was another matter entirely! I couldn't help but grin while I walked to the mirror.

   I finally looked like a real kenshi.

Iaido

   The Zen Nihon Kendo Renmei (or All-Japan Kendo Federation) is the governing body of kendo in Japan. Since Japan is the source of things kendo, I suppose it's sort of the governing body of kendo for the world.

   The Zen Nihon Kendo Renmei is somewhat unique in the fact that it actually governs three martial arts. For example, the Zen Nihon Judo Renmei governs only judo, and the other federations are basically the same. ZNKR actually governs kendo (using a bamboo sword), iaido (art of drawing/attacking/sheathing a steel blade), and jodo (using a wooden staff).

   From what I gather, many, if not most high-ranking kendo sensei also have (high?) ranks in the other two arts as well. There are connections between all three because all three are kata budo, or martial arts that are practiced through set forms. Sensei teaches all three; I'm not terribly interested in jodo, though I think it looks nice... and I'm obviously interested in kendo.

   I'm also very, very interested in iaido. Not only is it useful for kendo, but it combines several things that I like: elegance, kata, and tradition.

   I also want to concentrate on kendo. I'm not used to being passable at any kind of sport, and I'd really like to be okay (at the least) at kendo. On the other hand, I'd love to do them both at the same time; I hear that one helps the other and vice versa. If that's true, then I'm all for it.

   Sensei teaches kendo at my dojo three days a week; apparently he travels to other dojo in the area and teaches at those as well. I know he teaches jodo on Wednesday nights. What I don't know, however, is when and where he teaches iaido.

   Today, between rounds of the tournament, he gave me his kodachi (short sword) and showed me how to draw and sheathe it. Of course, I couldn't do it, and we ran out of time, but he kept encouraging me. It seems like he's interested in teaching me iaido as well. I just don't know when or where... or if we're just going to start doing it after kendo every once in a while.

   Whenever it is, I'm looking forward to it!

Kendo XVI -- Kendo Matsuri

   Today was the kendo matsuri, an event that's held in the first half of November every year at the dojo. Former students come as well as current students. Older former students and associates who are dan-ranked referee the tournaments.

   There was quite a turnout -- around 34 people in the tournaments, I think.

   There were several tournaments; one for kids under fourth grade, one for kids in fourth grade, one for kids in fifth and sixth grades, and one for kids in seventh and eighth grades. Then there was an overall tournament that consisted of the first-place winners of each category.

   It was a lot of fun to watch; I didn't participate for obvious reasons (age and inexperience). After the tournament, we had a big lunch that consisted of sushi and cookies. I also brought pigs-in-a-blanket that I'd made from scratch (except the sausages), though I vastly underestimated the number of people that would be there. I figured it would be good to triple the normal number and took 36, but there were parents, guests, and referees as well... oops. I was short by probably a good 20 or 30... oh well.

   The people that did eat them loved them, though.

   After people started leaving, I got to put on Miyasaka-sensei's bogu. It wasn't so bad until I put on the men; that was a lot heavier than I was expecting it to be. I guess that's good, since you don't really want your head caving in... and also, the most weight is probably from the mengane, or faceguard, which is metal.

   Yeah, you don't want a stray shinai popping through your mengane and taking out an eye...

   (You're gonna lose an eye!)

   Keiko (as practice is called when you go one-on-one with an opponent also wearing armor) was fun and very tiring. A lot of people have said that the first time you wear bogu is depressing because you lose mobility and you feel different; I didn't have that problem at all.

   If anything, I felt like I had more confidence because I didn't have to worry about a stray blow hurting a lot. I could charge in and attack without worrying about the opponent's shinai... and because we were both wearing armor, I didn't have to worry about body impacts either.

   The worst problems for me were sight and sound. A lot of people complain about lack of peripheral vision when wearing men, but that doesn't bother me -- you're only fighting one person, so you only have to be able to see them. It forces you to remember the basics and face them properly.

