Post-kendo meditation
Oct. 1st, 2004 10:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tarigwaemirLowell House, on the Feast of Ste. Therese of Lisieux
It always surprises me to realize that I actually, well, enjoy kendo. When I joined the HRKC last year, what motivated me for the first few months was the sheer novelty of being able to endure the physical exertion (I was and probably still am notoriously unfit; I never move on a regular basis and have always been the helpless little nerd in gym class). Oh, and of course, the club itself. As I've mentioned before, the kendo club is probably responsible for the entire extent of my social life at college (such as it is). Note that I met my blockmate Jenny via kendo, and through her, the rest of my blockmates, with the exception of Nan, my roommate, who was a Greenough person. The kendo club has a whole alumni association behind it, which in many ways is utterly dorky (not to mention, they can be kind of annoying at times), but it reminded me immediately of the way former Science Club officers would drop by the Science Club in high school, and I liked that closeness. In a way, the HRKC has become my substitute for the Hallway--although I don't know everyone equally well and I'm much closer to some people than others, it is largely how I identify myself in nonacademic terms.
Anyway, where was I? Oh, right. The first few months, last year. I also should admit that I was rather pleased to announce to people that yes, I, scrawny Asian girl, waved around bamboo sticks and hit people for a hobby. And then, I received bogu. The pain. The blisters. The bruises. The sudden development of a crazy kiai. (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tryogeru can attest to this.) I'm not very good at kendo--I don't have form, endurance (although I was surprised to find just how much pain I could take and just how long I could survive), strength (I get pushed around really easily), or even strategy. But I do have kiai. Well, kind of. I have "spirit", the will to keep on going no matter how awful I am, the will to shout and tell myself that no, I won't give up. I think I got addicted to that sensation, and in many ways, still am. I remember so many gym classes where I used any excuse to sit out or play "defense" or generally avoid exertion as much as possible without actually not participating, and I'm proud that I can now stand, tired and sore beyond belief, and do that one last men.
But you know, especially towards the end of last semester, I started to rather dread kendo practices. It became a duty, you know, something that I went to because I'd put too much time and effort in to give up now. Jenny and I used to groan as we changed into bogu and hope that practice wouldn't be too hard. It wasn't fun to learn new waza because they were just so tiring. I think all the pressure from school and organizing events contributed to it. Anyway, beginning of this year, we both talked about how unmotivated we felt, how unprepared for practice, how much we wanted to skip for once.
Today, though, I realized that I really do enjoy this...this...sport? martial art? hobby? (lifestyle? ^_^). I mean, enjoy it because it is kendo, not anything else. We were practicing suriashi (which I suck at...of course I suck at most things, with the possible exception of kote when I'm concentrating), and I was exasperated with myself because sometimes I was moving slower than the beginners. Then we did this drill where you and an opponent suriashi forward and backward down the dojo, changing direction whenever the alumni banged their shinai on the floor. I was up against an alum, and I kept losing form whenever I changed direction (because my footwork was wrong, of course), and somehow, I stopped being frustrated. It was fun. The thought astonished me because I'd been stressing out before every practice (not even intentionally, just as a matter of instinct). I like moving like this, swinging my shinai like this, wearing the heavy bogu, yelling my lungs out at my opponent to say I am not cowed, I'm ready.
Later, during jigeiko, I was terribly exhausted and out of breath, but I forced myself to concentrate, and sometimes I could anticipate Izzy's attack. My form was terrible, of course (I kept leaning forward, and she told me that at the beginning I kept using my right arm to lift the shinai), but I started to see openings a little better, to visualize what I should be doing. Of course, these flashes of concentration soon dissipated into, "Ow, I can't breathe, and why does my diaphragm hurt so much?" I nearly threw up, at which point Izzy told me to take a break. >_> Urgh. The result of not moving for two months. Ew. Anyway, I felt stupid, but I did learn something. They always tell us to stop over-thinking, to just attack, but what I've been forgetting is that I need to focus. Something which I used to be good at, but failed to retain in college (for other things besides kendo as well, I mean).
