Kendo Tuesday July 30th

kendo in UBC has been more and more relaxing these days. We only had 1.5 hours of practice on tuesday. I was trying to push myself to hit faster, but resulted in using my shoulders again, so i have to slow down.. a bit.

afterwards, Harding sensei, Zack and me had an interesting conversation regarding kendo recruitment. Zack was saying that beginners need to mingle more with the seniors in order to keep them in the sport, and also break the ice between themselves, and he insist on joined practice during thursday i-house practice.

every kendo club in Vancouver is suffering from the lack of regular people, and most people quit after a while. often we start with 20-30 people, by mid-semester, there is only 10-15, and by the end of 8 month, only 1-2 left. Harding says that it's because most people can't stand the initial training, and because western culture tend to focus on the coolness of kendo/kenjutsu too much, nobody realizes that it requires significant endurance before reaching the cool part, and a lot of people eventually become disgruntled and left. most often people needs a one full year of beginner training before getting the bogu. some people who are more athletic and have exposed to other martial arts are easier to adopt, but some just don't. and if the initial beginner training time is decreased, people will end up lousy when they wear bogu. Harding was also saying that if he gives beginners a really tough practices, more people tend to stay longer, instead, other dojos have tried to do less, and not many people stays. By the end of the conversion, we are still confused between where to cut between the compromise in beginners and the traditions and culture of kendo. to be too lenient, then we lose the spirit of kendo and the spirit of the martial art, to be too tough and we may result in the martial art die out.

kendo on monday July 28th

It's so dark today. It finally started raining again in Vancouver, and since the sun is gone, it looks as if summer has suddenly left us all without a word.

I'm going off topic.

kendo in SFU on monday, I'm kinda felt a bit happy that defeated some higher rank people in shiai. trying to learn Zack's instant backup waza trick, worked on people a bit taller than me (kelvin). I'm going to try that more often.

I was talking to my friends about myself last night, and she reminded me of the kind of person that I have been trying my best not to be at this point of life. Suddenly I realized that I have been using kendo as my masquerade, building my characters base on what I wish myself to be, and at the same time trying to erase the me in my past. it's as if I am wearing the kendo mask for more than just doing the martial art; masking away what i use to be, and be someone else when i am doing kendo, hoping that one day i could just feel like this instead...

anyway

Kendo on thursday and monday this week

got foot padding broken on monday, didn't have a good practice

Thursday. Harding sensei was pointing out some of the flaws I have:

1) elbow always in, so when you go through with your men, you don't elbow the other person, which can be quite hurting if you went through fast

2) backup waza has to keep your elbow in always

3) when streching at the beginning, ease into the position, don't bend too much, you'll end up with injuries at old age (though i still believe sensei should tell me that when i am at my 40's... there is a world of pain and injuires for me to enjoy :D)

in conclusion, i think my foot work is getting a bit better, but sometimes it is still out of sync. I still have to work on more offensive, i defend too much

A Side Note

if kendo is a journey, and human spirit is music, then i can describe myself as the rhythm of "Trap the Worms" from Children of Dune

Kendo July 10th, 14th and 15th

running doesn't work nice together with kendo. i jogged twice on friday and saturday and my feet muscle were so tired i can't really work harder on monday and tuesday. on the other hand, i think my feet and hand coordination is getting a bit better.. i think.

i think for the last month, i should focus on my determination, spar as best as i could just like the begining, and keep the zenshin (keeping a average of 3 practice per week for 8 month was difficult, and treat each practice not as a slug is even more difficult). i overheard on tuesday that Harding sensei was telling Kagami sensei that he is lazy as a slug, and it triggered me that i must fight as hard no matter who the person is, and stop treating different people differently during keico, and in doing so, I can get them to be more serious with me and also I will not slack off.

Several Kendo practices

looks like I haven't posted for a while.

I probably have gotten lazy. I am still learning in each practice, but the progress doesn't feel like a lot. Okusa sensei was teaching some techniques in body checking, and he focuses quite a lot in body checking these few practices. while harding sensei is taking it easy, and teaches me to keep my center even during tsuba suriaki, keeping my elbow in so that he won't recognize that i am attacking when i widens my elbow, which a bad sign for it. with elbow stay in, it is much harder to do any hiki waza, because the direction of the force is not directly on pushing the other person's hands sideways, but to lead them slightly to the side, and use the rest of the saved force to do the attack.

Kendo June 30th

went to SFU kendo yesterday. I was just recovering from my left foot padding problem, and Okusa sensei gave me a pretty tough practice. i think he was dissapointed in me. the weather was pretty hot and along with my foot, i just couldn't do it.

his primary lesson these days is to keep your ground after a forward strike. don't back out if you missed the hit, and if the guy back out, go forward quickly and give a strike, or make them think you want to strike and do a surprise counter. and after the hit, always stand your ground, otherwise he will try to push you out of bound.