Mingshi's Kendo Blog

Update

2011-11-10T12:21:00.006+08:00

Some of you might already know, I've been giving time off kendo since Jan this year. For the past 2 years or so on this job, practice was not rewarding enough when I could only make it once a week or even less, when I didn't get back to HK for it. Focus in the dojo alone could not make me progress (sometimes not even keep up). To the point where I feel my 4 hours (2hrs return bus journey for 2 hrs training, excluding 3-4hrs of commuting back to HK one way)there did not worth it. So I just dropped my bogu bag in storage and didn't pick it up since... Well I did pick it up again 2 weeks ago, but last week I was busy and it just broke the momentum again. Difficult to enjoy the 48-hr free time when 16 of them are for sleeping, and 8 of them traveling.

Last week I came across the KW mag issue with an article about Team USA on the last WKC in Brazil. I'm certainly not anywhere close to that semi-pro level, and definitely not that kind of devotion as well. If you get involved in an activity that makes you leave your family and work unattended... Really makes me sort out my priorities in life. Right now it is neither trying for 4th Dan nor the HK team.

Just that I have a lot of other interests worth pursuing. Work, for one, I quite enjoy, and am getting better. For sports I've picked up swimming over the summer - 20 laps. Then there's kayaking with some colleagues. And a dive with a friend locally. During the week I can run a bit in the gym - currently training to make another 10km race, and boasting myself to make it under 1hr. Healthy huh?

Next Jan I'm staying a few days in Bali for holiday. Wish I have more time working on my travel photography. Then I'd like to try surfing and bungee. Dive a bit more. If I can squeeze out some spare time in the week, I'm self-studying Spanish. VERY tough but it would help in the long run - I'm in the very initial stage to plan a RTW trip, and working hard (health and wealth proof) to get this done while I am still young!

So, life is still good without kendo for a while...

Thanks for reading!

Ladies Keiko

2010-07-11T10:10:00.002+08:00

After a long pause, I picked up my bogu again in the past 2 weekends.

This day is the monthly Ladies Keikokai, organized by the Kendo Association.

It reminds me of squad training, although pretty much calmed down with less pressure. The only pressure comes from me being a senior and I've to avoid doing unnecessary moves and other stupid stuff.

It's a funny feeling after not present for the past 6 keikokai, and being asked to be on the senior side at jikeiko. There were 20 or so turned up, and many junior than I am in terms of experience. But of course you have the college girls who look a lot more devoted than any of the adults. I guess I practice the least regular among these girls.

Yeah I only managed once every 2-3 weeks due to work mostly. I don't live near a dojo in either cities I live, making it hard to commit.

But then I still like to set my foot in the dojo. Hard to describe, but going to the gym or having a swim will not create this feeling of accomplishment. "It'd better be a very good practice traveling 3-4 hours to make it", so I think.

As Kishikawa sensei said, gotta enjoy what you are doing!

10th Asian Tournament

2010-03-20T16:34:00.002+08:00

3rd Dan and below Finals - HKG vs Vietnam

It's time to shoot again!

Everybody gets quite excited after the President's Trophy tournament last Jan. My club's A Team won! Even my own B Team went up to the quarter finals... I joined merely for showing up, having NOT trained regular enough. Nobody expect me to fight seriously showing up at the dojo once a month.

It's the 10th Anniversary for the TOP kendo even in HK - and perhaps the TOP in Asia even, in an international point of view. The usual faces of Ajia Kendo Club... Chinese representatives from Zhuhai, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chengdu to Beijing... literally from South to North).. Taiwan peeps.. Teams from the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and first time this year, Vietnam!

The HKG ladies A team went up to join-3rd, having added in the lovely Eliza with the veterans. The coach said that my team is also quite veteran.. - I had Fanny & Jane, and all 3 of us used to train with the Squad. We all fell out of the team and practice due to work, study and injuries... It's a shame which we can do little to change...

My team first went against the winning team from Chikushi Girls High - the well-known top ladies kendo high school team (so I recall from Kendo Jidai!). Their sempo was Shimomura, daughter of an ex-coach of the HK team. Fantastic.

We quickly lost and had 2nd match with Guangzhou. No challenge.

Did I mention I was sick? I am always sick when a Taikai comes. On top of that, I forgot to pack my contact lenses!! Double-du'h!! Never mind.. My spirit was already down haven't trained for 3 weeks, sick and blind. Haven't scored anything against the Chinese girl even.

So it was time to pick up the camera. I got a set of new lens and went shoot around for my HK teammates for the rest of the time. Good that I don't have to help out at the scoreboards (too many people signed up already).

At the party we found the association has officially sanctioned Ajia Kendo Club's "stripping kendo game" - it's now on the main stage so that everyone can see it!! Anyway I ended up chatting up some people from another Guangzhou kendo club. They had a purpose-built dojo which I may visit sometime later (can't find the time after work to go).

Then the coach dragged some of us for a chat at the nearby hotel pub until midnight. Now I learnt that it's not only me who wants to socialize more by coming to this event. I travelly 3+ hours the night before to get back to HK, and another 1.5hr to get to the venue at 6am... Make sure every second in this Taikai counts!

I should be off training now...

GZ

2009-12-24T10:13:00.002+08:00

At last I turned up at a dojo near where I live/work.

All very relaxed and nothing too hardcore in there. Leader is about 2/3 Dan local. They frequent taikai in HK, and know my sensei.

The most surprising thing is, they have all their commands in CHINESE. It puzzles me for a while, but after a while it makes sense.

Anyway, I need to find the opportunity to pull up my bogu here... That's the challenge if I have to go back to HK every weekend...

Back

2009-12-14T22:42:00.002+08:00

It has been 3 weeks since I last practice.

Yeah I am back in kendo again. Probably the 3rd time I showed up in the dojo since my recovery.

I got a clean x-ray for my ankle in Oct, and did a 10km run here in Guangzhou just to celebrate!

Kendo is really one of those things you can't just stop and give up.

We were all at Leo's wedding last night. That's a dojo mate's big day and everyone was crazy and drunk as usual. In between (so many) glasses of wine, I had a good conversation with the girls who are joining the HK Ladies keikokai in Jan. It is encouraging that they are pushing this idea forward, and asking me to join (despite my long absence and record of injuries).

Now it's up for me to manage the limited time I have in HK on the weekends. I know very well that I cannot train at the same level as I used to have, but at least it is something I want to keep doing.

(For the past few weeks I've considered giving kendo a very long break)

Just Sitting Here

2009-08-29T10:57:00.003+08:00

Last round of X-ray in Aug shows that although the bones are sealing back up, the tissues inside haven't completely grown back smoothly.

Great...

So the only thing keeping me going is the bike ride to work and the gym after work. I guess when I first joined the gym, that 1-hr run on the treadmill just ruin my recovery (few weeks before x-ray).

Really I am not sure when I can get back to the dojo. Loads of people asked me and I have no answer for anyone. All I can do is to catch the 14th WKC on Youtube.

Oops

2009-04-12T01:40:00.004+08:00

As you may know, I had a stupid accident last Friday, leaving me with a torn ligament on my right ankle. Now I am not able to walk at home even...

So again, it's a time to give up vigorous exercise for a while. Not sure why the older I get, I had more accidents than when I was a naughty kid...!!

It takes time to heal...

--------

Back from hospital after a week of swelling pain. X ray shows my ankle is FRACTURED...!!

Just a small crack, but enough to send me into sleepless pain.

So I am now at home with a big plaster cast. Well done!!

Greater China Cup

2008-12-08T14:27:00.004+08:00

(aka the 4th Regional Kendo Tournament)

Surprisingly I arrived at 8.15am with more than enough time to change and do the group warm-up. I was still coughing all night long and thought I'd be overslept... The cold I caught made me missed the last squad training before the tournament - and I know I'm not going to do much today.

I got teamed up with Jane and Sinyi (who's a regular visitor to my dojo) for the ladies event.

There were only 7 teams, with us getting "lucky" to go straight to the semi finals (?!). The HK A team defeated Macau on the first round, and it's easy to think that HK have no problem securing medals. (Job already done)

My team faced one of the Guangzhou teams and it quite interesting that there were more than 3 dojo presence (including the boys) in this tournament alone. Our Beijing friend and HK A teammate Xixi told us that a Taiwanese nanadan sensei BUILT a dojo in Guangzhou. No wonder why some of them look so serious into things...

I said "some" because half of them looks younger than me - and they were more interested in taking snaps with one another than watching the matches. Maybe I am getting old.

Back to my match. I'm on jiho and had this girl in white bogu who I've seen before (i.e. not a beginner). The men cuts I've been training on went down the drain with my sickness. My left arm wasn't landing cuts solid enough and so as my fumikomi. On the other hand, this girl was cutting straighter than I thought, and a few times I thought it came really close to losing.

Jane 2-0

Me 0-0

Sinyi 2-0

(Me became the only non-scoring person in the team. Argh)

Finals - HK A vs HK B

Xixi battered Jane who fought harder than before. Xixi always have strong fumikomi - but some say it's not because of her footwork...

No surprise me took on JAY for the Nth time. Blame it on team mangement who always put us in the same fighting position. I wasn't at my best, knew her moves, and was going for a draw - yeah and so went the story.

Although Sinyi has been on-and-off in kendo for longer than I do, she wasn't too experienced in shiai and got carried away waiting not initiating attacked. Agnes was the opposite and got her degote somewhere in the middle of the game.

Jane 0-2

Me 0-0

Sinyi 0-1

(Me didn't lose a point - not sure if its an accomplishment.)

Now that I pocketed Silver, the rest of the day was spent chitchatting to anyone I haven't seen for long...

...Including a mum with kid sitting at the side. There's a mens team from a company dojo in Kaohsiung, Southern Taiwan. The mum is an employee there supporting her boss on taisho, but she and her family has nothing to do with kendo. Poor lady! So we had a little chat about everything and exchanged contacts at the end.

The game was more fun than seriousness overall, with HK A mens team beating Kaohsiung's only at taisho match at the Semi. Final was HK A vs the improving and impressive Guangzhou team. GZ actually beats HK B to go through, only to be taken down 3-1 by HK A to finish the day.

Attendance was a bit thin - lucky enough we had teams from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Kaohsiung and Chengdu to fill the mens' event with. Locally I think we missed a number of good players, some have been busy with work, some happened to be taking the annual JLPT on the same Sunday. The association should really consider another date, seeing there are so many kendo people studying Japanese!

Seeing GZ being better than we all thought made everyone telling me to practice where when I move there next year with my job. I did consider more option in carrying my bogu, but maybe quite difficult going across the border over the weekend if I have to practice in HK... So it's confusing for now, but I'll definitely give them a check once the job is settled.

Pics to follow.

Prep

2008-11-10T00:21:00.005+08:00

There's the Chinese Taikai coming in a month but not so much of the shiai preparation going on. The dojo has been quiet recently with everyone seeming to be caught at work. Even on a Sunday afternoon like today's practice, there were only 6 of us on rotation!

We were on high with speed today - after some kihon for warm-up, we were doing alternate oikomi-men and splinting tobikomi men. The point is to "hit and run" as fast as we can. That also reminds everyone to go straight through like a train and not jumping up and down, something that we all did before...!

That was an intensive but since I didn't do much exercise in the week, I was so out of breath. I bet there is either my bad breathing rhythm control, or something wrong with my lungs. Looking at Momoko (a kyu grader) I must say I was embarrassed - she was still standing properly when I was bending over for a painful diaphragm.

Things will be difficult for the next few weeks as I am going to move out of town for work some time next month. I'm glad that there is still good job around, but kendo-wise I'm not too sure if I can manage coming back over the weekend for keiko. Maybe I'll end up joining one of the Guangzhou dojo, but it's gotta be a nightmare to travel back and forth with the bogu and stuff...

200

2008-10-05T00:00:00.003+08:00

Wow blog post count shows that this is now the 200th post!

I spent most of my past few weeks going around town meeting freelance clients and then some job interviews, leaving only Sats for kendo and little exercise on weekdays.

For 2 weeks we got a session of tsuki practice leading to sashi-men. Really helpful ideas there Minejima sensei taught. I value a lot more on the quality of practice other than quantity, now that I can only make once a week in the dojo. It's still a good thing that I can be focused and clear my mind of what I need to do in life.

It's always a tough decision for a career move for everyone. So I hope I'm getting the best deal on my next job. Yosh!

good day

2008-09-14T22:09:00.002+08:00

Yes, I'm finally having a good day!

My wrist is on my side for the whole session, lifting the shinai up and down rather solid.

I notice that actually using MORE of the joint can help cutting, instead of relying on the right hand to do the job.

So it's good to know I'm progressing somehow and am still on track.

Centre

2008-09-12T14:26:00.002+08:00

Lately we're doing a lot of hypoactive keiko. Very very controlled training with predictable mechanism:-

Pressure at centre > opponent gets off centre > hit men

or

Pressure at centre > opponent pushes back > hit kote

or

Pressure at centre > opponent pushes back > hit kote-men

or

Pressure as you wish, and react as you like (base on the above)

It's a relatively pattern-ed practice, but happens to be difficult, especially facing someone of a similar or higher level. I guess when both sides know the importance of gaining the centre, nothing is easy. Gives me all the sweat just by staying in kamae.

Good thing is, people are coming back to the dojo more often.

Numb

2008-09-08T13:19:00.003+08:00

This is a totally relaxing Sat with the adults here focusing more on taking the centre by feeling the kensen. Difficult to do and takes time to make it work.

My wrist is letting me down though, after spending 2 hours in the morning riding the bike. The way I pull in the clutch makes my wrist so inflexible afterward. Strange that it triggers the pain after 2 months' break...

Jogging Route

2008-08-29T11:16:00.002+08:00

Without consulting Google Earth, I wouldn't know I have been regularly running a near 5k distance...! One longer loop heads north to the racecourse, and the other goes south to the city centre.

But then I was on snail speed - 27 mins? I was checking some distance runner sites and "beginner" should do that under 24 mins... Argh.

Lost

2008-08-29T11:08:00.003+08:00

A 2-week break and I'm back to keiko.

On a regular Thurs in QE Stadium I expect a good session, but... WHERE ARE ALL THE PEOPLE??

That was just me and David doing some kihon. Very Quiet especially with my minimal kiai...

As usual I'm a bit lost after not picking up a shiai for a while. It's no good getting reminded to stay in the centre all the time.

The 4 of us (with Eda sensei and little Gareth actually) headed off to the local Korean School and watched some friendly shiai - between the HK squad and some young guns from the city of Cheongju. Their kumdo were solid, enough to make everyone on my side panick and attack unnecessarily... The squad really has a lot to catch up with.

Excuse...

2008-08-08T01:31:00.002+08:00

I'm going to skip Sun practice for this:-

Falling down

2008-07-31T01:10:00.003+08:00

We're back at QE II Stadium. A great job they've done to the bright lightings, freezing air conditioning with the new wall of mirrors that makes the same gym room looks so much larger.

The down side of it - they've also redo the flooring, which is now SOLID. Oops.

Being back on the freelance front, I am lucky enough to attend all of the Sat practices for the past month or so. Then there's also rather regular jogging, cycling or swimming in my neighbourhood. So my stamina is going up and I'm having a nice tan.

Our ninja yondan friend Minejima-san is constantly picking on me recently. I reckon it's mainly because I'm "younger" and do more of a shiai-oriented style than the rest of the dojo population. He was away for a while, but now stays a bit more often, and so he's trying to practice more seriously. We do notice that he ain't all that sharp comparing to before, and were plotting against him secretly on his weaknesses (easy to say, hard to do. Argh).

What happened was, twice, that I launched for men desparately during jikeiko. He's tall and I tended to jump more. Little that I know I was actually jumping up. That messed up with my centre of gravity, and by the time he pushed a tiny little bit, my a$$ was landing on the floor.

I got the same treatment for the past 2 consecutive weeks. The problem is, I *KNEW* I was going to fall down during my fight, because everytime at tsubazeriai I was all over the place. I was so off whenever he moved his hands and turned to the other side to get a hikimen. More often I had to tell myself to please stand properly before worrying about cutting.

At the food joint, he and Oda-san were talking about this and put on this advice: I seem to be too concerned with hitting on top of the men, because I jump on there and cut at an angle (weak left wrist doesn't help either). Perhaps I should stay to cutting in front of what I see, and it's okay to cut men-gane because of the height difference. Yeah, speaking of disadvantages of being short...

Task of the month: Cut straight, centre and in front of me.

Bronze

2008-06-30T00:01:00.002+08:00

Just filled my piggy bank with another piece of medal. 7 years of kendo has earned me 3 golds, 1 silver, 5 bronzes and 2 kantosho... That said, I usually belong to the ladies division with only 10+ players in total.

Like today there were 12 girls in my group - but surprisingly they cut the juniors into another kyu-grade ladies division.

Not sure about anyone reading, but over here before the ladies matches we tend to be overly relaxed. Like, I did a set of kirikaeshi and some kihon cuts with my mates and that was it. Unlike during lunchtime when all the men and boys are swinging their shinai madly and trying waza stuff. Well, different people, different mindset.

Lucky pool for me, as both of my opponents are shodan, and I finished them in 10 seconds (total). Observing dojo mates told of the 4 "proper shomen" cuts I did stright out of sonkyo. Yeah they're nice I know, as easy as if anyone put their kensen NOT in the centre!

Small world we had here, as I got out of the pool I already got some metal. And on to next was my dear friend Leng from Macau. Met her all the time when we were both at some Taikai in the UK. So we chat a lot whenever we meet again here.

Leng's probably the sharpest of all 12 of us. Noyori san from my dojo is also sharp and scored some fine points from girls above her level (and younger). Surprise to see her like that despite our constant complain of lack of attending keiko last month (me=4, her=1, argh).

So my match with Leng lasted for 6 minutes according to timer-person, with Leng getting a rather typical men-kaeshi-dou when we were both looking exhausting. Say we both lost the sharpness we showed earlier. I had breathing problem, partly due to lack of cardio training recently with it pouring rain every single day, and partly because fighting Leng again is hysteric! It was all fun memories the first time I fought her, at my very first shiai.

Leng went on beating Noyori san and won the game.

My damaged left wrist was doing a good job today, because I remember to keep my grip "in" all the time. Once I tried at dojo practice without gripping the shinai properly, it really hurt so much that my tears went out of my eyes, and I was in pain for the rest of the class. So today is good. Apart from 3 missed kote from Leng on my right arm that align like mini meatballs...

And I have no idea why 6 minutes of kendo can be so tiring. Off to bed now. Hope to get a pic soon.

Rant

2008-06-01T23:45:00.002+08:00

We were training at this low ceiling gym yesterday and practicing small waza to avoid breaking the lights. Now I got a pain in the a$$ - seriously I didn't notice how much power from the "hips" I was using. Need a massage there!!

That happens to be the 2nd training I went to for the entire May. Since I don't have to go to work downtown, the bus journey to the faraway has become the least appealing... Tho I did jog around the neighbourhood about twice a week to get some exercise anyway. There's this taikai coming in later the month and I think I am just going to play for a few minutes and get my lunch there.

Actually I took a break last week so as to not further injury by wrist, and to take the bike exam at my best condition. Yet the weather was not helping and the exam was postponed to early July. (It was flooding the whole of last week!) Looks like I got a lot to prepare for very soon...

Warming up with Weights

2008-05-07T18:58:00.009+08:00

Today is Wednesday and I should be training... But I need to finish up some freelance job (from London) and that's why I'm sitting in front of the computer screen again...

There was this TV program last week - Sport Science. It was done by the same team who did Fight Science on Discovery. Remember the muscle man with a katana, who violently chops the human jelly to see how much damage a Japanese blade can make? ...Yeah that's the one.

At one time they wanted to test if weighted warm-up helps. So they gave donut-shape weights to a pro-baseball player (batter) to swing a couple of time before measuring his strikes with a normal bat, and also repeat similar test with a pro-golfer. While the swings "feel" faster to the player, the result didn't show much difference for the speed of the balls.

The most significant change was WHERE the point of impact was. Many strikes were out of the marked "sweet spot" when they rolled in slow motion. So after weighted warm-ups, players will miss where the optimal point they should hit the ball with. Essentially this means the weights are counter-productive... It changes the players sense of balance towards the "bat".

Because of the above, the baseball player receives the impact not just on the bat, but also all the way down to his hands and elbows (that was shown in slow motion for obvious reasons!). The swings are getting less flexible, and will possibly let the player develop "Tennis elbow" or other wrist injuries. I wonder if this is relevant to those who keep breaking their shinai... hmmm...

In the end, I'm trying make excuses of not doing any more ridiculous 2-shinai hayasuburi warm-up at the old squad training. I understand the muscle-building and cardio-training parts, but for warm-ups - better stay away...

OMG---!

2008-04-11T02:27:00.003+08:00

Hong Kong is the new kendo holiday destination. We had the Kansai Student coming in last weekend (which I escaped). Next week we are having... Sensei from Japan again!