   Sight was a problem because I couldn't wear my glasses under the men. The new new glasses I have don't have enough of a hook behind my ear to stay on securely, so I couldn't wear them. Unfortunately, that meant I didn't really have any depth perception.

   Sound was a problem because the men is made of thick, hard futon... which protects you and also absorbs sound. It was interesting in a way, because it reminded me what it was like to be on normal hearing aids back when I was in school. Not that it induced any kind of nostalgia at all; I like being able to hear.

   The only strikes that hurt in the slightest were kote, and I was kind of expecting that since I'd had the experience at the middle school club.

   All in all, it was a great experience... and now I now I should take a sports bottle with a really long straw so I can drink during practice if I need to, since you can't easily take off the men and you're not supposed to once you have it on.

   Too bad all of the gear is so expensive or I'd buy my own set right away!

Some Notes

   A few things I forgot.

   The kid who started after me is really impatient to get into hakama... and today, he asked sensei about bogu, and sensei just laughed for a bit before telling him to hold his horses.

   He still hasn't gotten into hakama. I totally know how he feels, and I try to help him sometimes, but I'm such a beginner myself that it doesn't feel right. Sometimes it seems like all he has to do is concentrate a bit more, but he's a kid.

   I can see him getting better little by little, though.


   It's been slightly over a month since I started kendo. Wow. I never would've realized that without this blog.

Dramatis Personae

   I got sick of referring to people so obliquely in the last post that I thought I'd just make this guide. I'm never sure whether I've introduced someone before or what.

Sensei or Matsumoto-sensei -- My sensei. 7-dan, 70 years old, incredibly kind and intelligent. He's fluent in Chinese as well as Japanese and knows a surprising amount of English. He's essentially everything I imagined that a high-ranking kenshi would be.

Miyasaka-sensei -- A 5-dan who comes almost every time, usually with sensei. They're good friends, though Miyasaka-sensei stopped doing kendo seriously after he got married, apparently. He's also a few years younger than sensei. I've never seen Miyasaka-sensei in anything but casual clothes; he tends to walk around, discipline the kids when they get rowdy, and go around offering tips/criticism when it's merited.

Tozuka-sensei -- One of the teachers at my junior high, a 5-dan. I'm not sure how old he is... perhaps late 30s or early 40s. He teaches math and runs the kendo club. It's hard to understand him sometimes because he's relatively quiet and speaks really quickly. He comes to class once or twice a week, whenever he can.

Itsuki-san -- Itsuki is actually his first name; his last name is super common... so to avoid confusion, I'm using his first name. There are three or four (or five!) people at the dojo with his last name. He's 23 -- the same as me. I don't know what his rank is, but his kendo looks amazingly clean. Sensei uses him as an example a lot. He comes to class perhaps once a week; since he's in architecture school, he doesn't have a lot of free time. He also speaks English really well, in part because he studied abroad at Cambridge!

Kendo XV -- Milestone

   Today was interesting; we had three guests, though I've stopped thinking of one of them as a guest since he almost always comes. He's a 5-dan (fifth-degree black belt) and never practices with us; he just watches and offers tips. A good guy, and a lot more critical than sensei is; he brings me back down to reality when I start thinking I'm doing okay!

   The other two guests were a kenshi my age and the kendo club advisor from my junior high school. They're both also very helpful and more critical than sensei usually is.

   My ego took quite a pounding today!

   We didn't do any kata practice today, unfortunately; it's rapidly becoming my favorite part of kendo... and I'm determined to practice them as much as possible so I can remember them. It's weird in a way, since kata seem to have such a bad rap. People seem to think that they're boring and stupid, but I love them. It's a great way to work on the basics -- grip, footwork, strikes, and intent.

   Kendo has seven kata and three additional ones that use the kodachi, or short sword. I've been taught the first five; those are what you need to know to test for shodan, or first-degree black belt.

