2013-05-06 08:19:00
Change of plans! A few weeks ago I had a chat with Marli, who'd asked me if I still wanted to take my ikkyu exam by the end of May. Originally I'd take the test in winter because of our wedding anniversary, but since we're taking a few days of fun midweek she wanted me to go anyway. Yay :)
I'm feeling pretty confident about taking the ikkyu exam, insofar that I -know- most of the things I need to demonstrate. Most of the things I can actually do well, but I am not certain that my fighting skills are at the level that's needed. The most important weak point is my hunger/bloodlust: as Donatella-sensei remarked months ago I attack a general direction, not a specific target.
Saturday's class was great and started off with a nice surprise: our friend Sebastian, who departed for Germany a few months after I started kendo, came to visit for some jigeiko! In the absence of Ton-sensei and Hillen, Kris-fukushou led class with kihon and jigeiko. Many things were said and done, some important pointers being:
- During suburi he noticed that many people have a sub-optimal strike. After the upswing, there are many different movements shown ranging from a slow strike, from a jerk followed by a strike, to a wide arc straight down from jodan. The proper strike is of course hard to describe in words, but he demonstrated what he'd like to see from us.
- In suburi he also admonished us for being so slow and messy on hayasuburi. Practice at home!
- For the footwork practices he again warned us to not keep our feet too narrow. You keep your balance by keeping your feet at shoulder width. Anything narrower will make you wobble about.
- For the suriage techniques he once more impressed upon us the need to stand our ground. Preferably one should move forward towards the opponent while deflecting and striking, but in the very least should you strike and fumikomi on the spot. But whatever you do, don't move backwards. Stand your ground and be proud.
- After class he warned all of us that we should not only listen to explanations and warnings, but that we should also integrate that message into our practice. More often then not he'll explain something, which we will then do a little in the following exercise after which it's completely gone again. Instead you really should be aware of your body: listen to what it's doing, compare it to what it should be doing and adjust for it. Be aware of what you're doing.
For me personally, Kris had two important points of feedback:
- I still tense up my upper body when in kamae. Instead of releasing the tension after kakegoe, I keep my arms and shoulders tight. Not only will this hurt my muscles, it also slows me down tremendously.
- As I have been warned multiple times over the last few weeks: I use my right hand WAY too much. To compensate I am now conciously relaxing my right hand and arm in exercises.
As my mantra for mokuso goes these days: "every week a little stronger"... Despite getting more and more tired, I fought myself through jigeiko.
- First against Ramon, who is still coming to grips with fighting in armor. Because of that he tends to flail wildly and to rush in quickly. This resulted in two thrusts against my shoulder and collar bone, but I tried to shrug them off.
- Then against Sebastian, which was a fun and interesting fight (I managed to land a clean nuki-kote when he went for men).
- Finally, despite being exhausted, I fought Jeroen-sempai who often manages to inspire me. In this case I worked myself up using strong kiai/kakegoe and disregarded the missed tsuki that hit my collar bone. I'm happy that Jeroen was impressed by my vigour :)
kilala.nl tags:
kendo,
sports,
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