I was reading this email and see the list of names...

Sumi
Chiba
Honda

This is for the coaching seminar/ exam, which again I am not going to sit.

Relax no more

2008-03-30T23:37:00.002+08:00

So, back from a 2-week holiday in Vietnam. Walked a lot, ate too much, got a tan (mainly on the sandal straps!), and exploring cool activities such as crossing roads swamped with mopeds, and diving! There are pics on my flickr account if anyone interested.

Back in the dojo last Sat was a very quiet practice. Only 8 of us turned up, 7 of those guys in their mid30s to 40s!

We didn't do any crazy kakarigeiko or even jikeiko, but the 2-hr practice was pretty exhausting. From checking ourselves from the mirror doing shomen uchi with seme ashi, to doing kirikaeshi, and cutting each other up using seme ashi... The more I focus, the more intense I felt.

But the disappointing part went to me not really understand what was going on... I moved in okay, but very bothered by the opponent's shinai in the centre. Why was his damn shinai still in the centre anyway?? In the practice I had problems cutting men AND kote, and it was very frustrating.

Someone pointed out that I cut men from the right - simply that was because I didn't run into the centre!! I really need to remember this.

I got myself a new wrist support - works fine in the dojo, but the pain creeps in that night. I biked okay today, but almost crashed doing U-turns... Argh.

Cameo

2008-03-07T01:27:00.002+08:00

This clip was on the local Finance-Info Cable TV channel a while ago. Your usual brief intro to kendo, an interview with those from Seidokan, and the taikai montage from the Chinese Taikai last Dec.:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK0MZt9gl7E

Got a bit of Yours Truly from 3:18 onwards, lasts for 3 seconds...

On repeated playback it's obvious that I hit with no power from the left and everything from the right (aka flicking). Even 3 seconds is enough to show. Argh.

Asian Open on a Cold

2008-03-02T22:03:00.006+08:00

Well, I am still coughing after weeks of medication... The taikai was a week ago, and I can only get some proper sleep now...

My sensei signed me up for the annual Hong Kong Asian Open Tournament, so despite having a runny nose and super cold, I still have to fill in for Team HK.

I missed a lot of action on Sat for the 2nd Dan below 3-men team event, because I had to take my motorbike class. It was really raining heavily when I ride on the streets. My jeans were soaking wet when I got home to change for the tourney's welcome party. This wasn't helping my sickness at all!

The party went nuts when the guys from Ajiken (Asia Kendo Club) played their kendo jan-ken-pon wearing a tablecloth!

My sensei spared a bed at the hotel so that I can make the team warm-up at 7.45am on Sun. So I had a good night of rest (and overdosing the cold tabs).

You can see that by the tone of what I said, I didn't feel like going on the taikai. It's the same story for the pass few months - wrist injury, lack of practice, being sick, etc. It seems like I was never in shape for the previous few taikai last year...

But things changed when we get to the warm-up in the morning. Somehow doing it in a group got me in the mood. I was doing my serious suburi, irikaeshi, kihon and uchikomi just like the rest of the team.

Strange things was that I got arranged into Team C at the ladies with Noyori-san and Eda-sensei (!). Definitely not a winning team on first sight. But in the pool we got a Beijing team and a Guangzhou team to beat.

Beijing senpo, Liu, was a tall girl and I've seen her before. For the whole day I've been using my current tokui-waza, which is a plain-and-simple tobikomi-men. I'm still working on the "seme" Minejima-san taught in the class aaaages ago, but it's proven to work with success.

Me - MM vs K - Liu

I lost that kote immediately after "nihonme", because I want to bend over for kote..! That was a bad move.

Noyori-san went on to fight Yasuda, a Japanese girl my height but in JODAN. She was not *that* strong, but Noyori-san was not too prepared for that.

Noyori - 0:2 - Yasuda
Eda - 2 :0 some girl.

On to the next match will be one of Guangzhou's team. There's a bit of a mess for the logistics, and we were left cooling down for 4 rounds of other teams fighting before we went on again. But then there was a long encho right before my fight, and I was so bumped up when it was my turn.

Me - MM vs o - Guangzhou girl (in 10 sec)

Our team got a straight 6:0 in the end (I reminded everyone to score everything to stay on top of our pool of 5 teams). The Guangzhou team gave us dou-stickers, and apparently someone runs an online shop for that!

We were now facing Minoh (Osaka) team B, composed with some older ladies (late 30s-40s)

Senpo was similar height of myself and not fast. However I'm too eager to hit and lost a lot of opportunities to cut spot-on. Towards the end of the match I felt out of breath (my nose was blocked) and exhausted. Coffee-high was gone and I only got a hikiwake from there.

Me - 0 vs 0 - Senpo
Noyori - 2 vs 0 - Chuken
Eda - 2 vs 1 - Taisho

The helpers replaced the scoreboard paper so fast that I miscalculated the points, and told everyone that we were over. Not until the ladies from Minoh came say thank you and "Gambatte kudasai" that we realized we have to fight on - to the semi-finals!

Our opponents were the Thai. Well, actually I think the first 2 are Thai-Japanese with a darker complexion, and the third has Thai lastname. The Japanese I got was quite strong, and I lost because my skill was worse than hers (nothing else to blame).

The chuken from Phuket was also good, but we were more impressed with the Thai girl in Taisho from the previous match we watched (she won against a Japanese). Though Eda-sensei scored on her.

Me - 0:2
Noyori - 0:0
Eda - 2:1

So we were out (at last!). We lost by 1 point (unnecessarily) and the thai team or the winning team (Minoh A) didn't seem "unbeatable", say, comparing to university students etc.

After that I gave my wrist a lot of massage - I didn't feel the pain during the match, but I know I have some flexiblity problem there (hence I can't cut kote properly). The whole lack-of-practice issue has not been solved so far, and I am stuck at the same level (or worse) 1/2 year ago when I got my sandan. In recent practice, I find it more difficult to keiko with some kohai who are a lot more attentive. Also that in shiai I can only get a draw to someone who is around my level, which is evidently saying that I have shown no improvement.

OK I know after all that whining - it's all about going into the dojo... Or should I fix my wrist first..?

I spent the rest of the time supporting the boys. This is a great year for Team HK, with Hamazaki + Minejima san's G team going to Bronze for the team event.

The winner was the fav pick - Ajiken A. Some of these guys were definately on a nasty hangover (remember what I said about them at the welcome party?)

With the sickness, I only picked 2 people to fight at godou keiko. One is Yasuda the Jodan girl, whom I tried a good handful of tsuki on. And also my old friend Danny from Glasgow who came all the way from Fukuoka. A mad friendly fight was what I needed.

Now I'll getting ready for a non-kendo vacation for 2 weeks in March. I hope my wrist can take the time off, and I can get back to proper training when I come back (and I need a miracle healing in between). There are lots of visitors coming, including a Mitsubushi team, and Kansai Student Renmei I heard!

Back in the Habit

2008-01-20T17:51:00.000+08:00

Hello peeps!

Got this piece of metal last month (Jan 19) at the local team tournament. That was my come-back taikai after 2 months of recovery from the wrist injury.

Our dojo filled a 5-person ladies team on the mixed event. The week before there's a slight dispute over whether the girls should withdrawn from entering the taikai... But luckily everyone seems to have no problem fighting guys. (...Sometimes I wonder what makes the sensei so worried about our safety...)

"D" team from HKKA was our first opponent. Noyori-san points out that they look beginner-ish, and so they were. Though I wasn't too sharp fighting as senpo (not sure why I was put there, after no kendo for 2 months!!), and the first match ended with me losing to a funny silent kaeshi-do. Everyone else trashed their opponent, and we were up the 2nd round.

City U's team, filled with younger, bigger uni students, was next. Our dojos had girls fighting Tse in Red-do a couple of times in previous taikai, and all complained about the hard hittings. When I started that I didn't feel much of that, mainly because I switched to attack mode. 2:1 was the result of my match, after losing to a kote in between 2 debana-men. Not recalling much from here, but the girls behind me fought well, and we won against the imaginary bullies (they weren't much so).

Horiguchi-san on taisho was the one shouting "Ikuso--" (Go!) after team bow off before the match. I guess this worked quite well for the team as a whole. Especially her 10-sec ninja kendo on taisho match always made a climactic scene to watch.

Third up was Shojinkan, K-sensei's squad featuring 3 Japanese and a Korean, including "bullet train" Hamasaki as senpo. Everybody in sight warned me about him, how he can hit from to-maai, how fast he can finish a match (5 sec...argh), etc. None of us thought that we have a chance against them, but we battle on.

I bet a lot of people watching were counting how many seconds I could last against Hamasaki. Well that's what I was thinking too, but the whole point of the match was "not to lose points". I made a lot of blocking and ducking just to stay longer in the court, and this tactic worked until aafter 2 mins, when he launched a men after a short ai-kakari-geiko. He did another men immediately after "nihonme" to end the match.

Somehow this had made the girls thought we weren't fighting an invincible team. Both Noyori-san and Pik scored back after me, and when Takahashi-san got a draw, we already won! Again, Horiguchi-san made her quick finish, and the audience went mad...!

Because our girls team made it to the semi-finals!! No one, not even ourselves, expected this.

We were one-girl short on our next match against HKKA's A team, as Takahashi-san pulled her leg muscles on her last match (like myself, she's out of practice).

I got Joseph, younger of the Chan bros who practiced since they were v young. He's of a simliar age and level as I am, but obviously practices more regular than I was. My rusty kendo let him won a clean 2:0. The rest of the teammates followed suit, and we ended up with 9:0 after a no-show for Takahashi-san's match. I guess at that point we were so not-concerned about winning or even fighting, and just simply lost the momentum with Takahashi-san's injury.

Team bronze (left to right) - Horiguchi, Takahashi, Noyori, Jenny, Pik
BTW that's designer dojo jacket, designed by ours truly.

This medal has the best design of what I kept so far. The hosting dojo, Sekishinkan, must have had it made in Japan.

Now I'm back in weekly practice, but planning to get more often because a) the Asian Tournament is coming, and b) I got free time after finishing more freelance work, and c) I passed the bike exam, waiting for my Learner's license to be issued. My wrist is healing 95% with only mild pain left.

It did not feel right when I was the "weakest link" in my team, after losing 3 out of 4 matches. Some say that my opponents were also stronger of their team, but then I could have at least pull a draw. Simply enough, I was not in shape.

This Sun I even turned up at squad training at record-low temperature of 9 Celsius..! Made me feel less guilty of my performance. Sadly, the training has been minimized into 15-min of kihon and then 30-min of long-queue shiai-keiko, finished by 30-min of jigeiko. All very different from when I left the squad.

Hope that I can get back in shape in time for the Asian Tournament, which is only 3 weeks away!

Inversely Proportional

2007-12-12T02:02:00.000+08:00

So I woke up and get to that far-far-away venue with only 3 hours of sleep. Work has been insanely busy before Xmas.

I got into the stadium right on time, but had a bad stomach ache by then, and ended up missing the first part of the group warm-up for Team HK at 8am.

When I joined in, I randomly grabbed a male partner and did waza-keiko with him. He's more junior than me, and can see a lot of my men-uchi coming in. But for kote oji-waza, he completely missed as I was always sharp. This is the best I can do with the injury, so my strategy for the day was to finish the matches as soon as possible, and use de-gote whenever possible.

My teammates are Pik (senpo) and Agnes (chuken) on HK Team B.

As usual, Ladies event started first. 6 teams on 2 pools.

Match 1 vs Macau A
[Leng, my friend in the UK, was on this team and I was a little bit worried - but then I found out she's not the one I fight...]

KK - 0 in 5 seconds.

Match 2 vs Dailin
[The other 2 girls are from Dailin, but taisho is Anna(?) on holiday originally from Australia, and she knows what to do in shiai]

0 - 0

[Progressing to the semi-finals was against another mixed team - Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai]
Match 3 vs Mixed Team

KM - 0 in 12 seconds.

It felt a bit longer than the 1st match because I didn't want to hit kote all the time... Anyway.

On to the Final. Ever sense the lack of visiting kenshi this year?

Match 4 vs HK Team A
Amy 1 - 0 Pik
Jane 0 - 2 Agnes

So we are already one point ahead.

me vs Jay

... To my dojo mate Noyori-san, this was like another rematch of the final from a few months ago.

It did! But then I lost in the middle of the match, when I, very predictably, went in for de-gote, missed, and got a debana-men instead.

The game carried on. We spent a lot of time in tsuba-zeriai. I can't remember what I was thinking (probably nothing then!) when I got this chance of hiki-men.

Flags up. Massive cheering. 1 to 1.

Someone sitting at the other court told me that the hit was so spot on and load. Now I really want to see the rerun of this. Apparently, there was a bit of PR and the local cable channel filmed my last 2 matches. Thing is that I don't remember it being a very difficult cut.

So this made my team the Champion, hurray!!

[ The rest of the day I spent sitting at a corner working, napping, and cheering for the boys - I only stayed there because we need to take medal pics...]

There's also not as many teams as the previous year on the Men's event, and the level difference is obvious. Well of course there are a number of good players, like Yu Ding, the current president of one of the Beijing's clubs, but they didn't fill a ninja team this time.

I went home and worked till 3am.

So you can see that it's not like I don't want to shiai or kendo. But seriously I am overloaded with work, having a broken wrist (feels A LOT better now, thanks everyone), and simply not practicing often enough. It's very odd that the result can be so inversely proportional to the "effort" I put in the past 2 months.

Let's see how the wrist's going later this month. I'm only going to jog and resist the suburi temptation!!

In 5 Days

2007-12-05T00:19:00.000+08:00

...I will again fight for Team HK. This time is the annual Chinese Taikai - kenshi from all around Mainland China will travel to grade/ fight in the coming weekend. (They have to be "Chinese" to fight.)

There was this call from my Sensei earlier last week, literally pushed me to be in the team. I was very reluctant because A) I am supposed to rest my wrist; B) I am seriously busy at "work" (with tons of freelance work sucking up all my non-work hours) and C) I haven't been in bogu for the entire Nov. The only thing that kept me "fit" was the 25-min jog along the river twice a week.

Last weekend they had Chiba sensei visiting with I missed. The remaining keiko time will be tonight (Tues) at squad training. So I have to go.

"How's your wrist?" has replaced "hello" as a greeting when I met up with the sensei, coach and fellow team members. Gossips spread really fast!!

We had some light, "normal" warm-up, short kihon and shiai keiko - all done in an hour and I left after the first jikeiko with Eda-sensei.

For the whole time I was just sucking up the pain, and especially in shiai it was very frustrating to fight against my own wrist!! I lost all my shiai 0-2 (or should I blame the ref not focusing on our court?) My cuts are seriously lacking the snap and power all coming from right hand. Totally awful experience.

I found it a bit unfair that all these guys can join the competition on free will, but injured girls had to be on "reserved".

This wrist has traumatized a great part of my spirit already. I am not even sure whether this is just an excuse of escaping responsibility or what. I am already blaming it for failing my driving exam - and that's not a good sign.

Seme Ashi

2007-10-08T17:08:00.001+08:00

This is the first practice after a month's break from kendo, including a week of holiday in Cambodia. My left wrist seems to never recover 100%. Eda-sensei recommanded the old-school treatment of, well, just keep carry on with the practice. It's meaningless if I only watch and never try.

So this Sun afternoon I was back in the dojo in full bogu, and fortunately there were plenty of time spent without bogu (less stress on my wrist). Again, Minejima-san had taken over the senior teaching part. Facing the mirrors, we practice seme-ashi. Key points:-

1. Upper body without any movement
2. Constant eye level
3. Left foot slides on the floor until the very last moment
4. Hand movement only at the very last moment

We also had rounds of kirikaeshi, 1-min jikeiko and ai-men. It's really great to feel that I'm getting on with the seme part well, as I can see how some juniors didn't show much of the seme (with reference to the key points). Against Minejime, who I knew he's being easy, I messed up with the distance. My lack of power from the legs were mostly due to an hour of motorbike ride in the morning - it's exhausting.

The month has been busy at work, but I really hope I can show up more. The dojo is filled with more serious training atmosphere, and everyone is showing some improvement. Too bad I can't commit to the squad anymore, but I wish them the very best at next month's Chinese Taikai.

One day after I am feeling a bit of swelling pain on my wrist. If it's not getting worse, I think I'll just have to withstand it and keep going.

Need a Break

2007-09-14T22:29:00.000+08:00

The clock said 15 minutes left of the night's practice, but I couldn't stand the wrist pain and had to drop out after only a round of jikeiko.

...I could have stopped on the first thing we did in full bogu - kirikaeshi. The rebouncing shinai sent tears in my eyes. For the rest of the practice I spent all my energy trying to hit without the pain. The path of my swing went very wavy as I observed. Ended up using excessive right hand power, or not enough power, or letting go of the shinai...

It's been really "itchy" just watching at the side for the past two weeks. That's why I wanted to get back to training this Thurs, but obviously my healing rate is not fast enough.

Should I be reminded that, a break will be all I need for the next few weeks until my wrist feels perfect doing suburi? For the rest of the month I should focus on getting my club jacket done... Grrrr

Hiki-waza

2007-09-09T01:27:00.000+08:00

Key Points:-

To Start: Keep proper tsuba-zeriai to protect yourself as in chudan
Step 1: Hit hard on the same spot with right foot stamping
Step 2: Escape as fast as you could
Step 3: Strong kiai

Our latest ninja senpai, Minejima-san, volunteers to spend a few training session on Hiki-waza.

...I was unable to train for the second week running because of a wrist injury from motorbiking (I should say I was not at all talented at that). Probably I should be spending the whole Sep resting my wrist, and get some mitori-keiko after work. I hate the feeling of not being able to do anything.

Woo-hoo!

2007-08-07T18:06:00.000+08:00

That's right - I'm now a Sandan, after 6 years of kendo!

It was a lot easier than I thought. Partly thanks to Pik and Amy, similar age as mine and both girls from my dojo, were my lucky grading partner. It's relieving enough to know before hand who I was going to have my tachiai with - at least all 3 of us do great kendo, and can put up a good show in front of the grading panel.

As far as I can remember, I "scored" at least a de-gote and a few good ai-men (debana-men). Someone said I did my exam like a shiai. That might be right too, as the same mindset had got the best out of me. But then I notice that whenever I got the ai-men, my body is going off to the right side. Obviously my body is still not going straight and forward enough, even that my speed gave an advantage. Besides, my failed attempts of de-gote has rewarded my partners with kote-men opportunities, and that's probably because I was not cutting forward enough on those occasions.

My (or our) kata sucked. But hey, nobody is perfect! Again I'm in the first pair in front of the panel. It's not easy to spot that my pair's bad sense of maai, adding to my rather obvious mistake at #2. Oh well, they let us through this time, and perhaps getting a more regular kata practice could be a better option...uhmm..

Overall the whole grading has relatively high level of kendo - I rarely spot those I thought would fail, and indeed in the end in every grade only 1-2 people didn't get through the tachiai part. Some of them were, comparatively, too negative about the match, lacking energy and spirit, and failed show successful or even attempt attack.

It's been the best grading experience so far (after [UK] Sumi's seminar grading, Glascow WKC grading and London [Mumeishi] Autumn grading), and let's forget about 4th Dan before I feel like it. This exam is enjoyable, and I was confident in passing, despite that everyone has to arrive at 8am and we are not allow to practice kata or anything but "watch"... If people pass, they probably deserve it - especially when they worked hard for it!

Our sensei seems to be the person most excited and overjoyed, after spending the pass few months getting the 7 of us ready for this grading, and seeing our surprising performance on the day. Other sensei on the grading panel had only said positive comments about our dojo members. Someone even pointed out that now our dojo has the highest 3rd Dan population in Hong Kong!

The next step is probably to find out what's next. After a few months at full-time work, I notice how kendo helps clearing my mind in the week, and in general regulates my life. I no longer see it as a waste-of-time-better-do-something-more-constructive activity. Hope that my schedule with work and upcoming classes, I can manage to get the practice I need, and enjoy the training along the way.

Slight Concern

2007-08-03T15:55:00.000+08:00

2 days before sandan shinsa. Still not too confident about the whole thing - not been practising regular enough, and only had about 1 hour of kata practice... From my dojo there are 5 of us heading for the same grade, and I practise the least.

Last night, however, had been a good practice. Good, in a sense that the kakari-keiko and jigeiko let me attack in the way I wanted. I am winning most of my ai-men, including some taller guys.

Minejima-san's suggestion about pushing from the left leg DURING a cut has significantly improved my cutting speed. I'm starting to cut people's men and kote before they realized they've been cut...! (at least that's what I've been told).

Let me sit back and relax a little bit more over the weekend. Work here is boring as hell, and I found myself preparing for the written part of the sandan shinsa at the studio!

Now I am not sure what I'm going to do after sandan. Will going back to the squad an option? Worth considering, but I'll need to get a pass first.

