Thanks be to
Thank you everyone who's put up with me these past few weeks. I know I can be insufferable sometimes, and not only that but extremely hard to get a hold of. Your limitless patience with me and my shenanigans means the world, and without it I wouldn't be able to accomplish half of what I set out to do. All my hard work has paid off though, I know I've been pretty distant with people lately, not keeping up as much and often preoccupied, but finally it's amounted to something. This weekend I went to Cleveland, Ohio for the Great North Eastern Kendo Championships and participated in the women's, mudansha, teams divisions and the rank testing. Saturday was super exciting and a wee bit crazy, I've never been to a tournament that big, there were the most teams I've ever seen participating from places like Kentucky, Georgia, Michigan, New York, DC and Virginia and so on. There were some fantastic matches, I felt badly because I didn't get to fight as much as I wanted to, but that just feeds the drive for improvement. My first match was against a tiny little girl who was the most ferocious girl I've ever fought, and she was barely taller than my waist. I had reserves about fighting her, but that's kinda disrespectful, not only that, but she had absolutely no problem trying to beat me up and I knew within the first 30seconds if I didn't do something she was going to score a point on me, tiny as she was (and she certainly did score on some older opponents in the team matches, I saw her fight and was extremely impressed). After I got over the idea of smacking around a little kid I scored the points I needed to end the match, but my next match in mudansha was against Bogdan who'd one first place in the individuals at William and Mary, and I don't care if it was a fluke, he's still very good at kendo.
So I lost that match, but I really think I've discovered a big weakness - I have a lot to improve on for my kendo, especially speed and aim...but also mentality. A big part of
Kendo is the battle with yourself, I need to work on that, it comes with experience, and I'll have to be patient, but whenever I do keiko - even with the tech guys I fight twice a week - whenever I go up against someone I know to be much better than I am I am always a little self-defeatist, I know I am going to lose, I expect it, I anticipate it, maybe just to make it a little easier on myself when it happens...but I shouldn't be thinking that way. I need to be more positive, go into a fight and not care about winning or losing, but doing well, doing my best. The way we practice at tech, it feels like it is so much about keiko, sparring, tournaments, winning. Yeah, you have to spar for testing too, it's not all form and kata...but the keiko in the test is also not about scoring points, it's about doing good kendo. You don't have to "win" your keiko for the test to achieve your rank, you need to have beautiful kendo. I need to practice more of my form, more of my speed and technique...and more of the right mentality.
The tournament on Saturday took 12 hours in total, I laid down briefly because I was so exhausted but I helped keep track of our teams and points and watched some great matches with very talented kendoka, it was pretty exciting to see the dan level members doing things like tsuki in a match, at other tournaments I've not seen it that often because it's college-level. I was also very impressed with Jason Price in his matches, he barely got scored on all day and only lost his last match because of a judge's decision. He jokes around in practice all the time, but his kendo is so good, sean did a good job of teaching him...Peter did well too, he got second in individuals overall. GKA has some super talented members, practicing there must be incredible. There was another member named Park who was a shodan and tested for nidan on sunday, he was only 17 or 18 and fought in the Jodan stance, he was amazing. He was so light on his toes, and so fast! I liked watching him the best out of everyone, I've never seen someone so good at jodan, and he was still so young, but so tall and so experienced, it wasn't that he was just good at winning matches, but his kendo was really beautiful - he had this amazing reach and speed and the "snap" I've always wanted to have to his movements. I wonder if I'll ever be that good....
Sunday was interesting, we got a telling for not taking our shoes off soon enough, chewed out for not attending the seminar, nearly eliminated from the testing because we didn't arrive early enough, blindsided when they tacked on two more strike combinations to the test they hadn't announced, shocked when they asked us to come back up to the front of the line for keiko in front of the judges...but in the end things worked out really well. I'm finally ranked, I'm Nikyu. for those of you who don't know how kendo rankings work:
Highest
(10th) jūdan (十段:じゅうだん):
(9th) kudan (九段:くだん)
(8th) hachidan (八段:はちだん)
(7th) nanadan (七段:ななだん)
(6th) rokudan (六段:ろくだん)
(5th) godan (五段:ごだん)
(4th) yodan (四段:よだん)
(3rd) sandan (三段:さんだん)
(2nd) nidan (二段:にだん)
(1st) shodan (初段:しょだん)
(1st) Ikkyū (一級:いっきゅう)
(2nd) Nikyū (二級:にきゅう)
(3rd) Sankyū (三級:さんきゅう)
(4th)Yonkyū (四級:よんきゅう)
(5th) Gokyū (五級:ごきゅう)
(6th) Rokkyū (六級:ろっきゅう)
(7th) Nanakyū (七級:ななきゅう)
(8th) Hachikyū (八級:はちきゅう)
(9th) Kukyū (九級:くきゅう)
(10) Jūkyū (十級:じゅうきゅう)
Lowest
Traditionally, on your first test, you cannot get higher than Nikyu. For Ikkyu and higher you need to learn forms of kata and keiko, and starting at the higher dan levels you have a written part to the test as well. the testing was so nerve racking but luckily sean was there to help give us advice and answer the millions of questions I still had. we waited for a few hours for the dans to finish their testing and their kata testing...and then a few more hours as the judges deliberated behind closed doors. Finally at around 4 or so they emerged with the list, I was so impressed with how jack and jason did as well, we all work so hard and the fruits of our labors, all the blood and sweat and stress that we endure for this amounted to our very best, we all reached our goals. Watching Kato sensei smile at Jason's kote-men, and all the mudansha testing nod at jack's keiko, I'm so proud of the people I surround my self with.