Oh, and I resolved to join Jenny and Risheng on their morning trips to the cardio center at the MAC. So, er, hi treadmill, please don't let me fall off. >_<
Why the heck am I writing so much about kendo? I've been meaning to write a long and more amusing blog entry detailing the quirks of my professors, but once again I got distracted. >_> Maybe next time.
Yours &c.
It always surprises me to realize that I actually, well, enjoy kendo. When I joined the HRKC last year, what motivated me for the first few months was the sheer novelty of being able to endure the physical exertion (I was and probably still am notoriously unfit; I never move on a regular basis and have always been the helpless little nerd in gym class). Oh, and of course, the club itself. As I've mentioned before, the kendo club is probably responsible for the entire extent of my social life at college (such as it is). Note that I met my blockmate Jenny via kendo, and through her, the rest of my blockmates, with the exception of Nan, my roommate, who was a Greenough person. The kendo club has a whole alumni association behind it, which in many ways is utterly dorky (not to mention, they can be kind of annoying at times), but it reminded me immediately of the way former Science Club officers would drop by the Science Club in high school, and I liked that closeness. In a way, the HRKC has become my substitute for the Hallway--although I don't know everyone equally well and I'm much closer to some people than others, it is largely how I identify myself in nonacademic terms.
Anyway, where was I? Oh, right. The first few months, last year. I also should admit that I was rather pleased to announce to people that yes, I, scrawny Asian girl, waved around bamboo sticks and hit people for a hobby. And then, I received bogu. The pain. The blisters. The bruises. The sudden development of a crazy kiai. (
tryogeru can attest to this.) I'm not very good at kendo--I don't have form, endurance (although I was surprised to find just how much pain I could take and just how long I could survive), strength (I get pushed around really easily), or even strategy. But I do have kiai. Well, kind of. I have "spirit", the will to keep on going no matter how awful I am, the will to shout and tell myself that no, I won't give up. I think I got addicted to that sensation, and in many ways, still am. I remember so many gym classes where I used any excuse to sit out or play "defense" or generally avoid exertion as much as possible without actually not participating, and I'm proud that I can now stand, tired and sore beyond belief, and do that one last men.But you know, especially towards the end of last semester, I started to rather dread kendo practices. It became a duty, you know, something that I went to because I'd put too much time and effort in to give up now. Jenny and I used to groan as we changed into bogu and hope that practice wouldn't be too hard. It wasn't fun to learn new waza because they were just so tiring. I think all the pressure from school and organizing events contributed to it. Anyway, beginning of this year, we both talked about how unmotivated we felt, how unprepared for practice, how much we wanted to skip for once.
Today, though, I realized that I really do enjoy this...this...sport? martial art? hobby? (lifestyle? ^_^). I mean, enjoy it because it is kendo, not anything else. We were practicing suriashi (which I suck at...of course I suck at most things, with the possible exception of kote when I'm concentrating), and I was exasperated with myself because sometimes I was moving slower than the beginners. Then we did this drill where you and an opponent suriashi forward and backward down the dojo, changing direction whenever the alumni banged their shinai on the floor. I was up against an alum, and I kept losing form whenever I changed direction (because my footwork was wrong, of course), and somehow, I stopped being frustrated. It was fun. The thought astonished me because I'd been stressing out before every practice (not even intentionally, just as a matter of instinct). I like moving like this, swinging my shinai like this, wearing the heavy bogu, yelling my lungs out at my opponent to say I am not cowed, I'm ready.
Later, during jigeiko, I was terribly exhausted and out of breath, but I forced myself to concentrate, and sometimes I could anticipate Izzy's attack. My form was terrible, of course (I kept leaning forward, and she told me that at the beginning I kept using my right arm to lift the shinai), but I started to see openings a little better, to visualize what I should be doing. Of course, these flashes of concentration soon dissipated into, "Ow, I can't breathe, and why does my diaphragm hurt so much?" I nearly threw up, at which point Izzy told me to take a break. >_> Urgh. The result of not moving for two months. Ew. Anyway, I felt stupid, but I did learn something. They always tell us to stop over-thinking, to just attack, but what I've been forgetting is that I need to focus. Something which I used to be good at, but failed to retain in college (for other things besides kendo as well, I mean).