Excitement, and Not Training-related

2007-07-13T01:41:00.000+08:00

It's 1.45am. Apart from having a few glasses of beer ^n during the simple farewell keiko dinner with Naganawa-san, and being battered by yondan ninja Minejima-san during demo shinsa tachiai, I am more excited to present you with:-

This week's Metropop. Metropop is a weekly magazine published every Thursday from Metro (same newspaper on underground/ subway trains globally). Hong Kong is the experimental city to lanuch such a weekly mag, and according to published statistics, it has a local circulation of 118,462.

There you see my work. Not the most brilliant, but probably most read, so far:-

Just an ad for a concert of a local orchestra, alongside with many other ads in the mag. Not sure I'm so willing to show it off... Their whole campaign is driving me nuts - as I've been typesetting for 101 music pieces' listing for the entire week - reason why I was late fro kendo today!!

Doing Things Properly

2007-06-22T00:22:00.000+08:00

We had a Sumi-sensei weekend again, and he dropped by our dojo today.

They were doing stretching when I got there, and I pretty much fall asleep lying comfortably on the dojo floor...

Had a torn-off blister under my little finger after a good round of suburi-keiko, again lasted for 30 mins. Obvious sign of not training regular enough.

Then 4 rounds of 3-string kirikaeshi as warm-up, followed by an endless amount of uchikomi-keiko (men-hiki-men/kote/do x3), when totally wore every kakarite out.

I was (un)fortunate enough to be standing opposite Sumi-sensei when he needs a uchikomi-keiko demo, and was forced to repeatedly correct my leaning-forward posture during hitting, and also moving to the side in between the set. These 2 bad habits will be what I should work up on before my sandan grading (hopefully). I was not *that* aware of these before, simply because only in demos against an 8th-dan sensei that I felt like putting up a better show when so many people are watching. Pressure is definitely good for me.

Five points to recap:-
1) Shinai tip shouldn't drop when raising up during suburi
2) Hit and receive on monouchi part of shinai - both motodachi and kakarite needs tobe aware
3) Seme-ashi first before every hit
4) Keeping back straight when hitting
5) Keeping a tsubazeriai kamae smoothly after hitting - should keep shinai at the same level after the hit, until tsuba almost touching opponent's men-gane, then drop hands

作文コンテスト

2007-06-17T12:56:00.000+08:00

先月、日本語学校の作文コンテストで二等賞を取った。（優勝５人、二等賞１０人、三等賞２０人）テーマは、「今年度の目標」について。

奨学金HK$100をもらったのに、三級以上の勉強するのをあきらめてしまった。

他の事を習いたいからです。（時間がない）

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

オートバイを運転できるようになる！

　セントラルの会社に勤めてもう二ヶ月になります。新界に住んでいるので、家から会社までバスに乗って片道７５分はかかります。朝のラッジュはすごいです。高速道路もいつも込んでいます。だから、早く会社に行きたくてもいけません。時々遅れてしまい、困ります。

　自分でオートバイを運転したら、通勤の時間を短くなるとおもいます。小さいですから、込む道でも大丈夫ですし、便利です。なので、早く起きる必要はありません。それに、オートバイは車より安いです。貯金が足りたら、すぐ買えます。

　オートバイは通勤だけではなく、休みも使えます。先月、友達にドライブしてもらいました。二人でスポーツバイクに乗って、香港島南部の海岸へ行きました。あのスポーツバイクは、かっこいいし、速いし、それにエンジンの音が強いです。途中で、オートバイを乗りながら、綺麗な景色を見ることができて、楽しいしかったです。

　なので、今年オートバイの運転免許を取ろうと決心しました。

Out of the Blue

2007-05-13T21:33:00.000+08:00

Sorry for the lack of updates, as I've been struggling with the new job, evening Nihongo classes, and the freelance projects that never seem to be finishing... I'd say I am lucky enough to still be catching once a week of kendo in the past month or so.

Yet, very much out of the blue, I won the ladies open grade individuals at the last local taikai---!!

Round 1
Ai-men at encho, 1-0 vs Lei from Macau

Round 2
De-gote, 1-0 vs Pek from my dojo

Round 3
Tobikomi men, Nuki-do, 2-0 vs Couk from Macau

Round 4 (Final)
De-gote, 1-0 vs Jay from HKKA

My half of the tree isn't as competitive, as we are all roughly at the 0-2 dan level. Squad sempai and the newly Godan, Jay and Agnes, together with Horiguchi-san (3 dan) who just picked up kendo after 10 blank years, had rather exciting fights. In total there were only 15 girls.

Adding to that, I wasn't thinking about winning or even scoring! In the morning I switched off the alarm clock and had thought of staying in bed instead... Looking back for the pass 2 weeks I've only went to kendo ONCE, and perhaps jogged twice, plus some stretching and suburi etc. light exercise at home... Which, on the other hand, made me feel very relaxed. I was there to play my own game.

I am quite suprised that just by relaxing alone is better than thinking about what I should score, how I should prepare for my fight, etc. etc. (and to a certain point, why I am able to win against those who practice a lot more regularly, and am more experienced then me...) Take the finals for example, when I took on de-gote, despite what the crowd had been cheering and clapping for, I really turned my head left and right to check the flag, and told myself, "Gee, I am getting Gold!"

It's a mystery. This is the first time I've got placed in Hong Kong, and the first time I get first for my kendo (I've only won once for Iaido mudan division in the UK). I am so under-prepared that I forgot about bringing my own camera... So I'll add a medal pic when I get hold of any one of them.

Still, if I am going to get graded Sandan this year, I'd better get to train more often!

Yoku Dekimashita--!

2007-03-18T22:06:00.000+08:00

Now that this has been done, all I need is to finish the remaining few months of my 3rd kyu course, send out the form and claim back my $$$$!!!

The Pay Off

2007-03-05T15:08:00.000+08:00

So, the Asian Tournament - it has been renamed to Hong Kong Asian Open Kendo Championships.

There's some last minute changes to the local team arrangements, and I ended up being the taisho, with Noyori-san and Lo on the 3-person ladies HK Team C. The ladies were on a completely separate division this year - meaning we cannot be on the 2nd Dan below teams, but the good thing is there is no longer scenes of giant bear pushing little girl beginners all over the place.

My team gets the lucky pool - we can still get through if we placed 2nd in our group.

First, we trashed the Guangzhou team. Afterwards people kept reminding how sharp my hiki-men and tobikomi-men were (actually I think the hit landed on men-gane...), and I'm very eager to watch it in video!!

We get Asian Kendo Club B next. I don't know what exactly is this club about, but heard that they're a group of asia expats who've returned to Japan. We've watched them fight against Guangzhou previously, and I thought, while they're good (and with Japanese last name anyway), they are not as bright as the other 2 university teams.

So fast forward a little bit... I looked at the scoreboard and see that I have to win 2 points straight for my team to draw on points. When I stepped in there, I don't feel my opponent too overwhelmly strong or unbeatable, even though from what I watched earlier she is better than me... Suddenly I quite fancy winning the match. I went quite hyper after getting used to her timing. On ipponme I lost a kote, but nihonme I really made a 3-flag-up kote-nuki-men...!! Maybe if it wasn't of the last failed block I tried and the debana-elbow I lost to (got bruise to prove!), I might draw or even win that match!!

Now we are one step up the match tree, and our next match is against Asian KC Team A (first team of their pool) - so they might be even stronger. I jokingly told Lo and Noyori-san that if we win the next team, we can secure a medal (!).

When it's my turn to fight, my teammates had already lost and so, it doesn't really matter what I do in the court!! When I go all out, I find that spiritual-wise, it pulled my level closer to my stronger opponent. I made good attempts and so did she, but none worked. I lost 0-K, by one point, so it doesn't look too horrible.

The eventual winner is Fukuoka Edu Uni team. Kokugakuin came 2nd. Maybe they'll have a better chance with their original senpo - who injured her leg during keiko on friday night. Li from Macau was their replacement. She's actually quite a nice addition to their team - scoring a really fast debana-men shodachi within 3 seconds on her Fukuoka opponent.

The Guangzhou boys may have bad taste in their totally out-of-place Shinsengumi samurai cosplay team jacket (don't miss the red bulb accessory on their chest, a paper fan too), but their kendo is not bad at all. We always expect Japanese team has the best players, but overall I am more impressed with the performance of some kohai and also competitors from Mainland China. Some of them looked like total beginner last Nov at the Chinese Tournament, yet their current kendo level is on such a great leap. A guy from Guangzhou beat our local favourite Johnny (who won C. Yang in the individuals at the last WKC). Well, you'd never know who's been training harder while you weren't!

There are just too many cups and medals to be given out... Trophy cups + medals for the 1st-3rd place of each division, medals kantousho for one member of EACH team. I'm lucky to receive one of the more practical ones:-

"Shimpan-cho sho" it says, or Chief Referee's Award - 4 for each division. This is the first thing I won in Hong Kong, and therefore very encouraging little present to have.

Earlier we heard the good news about 3 of our ladies sempai has all passed their 5th Dan shinsa. Damn if only I've applied my sandan...! Perhaps I should save this new shinai bag with little sakura print when I receive my sandan menjo?

The Big Loop

2007-02-28T14:24:00.000+08:00

Do you remember this lap on the map? (the blue one)

Yesterday at 7.30pm I tried running the full lap once more. I've been jogging along the riverside on the days I can't kendo. It's been a while since I time myself.

Stopwatch that shows my time, without stopping in the middle:-

Yes I made the full round - within half a year of running!!

I was accompanied by quite a lot of other runners going anti-clockwise: a group of 20 students from the nearby sports college, a group of 10 firemen from the nearby fire station, plus 5 people wearing the same "Standard Charter Marathon '06" t shirt!

The Asian Tournament shares the same date as the Standard Charter Marathon (much like the New York one, marathon around town), which is this weekend! Time to pump up!

Welcome to Year 2007

2007-02-16T17:40:00.000+08:00

Ah-ha!

Within the first 2 weeks of my job hunt, I received an offer from a decent graphic design studio. I've also spent an afternoon chatting with the director of one of the top 3 studio in town. He gave me invaluable advice on surviving in the local design scene, adding to the positive thinking and confidence transferred from that conversation.

Anyway, after the Chinese New Year holiday in the coming weekend, and finishing the remaining mundane freelance projects, I'll be working in a design team that values my creative work.

...Which also means that I can go to regular training now. At the last minute, I signed myself up for the Asian Tournament. It seems like 99% membership of our dojo is going to take part in it, and there's no reason now for me to just stand there and watch!

Happy New Year everyone. Did you notice I've changed to Mingshiwan.com yet? The 13th WKC special site is still under construction. I should get it done over the holiday really...

The 9th President Trophy Tournament

2007-01-29T23:18:00.000+08:00

It's great to have a camera now with the function for colour correction - at least I can show some presentable shots from now on...

At the last minute I found out that I got into the all-girl team from my dojo. I wasn't really expecting anything from this tournament. I've only get back into twice-per-week training since Jan, and I've skipped Thursday's to work on a zzzz project overnight. Anyway, I don't have the "you have to win" pressure on me, which makes the day more enjoyable.

There's this trend in our little city that audience has to cheer out loud. Sorry but we're ignoring your concept of budo - and our act is even encouraged by our sensei. It holds the team and the dojo together, better than doing your kendo in 3 minutes and not having further business watching.

I fought as Jiho in the first matches of the day, after the kids competition and a mass warm-up. Strange but I think the recent extra shiai preparations helped, that I wasn't frozen in sonkyo etc. It must have been more than 8 months since the last time I fought in a formal shiai with 3 referees.

Even more suprising was that I scored first on my opponent with a BRILLIANT hiki-kote. The sort of hiki-kote that I really created the chance, committed on the cut, and caused 3 flags up instantly. Too bad I lost nihonme by a kote-nuki-men. I lost my focus after that, started cutting in messy mode and drew my match.

For the rest of the fights I advised on the girls to keep the points for decision match after taisho-sen. And as expected, the 5 fights went as 1-1, 1-1, 1-0, 0-1, 0-0 and we need to get that golden ippon. We pushed Takahashi-san to represent us (since no one else has the confidence), who lost eventually.

Our opponents was around 1-2 dan level from HKKA's dojo, which is quite similar to my team. If only I, or anyone kept a point up. Zannen desu.

We have 4 teams from our dojo, 3 went on to the 2nd round. My team went on to become a cheerleading team.

Our A team went the furtherest to the FINALS - Amy, Naganawa, Michael, Angus, Mark Stone - but lost 4-1 to the "fake-Korean" all-white Sekishinkan team. The fights has been exciting though, at least from a spectator point of view.

That hiki-kote I scored does fire me up a bit, especially there are people coming to me telling me how good it was. Yet I'm again in job-seeking mood, and have kindly declined committing to fight at the coming Asian Tournament in March. I've sent out a few letters last week, and if my life gets better next month with a stable job, I wouldn't mind. We'll see...

Pre-taikai

2007-01-15T18:48:00.000+08:00

In 2 week's time we are going to have our local team tournament. Practice has been intense lately. For some reason everybody seems quite keen to fight, especially with the new practice arrangement - fitness on Thurs, waza on Sat, and an extra Sunday shiai keiko.

It was a nightmare at work and only early this month I'm the acceptable 2 practice a week of kendo. Life's like that and we try to make most of it. One of my dojomates, and a friend to many readers here, Mark Stone, had his 1-week-old baby daughter to look after with, struggled to show up for our shiai keiko.

The toughest part has to go with the fitness training on Thurs - it was a lot more fum with the kids around, but the level of tiredness stays for the next 4 days---!!! Apart from the suburi and such, we also got shuttle-run-with-push-ups and human-tunnel-crawl. All highly military. Perhaps Eda-sensei wants to see if bodybuilding like Team USA will pump us all up and ready for the taikai.

I haven't fought in shiai for quite a long while (or even in regular keiko...) - but got arrange into the "A" team everyone thinks, fighting taisho position. With all these responsiblity thoughts coming in, I should just stick with the kendo for this month, just to get back to it. In next month I'll be back in the jobhunt, and probably can't commit to anything at all.

Last Sun's shiai keiko was not too bad. M-M vs Nigata-san, 0-D vs Noyori-san, 0-0 vs Pik and Leo who's in Nito. I can feel that my cuts went ok. But Oda-san (senpai in charge) did comment about the "No seme" part. All I've been getting for the past few month is just some very kihon partnered exercise. It's very hard to create seme without actually doing a lot of jikeiko or shiai... Something I miss out on with my away periods for "work".

Coming Soon

2007-01-06T00:01:00.000+08:00

Sorting Things Out

2006-12-19T18:08:00.000+08:00

Oops - I haven't even started touching the photojournal. We've got that distant earthquake (My seat was swinging back and forth while I was staring at my laptop from my 16th floor flat). Email broke down for 36+ hours, and work piled up with every client rushing me to send them revisions. I'm probably gonna be trapped at home working on crappy leaflets, websites and such. Personal projects will be postponed until further notice. Hondon ni gomennasai...

Seems like I'm going to have my Xmas holiday sitting in front of my computer 10am-10pm as usual! Can't believe everyone wants their work to be done at the same damn time AND on MY holiday...

Only the world's smartest a$$es will be checking my Flickr for some teaser pics ------>

There are a couple of ideas for my 13th WKC photojournal . Since I don't have much shiai pics to go with (since I did't have a VIP pass to shoot from the arena level), maybe I should do better things with them. So far the structure will go as:-

** Please suggest COOLer titles to go with **

Before, During & After
- some chronological photos from the opening ceremony, fights, awards, etc.

Off the court and around the stadium
- audience, bogu stalls, anime-manga convention peeps

The Ultimate Kamae Challenge
- highlights for some Jodan players, Jodan vs Chudan, Nito, etc.

Annyeong haseyo
- Glorious moments for Team S. Korea I captured

13th WKC Kendo Jacket Fashion Showcase
- basically a collage of what everyone was wearing

British Corner
- dedicated to friends from Team GB (including an experimental film)

Taipei sightings
- Obviously some travel snaps to go with, i.e. street foodstalls, around town, Taipei 101, etc.

*****

Will need to spare time to put everything up during Xmas.

So You've Bloody Missed It

2006-12-11T01:48:00.000+08:00

So you've heard the news. Result for the 13th WKC men's team:-

S. KOREA First Place
USA 2nd Place

Chinese Taipei got beaten by Korea.
Japan GOT BEATEN by USA (something like 1:0, 0:1, 1:0 , 0:1, 2:0)

It's all f***ed up and sorry you've goddamn missed it.

You might think that we all arranged it and I am telling you that some team other than Japan got 1st but ITS FREAKING TRUE at 1.50am after a few drinks offered by the British team.

But you can still get ready for Kendo Nippon's coverage on it and look at it yourself.

(why do I bother plugging in my laptop on a Monday Morning....????)

From Taipei

2006-12-08T23:25:00.000+08:00

Smell it.

Busy with work - more later.

Rushing Up

2006-12-04T20:47:00.000+08:00

Devoted the weekend to Nihongo - sat 2 JLPT exams and they turned out to be easier than expected.

Now I am struggling to finish projects up for 5 different clients, all setting deadlines in a week. If I delay the projects, I might lose the deal because clients will find someone else. Might have to bring along my laptop instead of bogu. (Or just the kote to have them patched up)

There's also something else happened, making me to give up on my NTD 1200 seat on the second day. Also that I'll have to change hotels on 2 nights (i.e. have to carry laptop, camera and stuff to the stadium)... I thought I'm going to treat myself better by not staying in a youth hostel, but things suddenly become so poorly arranged that I have to apologize to myself!!

Spirited Away

2006-11-15T00:06:00.000+08:00

Last Sunday was the 2nd Regional Kendo Tournament. With not much work to handle this week and no dates to go to, I turned up as a spectator at 10.30am. The lateness was due to my failure in getting to the out-of-town venue using an alternative route - which brought me to the wrong side of the harbour...

Yet thanks to the usual operational delays -when I walked in it was still at the first team matches at the first pool in both courts.

"Regional" really means Chinese. It's a Chinese-only tournament with teams from other cities in Mainland China. No Japanese team members in sight except the coaching sensei from representing cities. Apart from Hong Kong Team A-G and neighbouring Macau, we also have Team Guangdong A-C, Shanghai A-C, Beijing A-C and a mixed team. People with odd zekken like Dalin, Chengdao, etc. have been spotted.

They seem to love energy-saving lightings here, which wasn't favourable for photography. So I ended up doing some filming for my ex-teammates.

Comparing to last year, the level of kendo from other cities has gone up. Adding to that, Team HK didn't put any team with five 4-dan in it, which makes the matches more exciting to watch as the result is always unpredictable.

I follow mostly Team B to film which also had Jane as jiho. She is getting used to fight alongside the other 4 boys, and took some surprisingly sneaky ippons that got praised by Kishikawa sensei and the whole lot of us from the same dojo.

Team Ladies was defeated by Guangdong A at the quarter-finals. Senpo Xixi was sick to hold on to the match. Must have set a bad start for the rest of the team members.

Team "A" went all the way to the semis but beaten by Beijing A. The Northerners were on fire.

That only came to Team B's responsibility to be the top Champ. It was going like 0-2 for Wong, 0-2 for Jane (apparently, she hang on against Xixi's tall boyfriend till 3'30"...) - until our Fok came up, lost one more point, which fired him up to get back a 2-1. Then Johnny a quick 2-0 as usual, and finally taisho-sen Yip also delivered an breath-taking 2-1 against Yuding (who went to Fukuoka with us last June).

Observing a more local tournament with an overall level closer to myself, it's not only the kendo that matters. You can still get sucked into the game and enjoy checking the scoreboard. You can shout encouragement whenever necessary and cheer for any players putting up a good show.

We did have 2 IKF 8-dan sensei overlooking the taikai. I reckon the more they come and see for themselves, the more they notice the interest of kendo in Mainland China, which will help the Chinese to set up a proper IKF-recognized organization.

Besides the camera, I had my bogu with me for some light bash at the finishing 35-min of jikeiko. Most visting girls ended up standing in the 8-dan queue with 10+ people in it. In the end I had a Guangzhou guy similiar to my build, and then a Shanghai big guy. Depsite being more junior than me in terms of skill, both of them were a lot more spirited to initiate attacks and such. I lost a handful of debana men just because of that. It's like one of those days where you haven't been into regular training and people keep getting you at ease. It's just a matter of going back.

I do have a feeling that I should avoid regular kendo to concentrate more on jobs, etc. I am having a second thought on what the others told me - "kendo gives you the positive attitude that can be translated to other aspects in life" blah blah blah - simple because it wasn't working. For the past few months without much practice, all work suddenly came to find me.

That's why it's not any worse going to Taiwan just to catch everyone else's fights. Enjoy the fights, the chat, the photo-snapping, the street food, the beer and the combined kendo atmosphere. 3 weeks to go with flights, hotels + tickets all booked. It's rewarding enough for what I've sacrificed (by staying away from kendo).