Coming back to tech today seemed odd. It was like I was in another world all weekend and coming back to this normalcy was strange. It was like I'd had an adventure on a totally different planet (yeah, cleveland really sucked that much, like a place I never want to go back to...) and then I had to go back where I came from...srsly weird feeling ^ ^'''' I was kinda excited tho to just come back and chill, take it easy after a weekend of high intensity...but it wasn't meant to be. I had to study for my physics exam all morning and psychology was a snooze so I got to talk to TJ about some of the crazyness that went on, and then more cramming and then bombing the test...and then not time to chill with TJ 'cause everyone decided to eat together and then he wanted a ride back with keith, and so I took a little time to chill before going to kendo and working my ass off and it felt GREAT to work that hard....
so I guess if I'm gonna catch up on my sleep I'd better do it now ^ ^"'' I've got a lot more to ramble about...but some other time...
So I lost that match, but I really think I've discovered a big weakness - I have a lot to improve on for my kendo, especially speed and aim...but also mentality. A big part of
Kendo is the battle with yourself, I need to work on that, it comes with experience, and I'll have to be patient, but whenever I do keiko - even with the tech guys I fight twice a week - whenever I go up against someone I know to be much better than I am I am always a little self-defeatist, I know I am going to lose, I expect it, I anticipate it, maybe just to make it a little easier on myself when it happens...but I shouldn't be thinking that way. I need to be more positive, go into a fight and not care about winning or losing, but doing well, doing my best. The way we practice at tech, it feels like it is so much about keiko, sparring, tournaments, winning. Yeah, you have to spar for testing too, it's not all form and kata...but the keiko in the test is also not about scoring points, it's about doing good kendo. You don't have to "win" your keiko for the test to achieve your rank, you need to have beautiful kendo. I need to practice more of my form, more of my speed and technique...and more of the right mentality.
The tournament on Saturday took 12 hours in total, I laid down briefly because I was so exhausted but I helped keep track of our teams and points and watched some great matches with very talented kendoka, it was pretty exciting to see the dan level members doing things like tsuki in a match, at other tournaments I've not seen it that often because it's college-level. I was also very impressed with Jason Price in his matches, he barely got scored on all day and only lost his last match because of a judge's decision. He jokes around in practice all the time, but his kendo is so good, sean did a good job of teaching him...Peter did well too, he got second in individuals overall. GKA has some super talented members, practicing there must be incredible. There was another member named Park who was a shodan and tested for nidan on sunday, he was only 17 or 18 and fought in the Jodan stance, he was amazing. He was so light on his toes, and so fast! I liked watching him the best out of everyone, I've never seen someone so good at jodan, and he was still so young, but so tall and so experienced, it wasn't that he was just good at winning matches, but his kendo was really beautiful - he had this amazing reach and speed and the "snap" I've always wanted to have to his movements. I wonder if I'll ever be that good....
Sunday was interesting, we got a telling for not taking our shoes off soon enough, chewed out for not attending the seminar, nearly eliminated from the testing because we didn't arrive early enough, blindsided when they tacked on two more strike combinations to the test they hadn't announced, shocked when they asked us to come back up to the front of the line for keiko in front of the judges...but in the end things worked out really well. I'm finally ranked, I'm Nikyu. for those of you who don't know how kendo rankings work:
Highest
(10th) jūdan (十段:じゅうだん):
(9th) kudan (九段:くだん)
(8th) hachidan (八段:はちだん)
(7th) nanadan (七段:ななだん)
(6th) rokudan (六段:ろくだん)
(5th) godan (五段:ごだん)
(4th) yodan (四段:よだん)
(3rd) sandan (三段:さんだん)
(2nd) nidan (二段:にだん)
(1st) shodan (初段:しょだん)
(1st) Ikkyū (一級:いっきゅう)
(2nd) Nikyū (二級:にきゅう)
(3rd) Sankyū (三級:さんきゅう)
(4th)Yonkyū (四級:よんきゅう)
(5th) Gokyū (五級:ごきゅう)
(6th) Rokkyū (六級:ろっきゅう)
(7th) Nanakyū (七級:ななきゅう)
(8th) Hachikyū (八級:はちきゅう)
(9th) Kukyū (九級:くきゅう)
(10) Jūkyū (十級:じゅうきゅう)
Lowest
Traditionally, on your first test, you cannot get higher than Nikyu. For Ikkyu and higher you need to learn forms of kata and keiko, and starting at the higher dan levels you have a written part to the test as well. the testing was so nerve racking but luckily sean was there to help give us advice and answer the millions of questions I still had. we waited for a few hours for the dans to finish their testing and their kata testing...and then a few more hours as the judges deliberated behind closed doors. Finally at around 4 or so they emerged with the list, I was so impressed with how jack and jason did as well, we all work so hard and the fruits of our labors, all the blood and sweat and stress that we endure for this amounted to our very best, we all reached our goals. Watching Kato sensei smile at Jason's kote-men, and all the mudansha testing nod at jack's keiko, I'm so proud of the people I surround my self with.
Coming back to tech today seemed odd. It was like I was in another world all weekend and coming back to this normalcy was strange. It was like I'd had an adventure on a totally different planet (yeah, cleveland really sucked that much, like a place I never want to go back to...) and then I had to go back where I came from...srsly weird feeling ^ ^'''' I was kinda excited tho to just come back and chill, take it easy after a weekend of high intensity...but it wasn't meant to be. I had to study for my physics exam all morning and psychology was a snooze so I got to talk to TJ about some of the crazyness that went on, and then more cramming and then bombing the test...and then not time to chill with TJ 'cause everyone decided to eat together and then he wanted a ride back with keith, and so I took a little time to chill before going to kendo and working my ass off and it felt GREAT to work that hard....
so I guess if I'm gonna catch up on my sleep I'd better do it now ^ ^"'' I've got a lot more to ramble about...but some other time...