[KENDO] TAKING A STEP FORWARD

So, after my trainer Mitsuyoshi Aoki-Sensei (called 'Mitsu') has been bugging me for four weeks that I should attend the advanced training sessions I finally gave in and went there for the first time yesterday.
I totally underestimated it. So there I was, on the far left of the row again (the row is sorted by grade, with the lowest grades left and the highest grades right). The warmup was basically the same as it was in the beginners training but I still found it about twice as challenging than usual. Not that I could finally do 10 consecutive Suburi with only one breath...
Anyway, after warmup it was immediately time to wear Men and Kote. Then some fighting warmups with Kirikaeshi. Okay, I could still do those. Shomenuchi. Also still fine. Then Ji-Geiko. Boy, did 14 year old Jenny kick my ass. I took what was left of my pride and sat down at the corner while she was fighting with Stefan.
There I tried to fight down the desire to take off the Men. I somehow couldn't get rid of that desire all evening. That's also why I didn't participate in the Ji-Geiko at the end anymore. I was just too happy when Mitsu told me I could take the Men off. I was taking the time for the fights then.
I really need to get used to that piece of armor. Maybe tomorrow, at the next training session.

Speaking of Kendo, my Kendo book arrived today. It's a 230+ pages book that in the dojo I'm attending is said to be the Kendo bible. I'll give a review of it when I'm done.

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Category: blog

Tags: Kendo