Have a Break

2006-10-30T21:49:00.001+08:00

No, I am still going to kendo once a week. Was fun and relaxing. Nothing special to report.

Just that this Sun I joined a small photography club. It's so much better to pick up my other interest again. The club was started by some foreigners, and now with about 15 members, (with 4 local Chinese on this trip) they go around the city every month for a photography outing. Some of them are semi-pro with cool DSLRs and a bag of lenses.

Equipped with a Konica Minota Dimage Z2 - We went on the 1-hour ferry tour and I thought it'll be nice to share some touristy places from where I am.

>> Clock tower from the Central Pier, with the 88-storey International Finance Centre behind.

>> Yup, the infamous Victoria Harbour. The day has been nice but it's been rather smoggy lately - pollution from Mainland China. I'll consider to relocate in a few years time if this situation doesn't improve.

>> Clock Tower from the opposite side of Central - Tsim Sha Tsui or TST for short. The slope-like archtecture piece behind it is the Cultural Centre, and the grey one, the classy Peninsula Hotel.

>> Yet another view of the Wanchai commercial district on the island side.

>> Back at Central Pier. I am starting to like archtecture photography more than I used to. The Central Pier is going to be torn down in Nov. Hence apart from my group, a lot of people are taking pics that day - for example... spot the girl on the 2nd floor.

Iizuka Sensei + Friends

2006-10-15T12:45:00.000+08:00

One of my non-kendo friends asked the same question that everyone reading this blog wanted to ask,

"Jenny, you're lazy. When's the last time you train?"

I did go last Thurs. Though with work piling up in recent weeks I could barely fit a keiko once a week. But usually I still managed a swim and a jog in my neighbourhood during the week, so my body still moves alright (I think).

On Sat morning I went picking up some banners I printed for my client, dropped them to his office, got home and had a 1/2 hour nap, then I picked up my bogu and headed off to QEII.

I only realized that there're Iizuka sensei (8th Dan, Shizuoka ken), 3 fresh 8th Dan, plus 4 more higher Dan visiting this weekend. Hence there isn't much of a "practice" but just queuing to keiko with sensei...

We did have some simple warmup and suburi. Then we were told that "The first 1/2 hour will be practice for 4Dan & above and squad members"... Fair enough. We the lower ranking ones will get the sensei when they were all a bit tired (especially they came straight from the airport?)

I did my keiko with Kawaki, 5Dan woman, and Suzuki, fresh 8Dan older male, during the remaining 30 mins.

A couple of differences that I found without a lot of practice:-

1) I actually wanted to initial attack more. I'm taking more on the offensive, despite the level of opponent.
2) My keikogi became soaking wet within 30 mins. I can keep my stamina up by doing some exercises, but I cannot re-create the pressure in a kendo environment.
3) Stopped worrying and enjoy the bash!

The friendly practice with Tony from Seattle when "last keiko" was shouted, added in much fun out of all the 8Dan seriousness around us.

There's practice Sun morning 9-11am. But obviously I love my bed very much and did not intend to get out of it at 730 this morning.

My Sandan is due this weekend too, but I don't have any intention to get it anytime this year. I really want my other aspects of life to settle first before getting serious in my leisure training. Like, my 3kyu Nihongo class will finish in a month, and I need revision for the 2 exams in Dec.

Sumi Sensei

2006-09-04T15:23:00.000+08:00

Sumi sensei was in HK for a local referee seminar last weekend. I spared my Sat evening to take a lesson from him. Knowing his teaching style since Ikkyu, I hope that by coming to the dojo, he will inspire me in some ways people here can't.

Saturday's class has a focus on tenouchi. We had different exercises to understand what the correct tenouchi should be like. I think those ones with both hands holding the shinai near the tsuba really helps using the left hand to cut.

There's also men-uchi from to-mai, with a step advancing and then immediately cut. There's a funny exercise that "show your sole of your feet to your opponent" before fumikomi to remind us of using the hips more.

Finally there's some kirikaeshi, uchikomi-keiko and jikeiko to end the session with. Managed a keiko with Wong-san and Takase (kohei) which went alright. After that it was standing-in-the-queue time at Sumi-sensei's line. Briefly chatted with Yip and got and updated on who's in the official men's team.

Kishikawa-sensei wasn't there.

There's always emailing coming in about visiting sensei and upcoming events. Now that I don't have the obligation to get to these "all squad member should attend" activities, I'm getting to the trainings when I feel like. May need a longer period of time to build up very strong motivation, but I'm in no hurry. At least I can tell people "I love my job" now.

Being There

2006-08-25T00:11:00.000+08:00

After about a month's absence due to various issues in life, I went to keiko at my own dojo.

We've got a typhoon here and its raining like hell. I went anyway.

It was a really kihon class suitable for all levels. There's only 6 adults and 3 kids in the rotation, loads of stretching & warming-up, plus none of the exercise involves an offensive motodachi. The only special scene being the visiting 7 Dan Kyoshi, Miss Nou from Chiba getting into our rotation for a while, and did jikeiko with everyone towards the end of the class.

Over the days I have lost the inspiration from visiting sensei. Maybe because we got 7-8 dan visitors so damn often. I've already missed Furukawa sensei from Hokkaido last weekend because of painful tonsillitis.

With the squad responsibility out of my mind, during keiko I felt a lot more relaxed and in control. I didn't get to train because of some subconscious guilt - and that certainly makes the keiko more enjoyable, no matter how basic the things we did today.

A bit of update about life: apart from a couple of logo projects for the coming month, my spare time involves meeting friends, studying Japanese (this is getting difficult if I don't revise anything) jogging, and swimming in the pool. I didn't know that I can learn breaststroke in by watching people doing it...! It's hot, sunny, and the pool is only 3 mins walk from home. From nothing to 2x25-metre in 3 weeks. Amazing.

My ex-02-boyfriend is a lifeguard, but I wasn't interested in swimming until after the broke up. Maybe the moral here is that, you're only going to miss the thing when you don't have it any more.

Final Answer

2006-07-22T19:24:00.000+08:00

Over the few days of birthday extravaganza, I've got me a few freelance projects to work on, and also something to remember.

1. Successfully dumping the boyfriend.

2. Telling the coach that I am not up for the WKC selection any more.

It feels like career, romance and personal interests do not get along too well together. But it is quite important to at least keep one of them, and let it grow.

Now I hope I've made some right choices at the age of 24.

Last but not least, to cheer everyone up, here's me under 35oC mid-day sun in Fortaleza e Forl da Guia, Macau (neighbouring casino town).

Offer

2006-07-17T22:51:00.000+08:00

There was this "WKC squad member interview" thingy with the coach + assistant coach last Sun. Apparently I was offered a place in the Ladies team, providing that I fix my attitude (i.e. being "lazy" enough to skip Sunday squad at 9.30am-12.30pm). So I guess I'd have to stick around for a few more months...!

After a few rounds running last week (can't do this week as the rain is way too hard), I noticed how I can explode forward much better. At least the way my understanding is to keep my stronger left thigh muscles ready to push off at all times (I think I was pushing with the ankle before, which is no good). I've also been experimenting with a 70% body weight on my back leg, while using the front to hover around and leap, which is working rather promising.

Yet I still lost quite a lot during shiai keiko. Got scolded heavily on going back during tsubazeriai.

Also, it's still very difficult to last the whole thing, especially the hardcore warm-ups have already drained my limited energy out.

Recovering...

2006-06-30T13:54:00.000+08:00

This is from the "club celebration" we had last Sat, while I've stopped training for the week in an attempt to heal my injured left ankle. (It's now 90% fine, only minor extending problem that keep me moving in straight...)

We had 5 members grabbing Top 3 at the 3 divisions of the individual taikai the other month, plus a load of kids winning almost everything at the children's division. As everyone is buys with work, us club members barely ever get a chance to talk after kendo, until now!

David, the guy with yellow apron on the far right, is the owner of this Japanese restaurant. Thanks to this, all of us was getting beers straight from the tap (literally!!)

----- ----- ----- ----- -----

Shiai-keiko takes place on the Sundays in July. Thank god it's in the afternoon so there's still time to catch the World Cup. I'll know if I'm in or out of the official WKC squad in no time...

----- ----- ----- ----- -----

Here's the Japan Travel photos, if anyone has the time, check the slideshow function.

http://photos.yahoo.com/mingshiwan

The kendo bits went off-limits, uhmm, I mean, it's ninja top secret that I'll need to kill you if I let you see the photos. Sorry folks, but enjoy the rest of West Japan.

----- ----- ----- ----- -----

Now that I can go for a run in the late night summer heat (about 29oC still)... I tried the "other" route recommanded by my dear coach, which is proven to be way too much for me...:-

Look, it's DOUBLE the length where I used to go. I went on for 30 mins and surrendered to the remaining part (the lighter blue line)... My goal is to make the whole circle and not stopping in the middle.

Great!

2006-06-22T12:04:00.000+08:00

At the first squad training in HK after the trip to Japan, I hurt my left ankle. It's probably safer to stop going vigourous for the week. What a great excuse to keep me away from training more. My attendance is rather low this month. After all, I was never really fit enough to be there. Do I really need to break my ankle to prove it?

"It's life". Yeah right.

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2006-05-26T13:03:00.000+08:00

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******************

Last weekend we had Chiba sensei from Tokyo Met Police coming over. Mainly kihon stuff as expected, with shiai keiko and such. Overall it gets people rather excited to see some 8Dan Jodan kendo. No one fought him in Jodan apart from our "Oni Kantoku". Rumors said that Chiba sensei cut kote twice without blinking time for K sensei.

It was rather rainy that Sunday, and I was literally forced to get home by train with K sensei, as he was about to tell me things to improve on! I still have that grip problem that didn't quite click. He also recommands a "kamae check" every time going from sonkyo to before kiai.

We also talked about the running route. Apparently, he and is wife also run, but on the opposite side of the river and their route is so damn faaaaar. They can go on for an hour... amazing. Just that there's been heavy rain over the week, and my plans are disturbed (with not much time left). That very Sunday when I got off the train, it was pouring and as usual I've no umbrella with me. When I got home my jeans turns from light blue to dark blue.

But now it's sunny and 29oC.

Other times Eda sensei was telling people what the training camp at Fukuoka will be like. Seems like Sumi sensei has something special on his mind... I heard different things for the girls will happen when we get there. Everything else is still a mystery.

Run Jenny Run

2006-05-15T00:20:00.000+08:00

This is my neighbourhood. Just thought that I need to know how far I've been running in these few days.

Today after Inoue-sensei's seminar in the morning, I went home, got some rest, and in the evening started my 20-minute run as advised by our dear kantoku. I ran the purple route as indicated on the map. A return journey took 17'08" running time, with once a 1-2 minute break time in between. That's 1250m x 2 = 2.5km in 17'08" minutes. Big thanks to the person who teaches me how to run long-distance. The way I used to run 800m in 4 mins is too fast for this.

The ideal route should be the green line which is a full riverside one-way run. At least it sounds better telling people, "Yeah I do a full circle along the river every day!!"

This morning when I got to Inoue's seminar, they were doing a lecture. Sensei talked about a lot of kendo philosophy and concepts. We moved on to bogu next and did some kihon. We only did 3 types - sensen no sen, dai no sen, and go no sen - and then jumped straight into shiai-shimpan practice.

I fought Xixi first round and lost two ai-men 0:2 in 2 minutes, both times having one flag up on my side... Argh. Last Thursday I changed my timing by floating my right foot in before moving the hands. It worked but not today. Need to get used to the hand-foot coordinations...

More people turned up at this time which made this session particularly long. No one sitting down did the usual cheering (I don't know why...) And because the matches where so short that a lot of people went hikiwake. Until me went up for 2nd round against Tsoi from Sekishinkan. It was a MM:0 match again, but no surprise too as the boy was definitely my junior.

In jikeiko things went rather quick, but I did fight Wong > Yamada > Inoue > Yu sensei. My habitual cuts from too far and heavy right hand still exist. Anything new? I don't think so.

Strange but K sensei wasn't here today...

Oval Hand

2006-05-10T01:47:00.000+08:00

First squad after the taikai. It is no surprise at all that the "warm-ups" get more intense. By that I mean for the usual 200-hayasuburi + 50 katate-hayasuburi, tonight it went

D O U B L E ...

K sensei points out what we've been doing wrong and we went for it again. It doesn't take too long to realize - hey, I managed 200... and suddenly - whoa, there goes another set...

Then I got dragged to "demonstrate" katate-hayasuburi on the dummy, and turns out to be that my grip is not "oval" enough, hence the tense-up arm and shoulders, leading to a big waste of energy... blah blah. This issue has been up since the very first day I joined the training. Not happy.

My new partner in the Ladies group, Xixi from Beijing, actually hangs on really well. She does great hiki-dou. It's good that she's around my age, and is going to stay for another 1/2 year.

... I, on the other hand, broke down after "jikeiko" is called. Previously taken an elbow-dou cut while daydreaming, and with the throwing-up feeling, I just sat that and watch for the entire 1/2 hour. Apart from another guy with a swollen ankle, everyone was still in there, fighting. I have no idea what I was thinking at that time. Maybe I was just wondering how I would survive in Fukuoka, being not able to withstand 1 hr of keiko here.

No surprise, K sensei gave me the "lecture" after class. "You need to work on your body condition"... Problem is that I've been jumping ropes and stuff over the days, worrying if anything like running along the river side (as suggested) would do any help.

Individuals

2006-05-07T22:19:00.000+08:00

It feels like soemthing as expected that I lost in my pool (1st round) at the Ladies 0-3rd Dan division today. I had good sleep the night before, ate enough and arrived early... And being back at the tuesday squad for last month, plus the regular exercises, the only thing there is to blame is myself. Do I have the correct mindset to win? Or, as K sensei repeatedly pointed out, "What are you doing?"

I fought Takahashi-san who is an a-bit-older nidan from my own dojo (yet I rarely go to Saturdays, hence not practiced with her a lot). Pre-fight we both looking forward for a "good match".

Until I lost the first ai-men kind of debana-men at about 2 mins, followed by a men-kaeshi-do (zanshin was good, as I was told, but she actually didn't go through...). I finished my 2nd opponent with MM-0 in 10 sec (I raised my shinai 3 times.) That was a beginner from K sensei's dojo - and I don't need to comment further.

I am not sure why I am so bothered by it for the whole day (even now), despite the fact that about 2/3 of the population will lose in their first round.

The rest of the day was spent cheering for whoever that steps into the shiai-jo. That were some brilliant matches, such as Leo in very neat Nito fighting Leung (Macau) in Jodan, and Vins/Yip/Ng's pool with 1 win-1 lost on everyone. It was fun looking at other squad members fighting.

But at the end of the day, my dojo grabbed the majority of today's medals. Countless ones went to the kids. We also had 1st+3rd at the Ladies (Amy, Takahashi), 1st at the 0-1Dan Open (Naganawa), 1st+3rd at the 2-3Dan Open (Angus, Michael who were also on my dojo team at the last team taikai). At least there is something to cheer for.

Now is the time I need to adopt the correct attitude at shiai. No matter how proper my posture is, or how many hayasuburi I can do, in the end it all comes down to shiai. Looking back I do identify myself as an "Event" person rather than a "Shiai" person (look at my pics). Somehow I need to twist it around. Overhearing the plans for the squad's visit to Fukuoka, I'll either throw-up every hour or die on the spot. Time to fix myself.

Thank you readers for reading to the very end. Here's some eye candy for you.

Me in Chatuchak Market, Bangkok. A plastic veggie background included.:-

Here We Go Again

2006-05-02T12:07:00.000+08:00

(Me in Pattaya, Thailand, Day 1)

Back in business.

It's nice to stop worrying about everything for a few days and play hard.

Now there is a taikai coming next Sunday (individuals). Oops. I need to get back into the mood.

Travel pics to come later...

April

2006-04-23T22:04:00.000+08:00

Not sure if this is some sort of accomplishment, but for both March & April, I've been making to keiko twice every week. This month 3 of them were squad sessions (minimum requirement for WKC selection). I also exercise at home regularly, like today it was 2000 rope-jumps, a 800m run, 100 sit-ups and a few push-ups. We got introduced to the "latex strip" which I did a few sets of 100 while watching TV.

They've been changing practise patterns, but still it goes non-stop. Now our coach barely stopped the class and explain. The only thing I remember him saying was, "What are you doing? I told you!"

It's sad that when the group practice finishes after that 1 hour with yakusoku-uchikomi-keiko, I so couldn't stand it and had to step out during jikeiko time. At most managing 2 keiko, but the others were really queuing in and fighting. I don't know why I want to watch when there's no one pushing me.

Sumi Masatake sensei came last Thurs and then the squad when with him to Beijing this weekend. That session was only about 10 times of 3-set-5-cut variation of kirikaeshi, plus 4 times uchikomi keiko. The key was breath control (again!) and I know K-sensei was not happy about mine. I think I did 10 sets of 5-cut kirikaeshi in front of him alone... Argh.

For 30-mins I queued for Sumi-sensei, and I was the next one up when they said YAME. Damn. But it's so good watching him. At least he is passionate and encouraging, no matter you just started or you're nanadan.

My last jikeiko with K-sensei follows the same old pattern, all excited > exhausted > frustrated > got pinched to the wall > got pinched to the other wall > people shouting GANBATTE JENNY > erhm I don't remember. It's all drama and you just can't rationalize it.

But this is probably nothing comparing to what will come in Fukuoka in June. I doubt how I can take the training camp. Will I break down or drop down first?

My scale reads 99 lbs. Must be the summer heat. Need loads of icecream and gain more weight!!

Off to Thailand this week. For a bit of change I'm not taking my bogu - I'll have to learn swimming instead.

Is That My Final Answer?

2006-03-31T00:23:00.000+08:00

Being indecisive has only one advantage, it allows you to change your mind 180-degree when you weren't really thinking hard enough before.

...After considering various scenerios and talking to a few people about my concerns (as in previous entry), I felt a lot less confused and finally sent my name on the 13th WKC selection list. (on the day of the deadline)

I thought about, at least before Aug, the options I can have at freelance that can keep me going.

I thought about the benefits of travelling with the team. It's probably a mistake not to go on the trip with Sumi-sensei to Beijing coming next month. Apparently government fundings had made everything in budget. Sorry folks but that gets into my non-kendo tour in Thailand late Apr.

I thought about looking really fit and muscular in the summer.

I thought about getting kicked out before the selection -but maybe signing up will actually fire up my commitment..!

I thought about working on my Sandan.

I thought about the little lecture Sumi-sensei gave out last time... That thing he said about Zanshin, being able to get up and go again after being knock down. What an inspiring way of thinking.

I thought about making the next squad, still probably can't make Sun morning but should be ok next Tues.

Yosh....!!

Decision Time

2006-03-28T21:48:00.000+08:00

By Friday I need to submit my name and be counted in the 13th WKC squad selection. There was this massive squad email, together with my dojo's recommendation email, that kept me thinking for all times.

Frankly it is not the most convenient time to think. My wisdom tooth is so sore that I went to the dentist today (tooth still in and sore), made a painful effort talking on the phone and going to Nihongo class... Adding to the freelance work in hand that I am not sure whether the client is going to pay for - there's simply no reason why I should be packing for the squad tonight. That's why I have time to sit and type stuff.

Nor it is the best time of the year to commit to regular attendance in the squad. Be it continuing my freelance career or taking on an internship, work is going to be terribly unstable with ridiculous working hours (been there, done that). Even though I planned to get to Fukuoka, there is no promise about what I am going to live on after June (Without work, seems like money in the bank is only enough for till then, and that is without any further dental expenses)...

Chances is that I can find work somewhere anywhere during this period of time, but being an up-to-standard squad member can be, well, out of my imagination.

Seeing my performance (with 2 mins of video review) at recent taikai, I wonder where I'll go anywhere better within 4 months' time (when the squad will be officially selected). Not devoted, no improvement, no good at shiai, below-average attendance, no cash... the list can go on and on. Is there a point signing up and got kicked out before making it to the selection, let alone training till the end of the year and got scored against within 10 seconds?

Finally, I didn't even go tonight. Doesn't that speak a lot about my attitude right now?

Maybe with a 99-degree fever I am just hallucinating...

Bits n Pieces

2006-03-25T23:59:00.000+08:00

1) I haven't been to kendo for the whole week until today (Sat). Actually I was late for 1/2 hr, but then compensated by joining the beginner's class... Somehow my fitness level has dropped, as I can feel my shinai getting heavier and heavier towards the mawari-keiko rounds. I couldn't even managed fitting in 30 mins of cardio-exercise on the days without kendo...

2) On average this month after the Asian Tournament I had only made about 1 practice a week. Should be really getting more practice, like what the coach said (echoes in my head). Now even though I am still struggling with unstable "workload", I am also planning to go with the Tue/Thu/Sat training pattern. Sumi sensei is visiting next month, and with another taikai (individuals) coming in early May, and a squad visit to Fukuoka, all I want is to get back into it. Due to various excuses, I'd been neglecting my hobby and loosing the passion for quite a while, but really, I should be fixing this problem now.

