5th Annual Mudansha Taikai

I hate it when I have so much school work and still attending taikais. I was lucky to get to the third round because all my opponents are easy, and even though I am losing physical skills, my mental skills are enough to get me through. I was playing it very defensively, using my natural reactions to block to avoid losing points a lot, while my attacking skills have certainly gone down a grade.

I'm losing my footwork, I can even do withkonmikieko (sp) properly now in the backup men section. I'm starting to use a lot of my shoulders again, and lost touch with my stomach strength. my wrist strength also have decreased and my hits are way too light. only thing i have that kept me scoring is my timing. I also realized that my kote has become natural, it's so natural it can be very fast and unpredictable now.

i just need some really intense training to get my skills back before Vancouver taikai

My First Steveston Taikai

I'm glad I did my best in this taikai, compared to Intercolegiate, it was so much better. I was eliminated in the second round, but by someone I know I have very little chance to win. First round was a blast, I was able to finish the guy within 1 minute. I think I'm enjoying the thought of having someone from Hawaii complain that he got eliminated in the first round by some guy from UBC XD

I think the biggest lesson I need to learn is what David tells me: let the opportunity come to you, let the hits come to you. trying so desperately for points will not likely give you one.

1 week before the biggest kendo tournament

... and I am not prepared.

... I really suck at everything I'm trying to do arn't i?

Improve Improve Improve

I'm currently trying to improve on several things:
1) hiding my hit before moving in, no moving shoulders too much. i realized that if my foot is at ready i can actually have quite a long range. the reason i started to have the body problem is because my foot was not ready and i need the extra distance from controlling body center.

2) semei. the fight for the center. it has to become natural such that i will go for a hit just by the instant i felt i have it. and if i don't i must do backup waza instead of going in stupidly

3) foot readiness. always always keep your foot ready, no matter what the situation

4) do accruacy. training and basic swing is the fundamental

... I don't want to lose again.. not ever

January Update

I know I haven't posted for a while. That's because there were heavy snow in Vancouver, and I can't get to anywhere, especially for kendo as well. I have just started doing kendo again last week. I think I have lost some skills already.

Tomorrow is my first intercolegiate taikai. Lenard and Shinozaki are both pushing me to win. Hiding behind my intentions, I want to win badly as well. And it's not for pride or anything, just because I decided so. and I don't even want to keep the trophy.. if i win.

I have been training as hard I can, doing subaris 400 times every non-kendo day, but I am still facing serveral big bad habits: 1 is that whenever i go for men i lift up my head. 2 is that with so much training on do, mine still look very scary. 3. my kote speed has increased thanks to my wrist training, but it is not very accurate on people who keep their kote straight.

I have so much more to improve on in order to win the tournament, yet I can't achieve them. I guess I'll just have to make do what I have. Fight for a good fight!

officially 1 kyu

I've finally obtained 1 kyu 2 weeks ago. I'm glad that finally i don't have to focus as much on the basic stuff, and in the next year to come, on waza and foot work, and the training of the mind. I haven't been practicing as intensely as i used to be, so my skills are really downgrading. it sucks. so now, after exams are done, i'm going for a series of intense training to hopefully get my skills back to normal. i need to train how to be able to focus on the center without paying much attention, or be able to trick my opponent to get my center..