Wednesday, 3rd February 2010.

It’s been a long time since I last updated my little Kendo diary and I admit that I half-expected this to happen when I reopened this (^^||). I am just plain lazy when it comes to committing to a blog. Then again, I have my excuses. I was quite busy with my attachment with Pantai Hospital for the past two months. Then again, I have no intention of sharing my experience there as an intern here. ^.^ This is, after all, my Kendo haven.

Grading has come and gone and frankly speaking, I didn’t quite expect myself to be able to skip a rank this time since my performance during the last grading was rather disappointing (haha). Yes, I can somewhat tell. My partner during Kihon and Tachiai was a young boy of 8 and I was pretty worried about my entire grading after that. We don’t practice with kids very often during our regular trainings and when you do, everything changes. The distance, the target, and all that… I vaguely remembered someone telling me that I was doing Doh Kirikaeshi during my grading while others were doing the regular Men Kirikaeshi (LOL!) and that gave me a good laugh. Kote Men was a bit tricky, in my opinion, since I have yet to master the adjustment of my maai… So, yeah… all my men hits were off target. Zanshin, zanshin, zanshin! I’ve been told many times now that my zanshin is baaaaaaaaad. Hahaha. I need to raise my shinai over my head when I turn. Right now, I am just lazily sweeping it back to my kamae position from the side ^^||.

Tachiai was the part that I was worried sick about >.< Especially with what happened at the previous grading which I thought was rather pathetic… My two opponents… one was the 8 year old boy (Shiobara) and Alvin from Penang who only gave me more pressure after how Mimi described the match during Kakuya which was held at Penang the year before. I tried to be more aggressive this time… against both of them. Despite how much I told myself not to use small cuts during grading…. I ended up doing so automatically to compensate for my lack of speed (sigh…). Did a lot of men cuts when I was up against Shiobara but almost completely abandoning it when I fought with Alvin. He’s tall and I could barely reach his men buton to make a valid hit. So, I went for kote for most of the time… until the very last moment where I whipped out a Kaeshi Doh out of nowhere without even knowing T__T. That was just plain suicide… Somehow, I managed to do quite well and made a leap from 6th kyu to 4th kyu (^__^). Later that day, we all went out for dinner with out Ipoh and Penang friends ^.^ A wonderful day even though I was already dead tired after the post-grading training.

That was all about my grading in a nutshell… now on with my training on Wednesday!

Federal Highway is a real pain in the arse and with CNY just around the corner… it’s like an additional splinter poking around in my nerves. It was all jammed up and with the new diversion that brings me to Brickfields… it didn’t really help a bit. I missed kata entirely~ *despair*. I am still unsure of nanahonme and haven’t gotten much of a chance to get the timing down yet. Haih~ It was funny how Chris poked his head into the changing room and then saying “Much better.” Haha. I bet he was counting the number of heads present for training that time. Warm up was alright since we did about 90 hayasuburis. Chris should’ve joined in and we would have a nice hundred (Lol). For the past few trainings, I’ve been having some trouble tying my tenugui… nyeh… they either come undone, or just refuse to stay put at all… Frustration… However, once it’s in place, everything’s good. ^.^

Managed to get some things pointed out that day… and also additional points that I should keep in mind.

Kirikaeshi = Left hand should at least clear the eyes during the lift before hitting. Most were merely swinging blindly in front of their eyes (no pun intended). To be done only in two breaths…

Shomen uchi = Once again, left hand has to clear the eyes during the lift. Maai (Issoku Itto no Maai, and nothing more). Left foot must not overlap the right during the initial step to move into issoku itto no maai. Tenouchi.

Seme, Men (Small) = From Toma, an initial step is taken to move into issoku itto no maai. Seme (pressure) is applied by using shinai to glide along the motodachi’s shinai (in a straight line). Caution must be taken as to not to push the motodachi’s shinai to the side in order to create an opening during this practice. There should be a very slight pause during the initial step taken to move into issoku itto no maai before going in for men. It is important to ensure that the monouchi of the shinai is used to cut the men and nothing more than that.

Seme, Kote Men (Small) = Similarly to Seme, Men (Small). Care should be taken as not to take too large a step into issoku itto no maai. Controlling of fumikomi is essential in order to maintain a correct distance for both kote and men cut.

Oji Waza practice = Tried two wazas, Kote nuki Men and Men Kaeshi Doh.

Might have missed out something but I seriously can’t remember. Jigeiko was up next and since I have made up my mind to do more kakarigeiko to allow myself to get used to openings. Kakarigeiko! And who’d be so kind to be my motodachi? Why, Chris himself, of course! Haha! Well, actually I went up to him and asked him for it. =P I don’t quite remember how many I did… 5… maybe 6… He even gave me a little taste of the sets they did for WKC training. Lots to work on really…

- Turning using the right foot as the pivot and hit upon completing the turn (was trying hard to do this all the time).
- Don’t worry about maai as the motodachi will come up to you.
- TRY to do it in one breath per set, which, I keep on forgetting to do.
- All hits should be SHARP.

At the end of the final kakarigeiko, Chris ended it with a set of kirikaeshi and an extra men cut since I missed the final shomen uchi. ^^||. That took up around…. 10 to 15 minutes or so, if I remembered correctly. After that, I was just fighting hard at the corner not to turn green and puke…. =.= Yes, I wasn’t expecting that part.