3) Oda-san gave me the Asian Tournament video with the match I lost on it. Gee, I looked awful, and I simply don't know what I was doing there...!!

Operation OPU

2006-03-19T23:02:00.000+08:00

Squad email: "...The attendance is a MUST (no excuse) for all people that intend to participate in Taiwan's WKC, no matter male or female (seems there are 7 female). Their attendance & performance will be considerated during selection..."

Friday: Skipping my last 30 minutes of Nihongo class, I rushed through a busy road to get to this special keiko. Visiting was 25+ kendo club members from Osaka Prefectural University.

The first thing I got told was "Where have you been? Haven't seen you in the squad for exactly a month!!!!!!" from Kishikawa sensei. It seems like some people are forgetting why "career" is more important than having regular exercises... which is what kendo is like to me recently without the squad. I did keiko last Thur+Sat though...

A good hour was wasted taking group pics and doing demo-intro session for the venue's provider (Baptist University's gym - and their Japanese Culure Club). The demo was actually good fun. There were 5-6 girls on the OPU team and I fought 4 during jikeiko time. They aren't of the top Tai-dai (Sports Uni) unbeatable type, yet they are still good and sharp.

Saturday: This keiko was in the afternoon from 3.30 to 6.30... but thank god its been delayed and stuff. Starting off with 5-6 in a group going kirikaeshi and kihon for 30 mins, shiai-keiko for 1 hr, and then jikeiko for another 1 hr. Not as exhausting as the squad itself because there were plently of queuing time. The shiai-keiko was again in the male/female format (a lot of girls I haven't seen before turned up from other dojo), but fights are in 2 min Ippon-shobu. I fought 4 times - all losts, but I doubt some of the cuts that I should have scored, etc. Argh.

Sunday: This is also the day for the local club's team tournament, with me being on the squad team of my dojo (Leo, me, Amy, Angus, Michael). Our club is rather small comparatively with only 3 teams, as the others are having teams up to "H". Well, we got more kids though.

The OPU students got the odd jobs of making 3 scoreboarding teams, and have one or two members got dragged to fill up local teams without enough players.

Our team got lucky and went straight through to best 16 against City University A.
Leo 1-0
Jenny 0^-0
Amy 0-1
Angus 2-0
Michael 0-2^

So that's a draw. On daihyo-sen (golden goal), Angus lost and we are out. To be honest, all of us were responsible for the lost of the team... Say, if I hadn't bounced out of court and got that hansoku, we could have been through without daihyo-sen... Too late now.

I have no idea why I kept having big guys as opponents. His kendo was quite straight (but still the too much power type..). 3 minutes went and not much waza worked (on both sides). Comment from Kishikawa sensei was: You're cutting without seme. You didn't wait for your opponent to move first. You need to train more!! - all rather obvious points...

So we had a big lunch and a good laugh at the side watching the matches. Worth mentioning was Ng who smashed more than a couples of de-kote. I lost this de-kote waza completely and it's through watching him that I realize how important to really get to the squad more. Ng belongs to the hardcore group, and he's become so successful in the recent tournaments.

Waiting till after the finals (Macau A vs Hong Kong A - winning), I got "selected" to fight in the friendly matches HK vs OPU on the ladies court. I fought senpo first off (vs Ikeda) and then jiho (vs Nakakawa) the 2nd round, both losing 0-2. The first match wasn't too much control there at all. (Kishikawa comment: What the hell are you doing?!?! You have 3 minutes to study your opponent. No need to be in a hurry.) The second round was slightly better. At least I tried something new, like hikimen that pops. I lost a rather slow-and-oh-the-shinai-is-too-heavy ai-men. The other point was a de-tsuba from my opponent that got scored (shushin actually came afterwards and said sorry(!)). Our HK side did rather badly, losing 0-12 against the 6 OPU girls, and then 1-3 on the 2nd round.

Accumulating the tireness from the 3 days without proper sleep, and having projects deadlines to meet this week, I skipped jikeiko and headed home.

Show Off Stuff #2

2006-02-27T23:51:00.000+08:00

A nice piece of "Ganbette" paper on the wall of my home studio... Most definitely looking nicer than any of my budo menjo... Besides, that's HK$100 scholarship!!

...That's spending a whole Monday revising, right after the Asian Tournament Weekend. I also spent that day writing my composition. Not surprisingly, it begins with "Watashi no Shumi wa Kendo desu..."

Another 4 months to go before sitting for JPLT yonkyu... The date for the test seems to be on the Sunday before the 13th WKC...!

Asian Tournament Weekend

2006-02-21T11:15:00.000+08:00

Friday
... Came in at 9pm for this 7-10pm godou keiko session before the actual competition. Last nihongo lesson before the end-of-term test so I had to.

Seeing massive queues for sensei everywhere, all I could do was to spot people and said hello... Finally I got to practiced with Terry Holt-sensei who came all the way from London.

The keiko actually stopped at 9.30pm for people to get changed + get back to hotel by coach. So thats one keiko I got after travelling in a rush... Argh.
----------------

Saturday
... Meant to come and watch shinsa, but overslept obviously (having dinner at midnight last night was no good). Panicked for a while with one fo my shinai going 6 grams underweight with a 37 tsukagawa instead of a 38 one...!! Anyhow for both days I've been only fighting with the other no-as-well-balanced shinai which is 3 grams above standard.

This was the day for 2Dan+below 3-person team matches. Fanny dropped out of my team last minute, being "too exhausted from work"... I was the Senpo with the elder of the Wong twins (who just passed nidan I think) as chuken. Replacing Fanny came Prof. Tsang who just got 3Dan earlier. Haven't talked to him before but he's a rather entertaining person, keeping the rest of us awake.

The entire HK squad from Team A to G did group warm-ups together beforehand. Kishikawa-sensei told us to focus on the things he's said about shiai - move around, seme, getting the right chance, study your opponent, make ippon, etc. One other thing worth mentioning was about "keeping yourself warm". I wasn't going to repeat the same mistake I made at earlier shiai-keiko. Everyone got a nice new HK Team windbreaker, which I'd been wearing for the whole weekend.

My Team C was in a lucky pool, fighting Macau B and Guangzhou D (theoratically, Team A is the strongest, you know...) I crashed both my opponents MM-0, and overall my team went 3-0 & 2-0. No idea why my de-gote went rather disfunctional, but the four tobikomi-men worked wonders. Especially the rather heavyhanded opponent from Guangzhou who kept bashing on the back of my head 3 times when I bent to one side at tsuba-zeriai... I thought I should sacrifice getting bruises to take a deep breath, and cut men when he backed into chudan (I did). After the match, Yung-sensei told me to face the opponent instead of turning my head away, which made better sense...

Next up at the Best 8 match, we were against New South Wales A. Great - me fighting someone twice my height again - their Senpo was Yoon, and was nicknamed "the Bear"by our HK squad :p Nevertheless, our Team B Senpo, Amy, previously gained one 2-0 win against him, giving me a thought of putting up a good show too.

In the end, it was me 0-0, Wong 0-2, Tsang 1-1. Our team lost by 0-1 overall. Bye bye, medal.

Although it's nice to have everyone watching Bear vs Rabbit at the side, telling me about "what a good fight" that was, I do wish I've done more. Kishikawa-sensei said that I should be more confident about scoring, instead of holding for a draw. Indeed, both Amy who fought Yoon previously and the Taiwanese Senpo who fought him after I did, scored KK-0...

For the ending godou keiko, I fitted 3 fights out of 30 mins, which is a slight improvement from yesterday. Struggled to find old friends that I know, but in the end just got dragged by random. Except for Vivian Yung on the NSW team whom I managed to find in the sea of indigo. She caught me with her killer de-gote more than a few times. Following all her matches the best I could for the entire weekend, somehow I feel more moviated. Finally I met someone of the same age + same kendo age to get onto an impressive level for everyone. For me, that means a long, tough way to go.

I spent the dinner party with the NSW team - god knows why none of the HK squad turned up, except some of the sensei + kendo association committee members. Argh.
---------------------

Sunday
... All HK squad members were told to come early for a group warm-up at 8am, meaning that I had to get up at 6.30am. I did not remember when was the last time I woke up so damn early...!

The 5-person Ladies Team event kicked off at 9am. I was the chuken on Team B - Takahashi, Fanny, Me, Mrs Horibe, Fifi. Our opponent was a mixed team with a member of JAL, one from ANA, and 3 from Minoo, Osaka... I did a quick glance and sitting on the chuken position on the opposite side was the ANA - Shingo(sp?) zekken, who was one of the girls grabbed me the day before at jikeiko..!!!

On the back of her hakama, "Dai-33-Kai Gakusei Kendo Taikai Shutsujo Kinen" & "Niigata Daigaku - Shingo Keiko"...

With Takahashi losing by 1 point, and Fanny winning 2-0 in light-speed, I fought the 3rd match. It felt long, but I eventually lost 0-2. One hiki-men and another de-gote. Although Mrs Horibe also won 2-0 rather quickly after me, Fifi lost out 0-2. Our team got KO-ed with a 2-3 result overall, and we all switched our attention to the A team on the other court. (They lost too, sadly)
Conversation with Kishikawa-sensei:-
K: Jenny..!!
J: ...You watched?
K: Of course.
J: Sorry I lost...
K: ...Your team drew but on the lead by one point - so you shouldn't be fighting in a hurry. Especially your opponent is of more-or-less the same level as you are...
J: Yeah I know. Actually I fought the same girl yesterday at jikeiko. She got me sharper cuts...
K: So you didn't study your opponent, but your opponent studyed you.
J: Argh.
-----------------

It was too dark to take photos with my SLR. I spent the rest of the day supporting those on the Men's team.

Incidentally, NSW fought JAL B on the first round, and Yoon was against Shingo...!!! The match was a 1-1 draw, but the girl got knocked over 3 times by the Bear. She definitedly gained sympathy from the audience... Watching from 2 shiai-jo away, I told myself, I lost to her, but my kamae was much better. (what losers comfort themselves with...) Anyhow I am not going to fall over in the shiai-jo again..!

Sitting on 2 shiai-jo away, it was rather exciting to see Ng on our C team winning 3-0 (shushin suddenly cancelled an Ippon - for no reason!!) against the chuken of AsiaKC (Winner of the Day)... The other team consists of some Daigaku OB members, and they are really good.

B team lost in the pools by points. It's a shame that 4 teams were in a pool and only 1 team came out... So the wins must be really great in order to secure a place in the best 8 -- which was almost impossible.

A team went all the way through to joint-3rd, being beaten by Beijing A the Japanese sensei team.

Our very own sensei team (Tomioka, Johnny [who won Daihyo-sen at the 2Dan+below event earlier], Yoshioka, Yung-san, Kishikawa) also lost by points. But somehow I think all these "sensei" hadn't really tuned back into shiai-mode, and fought in a rather reserved/ defensive way instead. They fought Taiwan A + Thailand A (All-Japanese sensei team again). Adding to that, Kishikawa had been ill, sitting on the bench most of the time. He won his 2nd match 2-0 in his usual style, but WHY did he lose to that so-so taicho on the Taiwanese team...!!?!? The refereeing weren't that great at all, with all these 5dan suddenly got dragged to be shimpan (god knows how many sensei who were supposed to be the shimpan went playing instead!?). Bad, excuse. Argh. I jokingly told Kishikawa afterwards, "Sensei, you haven't practiced hard enough..!"

So that ended the weekend with me heading home early due to a fever, missing some good keiko with Komoto-san, Emiko and the lot. It's my first experience to fight with a Hong Kong team zekken, and hopefully it won't be the last...

Squad #21: This Fire is Out of Control

2006-02-15T00:29:00.000+08:00

This is the last squad practice before Asian Tournament. Got my valentines dating schedule arranged so that I can train once more tonight.

Oddly enough, we've got Franz Ferdinand playing LIVE in the main arena of the same building... Sensei actually said, hmm, the music is good - do warm-ups at their beats! When we went quiet during shiai (like the gogi time and stuff), I can really hear them sing with people cheering out loud. Yeah I know I am not really focusing...

I did go to Inoue-sensei's seminar last Sunday (no blog entry). We followed the similar format for shiai training today after some shortened warm-ups (yay) and waza-keiko, i.e. team match, followed by jikeiko-shiai-style.

Honestly I felt the need to train tonight with last Sunday's speedy lost against Jay, and losing de-kote x2. I tried to blame my left contact lens being broken when I opened the case... and fighting with a blurry vision made me want a rematch tonight.

Instead I got Fifi (also yondan) this time. Lost a Men-nuki-do on the first point, and then I got my share of de-gote on the 2nd point. The 3-min match finished as hikiwake.

That 30-mins was spent observing the rest of the teammates fighting. It suddenly feels a lot more like a national team as a whole, as we've all been training together for quite a while. Also I got the chance to check out the kendo on the boys' side. With the male/female group format for the squad, I hardly ever practiced with the boys, really.

Over the days I've been trying to do more of that moving footwork. Only proven to work better if I am really relaxed. Otherwise my balance wasn't really there with my feet at the wrong place..!!

At the shiai-keiko, I fought Yu-sensei, Agnes, and Kishikawa-sensei x2. Recalling what happened last Sunday, with my fingers still cold before my match, I know that I should really fire myself in shiai mode if there's not enough warming-up. Especially it'll be cooler this weekend...

I think I fought much better on my 2nd round against Kishikawa-sensei. Well, he's been going for 30 mins, so somehow maybe thats why I can finally hit his kote! This round I felt that I can spot his openings a lot better, but I wasted a few supposedly-good chances - cutting too soft, no kiai, etc. No ippon there but I pulled out a good fight towards the end of the night (the time when yame was shouted and everyone telling you to ganbatte...)

Yoooshiii---!! Fighting both 2nd Dan & below + ladies division. Team list not announced yet. Pantient...

Countdown Keiko

2006-02-10T00:42:00.000+08:00

After today there will be 3 keiko left before meeting those at Asian Tournament. I wasn't too focused at work, and it's rather surprising that I got there earlier than usual, i.e. not late.

This practice is really very kihon from footwork to basic cuts. Of course that means I can concentrate on improving smaller details, like balance, coordination, etc. I know the worst thing about me right now is my kiai... It's getting into a habit that I find it hard to get rid of...

The ending 3 jikeiko with the girls are actually rather enjoyable. I was serious against all of them and vice versa. They'd have a good practice before shinsa, and I was preparing myself to shiai. It was more than half a year ago that I set my feet in a shiai court. Not sure if it's pressure or nervousness... Anyhow I'll need to overcome that.

There are a few dojo mates going for grading on the 18th - I think I should go and support them. Maybe it's time to watch out what I'll need for sandan too (that being a year away tho).

Squad #20: Fight the Boss!

2006-02-05T20:29:00.000+08:00

Following the Chinese New Year break last weekend, I join the squad this morning again. During weekdays it's been even harder to make to the evening practices, as I've been doing some freelance work which requires a very strange work schedule... With the delicious Chinese New Year food over the days, I definitely need more keiko to drop that extra 7 lbs I gained!!

Eda-sensei went to Fukuoka at a seminar with Sumi-sensei I think, and me, Leo and Amy from Seishinkan dojo were told to look after Pik + Jane, as they've been invited to the squad. "Rumors" said that everyone who attend the squad would be in a team for the Asian Tournament. Still, I'll have to wait till the last training before the Taikai (Feb 14) to find out whether I am really on it...

It was a well-attended training today, with about 18 of us. Thanks to the upcoming shiai-keiko which usually takes up more time, we got half of the "normal" warm-up cut down to, half of the suburi variations, and then 100 hayasuburi.

Even thought it was as physically+ mentally demanding, the kihon and waza-keiko part all went really quick. It feels like there's about 45mins left for shiai keiko...!

We were then divided into 2 groups, one went with Wong-san for juniors of less shiai experience, and 10 of us seniors went to the Kishikawa-sensei group, with Lai-sensei at the shimpan side. First of all we had a 3-person team pool. Somehow me, Leo + Amy were in the same team. It feels great to be with them who all started kendo the same time at the same dojo.

I was the Taisho and the first round I fought Mr Chan (Derek's father - should be 5 Dan or something). Quickly after shodachi, he opened himself up and I just went for my trademark Tobikomi-kote. At nihonme, it was an Ai-men, only that I came down faster from further away. Mr Chan is of taller, so I am rather happy to get this Ippon. Well, KM:0 for me in 20 seconds!

Second person I was up against was Matsuura-san (who is I think, about 4-5Dan, and I used to see him wear some Yokohama Daigaku zekken...) This match was actually a reverse of what happened the first round because I sooooo quickly losted a debana-men and then an ai-men. I did experiment with moving more with the feet and the sword, thought it seems like the wrong time to do so!

The general comment is that we are not going 100% for the cuts, and lack the confidence to convince the shimpan that we've scored. I saw the same thing for myself too, but it is really difficult to overcome this problem in the game.

Not sure why everyone is expecting it, but Kishikawa-sensei told everyone to go on the opposite site, because he's going to eb alone on his "team", fight the 10 of us!!!

The first round he smashed all of us 2:0 except Ng, who surprisingly caught him offguard twice, and took 2:1 off the boss! As for me, I learnt to stop standing like an idiot, which helped delaying my defeat.. I mean at least the match went rather long and exhausting, it was a sharp de-gote, and then a very silly tobikomi-men I lost.

For Round 2 (still, Kishikawa vs all 10 of us), Sensei went into Jodan which sent everyone into a very exciting mode. There were individual Ippon scored on our side, but unfortunately none of us really made 2 Ippon in a match. I was the 7th on the queue, and the first to actually attempted tsuki. Fighting sensei *always* become so intense that I feel I can't really reach into him. Everything went so fast ...and I forgot what ippon I lose out on...

3rd round. I was the first person to notice Kishikawa sensei using right-foot-forward Jodan at the start of each match, and at nihonme he swopped hands and went into Gyakute Jodan (i.e. left hand on top..!). Anyway, despites all these strange stuff happening, he still destroyed us with either 2:0 or 2:1. I tried to be smart and went for do/gyaku-do but with no luck. Argh.

After class, Sensei did advice me to work on more of that move-around footwork. I should also be reading the opponent more during the match (say, in the first 2'30'' of a typcial 3-min ladies match), there's really no need to go so fast...

2 weeks to go.

45 Minutes

2006-01-27T01:16:00.000+08:00

There's this unexpected traffic jam around the Chinese New Year market in Victoria Park, causing serious delay on my bus journey. It was 8.15pm when I stepped into the dojo floor, and I joined in at the kirikaeshi rounds.

When I got fully warmed-up, there were only 20 mins or so left. That exercise of "Finding chushin -> Hit Men" really got me into the game. I think I did some good solid cuts with loud fumikomi, which kinda compensated that extra 1/2 hour I spent in the traffic jam visualizing kendo. Even though I had about 30 mins of exercise every day, I haven't been in the dojo for 2 weeks, so it's feels great being able to swing the stick again.

...The chushin thing got me think of Sumi-sensei and what he talked about earlier, about being able to do seme without your shinai pointing at your opponent's throat/eye/centre/etc. But so far I can only see an opening by getting and dominating the chushin... So what sensei said is quite far ahead, honestly.

Only did 3 jikeiko at the ending minutes with some kohai girls. I wonder why I repeated told the 2 girls that their kamae is off-centre. With them standing like that, I found out I can actually jump one massive step and hit men outside of issoku-itto, and without shinai touching.

Total Suckage!!

2006-01-22T13:15:00.000+08:00

With my bogu bag packed and standing right in front of the door, at 9am this morning, I decided not to go to squad's shiai practice this Sun morning (with the local Japanese). For the entire week I've been sneezing, blowing my nose, folding tissues into buckets of won-ton... I've already taken the last 2 days off "work" and thought I catch up a little on that now!

Kendo rule no. 1 = stay healthy.

P.S. I've been back in Hong Kong for a year now... Not progressing much in many aspects of life, but did learn a lot about myself.

Squad #19: Move it

2006-01-11T22:58:00.000+08:00

Althought some are the familiar faces, it feels like there's a 2nd team attending the squad on a Tues. I think we got about 14 people tonight, plus the sensei(s) from other dojo, so the space actually looks more filled up than on a Sun.

With Kishikawa-sensei joining into the suburi warm-up rounds, we get more haya-suburi variation. While turning my head observing how sensei does it, my footwork is all messed up from the 100th onwards... At the last 50 normal ones, I clearly remember closing my eyes, jumping almost on the spot. I just keep counting 1-2-3-4 and swing - a very strange moment in life where there is nothing I can think of (no mind, eh?)...

On to the strings of renzoku-waza (forward and back), I notice how bad my judgement of striking distance is ...especially on the backward ones (can't seem to combine renzoku with hiki-waza)... But my left leg is literally shaking by itself at chudan, probably due to the low level of blood sugar... Might need to invest on some isotonic drinks (or maybe a meal) before the keiko starts.