   Shodan isn't a huge deal here; you can get it when you're 14, and most kids who've started kendo are able to get it when they turn 14. It's just a sign that you know the basics and you want to do kendo more.

   Each kata has two parts; the leader and the follower. So far I've only been successful at really memorizing the follower parts, so I still have a way to go. This is one of the reasons I want to practice so much.

   Anyway, we didn't get any kata practice in today, but I did get a lot of basic practice in, which was good. I've fallen in a rut where I always practice with sensei because I don't have armor yet. It's nice because he knows how to teach, but it's bad because I'm so used to his physical prompting and height. So today, I practiced with two of the guests and tried to get used to their styles as well.

   It was interesting, to say the least. And by interesting, I mean hard.

   After practice ended, the guest sensei who doesn't practice brought out a bunch of sausages for everyone... they were so good! We all had three, though some of the kids had four... or five. It's amazing how delicious food is after practice.

   The kids were playing baseball with a sock, but I tried (fruitlessly) to get one to practice kata with me. I begged and pulled and spun him around but he wanted to play baseball. I promised to bring him sausages next time, and he refused! Refused food! Wow.

   Sensei must have overheard me. When I went to change, he stopped me with a bokuto. Since he was holding two, I knew he meant that we should practice kata. We practiced the five I knew and I got a ton of tips on how to do them properly; they're still not glued in my memory. At one point, though, one of the kids ran behind me (and I didn't notice), so when I went into waki-gamae, which involves holding the sword behind you so that your opponent can't see it, I thwacked him nice and hard on the head.

   Oops.

   We got a good chunk of kata practice in, though. Whew.

   Afterwards, when I went to change, the sensei all started talking together... and I went back out to the main room to fold my hakama since it has a nicer floor. Sensei said that he thought I was good enough to start wearing bogu.

   To put it into perspective, for me, there are three main non-rank milestones in kendo.

1. Buying your own shinai.
2. Wearing the keikogi and hakama.
3. Wearing bogu.

   You usually hit one after a practice or two, then two after your footwork is consistent enough that sensei doesn't have to watch it all the time. The general concensus also seems to be that you hit three after three months or so.

   Needless to say, I was floored.

   Like I said before, I'd gotten a lot of criticism this session, so I was feeling pretty down about my kendo... and sensei told me that he thought I was ready for the next milestone. Wow.

   I wasn't sure I understood correctly, so I asked to make sure I'd heard him, and I had. He said that it's because I practice seriously, I listen carefully, and I do things properly after I'm told.

   I guess the kids make me look good or something. I seriously don't feel like I'm good enough yet, but what sensei says, goes.

   Wow.

Feet and Glasses

   The glasses I'd gotten especially for kendo ended up breaking a few days ago; I went to the store to get them repaired, only to be told that it was irreparable. I asked if they could replace the frame, but they didn't have that frame in stock and it would take a few weeks to get it. Great.

   Oh, but how about another frame with the same fit! Nope, none of those in stock.

   So I just ended up getting another pair of glasses... sigh.

   My feet don't seem like they're ever going to heal; the original super-painful part healed up fine, but the skin keeps tearing away at the edges... so it heals from the inner part of the wound to the outer part and the outer part just keeps getting bigger. My right foot is starting to get torn up a bit as well.

   It's nowhere near as painful as it used to be; now it just feels like I'm stepping on pieces of glass. After a while, I don't really notice it. Hopefully it'll all heal up and the skin will stop getting rubbed off.

Kendo XIII -- Clean Dojo

   I haven't written in a while... I kept meaning to, but it always seemed kind of pointless after practice. At the same time, I feel like I should be keeping a record so that I can come back to these early days and read the entries if I ever feel discouraged. I find it almost impossible to believe that I'd ever be incredibly discouraged about kendo since I love it so much right now.

   So here's another entry again after a long while.

   My biggest development since the last entry, I think, is that my striking abilities have become much, much better according to sensei.

