UCL Lostboys

Thanks to Taiphoon 6 coming 2 weeks ago, the weather since then has been great. A total lack of burning sun, only ruined by the high humidity, but it has made keiko for the past two weeks just about do-able….

So I’ve been at it good and proper. Went to Noma to hammer about with the old men, went to Alsok to battle with the young fellas, and went to the ‘kan for the big kihon menu with the wood cutter. All good.

But now I’m knackered instead! But it’s a happy knackered. I’ve got a seminar demo type thingy tomorrow at one of my sensei’s mid-high school, and then a lazy sunday…..then back into the fray at the ‘kan on Monday! Things are pretty good!

I just need some more sleep…..oh, and I was told that I”m not allowed in the Tokyo prelim for the All Japan’s because I’m not Japanese. Cheers then. I guess they don’t want honky ruining things for them……sigh. Things like this put a crimp on kendo man.

No, I don’t mean that my mojo is back (it was never gone!) but that the heat that nearly killed me last summer has returned with a vengeance.

I’m trying to be a little more intelligent this year (only a little, mind you!) in my approach. Last year I just drank loads of water and got stuck in. This year, I am making sure that I eat a big breakfast everyday (lots of energy!), taking multi vitamins and iron supplements (to keep me genki), trying to eat better food (keeping healthy!) and as well as now drinking water throughout the day, trying to make sure that 2 hours before practise I top up on sports drinks, to make sure that my body is ready to sweat all that goodness straight back out again.

Generally, I feel that it’s working. I certainly don’t feel as lethargic as I did last year. Most practises last year were a real struggle in terms of fast and dynamic kendo, but this year I’ve only experienced it for half of one keiko. Fingers crossed…..

All my gear still gets mouldy as fuck though. It’s irritating and sick. In the end I’ve ended up taking my hakama home after every practise in the ‘kan because other wise it lives the next time I pick it up….

Finally, I’m at Soukei tomorrow (the guards!) and finally get to leave my gear there. Soukei are one of the stronger company teams – I saw them come third in the All Japan Company Taikai a couple of years back – so practising here with the young, fast guys, now that the power station is dead and buried, will be good for me, and something I am most definitely looking forward to.

Yesterday I went to Shinkiba to wave a few flags around, having been asked to ref at a small high school taikai, namely the Kanto and Koshinetsu engineering school kendo taikai. Never heard of it? No? No biggy, me either.

The first thing to note was that there was a looooooot of levels here. Kids that had obviously not been doing kendo more than a couple of years, and others that had apparently been doing it since they were little.

Generally, the reffing itself was pretty easy. Unlike other places I’ve reffed before, the points were fairly easy to spot and give, mostly as there wasn’t so much in the beginner-vs-beginner-fist-bashing-free-for-all that I’ve experienced else where. And thankfully, the handy kids far outnumbered the, er, not so handy ones…..

Interestingly, I could also see a lot of what I have recently started looking at. Not technique (I like to think my technique is decent enough compared to 18 year old nidan’s…..) but in terms of sutemi and full conviction in attacks. There was plenty of see-my-gyaku-do blocking, but the full hearted-ness of a lot of the attacks was a reminder to me of something that I am trying to regain in my own kendo, having gone a little too far down one particular path. So, even as a ref, I was able to learn from this, and from watching 17-18 year old lads as well. To an extent, humbling, and very much a little dose of what I needed too.

Plus, I got paid a healthy amount for it, when I wasn’t even expecting to get a penny, which was topper too!

Sometimes, it takes someone getting a bit shitty with you to realise that you’ve been walking down the path in the wrong direction for the past few months.

On Thursday, a sempai of mine from Shinjuku that I have a lot of respect for, got shirty with me because I wasn’t working on what he said. The thing is, normally, I would just fob this kind of thing off because I know the direction that I am going in, but it also came with one of those moments where the words of several different people suddenly made perfect sense, and I understood things a little more clearly. And felt embarrassed as well.

Anyway, enough of that. His message was basically that I have become too focussed on not getting hit, and therefore, by extension, winning, instead of what I know is quality, which would lead to winning anyway. And it’s not a technical thing, which also invariably means this is going to be a hard one to change as well……bugger. I don’t like to make life easy for myself, do I….

Depending on who I am fighting (the actual person, not the style or anything abstract like that), I do sometimes wish I could fight with my legs, also know as a swift kick to the tare. I reckon burying my foot in a mans gentleman’s region will lead to a swift victory.

So, assuming that I’m not, in fact, kicking the guy in the inarizushi, I think I am actually talking about a blindingly obvious conclusion, that has eluded me in some form of enlightenment or another for reasons beyond my ken. Basically, if I concentrate on my legs more than any other aspect of what I am trying to work on, my fighting distance and cutting distance both extend, and I become a little faster. Which is weird, but if it works I’ll take it. The obvious downer is that with other things that I still have to actively concentrate on (ie they are still points for me that I am trying to improve, and therefore actively thinking about them) it’s all adding up! Posture is generally fine, as is my technique (for now) but chushin, different types of seme and kamae were all there, so adding to his using my feet in a particular way…….the old brain is getting to be a busy place!

Last night I was asked to referee at a Kanto region Snr High School taikai. I’ve got no idea what the taikai is, who wil be there, or where to by the right colour necktie from. But as I conversed with Ginge on FB, I will indeed be walking around like either the king, or the Man from Del Monte, or both.