"If I dropped out now, there would be an odd person out, and that person cannot practice..." I keep telling myself to last a little bit more before I would fall over. I guess that's what I won't be considering if this weren't the squad.

Thank god for this only lasts 45 mins, and the next thing up was shiai-keiko. Different pairs get dragged out while the rest of us take a breather. At the 3rd round I was up against Eda-sensei (!). No one gets ippon for about 2 minutes, but I feel that we were using almost the same strategy from tsuba-zeriai (like, cutting the same target at the same timing...) But Eda-sensei pressured a lot on me which makes her on the dominant side 70% of the time.

The area is then splited into a jikeiko side, and a shiai-keiko on the other. 3 courts (1 shinpan each) at a time. The scene reminds me of the UK squad shiai league I had more than a year ago.

... And I don't even remember when's the last time I fought in a shiai setting..????

Eda-sensei finds me for a rematch. She's really doing the "move around" footwork which causes a lot of confusion in my head and also I am so not sure when she's coming... I only got a late men after she missed a de-gote. But she got a men before that and also another de-gote. Result - 2:1

Kishikawa-sensei also joins into the shiai-keiko side. When it's my turn, I *always* move out of fear because he keeps moving (with his feet, and also his shinai). I didn't lose on shodachi (unlike some kohai) but still it's tobikomi-men and a de-gote for him. The de-gote was the type that feels like a tap but damn spot-on. Result- 2:0

It is exhausting so I stand there and observe for a while, before unwillingly taking my men off for a blow on the nose... There's this allergy I have which makes me go blow my nose ever so often (I missed Sun sneezing non-stop at home in the morning)... Then I am back on again, fighting Fok, who is a tall sempai and I was most definitely not in focus on this match. I have no idea why I wasn't moving in for a cut or something. Result- MM:0

I was standing at the wrong spot probably, and get asked to go against Kishikawa-sensei again. The sempai/shinpan got told not to count 2 of the ippon... and in the end no ippon was given, which makes the keiko last for aaaaaaaaages. On this second challenge I switched slightly back from the renzoku-waza we just did, to shiai mode. At least I have unsuccessfully attempted kote-men and tsuki... Just that most of the time K-sensei can just take a 1/2-inch step away from the cut, and my shinai just stratches his men-gane top, nodo-tare, mune, etc. It feels like the accomplishment of the day is being able to *touch* him with my shinai tip... If an ippon were counted on this one, the result will be 10:0 or something...

Back to the side I watched Sensei fights the other people. He does 4 smashing do-uchi at shodachi on some tall kohai, and the two-legs-up-jump men-uchi on another kohai who didn't move forward after cutting kote.

It still wasn't safe enough to going cheer-leading. Kishikawa sensei said, "Oi, Jenny!" and I was against him for the 3rd time... (why arent there people in the queue?)!!!

I am still trying things out with the renzoku-waza, which opens myself up with a heavy smack on the right-dou at about 30 second. I quickly loses nihonme, by literally standing at issoku-itto-no-maai when sensei turns around... Yet another case of bad maai. Result - 2:0

Post keiko review:-
1) More koshi...
2) Shiai is the sport part of kendo and we need to score on the opponent with any possible strategy. Being flexible with footwork and wrists is one of the things that makes a player slightly more unpredictable.

At 2am with tensed up shoulders, I still feel rather excited. One of the good things about being a freelancer is that, I don't need to wake up early!

Show Off Stuff...

2006-01-04T01:11:00.000+08:00

So from now all the way to the future 3 years, I'm a certified first-aider. Whoo-hoo!!

Also today I secured another freelance design project, and it kinda balanced out my "income" for this month. Since I don't have to work full-time in an office, I'll probably go to keiko as often as I can, and should be quite up for the Asian Tournament coming up.

Uhmm that accidental background of the photo above with my Nihongo textbook, reminds me of my next test 2 days after the tournament... argh!!

As I got this first month of 2006 sorted, it seems to be a good start for the year. Finally good luck is coming to me!

[edit]

For the troublesome Mr Anonymous, here's the other side of the coin. Are you not satisfied???

Squad #18: A New Beginning

2006-01-01T18:21:00.000+08:00

Akemashite Omedeto Gozaimasu!

Hatsukeiko on the first day of 2006 - also the first squad training I headed for after having a 4-month break.

Arrived a lot earlier to stretch because I woke up 8.15am sharp, and I forgot whether the squad starts from 10 or 10.30am... (better be early than late). So I was watching a little bit outside the dojo. There were 2 of the Furuse kids from my dojo who went into the 9.30am keiko, probably because their parents (who were also watching from the outside) had no better plans for the New Year..!!

At 10.30am we got a relatively good show of 10 people, only that it's a bit lonely for me as I was the only girl, and got paired up with one of the twins from Yu-sensei's dojo, who's actually quite tall.

We started in a circle with various suburi and the well-expected 200 hayasuburi. My footwork went completely crap after 120 and then I was only counting even numbers at the last 30... Luckily no one got picked on and we didn't have to repeat that again..!

With men on we then used the full length of the dojo (just a little bit longer than the length of a
shiaijo) to do various kihon and waza. A lot of the previous teachings of Sumi and Furukawa sensei was applied here. It was just slightly advanced practice that I've seen in my own dojo, only that the rest of the fellow squad were following much better. We also did various renzoku waza that required a lot of footwork and flexible wrists.

Towards the end of the waza keiko, we've ai-uchi waza running which noised up the dojo a little bit more, and also a string of yakusoku uchikomi.

There weren't too many sensei staying... so the queuing format was dropped, and we got mawari-keiko against 4 sensei instead! It's quite interesting that I could give all I had in that 2 mins of keiko, took some good breath in another line for 2mins, and go back in again for 2 mins. Apart from being quite out of breath, I also found myself going back from tsubazeriai to issoku-itto... while I should be at Toi-maai to keep away from the danger of being hit!!

After fighting all 4 sensei, the squad training finished with everyone doing the ending kirikaeshi and stuff.

Kishikawa-sensei was having a flu (him?!) so he was watching everyone from the side and giving advice with no bogu on. According to him, I am still having a bad grip (not twisting in and not flexible enough...), tooo tense, not enough lower body power, etc. etc. etc.... yeah the same old story I have been hearing in the recent months. Is that a sign of having no improvement...?

But when being asked how was today's keiko... I said I was surprised I can still follow ok (not saying that being out of squad training for so long. Some said it's either me not being serious enough (?!) or my physical condition hasn't gone bad, which is weird since I've also cut down on the exercise at home... Anyhow - at gathering lunch when people got asked about their goal this year, I expressed the unstable work condition I am having now - and it'll be more than satisfying if I can keep showing up at the squad every now and then, until the end of the year for the WKC.

... Those sensei spent quite a lot of their lunchtime calling Japan, saying happy new year to all the Japanese sensei who have visited the city before (must have heard "Akemashite Omedeto Gozaimasu!" more than 10 times in a roll sitting just next to Eda-sensei...!). Sounds like there's gonna be 8th Dan sensei visiting us in Feb, Mar, Apr and May... With the competitions and everything else running, this is definately going to be a very busy kendo year.

Banging Against the Wall

2005-12-30T00:49:00.000+08:00

Oops. Forgot to blog - but I did go to the Xmas Eve keiko last Sat. We got a relatively good turn-up (12 in bogu plus a few newbies), which made it look less like a "Lonely Hearts Club". Us girls got another group on rotation (Noroi, Takase, Jane, Lisa, Jacquna (sp?). Even though they were all my junior, I got quite excited winning all the yakusoku keiko rounds (be it ai-men or ippon-shobu). In turn, that did give me the thought of showing up for the squad-training...

But then, I missed the Tuesday night one doing something stupid (playing with cats underneath the dining table - and injured the muscles along my back... argh)

So this is now Thurs, the last keiko of the year 2005.

As usual, I missed the first 15 mins, but I joined in when they started picking up the shinai.

A few rounds of suri-ashi men up and down the dojo, then some men-uchi and kote-men against empty air. The leading senpai said something funny about Tenouchi towards the end of the cut: "when some sensei said 'squeeze like a towel', that's actually a handkechef and not a bath towel, so you don't have to try too hard!" Indeed. Since I got this comment about over-twisting my forearms, I am working on squeezing with the fingers/ hands instead... Do feel relaxing around the elbows now.

Eda-sensei came in at 8pm, who tell us "men-tsuke".

Now using the full-length of the dojo, we did a few more suri-ashi men men men men men men men. Wong-san dropped by the gym and watched us for a bit. For some reason we all try to look good and serious.

Then for a change we all found a line on the floor and did fumikomi-men-with-no-running-through (i.e. Sumi style). Eda-sensei told us to just stop where we stomp on and measure how far we jumped. Something like this:-

To my surprise, my couple of fumikomi that came in with men-uchi straight and stable, were as far as my shinai+ one kote fist... (4 feet!!!) So, really, no more excuses of fighting any closer, and I should be more aware of how far I can actually reach.

Another exercise we did was to band against the wall... Well uhmm "one-step taiatari"... and it was actually against the spongy ones. This was to let us feel the force to give+receive in correct taiatari (by ourselves!), and with the right footwork (since you can't possibly end up with your left foot in front). So the 12 of us all lined up against the wall and start running into it like mental patients...

At paired practice I was with the "women and children group" (Jane, Lo, Takumi, Aka - Ng's son). The time was short, and with just a few rounds of kirikaeshi and men-uchi, we quickly got into jikeiko.

It was after class that Ng (kohai at squad) told me that this is his son's first keiko in bogu. Well, I wasn't that hard. Not being a kid's motodachi for a while, I only remembered to kiai louder when there is no kiai, and keep walking forward when he's all backing up not hitting... It's probably quite hard for Aka as he wasn't showing too much interest when I saw him on a Tues before the squad. Ng hopes he can have more fun with some kids over this dojo.

Takumi (Utsunomiya) was always the hard one, as he was most of the time the only 9-year-old on a Thurs, and with his mom watching from the side. He also won 2005's HK individuals at his age group... Anyway, I really like to forget cutting men to take his kote and do as he thought no one could!

Against Lo, I guess she's improving as well, that we struggled quite a while until I got the first de-gote. But that waza isn't working too well now as she's learning kote-nuki-men... So the lesson is to really work on one waza against a certain type of person, because "tokui-waza" doesn't always work!!

After that we can queue for anyone, so I got to wait for Kwok, a visitor from Silicon Valley who was here on holiday and was only practising today. Strange thing happened - he and a senpai were fighting and then backing to my side, which ran me to the wooden bars at this wall of the dojo... Suddenly blood was on the floor... I twisted my right foot around, and saw some splinters from the wooden bars piked in there. Just when I thought I should last this keiko without sitting down, I just had to. Mrs Utsunomiya offered me a wound plaster, and I just took off my men and kote and pressured my foot for ...until when Yame was shouted. Funny enough I just found out yesterday that I passed my first-aid certificate from St. John, and today I find it being "very useful"

Here's a semi-gross picture - end-of-year shock!! ...Well the wound was not big but it gets a bit swollen now (and sorry that's a copy of Communication Arts on my bed...):-

I hope that doesn't affect my plan going to the New Year's keiko/ squad the coming Sunday. We already got a special invite from Eda-sensei:-

"Dear squad members,

Please note we may plan our last overseas training trip (financial year before 31st march 2006) to Chinese Taipei. [snip]

We have talked to government officials recently in a general meeting once a year to review on our performance. It is very important all squad members to participate in the overseas trip and to achieve good results in the shiai...[snip] Our performance may affect the amount of fundings for the next financial year.

It is every squad member's responsibility to practice hard and to achieve good results, as you are no longer treated as one of the ordinary members.

See you all on the New Year day keiko!

Eda

P.S. the 2009 WKC will be held in Brazil. "

She's thinking so far ahead... Argh.

Snap, Snap & More Snaps

2005-12-27T00:01:00.000+08:00

1. I've put up some pics of the 1st Regional Kendo Championships in Nov, and also some of the anti-WTO protest 2 weeks ago (irrelevent) in my photojournal site:-

http://www.mingshiwan.co.uk/budojournal/2005/

2. In case anyone wonders - YES I took this photo at "Ken Mado"(monthly mag for AJKF). The president actually has more to say about kendo in China and the forementioned taikai:-

http://www.kendo.or.jp/column/index.html

Merry Xmas to you all!

Next Year?

2005-12-24T01:39:00.000+08:00

This is Friday and we got this email telling us Nemoto Sensei is visiting tonight. In the end I decided to get to this 9-10.30pm keiko after my Nihongo class. Dragging my bogu along the busiest district in town was definately not the nicest thing to...

A bit of info: Nemoto Michiyo (sp?) sensei from Osaka was a former AJWKC winner and is now 7th Dan. Hence the internal email actually said: "Squad members especially ladies must join." We were told that she comes around every Xmas, and was good friend with Horibe sensei's sister (Horibe Akemi - also 7thDan...)

We did some kihon for warm-up and then the remaining 45 mins for keiko.

I came 5th in the line with Wong-san being first, followed by Eda-sensei. After that it just turned into kakari keiko. I told Amy who was just behind me, "yeah, it's usually like this with visiting sensei who doesn't know you well."

Indeed. It happened to me as well after losing one ai-men, missing a kote-men, and hitting a hiki-men in empty air. Argh. My kakari-keiko must have been aaaaawful to watch. Literally I did not control my breath well enough to cut back whenever sensei gave an opening, and it seems like she *always* open when I was about to breath in. As usual, my kiai was a mess too.

Definitely not my shape with the flu /fever still in me... Had to take off men and blow my nose. Felt like having muscle cramps too.

After that I fought Yu- sensei. He had this odd kamae with shinai slightly off centre and slightly protecting his own kote. Some of my kote-men worked quite well. But he's men-uchi ended up coming in at an angle. I blocked a few, did some kaeshi-dou, but sucked up a few. Not that I complain about his kamae... Recalling what Sumi-sensei said last week about seme from any position (the question was about some sensei dropped their shinai tip before coming in - i.e. gedan seme)... So basically if you let someone did an ippon on you from an odd kamae, you lost to that second of doubt in your mind. (sorry... can't explain something highly conceptual...)

Comment to me was about my lack of power in koshi (uhmm)...

Then I had A. Lam (wearing Australian zekken... alphabets too small to read tho). We paired for once at kihon and I quite like his "foreign" kendo. Proven to be a very enjoyable keiko as we both landed some good cuts on each other. But I think I was the one lacking initiative - I'll blame the flu for now.

At the end of the session while everyone was packing their stuff heading home. Eda-sensei gave "a small lecture" to me, Amy and Fanny. Problem was that the sempai (Agnes + Jay) are all recovering from serious injuries at the moment, and that the 3 of us need to be ready for the coming Asian Tournament and the 13th WKC next year (and that's according to Kishikawa sensei...) Basically without the ladies getting some ranking at Taikai, it's quite hard to get funding/ subsidies from the government.

It totally confuses me again as it's quite hard to tell them about my situation. Honestly I cannot take that kind of responsiblity while I cannot even feed myself. (It's like if I say no they are going to ban me for ever...) But it comes to my mind that, IF I last one more month or so at the squad, I might get at least once, the experience to fight as a squad. Question is, I've been escaping from the torture for 4 months already, and I can hardly keep up with the kihon keiko - how the hell will I be of any help?

Budo Stamps

2005-12-22T14:50:00.000+08:00

The other day I was trying to find Jan-06's issue of Kendo Nippon (with special AJKC DVD included)... It has proven to be a popular buy among fellow kenshi - I declared my defeat after asking at 4 different honya.

Anyway, there's always something else I ended up buying... like old issues of whatever mags that came in sight. Last time I bought this "Japanese Postage Stamp Catalogue 1999" with HK$10 (i.e. really cheap).

My intention was to see the stamps as design/ illustration references, but it happens that a lot of them are budo-related. Below are the one listed:-

1953 - Judo

1956 - Judo

1960 - Kendo

1962 - Kendo (at Ryukyu - it's only been Okinawa Prefecture since 15 May 1975)

1963 - Sumo

1964 - Karate (Naihanchi, Makiwara, Kumite)

1972 - Kendo (background: Aso Volcano, Kumamoto-ken)

1973 - Kyudo (commemorating Okinawa's reversion - Okinawa Special National Athletic Meet)

1983 - Naginata (background: Myogi Yama, Gunma-ken)

1995 - Judo

1999 - Karate

Well, I did collect stamps at primary school. But not much of a collection since email came into my life at secondary school...

Sumi-sensei

2005-12-19T10:23:00.000+08:00

[Korean farmers giving and receiving backrub. Victoria Park, HK. 4pm 15 Dec 2005]

For the last 2 weeks I spent my time volunteering at HK People's Alliance on WTO. It's been tough, especially the past 6 days we all had to sit in open air (12-15 deg.) at Victoria Park. As my job was to answer queries at the Info Desk (in English, Cantonese + Mandarin), and talking too much hurt my voice. I walked straight to kendo on Thurs and Eda-sensei kept saying "Jenny, more kiai!!!" Argh.

On Thursday I walked straight from the park to keiko, with a fellow volunteer who was interest to watch the class. As usual this made me be very aware of my posture and everything during kihon.

We progressed to kirikaeshi at full length of the dojo. Then a few rounds of keiko with Oda-san and David as motodachi while everyone else queued. Oda-san still said I start cutting without much seme (although my men-uchi is straight enough). With David I smacked a few good de-gote, but somehow I think it's because he was too tired to be sharper.

We spent the last 10 mins or so doing enjin keiko - all 10 of us in a circle with one in the middle, fighting everybody.

---------------------------

Accumulating all the stress and sickness I collasped on Sat. Keiko was supposed to be at 4.30-7.30pm with SUMI SENSEI. But I was so dead that I can't really do anything about it, when I wake up at 4.30pm after a decent nap. At 5pm violence broke out with the Korean farmers around the WTO protesting area, which is not more than 500m from where the dojo is. As no buses was going direct, I just thought it doesn't worth going, and I stayed home for more rest.

---------------------------

Sunday morning at 7.45am I watched the traffic update and there was still no direct bus... 900 protestors got arrested but there is still one major rally in the afternoon.

In the end I arrived at 9.30am with everyone doing kendo kata sanbonme. I was probably the last person to arrive, but was surprised that there were only 30 people at most in the dojo. You simply can't believe how few people (especially from other dojo) turned up whenever there is sensei visiting and doing a lecture.

The whole kata session lasted until 10.30am going thru to nanahonme. General commends were made. I can only recall as far as "there are 3 points of seme in ropponme"... Everyone had already paired up and I had to deal with "imaginary opponent" if I wasn't watching the others.

10.30am to 12pm was a practice session in bogu. We started off with 3 string of kirikaeshi in pairs before doing 5 sets of bokuto kihon #1 each. Apart from the initial suri-ashi cutting, there were other specifications like fumikomi but not running thru, fumikomi + running thru, starting from toi-maai then step in before cutting, etc. etc. Me at the 3 Dan & below group (which only took up 1/2 of the dojo) got about 8 rotations.

Next up was tachi-ai keiko, i.e. mock shinsa, and sensei at the side will commend afterwards. While Sumi sensei looked after the 4Dan & above group, the few of us juniors got Koyanagi and Kashiwagi-sensei (7Dan also from Fukuoka). Everybody got 2 90-sec fights, and I got Naganawa-san and Vinx, both were challenging as they all did quite well in previous taikai. Adding to that, the flu I was having was giving me nose-blocks. Literally I messed up with breathing and kiai because I had to use my mouth to breath at all times.

Comments to me: should take more initiative. Yeah I know... I should really sort this out before going for the real Sandan shinsa. Sickness is not an excuse, really.

We finished earlier than the senior group and so we moved to watch them. Sumi sensei was talking about how the tension should build up during the keiko, and not losing it after a cut (whether successful or not) has landed. Also it was interesting for him to say "kiai from both sides at the same time is like nidan level"...

The last 30 mins was left for jikeiko, which I had to take off my men and watched at the side for the entire time. It feels terrible to be so ill while there were visitors worth queuing for. I notice how Sumi-sensei did quite a lot of cuts using one-step fumikomi, just like kihon keiko. But apart from him getting a few good de-gote on Kishikawa-sensei, and then turn him into kakari-keiko mode... I was about to faint at the opposite end of the dojo... It's rarely that I felt I should be at home rather than in there.

After lunch I got 1/2 of napping time before another lecture - but no more keiko and we all changed back to casual wear. Sumi sensei talked about the very "confucious" concepts about kendo, and how these can be translated into our daily lives. I got myself 3 pages of notes.

Attendance was rather low with most of the juniors gone (!?) - so at the Q&A session the questions (from local sensei/ seniors) are more to do with teaching/ learning. For example, ways to encourage beginners, ways to explain technical points, how to be good motodachi, etc. Apart from being able to listen to most of the simple, yet entertaining Japanese Sumi-sensei used, I also realized how these sensei showed their concerns about the way they teach - and I hope that what was discussed will be put into practice.

