First REAL bogu practice

I'm starting to understand why Abul said that many people quit after getting their first bogu. Back then, I simply couldn't get the point. I mean, I have waited for so long to train in bogu; it's one of my life's dreams. Abul said they couldn't take the pain.

Well, yeah. For the relatively new Kendoka like me, getting struck by men cuts HURT.

Hakim's cuts, especially. Fast and vicious, his kirikaeshi slammed the sides of my head. I was shocked, but not too shocked to move. But as said in an earlier post, I couldn't stop my eyes from closing when he struck. And damn... not only was his kirikaeshi fast, but it felt like he was splitting my head...

Wham-wham-wham-wham (reverse direction) wham-wham-wham-wham-wham. Kiai, men strike, then the whams start all over again...

Then it was my turn to do kirikaeshi. My kote gloves had large holes in them, and they did close to nothing to protect my fingers. Several times while crashing through the opponent my fingers struck the faceplate of my opponents. Lets hope I get good results for SPM... If I get 12As, my parents would buy a bogu for me instead of subsidizing it! Awesome.... 12 A should be attainable. Well, trials were tougher but i managed to score 10.....

The last bit of training this morning was focused on jigeiko, or free sparring. I was up against hakim under his orders. Somehow, being in a real fight was something I hadn't experienced before. After sonkyo, we stood up and crossed blades with each other. It felt kinda awkward... Should I just rush in and attempt a men? Or should I wait for his command? It seemed useless to wait for a command to do what in combat-

-and then Hakim struck men, and and shoved straight past me.

Ouch. Okay, no waiting for commands then.

Hakim let out a scream (kiai). I loosed out another one, attempting to be louder than his. The kiai somehow bolstered my confidence up a notch. Sensing that Hakim was moving inwards from issoku-itto-no-mai, I pushed myself forward and sstruck men, shouting meeeeeeeeenn.....

The retaliation that I awaited never happened. So I let myself be carried forward by momentum and swung around to face him again. Hakim didn't move. I had the impression that he wanted me to strike him again. So idid, again and again, until I sweated buckets and he told me to stop.

Then he told me we would continue jigeiko until either of us gets ippon. I said fine.

Then Hakim went kote-men-men. And then men-men-men.

Whoa! This guy's fast! i thought.

I know we must always believe in oneself, but I never really did bellieve I'd be the one getting ippon then. My handling of my shinai  was mediocre compared to his. So fast, precise, and accurate. Not to mention confident and firm. I was very wary of striking him, for he projected a strong seme.

There was this one particular attack that really caught me off-guard. Hakim raised his shinai above his head. Reacting completely on instinct and without thinking, I too raised my shinai to block the impending strike. Then Hakim's shinai went down fast, and turned at the last minute to strike my exposed do. He turned his shinai from striking men to striking do so fast that the bamboo seemed to bend. and curve.

But, eventually, as I knew it would, Hakim scored ippon. It was a kote-ari. So we bowed, and said arigato gozaimasu!  Then Hakim was off to train my friend Mark.

Sitting at home infront of the laptop several hours after training, I think I can feel a bruise on my head.... whenever i press, ouch.

What I learnt from today's training is to not be afraid of getting struck. And also to keep your limbs supple but relaxed, not tense. Being tense limits your flexibility, and it in turns reduces performance.

Moreover, we must take the initiative to score ippon. We must seize the moment. iin life too, we must adopt this attitude. We must seize the day, for oppurtunities that are life-changing will not wait for you. You will have to go chase after them.

I'll make it a point to post something after every training, since Marcus told me this was a "Kendo Diary" after all.

Next week Arif told me that it would be the first official training session of the year! So i'm really looking forward to seeing new faces, fresh new blood that will help to uphold our beloved SJI Kendo Club in the future.......

Alright, that's it for now. Arigato gozaimashita!!!

Izzaz