Summer is here. If I were in the UK, this would mean fat, red skinned sun chaser frying themselves to a crisp on stony “beaches”, images of deck chairs, string vests and hankies on heads, and watching the news reading about distressed dogs and kids in cars and droves of dead French pensioners. I’m not in the UK.

The mercury hit 30 degrees yesterday, and there were 30 people in the ‘kan. People familiar with the ‘kan will know that because of complaints from locals in recent years, the O has had to noise proof the place to some degree, which means two things. 1) No open windows, so now traveling air through the place is at a minimum. Therefore, 2) it gets really fucking hot. I mean obscenely hot. We’re not quite at the worst yet, but yesterday I felt a definite step forwards towards it……

Keiko last night was definitely a step towards hard, and the devil lethargy set in in the last few minutes. I’m trying to keep as watered up as possible, with some classic Japanese sports drinks, plenty of water during the day, taking my vits and mins, and eating plenty of rice during the day (You probably know that I’m bored shitless by white rice, but it’s got plenty of carbs in it, good energy source) to keep me going, so I’m hoping to simply bludgeon my way through the next 3 months (things won’t cool down until the middle of September) and keep my practice moving. I reckon I’m going to try a different approach this year, and hit it head on instead of skirt around it, and see how that works. But it’s not something I’m looking forward to. Urgh.

And quite right too!

As the entire world knows, Japan is a radiactive wasteland right now, thanks to the Fukushima nukes melting down (apparently a hell of a lot faster than previously thought) and the control company, Tokyo Denryoku (Tepco) making a total fucking pigs ear of everything from between day 1 to now.

One of the results of this is that, quite obviously and rightly, the kendo-bu at Tepco was halted indefinitely, and in the past 3 months (3 months tomorrow) since the earthquake, there has been no indication that it would start again.

Well, sadly, it looks like there is also a huge amount of major belt tightening going on in Tepco right now, and the building that housed the kendojo (and the judojo) is to be sold, leaving whatever remains of the Tepco kendo-bu in the future now homeless. It’s a sad end to a keiko that I loved, but inevitable I suppose. I will still be able to keep in touch with a few of the guys there, but all that I can do is look for another practise to fill the nuclear shaped hole that Tepco has left in my practise schedule.

Enter Alsok and the sougo keibi!

Now that the dust from Poland has well and truly settled, I can get back to the serious business of trying to get better.

One thing that has recently happened that I am quite happy with is a change in the practise times for the ‘kan. With the change, the big O has opened up practise to basically be “what ever you want” so I do just that. Currently, in the our that I have I do 20 – 25 minutes of kihon with the Canadian (who was a wreck after it on Monday) and then the remaining time doing jigeiko.

The kihon is good too…..having decided that I wanted to do more kakarigeiko before, and no having a chance to arrange my own practise, I’m pleased with the set as it stands. First 6 or 7 sets of Men, Kote, Kote-men, emphasising speed, cutting power, distance and sharp cuts (yup, I’m trying to watch it all…..), then moving onto butsukarigeiko (men hikimen, men hikigote, kote-men hiki dou, kote-men) another 6 times, then tsuki-tsuki-tsuki (yes, you read that right, and no, it’s not my kiai – though that would be awesome – but the actual drill) then following up with oji waza practise, where motodachi attacks either men or kote 3 times in quick succession and kakarite counters, with one of the big points being to properly return to an active chudan-no-kamae between each attack.

It’s good too. It’s all done with energy (and enthusiasm, because I get to practise everything!) and good constant sharp cuts.

I have to say, I am loving this keiko, and after a month it’s beginning to come through now and again, particularly with the odd very fast attack that I suddenly surprise myself with (I got a nice, relaxed and sharp men-ippon last night, from miles away, that really did catch even me out. I nearly forgot to kiai!). I am really motivated by times like this, and this is definitely no exception. Not only this, but as the Power Station is now gone for good (which I’ll write about in a seperate entry) I’ve managed to find another place with awesomely strong people to practise with and be challenged by, and they’ve also said I can leave my gear there too. Yes!

But finally, I also continue to hear rumors that the forces of evil are trying to get me off the national team. Sigh. I have a feeling that I know why, but it’s sad none the less. The squad in general has had a rough time of it at home for a couple of years now, so I guess this is simply a continuation in some form, but it’s a real shame. It’s only rumours though, but if it happens it happens, I suppose. I would obviously prefer to stay on the team that I have grown up with, but in reality I have little control over things like this, especially being in Japan. I just hope that it doesn’t happen! Even now I’m trying to help the team as much as possible (if you’re on it you know what I’m talking about) in what ways I can do from where I am, and I guess we’ll see what happens, but I’ve still got something to give, so I hope I don’t get cut short in my prime! Shall we see? I’m too young to die! Mummy!

Anyhow, more practise tonight (in the Omotesando Shoebox). If I’m lucky Bird Raising Sensei will be there, because he’s strong as fuck and someone who can take my trousers down when I don’t concentrate. Oh and I had an awesome tachikiri-esque go in Shinjuku last night, that had all 4 holy ippon in one keiko at one point (yes, that means I got a tsuki, gykau dou, kote and a men on the same person!) so it was worth it.

Dam I love kendo.