Making the Right Decision

2005-12-10T22:30:00.000+08:00

I skipped Thursday to sit my first-aid exam. The multiple-choice questions were pretty easy, but I pressed a little bit too fast on CPR, and missed the second trianglar bandage around the chest for someone with a broken wrist. Result will be out at the end of the month, and I am still not sure whether those mistakes are enough to make me fail...

As of today (Sat) - I was late for 15 mins for today's keiko. Loast (and found) my mobile while watching a movie iwth my grandma (Perhaps Love - Oscar nominee - Best foreign film - and is actually quite decent, in terms of a musical in Mandarin with cast and crew from China, Hong Kong, S. Korea and Japan).

Eda-sensei is in Taiwan for an IKF meeting this weekend. The practice today is leaded by an average senior.

After a couple of suburi, we did 20 and then 30 haya-suburi. I realize how I cannot really keep up with the last 10. My stamina is not there any more. Leo attached that green-ish shinai weight the whole time during warm-up. When I looked at him, I noticed how I am so behind from the squad who have been training hard.

Again, it's mainly the same sets of suri-ashi kihon cutting: men, kote-men, kote-men-dou, kote-men-dou-men, tsuki. We also did some waza like kote-nuki-men, kote-kaeshi-men, men-suriage-men, men-degote... There isn't a routine of practicing waza for more than a few months now - so in the end I still suck at all these waza...

Jikeiko round: girls first - Noroi-san, Lisa, then Nigata-san, and finally Leo. I actually got the first hiki-men from him (but it's the same getting hiki-men from everyone else - no sense of that "i got you ippon" - not sure why). He did a few nice tobikomi-men which I could barely counter with a very twisted de-gote (i.e. no good ones). At the very end of the keiko, at one point we were at tsuba-zeriai and I wanted to turn to a side for hiki-men... But I used a turned right ankle to push off and somehow I am still feeling the pain from there.

The keiko finishes with 2 rounds of men-uchi. It's killing me whenever I wanted to turn around and cut again...

Usually the last 30 mins is for kata, but I, as usual, is trying to escape from that. Socializing with fellow dojo mates is quite important too. I kinda express my concern to Leo (only he and Amy is from my dojo and at the squad), about my extended absence. Clearly if I am not getting any work now, I'll still be jobless by the time of the 13th WKC (BTW - about 365 days later...). Kendo for me right now, is more a routine exercise than some sort of training as a national squad member. Simply I am unable to commit, and it'll be more disappointing for the team and the coach(es) if I cannot fight in Taiwan a year later because I cannot afford it.

But then, I am still practicing in a way, just not that hardcore anymore. Next weekend Sumi (Masatake) sensei is coming from Fukuoka, and hopefully I'll get some inspiration out of his visit.

Starting tomorrow and for the next week, I'll be a volunteer helping out at the WTO conference protesting area. That's some time to chill for me, before another round of job-hunting...

Should be in There

2005-12-02T01:14:00.000+08:00

Last Sat I went to the keiko before the "Regional Kendo Tournament" - which is an invitational thing for dojos in Mainland China. Apart from the neighbouring team Macau, there were teams from Guangdong, Shanghai and Beijing. One thing different from the last Asian Tournament is that, this taikai is aim for Chinese and not Japanese. So it's good to see Chinese at my generation intereseted in Japanese traditional culture finally, besides the hatred and whatever indifference they had before.

As I just got off work, I only managed the last 30 mins or so. Yip told me to practice with Sueno Eiji-Sensei (8Dan Kyoshi from Kagoshima, winner of '79 AJKC, winner of All-Japan 8thDan taikai '02), but then that was a massive queue of 10+ people. I might end up not having ANY keiko, so I just said onegaishimas to some visitors - at least, I got some exercise to make my 2-hour return journey worthwhile.

I found some guys from Guangzhou (captial city of Canton Provience, nearest to HK) and Shanghai. All of the visitors had their full names on their zekken which gave me a headache remembering who they were (imagine you can read everything - and it's just information overload)... Kendo-wise I had a good sweat. They have good kendo, and probably just did shinsa an hour before... their level is below me. But then I m not in shape, forgot when's the last serious practice I had, and extremely tired after 5.5-day of work... Recalling what Honda-sensei said about "fighting someone junior half a grade above them" - I tried but in the end, I could only make it to the same level of kendo. For some of the cuts I could have countered or aggressively attacked, I simply stood there and did nothing. The rate of errors made in debana and hiki waza is extremely high too.

Towards the final 2 mins when "last keiko" was shouted, and when Kishikawa-sensei was "resting" on the opposite side, I walked into his line and bow - and I had no idea why I was up for a keiko with him. Probably on one side I was trying to be sorry for not going to the squad, and on the other telling him I was still practising, for, welll, a little... What I got from that keiko was how "easy" for him to escape from my hiki-men: he just did the very proper type of nuki waza by stepping to one side. Simple. Other people didn't do that because, A) they were too concern to block, and B) they were of a lower level.

Everybody seemed to be rusihing off for food for some reason, and none of them said a word.

*************

The following morning I had a hard time getting up at 8am again after missing a lot of sleep during the week... When I arrived "Lei Yu Mun Sports Centre" (Only managed to find out how to get there on the internet before I picked up my bogu from home) - they were doing the opening ceremony/ line-up thing.

Usually at this kind of situation (not fighting) I would volunteer as a helper, scoreboarding, ribbon-typing, whatever. But strangely there were more than enough for the day, and all I could do was to watch, support Team HK, and take photos. I also got the odd job of holding the camera(s) before lunch at their "photo call". Though I must mention that digital SLR of Takeyasu-sensei (President of AJKF) will be something worth saving up for, if my salary could ever afford that!

The two major cities in China, mainly Beijing and Shanghai, at least in my opinion has a relatively higher standard of kendo from the local Chinese. Not sure if that has anything to do with the presence of Japanese students (which HK has none) or businessmen (which HK have a lot). But out of the 10 teams from 5 cities (inc. Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Macau, besides HK) - HK Team A definitely had their advantage as it was made up of 2 yondan, 2 sandan with lower grades as subsitutes. Other teams had people from kyu to, at most, 3 dan, which made some of the fights not as exciting to watch because of the big gap in level.

... Or maybe I was just really tired. Also that the lighting was horrible for photo-taking. At one point (after lunch) I was napping right next to one corner of the court, despite the fact that there were loud kiai and strong fumikomi on the floor.

Actually one of the more exciting things I'd seen that day was some Iaido embu. Cheung was on one of those 8.30am sunday session when I happened to have the mood to pop-up months ago. But seeing his Iaido in an Embu context was a different feeling. He was in all white doing shoden to okuden Muso Shinden Ryu kata. I had that *flash* of Alex Sahla's face. Whoops.

I did chat Cheung up and found that he had participated in some All-Japan taikai under Niigata-ken's team. With the iaido conversation running again, I really think that I should fix my career crisis a.s.a.p. My interests are all suffering all because of it. Damn.

For most of the time I was sitting with HK Team B (Ng, Leo, Amy, Fanny, Agnes) when they weren't fighting. It's probably the team I would have made into *if* I attend the squad in the past 3 months. Overall they got from being nervous to overcoming the fear, and then too eager all of a sudden, which in the end made them to the semi-finals. Everyone gained a few points and then lost a few for the team. Too much getting drawn into the level of the opponent. You cut, I cut. You push, I push... that sort of thing. But if I was the one fighting, wouldn't I be making the same mistakes?

At Godou keiko I practiced with a girl from Guangzhou, a Portuguese woman from Macau, a guy from Guangzhou and another one from Shanghai, all supposedly my juniors, followed by Wan-sensei (Fanny's sensei). Now I felt kinda sorry for those coming a few hours by flight to fight with someone so tired and dead. I came to keiko as a matter of respect and appreciation of their willingness to travel, which is something I haven't done for quite a long time (almost a year.)

Long time No Thursday

2005-11-30T19:32:00.000+08:00

On the first evening of December, after a month of internship with no job offer in the end, I had the folllowing activities to choose from:-

1. Kendo
2. Illustration for Advertising class
3. Play with cats at home

In the end Option #1 was the one to go for - simply because it can take me away from the hectic life in the last couple of days/weeks.

It was another usual session in kihon, but somehow being barely to make the last 30 mins of jikeiko in previous weeks, suddenly everything in kihon feels so refreshing. It helped me to cut properly in a controlled environment at my own pace.

There were about 8 or 9 adults and 3 kids in bogu tonight. It was quite exhausting without a little breather in between changing partners, as only Jane and I were in the "ladies group".

Rounds of suri-ashi men/kote-men/kote-men-do-men, then suri-ashi kirikaeshi, men-uchi, kote or kote-men-uchi, and finally more rounds of kirikaeshi and do-kirikaeshi at full length of the dojo... It was until this point that I pulled some muscles around my left ribs.

...Went on watching from the side for the ending 20 mins of jikeiko, and at times did about 200 suburi. Now I know how "not in shape" I am - not being able to last less than 1.5 hour of kihon kendo. How can I make myself to the squad?

-------------------------

I did get to the Regional Kendo Tournament as a spectator last Sunday. Just don't have time to report on it. More laterz.

15 minutes

2005-11-20T21:30:00.000+08:00

It was slightly better this week with me rushing home from work at 3.45pm for my bogu, arriving the QEII Stadium at 6.15pm. Funny enough the female changed room was rather busy when I get in. Apparently there is this Interschool Fencing Tournament going on at the main arena, and the changing area was pretty much occupied by school girls.

That reminds me of this Chinese-intercity competition (whats the official title) the next weekend. Obviously I am not on any of the team due to my poor attendance at the squad, but I'd have to go and help out or keiko at least. (Though I would rather spend the day sleeping after 6 days of work -_-)

Rarely in my home dojo would they do anything rather than "Kihon" - but when I got in there people were already at those tiring rounds of kirikaeshi-up-and-down-the-dojo-till-sensei-says-yame. Being singled out I just had the chance for mitori keiko. Kinda wonder how many rounds can I last these days, feeling so physically unfit.

After that the adult group merged with the kids class which usually occupies the other half of the dojo. It was in fact 8 rounds of uchikomi keiko for the kids side only. I haven't seen this stuff for a while and its quite refreshing to watch, especially most of them are 12-15 years younger than I am.

This was followed by enjin-keiko (one person in the centre of the circle, fighting everybody else). Still the kid was in the centre being battered by the adults. Outside the game observing, I really would say the key for this exercise is mainly to build up self-motivation and endurance, while techniques come second.

So by the time Eda-sensei said jikeiko for the adults group, it was already very close to 7pm. I had quite good keiko with Lisa, Andy Ng (kohai from the squad who is visiting with his kid) and Mrs Horibe. I got some relatively satisfying kote-mena nd hiki-men on everyone, but somehow lost quite a lot of de-kote. It's either I am too slow or not hittinf spot-on. It's very strange that I used to be able to fire one tobikomi-kote whenever I wanted to, but now it's just so closed to non-existance.

The last and very short keiko was taking 3 cuts from David the interpretor who happened to time his jodan men quite well. None of this should happen again when I practice more often...!!!

Oh, and I finally paid the dues for this season to Eda-sensei. She said Kishikawa-sensei was asking where me and Angus are. So I guess I am not the only one getting sick in a month and too busy in another. It'll be really interesting next week when I see Kishikawa-sensei and the rest of those in the squad.

Slowing down

2005-11-13T01:46:00.000+08:00

After the 2nd week at work I arrived at the dojo at 6.30pm on Sat, missing the first hour of the kihon keiko. For 2 weeks I've been getting off work at around 7-8pm, rushing to different evening classes, sleeping at 1.30-2am and waking up at 7.45am. So this afternoon (still at work for half a day on a Sat) I just collapsed to bed at home, and when I realized it, it was already 5pm..!!

So when I joined in the bogu group they were already doing mawari keiko. In that half an hour I went from the end of the line to the top of the line - i.e. 8 keiko - which is much of an accomplishment, considering my absence in the dojo for the last 3 weeks.

On my way there while I spent my time on the bus fixing my 2 shinai, I was only thinking about doing a lot of men cuts, kote-men and hiki-men. Just cutting straight is enough...

But then life is not that simple. The first few keiko I was still in kihon mode which just turned out to be cuts without seme. Didn't get battered, but still, I should have at least find the right opportunity... Against Leo who still train in the squad weekly, he can easily perform a suriage waza that makes my men-uchi a useless move. Further down the line I am slowing down (probably due to the lack of energy), but that actually made me think about when to hit. At least I did some satisfying hiki-men in the ending few fights.

Whenever I had been out of regular training (by that I mean twice a week or more), it only feels like doing some exercise, and not improving on a specific kendo aspect (posture, waza, whatever). This of course slows down my what I am learning, but then at this moment in life, I can't really help.

From 7pm onwards it was jikeiko time and people could grab whoever they want. I took a slight break for a while and watched everyone's kendo. The more I watched I felt I am way behind a lot of these dokai.

I asked Alex for some kihon stuff, like when I was the sempai I could ask those kohai who wasn't doing anything to "just cut". Men-uchi and then kote-men 10 times each. I used this chance to work on "being straight". But the comment was that I was quite slow, and my kiai wasn't strong enough to score in a real shiai.

There's this brief conversation in between which kept ringing in my head for the rest of the day:-

Alex: So are you still training at the squad, Jenny?
Me: Er, no. I haven't...
A: Ahh, you should really go and train there a lot more. You and Amy should be training for the HK team...
Me: Er, I need to work overtime...

We went on to the side and do some kote-uchi and de-gote (and therefore I managed to escape from the kata session again!!). It was rather disappointing as it seems like I've lost my tokui-waza. I just kinda forget how to do tobikomi-kote - my posture wasn't right, my left leg wasn't pushing enough, my body was bending and unstable, etc. etc. The de-gote was equally awful - probably only managed a pop once out of 5, others either landed on the tsuba or alex's forearm (!). The next thing I should be working on (or should I say "re-work on") is my speed and accuracy.

After the keiko I briefly chatted with Eda-sensei, Leo and the lot and explained my irregular attendance in recent weeks. Sometimes I just want to hear them congrat me on getting an internship - and I don't want to get that annoying comment about "the team", "WKC", or whatever that is coming. I don't want them to hear me say "I don't care"... Loads of people are working as well as training really hard. But then I am still not too secured about my life outside of kendo - do I really have one? I'll be a really sad person if my life only existed by the shinai, or if people only care about my existance inside the dojo.

Sorry...

2005-11-05T22:25:00.000+08:00

A disappointment really, that I just slept at home for the entire time when I should be at the Sat kendo this afternoon. With only 5 hours of sleep every day for the week and then 11+ hours of clicking in front of the computer, together with the evening courses I rushed to... I just couldn't help myself.

I hope I can make it next week. Just did some sit-ups and then a few houndreds katake-suburi, but haven't put on bogu for 3 weeks already. Haven't paid my dues for this quarter yet, and I hope to explain my situation in person to all the sensei and dojo mates...

The situation should be better if I manage a permanent offer for this job. The first aid (on Mons) and Illustration classes (Thurs) finish in a months time, and I can change the times for Nihongo Phrase 4 (after passing the exam for Phrase 3 in late Nov that is). Anyway, this is gonna be a busy month without much kendo. Just a little bit of sacrifice in training in order to get serious in life. I hope I am making the right choice here.

*clap-clap*

no keiko...

2005-10-30T20:38:00.000+08:00

Sorry friends. I've been busy all weekend doing research and there's just no time for kendo. That means I was reading books and stuff instead of going to keiko with hachidan and nanadan sensei from Korea...

To prove that I really went around researching (btw I just learnt that japanese grammar in my last lesson :p):-

Anyway - I still got this photo and also 80+ others.

I hope I can get back to training as soon as possible... Settling down with a company isn't all that easy, I assume...

Work + No Play...

2005-10-28T23:17:00.000+08:00

Last Tues - Skipped squad training to get more time working on my portfolio
Last Thurs - Schedule clashes with that Illustration for Advertising short course
Friday (today) - Portfolio presentation and got a graphic design work placement from a brand consulting + development agency
Sat (tomorrow) - HK Society of Illustrators seminar full day
Sun - Will probably skipped the squad training to do some research about luxury retail branding, packaging, etc. (As I am not sure whether I can handle the agency's clients like Cartier, Carat, Bvlgari, etc..!!)
Mon - Start working

Apparently if I follow my plans, I'll be missing this sudden kendo event (might just go and watch):-

Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 12:45 AM
Subject: visit of korean sensei
Dear sensei,

this sunday afternoon 2pm - 4pm two 8dan sensei and four 7dan sensei from korea want to have keiko with HK members... has invited them to have keiko ... at HK Park 2pm-4pm, please feel free to join. there will be no entrance fee.

thanks
eda

Autumn the Kendo Season

2005-10-22T22:09:00.000+08:00

Yet another 2 week break on a Sat. This time it was tonsilitis, so serious that after 6 days of antibiotics from my GP I am still only at 90%. But since I can finally swallow food and water without experiencing any pain, I'm back at the dojo, doing my kihon.

It's a rather good turn-up with 14 people I think. 5 of us girls in a separate rotation.

Here we do quite a lot of men-uchi kihon stuff using suri-ashi only (like your bokutoniyorukihonwazakeiko....). Initially I thought it's quite retarded and doesn't help in full-speed kendo, but now I am getting used to it, and in fact, much better. I do notice how much the power of my left thigh is forcing myself to go forward when we progress to fumikomi men-uchi. Somehow I think the 1000 rope jumps I do every other day contributed to this leg-muscle strengthening too.

Yeah, I am jumping more ropes than going for kendo at the moment. Besides the unexpected illnesses in the past few weeks, my evenings are quite booked up with courses right now. I quite tempted to go back to the squad on a Tue after my Nihongo Kurasu, but usually I am just too hungry at that hour. Argh.

After mawari-keiko, we spent some time in ippon-shobu shiai and then more jikeiko (Eda-sensei shoved me to the motodachi side...). I am working on kote-men, kote-do and hiki-waza at the moment, mainly because I want more variation from the amount of tobikomi-kote I can get from juniors. At this stage I am still not sure why sometimes the waza works and sometimes it doesn't - and I'll try to figure that out...

There were only 4 of us girls (Jane, Jasqyna [sp?!], Noroi-san) left when we do the Ippon-shobu (winner stays) shiai keiko. Not surprisingly I lasted until I faced Noroi-san for the second time. I mainly scored tobikomi-men, and I realized how my kote sucks and gets bendy now (lack of practice).... That Ippon I lost was a men-nuki-do.

Noroi-san is one of the smarter ones who so obviously keeps on smacking people's do - mine or the taller guys. So I guess it's right to keep working on a tokui waza (or a few).

At jikeiko I fought Alex and Jiman (both 3 Dan). Well, they aren't the brilliant type, but I think I am lacking that bit of aggression that does not really exist in the girls group. Of course you get the usual hard hitters. But I am not complaining about that inch of red bruise near my right pelvis bone. Juniors (especially girls) tends to loose that keiko tension more easily, and you'll rarely see them in kakari-keiko mode. I felt nasty going 5-renzuku-waza (back and forth) to Jane, but when I fenced Jiman it was like a cool demo to the beginners who were just learning suburi at the remaining 1/3 of the dojo.

So not aggressive enough = too boring; too much agression (like the training at the squad... oh and also adding the frustration...) = too hard for me. Seems like a little bit too extreme at both ends. Much of a dilemma to choose from, if I can only attend a limited amount of keiko right now.

Finally Autumn has cometh and this week is probably the last week I'll be wearing vests. I'd really need to gear up my muscles and body fat for the kendo events at the end of this year. Tho I am not too sure about the squad now. No doubt they are going to welcome me back, but whether I can survive and catch up is another question...

p.s. For that ever-demanding reader, here's your atom feed:-
http://mingshiwan.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Better or Worse

2005-10-10T23:48:00.000+08:00

It's been quite a while for me to turn up on a Sat - because there were some visitors from Shizuoka coming over last weekend. I *knew* I wouldn't bother waking up on a Sunday morning, so I had to show up on Sat.

The keiko turned out to be 1 hour only, as comparing to the usual "adults in bogu Sat session" which is at 5.30-7.30pm. A number of us didn't know this arrangement and therefore turned up 1 hour earlier. Instead of standing there chatting, we got robbed to be motodachi on the Sat kids class (4.30-5.30pm)... I hadn't done this for a rather long while, but this time I quite enjoy encouraging kids and beginners alike... Somehow it reminds me of the joy of kendo at the beginner's class.

This motodachi session was quite short - just receiving kirikaeshi, men-uchi x5, kote-men x5. There were 4 motodachi (leaded by Oda-san, then me, Leo + David) and the queues were around 5-person deep. I still like pushing kids who paused after cutting men, running away from those who takes 3 steps before cutting, and shouting "Hayaku (faster)!" to anyone who didn't look motivated.

