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!