   At the middle school, the kendo club teacher came to club to encourage the boys to practice (they like to play while the girls practice) kote strikes. The way this worked was that one kid would stand with his kote on and we'd all line up and hit his wrist, working our way down the line until everyone had gone once, at which point the target would join the line and the first person in line would become the new target. We did that for a while, and I had the bruises to show it! (I borrowed someone else's kote.)

   During the process of the practice, the teacher spent a while explaining how the grip worked and I had a really good chance to see someone do it slowly, close-up. It was an incredible help and for the first time since I'd started kendo, I felt like I understood what it was supposed to look like.

   In the practices after that, sensei really noticed it as well, which made me feel happy about it. He did remind me that I needed to pull my shinai a lot farther back over my head than I was, which I still continue to work on.

   Lately what I've been trying to do is basically trust sensei entirely and do exactly what he says to do, even if it doesn't seem to be working out right or I'm failing miserably. It definitely seems to be paying off -- today he had all of the kids watch me do men strikes because I'm completely straightforward about it. The idea is that you draw your shinai over your head in a straight line, then attack and move forward in a straight line, all without stopping. A lot of the kids do it at an angle, or run off at an angle, which I attributed to their age/strength.

   I was incredibly flattered and heartened by the affirmation that I was learning to do it right.

   He also used me as an example when we were doing kata practices. I was doing absolutely terribly at the kata since I'd only been able to remember half of the first two and none of the third, but we were required to do both halves of each about six times for practice today. He commended me on my politeness; I always stopped to sheathe my bokuto (wooden sword) properly and bow, thanking my practice partner, before I moved on.

   A lot of the kids, being kids, were in a hurry to move on and get to the next guy... or I guess, didn't want to bow because they thought their partner sucked or was their brother or whatever. It's nice to be noticed.


   One of my weakest points in practice is always, always my dou strike. It's just terrible, and I feel like I'm not grasping some kind of fundamental about how to do it, though sensei's showed me time and time again and I feel like I understand the mechanics behind it... I just can't do it well yet. Sensei told the kids to do the beginning like me, though; the idea behind it is that the beginning looks like a men strike and then slices in from there, so that the opponent is preparing for a men strike and taken off-guard. A lot of the kids just swing in sideways from the start instead of raising their shinai back; since I can't do it well to begin with, I try to get that start perfectly.


   My favorite practice routine at the dojo is kirikaeshi. It starts with a large men strike, a push backward, then four advancing strikes and five retreating strikes. It's a great chance for me to practice striking properly (large, straight strikes, relaxed shoulders, proper grip) while working on my footwork. My footwork is terrible. I need a lot more practice with it so that I'm stable instead of rolling around and stumbling.


   Another point -- the kid who started a session after me, but then disappeared... well, he's showed up again, and he's been coming regularly. He bought his own shinai and he's all excited about getting his hakama. He keeps asking me when he can get his own, and all I can tell him is that it's whenever sensei says. I completely understand his excitement... I was in his shoes just a while ago and it sucks to be the only one in gym clothes. He's been trying hard, though, and I'm proud of him.


   A few weird things about today -- first, I showed up and everyone was running around in street clothes. Usually they show up already dressed and ready to go for kendo. Second, the place was really, really tidy. Usually it's just clean, but with equipment kind of strewn around; it was incredibly tidy today. I found out why -- all of the mothers had been there cleaning and putting things away. It might be preparation for the big kendo festival next Saturday.

   One of the parents brought in a bunch of mochi -- little Japanese rice cakes with sweet filling. I didn't get any, but I got this block of fruit jelly that you're supposed to slice and eat. All of the kids were pissed because sensei gave it to me, probably because I'm the oldest. They said it was delicious, but I'm dubious. I guess I'll try it tomorrow.

   One last thing -- I got to watch sensei write with a brush! He wrote the sign for next weekend and I took a video. I love shodou, which is traditional Japanese calligraphy. He has amazingly nice handwriting. I wonder if it's part of being good at kendo.