The only odd thing was the 6 visitors coming in 5 minutes before our class finishes - and you got the other locals who came for the open keiko. Kishikawa-sensei being one of them (!)...

It was Iizuka-sensei from Shizuoka (8 dan) plus 3 mid-age men, a shorter old man and a mid-age lady. Since there were 6 of them in total, it wasn't a headache queuing anymore. I had the lady first, then a guy, then the older man, and then another guy. No one did the intro for these visitors so I had no idea about their rank, but I "assume" they are around 5/6 dan.

The most popular comment I get was about how much I hesitated before exploding for a cut. Especially with the guys - with them the keiko only last very short (because they've lost interest so fast...) I had a lot of doubts and that's due to the lack of confidence. Somehow I think it affects my hiki-men attempts too.

After class I quickly bowed to everyone I practiced with and rushed off but managed to say hi to Kishikawa-sensei. Conversation as follow:-

Me: K... Kishikawa-sensei... Hello...
Kishikawa: Hi Jenny. So you are still alive?
Me: Eh. I sort of injured my wirst.
K: When was that?
Me: Uhmm. 3 weeks ago. I was running in the rain and fell over. Now it hurts when I want to cut do or to the side, and I had to cheat by not turning my right...
K: Well that's good for your posture!
Me: Yeah I can notice that too. But I had to cut down the practice and can only join the normal Thurdays at Eda's. Can't overdo at the squad for a while.
K: Uhmm. Ok. But just don't stop practicing.
Me: Hai--!

Phew...!!

Missing Sensei

2005-10-07T14:09:00.000+08:00

-- Not an emotional expression, but just that there weren't any sensei on Thursday. I think Eda-sensei went picking up some 8-Dan at the airport, so we were pretty much left on our own, since the Tanaka's had left and wetn back to Japan.

It's one of those occations when there's no sensei around, some senpai would take over the class in a kinda dominating way. I arrived 15 mins late (bad traffic!!) and the 3-dan senpai was there leading the rotation of kihon. In total there were 12 people in the rotation, so it's a relatively good show. Oda-san got robbed to lead the 8-10 or so non-bogu group. Everything went as usual, but just that the environment was a bit dead.

Sadly there wasn't any inspiring/impressive senpai around, be it in this dojo or in the whole of the squad. Plently of sensei with good techniques, but then when it comes to senpai with a closer level gap - there isn't anyone there I can count on. Yes, I am annoyed by the fact, and was bored for most of the class.

We followed the "suriashi x3 + fumikomi x2" pattern for the kihon. It's still a gender-divided rotation with me, Lo, Jane, Koji (local kid, actually), and Takumi-kun. I felt sorry for Takumi because no one is doing the translation for him this round, Mrs Tanaka isn't here any more, and he got stuck with us for the first half of the class. But I quite enjoy pairing up with him even tho he bloody smacked my knickles every time he cut kote in kihon (!?!). Well, but he's more energetic then the rest of the adults, and is fun to be with anyways.

Takumi's partner for the 2nd half of the class is Gareth, another 9-yr-old local boy who goes to international school (he's got an accent in his English). Gareth has an elder bro called Brian, and the 3 were like the dojo's musketeers... I remember Brian started probably the same time as I was a beginner (was in HK that summer for 2 months in this very dojo). He was like... 5 years old and so cute that you just want to spend the rest of the class hugging him. I chatted with their grandmother a bit and she said, "yeah, they went swimming classes after school, and then here!" Gosh, don't you wish you did more exercise when you were at that age?

My wrist didn't hurt that much when I did do-uchi on the kote-men-do an kote-men-do-men sequences. Maybe because I really use a lot of left hand and hit like using katate-waza. Surprisingly it smacked with a much louder noise than I turn my right wrist...

But my wrist still hurts in occations such as lifting my bogu bag up right hand only...

The last 25 mins or so was mawari-keiko. We managed a full rotation fighting everyone in bogu plus 2 more - so it's about 2 mins every keiko. Maybe it's the lack of excitement from the kihon session - I think nothing from the whole of September can compare with this 25 mins.

Mainly I worked on my kote-men or kote-do as renzoku-waza. I do notice if my left hand remains the correct amount of gripping force, my 2nd strike will be faster and more solid.

The other thing I worked on was Hiki-men. Somehow I felt everyone is having an opening for me to hit their men at tsuba-zeriai. I think I smacked 5 on everyone.

Ng, a kohai from the squad, turned up at our dojo with his 5/6-yr-old son and shot some keiko pics out of him. He was injured on the right knee so he wasn't practising. And then I went on saying I haven't been to the squad for 2 months already. I briefly talked about my concerns over whether I can still be selected into the team next year (be it the Asian tournament or the 13th WKC). Honestly I have no idea what the future brings. It does seems like I quite enjoy the bash this night, but I am not sure whether to commit to the squad training again.

"Don't Run Away"

2005-09-30T00:31:00.000+08:00

This 14-day break from kendo is probably the longest in the past 14 months. Still not very much recovered from a heavy flu last week and also a painful right wrist (injured again last monday... someone please tell me not to run in the rain and fall over...), I was swing my shinai again at the dojo with the rest of the class tonight.

About every other day I did my 1000-times rope-jumps, and if not a couple hundreds of sit-ups alternating with katate-suburi. So fitness-wise I can catch up with no problemo. Just that the level of my kendo isn't going anywhere due to the very irregular practices I've been to in recent weeks. I haven't been to either a Tues/ Sun squad for 2 months, got to think about it.

Everyone is rather attentive tonight as Tanaka-sensei announced (as we did the kihon without bogu) that this is the last practice with him and his wife. My 3-step/1-step kihon went alright, until it gets to the rensoku waza series. My right wrist does not allow me to cut dou on either kote-men-dou or kote-men-do-men. Recalling what Eda-sensei said about "No one is at their 100% in every shiai, so find a way to adapt to your whatever condition as quick as you can", I just happened to temporary cheat a bit by not rotating my right wrist. Since the shinai handle isn't oval-shaped like a katana, it looks alright. Just maybe not scoring in a real shinai.

It wasn't a busy night at all with only 8 people (!?) in the rotation, so comparatively kendo gets slightly more intense. Very rarely that we stayed for paired bogu practice for 45 mins non-stop. And we actually did some waza here. Like men-kaeshi-dou which kills my wrist again. Also other alternative renzoku waza combinations: kote-kote-men, kote-men-men, men(blocked)-dou, etc.

The ending 15 min of jikeiko time was pretty enough for the few who were in armour. I had a good bash with Mrs Tanaka. Eda-sensei at the side comment on my men-uchi being too small. At this kind of keiko with a significant level gap, just expect a couple of ending men-uchi. I was very tired and confused when I heard Mrs Tanaka said, "___...migi___... hidari___..." I always assume this is one of those "too much right hand" expression so I had to completely use my left hand and forget about the right. Only the last 2 men-uchi scored me a "very good" comment, and then we sunk in sonkyo, and finished the keiko.

After class Mrs Tanaka further explained about what she was about to tell me, in action. It turned out to be that I was literally running to the right after cutting (and not what I thought about too much right hand...) I should be going straight and slamming into the opponent. "Nikeja Dame" - don't run away. That's some Japanese I know, and the idea finally came across quite well.

I tried queuing for Tanaka-sensei but obviously we ran out of time. Little Utsunomiya Takumi-kun got the "special farewell treatment", you know, that kind of uchikomi that last forever ever ever ever ever ever... got told that it would be the last ippon, got pushed and fell over, got up and the rest of the people just kept on shouting "GANBATTE"... Oh what a scene. The 9-year-old was 200% exhausted when we gave him the round of applause (probably because we'll never last that long). His eyes were still in tears when we waited for the seiza call. I just turned around and gave him my 2 thumbs up.

Tanaka-sensei gave his 10-min farewell speech while we were in seiza (awww). Basically it's about how he enjoys teaching in a dojo that worked a lot on kihon, correctness of posture and such. And he went on and said the importance of listening, lasting a practice, and always get one more ippon. "It's that "one last Ippon" that build you up little by little every single time you go for it. If you give that one up then you'll never improve. Japan is a militaristic (?) society in which everyone has to discipline themselves. For those who just hang around not pushing themselves, their sensei had already given up on them... Hope you can make use of this concept both in and outside of the dojo." That was translated by David and he did his job well. For some reason, I found the last few lines apply to my current situation really well (...wonder why all the sensei is picking on me yeah?)

"Take care, Sensei." My last line to Mr Tanaka.

Last This Hour

2005-09-15T23:45:00.000+08:00

Today - after rushing home from the centre of town (new version of Photoshop + Illustrator + InDesign seminar... Great!) and going back to the opposite side of the harbour - adding to the heavy traffic jam 2 bus stops away from where I should get off and walk to the dojo, by the time I entered the dojo, people were already putting on their men and I completely missed the suburi/kihon parts.

[I also happened to left my shirt and trousers in the changing room one floor below the gym for 1 hour. Some adviced me to play the lottery because I managed to find it after the class - with my $$ all still there...!!]

Anyway, the bogu session started off with a line of people in bogu as motodachi, and standing opposite, the intermediates who got to hit the targets with suri-ashi. There's one odd person out, so I took that time and did some warming up. Was pretty stiff there - I haven't touched my shinai for a week.

Moving on to bogu-ed people only, we went thru the usual kirikaeshi, kihon - with suriashi and then fumikomi... The more exhausting one will be kote-men-do-men. Seem to find myself more balanced, but not fast enough (god, how the hell can I catch up with the Hokkaido boys...)

Tanaka-sensei had a sudden "surprise" for this session, and before moving on to jikeiko, we had about 6 rounds of 5-times-ai-men. We were told that it will let us understand more about our -utsu-maai. Also we'll use more of our waist-power to turn 180-degree, and run through much faster.

I told myself not to take a break today. It was only an hour for me already, and if I can't even last that, it means I am not enjoying kendo (and not just the situation). Now I know I didn't really dropped out, but I am just as borderline dangerous as the rest of the losers. Especially yesterday I had the worst 1000-rope-jumps in ages. I haven't done even once 100-non-stop, and I felt tired before reaching the 500th. I was so out of practice, and pretty much out of shape recently...

My first keiko partner was Takumi-kun (who is 9 and ...half my height...). Tanaka-sensei came over and wacked him over the head because he missed a couple of really good opportunities, and was dodging too much. But I also got nagged about "Jenny you should beat him up" in Japanese - or something similar. Well, Takumi really did a few sharp do-uchi which I was really impressed. I was trying to work on more of my kote-men and kote-dou, but still these waza weren't working as good in jikeiko. uHmm

...And then I had Mimura-san who is a teenager-beginner. I haven't had a keiko with people at that level for quite a while now, so it's been a refreshing feeling. (Since I am no longer responsible to teach beginners here, and loads of people were still at the non-bogu stage - only this month "Iris" bought her bogu, and she started at the beginning of the year...!!) As usual I wanted to be more encouraging, and I hoped the boy appreciates it.

The ending few minutes I had a short one with David, our dojo Japanese-Cantonese interpretor. He is a fresh nidan. Somehow I found the same problem of mine in him. Like, after hitting kote (and missed), both of us just stood there like idiots. That happened twice and I started to be more aware of my left foot and did a couple of spot-on kote-men. But seemingly my kote-men only worked on people who has no intention to go forward. Thats definately something I should investigate into more...

It's just a strange day today anyway. When I packed my bogu I pulled out my current shiai tenugui from Matsuoka senpai "Possiblity is endless (not sure how to translate)" in London. And then at the end of the class Eda-sensei, who came back from Singapore last weekend, told me that "Miss Matsuda said hello to you". When I bin my keikogi into the laundry basket, my name flashes into my eyes on the keikogi those Iaido people at Wakaba gave me as farewell present. They just all of a sudden gave me little warm treats, and reminds me I should try harder and enjoy the practice more. Thanks for all that, whoever is reading.

...Can't

2005-09-13T21:55:00.000+08:00

Tonight at 8pm I switched off my laptop, stood up, grabbed my bogu from near the window... and immediately decided to put them down. Instead, I went into the dining room, sat down and had dinner.

**********
Last Thursday saw the visit from Inoue-sensei (3rd time this year!) who was going to accompany a HK team and visit Singapore. He came with 2 other men around his age, Yamane-sensei of Osaka, and Nozaki-sensei from Nara.

We jumped straight into free practice, which means 30+ people queuing for the 3 of them. I was second on the queue for Yamane.

The keiko was okay with me smashing 3-4 de-gote and got bored of this waza, but I couldn't really switch to other waza. Apart from the lack of practice, his timing was so different... It was just quite weird, but in the end we found out Yamane-sensei started kendo at the age of 40. Still, having 30+ years of experience, I won't have any other comments.

Nozaki-sensei is the tough-to-deal-with type. He did that "running in from to-maai and cut men" thing which was pretty impressive (age-wise). At one point I was like a beginner backing out so much that I stepped into people queuing at the side. They were shouting things like, "check your breathing. Kiai! kiai--!" which only pressured me more. I have no idea why I was so afraid at that time. After that, The keiko evolved into the usual uchikomi, and the advice was about using too much right hand. Guess it's the wirst injury that got me overcompensating for it.

Later on, more local sensei got to stand as motodachi, and so, the queue at Inoue-sensei was slightly shorter. But there is nothing special about that keiko. Basically I stood up from sonkyu, held for 5 seconds, cut men, got battered, and did a few rounds of men-uchi. Finished in 30 seconds in total. Not too enjoyable.

So yeah, that's last Thursday with 3 jikeiko and nothing else.

I think I'll go this Thursday. But from next week on to late Nov the practice hours will clash with my short course at the Art School (Illustration for Advertising). Need to re-schedule everything if I am going to continue to have regular kendo.

****************

I said that because I was thinking of dropping kendo and pick up something else closer instead. Last Monday at the St John's First Aid course, I was quite attracted to volunteer for their brigade. Since I can't go for the Police anymore, St John might have been an option just for fun. Then I don't have to struggle on a Sunday morning to see if I'll get tortured in the dojo - and then do something that contribute to the society a little bit.

Far Far Away...

2005-09-06T23:00:00.000+08:00

Sitting here for too long without any exercise at all hurts my a$$. My only entertainment in recent hours is this:-

Distribution of Dojo in Relation to Where I Live

Hong Kong (QEII is the place for my dojo and squad training)

London

Well... Location/ transportation-wise my current dojo isn't *that* far... I dunno why mentally I am feeling this way.

Ki.mo.chi.

2005-09-05T22:52:00.000+08:00

[I wrote a longer entry but it came back with a system error. Oh what the heck...]

Although encouraging, it is also a rather disturbing idea... Now that Tanaka-sensei has spoken during the round-the-table-comments-to-everyone session at the farewell dinner last Sat.

I should fight with a relaxed body and a strong spirit - not tensing up and displaying my thinking-too-much mentality on my face during keiko.

My state of mind should be like a big but calm, quiet lake without ripples.

I have got the timings, opportunities, speed and stamina right, which much qualifies me as a national team member in international championships. What I need to work on, is how I should approach each fight. The Kimochi, so to speak.

... Slowly and steadily I am being pressured to train for the world championships. It's more than a year away and I am not sure why everyone is so serious about it already. It takes away a lot of the fun and enjoyment I can have, sucking up a huge chunk of my energy and time (while not having a decent income) ... Maybe I just can't handle that kind of pressure and responsiblity. I wish I can just play and enjoy.

My wrist is 99.9% recovered, but I am not sure about the squad training tomorrow. I get quite scared about going 250+ hayasuburi this month, being out of practice for so long...

How Long Can I Last Like This??

2005-08-30T22:24:00.000+08:00

My right wrist is probably 99% recovered. Went to the hospital yesterday, but 100 people were in the queue so in the end I didn't see the doc. Oddly enough, there is this bottle of home-made (and with a strong smell) Chinese medicine sent to my father from his doc/pal at Wisconsin. Work wonders just the second day rubbing it on.

I did tell my mom I was going to kendo tonight. But at 8pm I sat down at the dining table instead. Obviously, I don't feel like going to the squad. Missed 3 times already, which means I am really behind. It will kill me if they are doing 250 hayasuburi the next time I go...

******************
The main excuse for tonight's absence, is this email I received today:-

Hi Jenny,

[snip] ... I browsed your website of portfolio and found your work to be very similar to one another in style. I very much would like to speak to you to see if you have any experience or interest in the Coroprate Identity , graphics, branding work for more traditional corporate clients...such as banks. The design they need are generally more conservative with nice photos and layouts but not extreme creative artistry.

When is it a good time to have a coffee for a chat? I am sure you will have extra stuff to show me. Is Central a good place to meet?

cheers,
Milton

ps. I would like to know if you are currently engaged in any full time job.

*************************
At the moment I am re-working on my portfolio, but I have zero confidence in the kind of work this person need, because essentially, I have no experience into that.

"Found your work to be very similar in style..."
"The design they need are generally more conservative... but not extreme creative artistry..."

This. Hits. Me. On. The. Head. Real. Hard...

Ouch--!

2005-08-26T01:15:00.000+08:00

"Your friend from London said hi" The first thing Eda-sensei came up with when I walked into the changing room was that... She's probably very lucky to get into the seminar weekend where people from all parts of the UK were also there with Sumi-sensei last week.

Anyway tonight had a good turn-up with 15+ people in bogu. 10 days without kendo for me is a long break. My right wrist felt okay, if not 90% recovered.

... But I wasn't too sure about the 20 push-ups at the beginning of the warm-ups.

... And then with the shinai they did the single-handed butterfly swing-around wrist exercise (like how you do kaeshi waza). It just soooooooo killed my wrist again.

I thought if there is no kaeshi waza I can survive this Thursday kihon class. Tanaka-sensei leaded the sanhyoushi/ichihyoushi men/kote-uchi. Also added in today was Furukawa-sensei's kote-men-do-men combo. I can't kiai on the Do cut as my wrist hurt soooooooo much...

At 8pm we practice kihon with Men on. But surprisingly, kirikaeshi worked ok for my wrist.

Also I found myself I'm leaning a bit forward today - I guess bad habit shows without regular practice hmmmmmm

It's kinda strange that Eda-sensei reduce the times we do for kihon to twice/three times each and then change sides, as comparing to the 5 times I normally did in London. "You should give your best Ippon. There's only 2 opportunities for you to show. So do it perfectly." Yeah that's a thought.

It was just men, kote and then ai-kote-men. My wrist didn't hurt on cutting/receiving so I thought this wasn't my problem - so probably it has something to do with the do-uchi or kaeshi-waza I did the other week at Furukawa's seminar.

The final 30 mins we had time for jikeiko and I grabbed Lo for a while. I did a few ok-ish hiki-men, but it's my de-kote that's hurting my wrist. Anyway, that's the last thing I had with my men on. I got shoved to the non-bogu side and did some kirikaeshi with a cute kohai named Iris.

While the other side of the class was having mock-shinsa for this Sunday (no squad, yay), we did some renzoku-men-uchi with people lining up with shinai held horizontally (yeah thats beginners stuff) And then Mrs Tanaka told me that my left foot wasn't following when I hit... damn, I definitely wasn't paying attention!!!

Argh. When am I going to recover?!!???!

Just got an email about Tanaka-sensei (and also Mrs Tanaka) is going to leave Hong Kong mid-Sept. That's shocking news..!! (... and the rest of the email is about giving presents and party..[???])

Injury Rant

2005-08-21T13:10:00.000+08:00

The scenery outside my bedroom window has been looking like this for the past few days. It had been raining heavily non-stop for 48 hours, until last night.

However, since last keiko (5 days ago) my right wrist had not recovered... It hurts whenever I want to turn the door knob or pick food up with chopsticks... Basically I can't hold my right arm straight, palm up, and bend my hand down more than 30 degrees.

To illustrate my point further - my right wrist can't even hold in chudan!!! I am still not sure whether this was due to some bad kaeshi waza I made or was it because some heavy-hitting dudes hit on the wrong part of my kote. When people here ask me, "are the Europeans really physical?", next time I'm going to say: "pretty much the same". I do think my theory about "those who begins from adult-hood hits hard", with is not limited to foreigners at all!! ... Anyway, I'd have to give it a rest.

This weekend seems to be a grading weekend for a couple of places around the world. Next week they'd have one in HK, so there will be no Sunday squad... I'll try my best to make the Tuesday one tho. Had already missed out their "Eiga-Naoki-signed tenugui" from Furukawa-sensei...

I apologize for the last few lengthy entries. (I went back today and thought, "Gee, who the hell is going to read that?!") With the insomnia my brain didn't really function before I type!!

[edit]
... Has anyone watched the 1997 WKC Kyoto videos as posted on KWF yet? I spot Kishikawa-sensei in one of them (R Kishikawa vs M Asaoka- http://kummisa.cafe24.com/10/10-7.wmv) Brazil came join-3rd after beating Canada... God, he was sharp 8 years ago!!

Did I just become a stalker of my sensei!?!