Oh, and I resolved to join Jenny and Risheng on their morning trips to the cardio center at the MAC. So, er, hi treadmill, please don't let me fall off. >_<
Why the heck am I writing so much about kendo? I've been meaning to write a long and more amusing blog entry detailing the quirks of my professors, but once again I got distracted. >_> Maybe next time.
Yours &c.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-01 11:08 pm (UTC)O.o
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-02 07:31 am (UTC)Explanation of kendo terms please? the only one I know is men (head right?) and koten (er, right hand?)...
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-02 02:01 pm (UTC)Terms...let's see:
Yes, men is "head" and kote is "hand" (more like wrist). Kote is my best strike, I think. Kiai is literally "spirit" but it's the, um, screaming/shouting/yelling that you do whenever you strike. Suriashi is...urgh, how would you explain this? So in kendo you move by sort of "shuffling" your feet across the floor, with your right foot always in front of your left and your left foot bearing most of your body weight. Oh and with your left heel lifted slightly off the floor. Suriashi is when you move really quickly with small steps to cover a lot of ground as fast as you can. Good suriashi means that you keep your posture and don't bob up and down like a duck as you move across the dojo. One really good description is that it looks like you're gliding across water (if you do it properly). Actually, my suriashi improved today (we had practice this morning too), and I was pleased because my speed increased.
Shinai is the bamboo stick that you use for actually hitting people. You use bokuto for kata, i.e. forms. Jigeiko is free sparring, and I frankly don't like it all that much because it is exhausting. Because I'm junior to almost everyone in the club aside from my fellow sophomores and the beginners, I have to keep on going in jigeiko until senpai tell me to stop. If they're used to their seniority, they usually know when to stop me, but if they don't, it just keeps on going forever and ever and ever...>_<
Shiai is an actual competitive match and occurs under a time limit (two minutes), so I prefer that a lot more. I'm also usually less tired out at an actual shiai because jigeiko is usually at the end of practice, and we only do shiai at tournaments or practices for tournaments.
Just to provide some context, the HRKC is the oldest collegiate kendo club in the U.S. and we hold the largest intercollegiate tournament called the Shoryuhai every year. But the actual number of people in the club at the moment is very small (although we have a large group of beginners, which is very promising) and only about five of us (the officers of the Executive Council) run the tournament. The burden mostly lies on my friend Jenny, who is the Vice President in charge of the Shoryuhai, which is why we were really stressed out about kendo last year. The HRKC has a close relationship with the Keio University kendo team in Japan, and they send their students over during their spring break. It's a fun field trip for them, but it's an incredibly tough training week for us, and it was around that point where I went around with constant bruises on my wrist and blisters on my feet. Oh the pain. The Japanese kendoists are incredible of course and training with us is like a light workout for them, but for us, it's some of the toughest practices we ever had. >_< Anyway, that's when the level of practices shot way up, and I started dreading going to practice, although I was always amazed by the fact that I survived. (I still don't know how, at this moment.)
Anyway, right now, things are really light and easy, but I'm feeling it more than most people because I've always been terribly out of shape, and I think the only time that I've ever been in shape was during the visit from the Keio students and right before the Shoryuhai tournament.
That was a really long reply. ^_^;; Hope it didn't bore you too much.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-02 10:22 pm (UTC)Hee. Not at all! It's very interesting. We have a Manila Kendo Club somehwere here, only it's in Makati City and not Manila. Go figure. I had a friend who was a member once, and he always went around lugging his (really heavy) gear around campus...
I'm probably more of a western fencing person myself though. Not as straining as kendo, and no need to shout to intimidate youe oppenent. Lol.
BTW, who's the guy in your icon?
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-03 12:00 pm (UTC)My friend
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-03 12:40 pm (UTC)