back to basics
Hit the jackpot last night, the two most senior members of the club before I left (circa 2001) were training last night, and one of them is now a sensei! He doesn't usually train with us because he has started his own club now. I didn't really notice it in the warmup, but as soon as mokuso was over and we did our usual rei, he called menstuke. From that moment I had noticed something very different from what I had remembered him. He seems so much more like... a sensei now. Its hard to describe but its like he's got a whole new aura about him which received my quiet admiration. You must get that when you level up to godan. Anyway, I was kinda in two minds about training with him. On one hand I was really happy to see him train with us and actually take the class. The last time I trained with him, he lined up on the student side... at the head of the line, and now he's on the sensei side! On the other hand, I feel like my kendo has been going down hill of late, so I was kinda ashamed to show him where my kendo is at right now. But because he is there, I tried to give my best. *just as an afterthought, perhaps my kendo has been going down due to the absence of sensei*
Anyway, training was very interesting because 'B' sensei structures the class different to what we're used to. First up just did some kihon practice, where the juniors were always paired to a senior kendoka (no multiple people in a line, just 1 long line of 2 facing each other). Sensei went through something quite basic, and something that I actually thought I had a hold of, ki ken tai no ichi (which kinda translates to spirit, sword and body as one). The point that was emphasised was that the right foot should stomp as the sword makes contact. Now I thought I had this, but as it turns out, I don't. More on this late. But to practice this, we kinda did a fishing rod thing with our shinai and our right foot. Hard to explain. Anyway, onto uchikomi geiko, then the juniors stepped out and we did kakari geiko. I don't think my partners were cutting straight enough, because there wasn't as much taiatari as I thought there would be. Then finally ai kakari geiko, now there was more taiatari. You get lots more cuts in this way. I managed to get 3 cuts in there somewhere, kote-men hiki men combo... Not as tiring as I thought, but we didn't do it for long.. only about 10 seconds each.
Then the interesting part... the seniors did waza practice, but without any set waza. Can't remember what it was called, but you basically get to practice whatever you want. For me it was just kihon dou onegashimasu. I still can't cut dou to save my life so I need to practice it. It just wasn't connecting properly on each cut... just couldn't figure it out. I was trying different things but to no avail. Then I went up against sensei. He did harai kote on me... man almost took my hand off! Anyway, I did kihon dou again, and he commented that I was stomping before I made contact with the dou... DOH! He said I got better on the last cut but still marginally made contact after the stomp. Arigatou gozaimashita. Anyway, I did feel like my dou cut was getting better so this stomp thing might be the key to why I suck at it. Anyway, something for me to work on from now.
Onto jigeiko. I was lacking a constant attacking spirit. Luckily, I had a partner to show me this. He would just go nuts with crazy combos when he saw that I let my guard down. We were a bit tight for space last night so I guess I may have just been a bit more consious about the space. Anyway, halfway through jigeiko, one of the juniors asked me to practice. So we just did some kihon cuts. Again, I went back to doing dou cuts. But while I was practicing, a bit of a line kinda formed by some juniors to practice with me. So yeah, I practiced with all of them. It was good to help them out and get some kihon practice for myself, but I really wanted to go against sensei. I'm sure he's got shitloads of wise words to impart on me. Hopefully he is there on wednesday.
Also, during jigeiko, I noticed that my friend was sitting in the stalls. She wanted to check out kendo because she wants to try a japanese martial art. She just came back from Japan and loved it so much and now wants to try and maintain some sort of connection. Anyway, at the time I was sparring with 'V' (for vendetta) and jokingly said to him 'don't make me look bad'... and so he took it kinda seriously and really hammed it up. hehe. couldn't really concentrate after that.
Anyway, training was very interesting because 'B' sensei structures the class different to what we're used to. First up just did some kihon practice, where the juniors were always paired to a senior kendoka (no multiple people in a line, just 1 long line of 2 facing each other). Sensei went through something quite basic, and something that I actually thought I had a hold of, ki ken tai no ichi (which kinda translates to spirit, sword and body as one). The point that was emphasised was that the right foot should stomp as the sword makes contact. Now I thought I had this, but as it turns out, I don't. More on this late. But to practice this, we kinda did a fishing rod thing with our shinai and our right foot. Hard to explain. Anyway, onto uchikomi geiko, then the juniors stepped out and we did kakari geiko. I don't think my partners were cutting straight enough, because there wasn't as much taiatari as I thought there would be. Then finally ai kakari geiko, now there was more taiatari. You get lots more cuts in this way. I managed to get 3 cuts in there somewhere, kote-men hiki men combo... Not as tiring as I thought, but we didn't do it for long.. only about 10 seconds each.
Then the interesting part... the seniors did waza practice, but without any set waza. Can't remember what it was called, but you basically get to practice whatever you want. For me it was just kihon dou onegashimasu. I still can't cut dou to save my life so I need to practice it. It just wasn't connecting properly on each cut... just couldn't figure it out. I was trying different things but to no avail. Then I went up against sensei. He did harai kote on me... man almost took my hand off! Anyway, I did kihon dou again, and he commented that I was stomping before I made contact with the dou... DOH! He said I got better on the last cut but still marginally made contact after the stomp. Arigatou gozaimashita. Anyway, I did feel like my dou cut was getting better so this stomp thing might be the key to why I suck at it. Anyway, something for me to work on from now.
Onto jigeiko. I was lacking a constant attacking spirit. Luckily, I had a partner to show me this. He would just go nuts with crazy combos when he saw that I let my guard down. We were a bit tight for space last night so I guess I may have just been a bit more consious about the space. Anyway, halfway through jigeiko, one of the juniors asked me to practice. So we just did some kihon cuts. Again, I went back to doing dou cuts. But while I was practicing, a bit of a line kinda formed by some juniors to practice with me. So yeah, I practiced with all of them. It was good to help them out and get some kihon practice for myself, but I really wanted to go against sensei. I'm sure he's got shitloads of wise words to impart on me. Hopefully he is there on wednesday.
Also, during jigeiko, I noticed that my friend was sitting in the stalls. She wanted to check out kendo because she wants to try a japanese martial art. She just came back from Japan and loved it so much and now wants to try and maintain some sort of connection. Anyway, at the time I was sparring with 'V' (for vendetta) and jokingly said to him 'don't make me look bad'... and so he took it kinda seriously and really hammed it up. hehe. couldn't really concentrate after that.
posted by Son at 12:37 pm
2 Comments:
Heh, Son, I thought she was a 'special' friend of yours. ;)
I think you have to go through a special sensei training course in order to become a sensei, where they teach you all about how you should act and what you should teach and everything. That's why you can really see a difference between the teaching style of a sensei compared to say, a sandan senpai. Back when I did aikido, I learnt that in order to become a sensei you had to travel to Japan and pass a sensei training course of some sort, so it may be the same with kendo.
I couldn't imagine him being just a student though...I've always known him as a sensei. Anyway, he has an interesting club: Nanseikan. All students at that dojo are under 15.
Yeah, from what I remembered of Ben, he used to be kinda like Kenji is now. I don't know about the sensei training though. I think you just need to get godan, and you're considered an instructor. I think yondan is junior instructor, ie. teach basics. But thats beside the point. The point is Ben's demeanor as a sensei is very different... like I said.. very much like a sensei. Its really hard to describe but the new 'aura' is the best definition I can find.
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