Our dojo, Meikyokan is for adult beginners and we usually only have practices with our own students to avoid too much variation in learning levels.
However, on Fridays, we host all our kendo addict friends who are willing to do early-morning practice to ‘Joint Practice ‘(Godo-keiko) (Note: As of 2025, Friday joint practices will no longer be held).
Today was the first joint practice of 2024.
Although it was called a ‘joint’ practice, it ended up being a small group with only five people in total. I guess only kendo addicts will be doing kendo on new year’s early morning?
But because the number of participants was small, we were able to have a vigorous training practice for a full hour.
(panting…)
At my dojo, we usually don’t have much jigeiko or shiai practice, but godo-keiko day is an exception.
After kihon practice, for about 20 minutes, we did jigeiko with various ranked kenshis and higher-ranking senseis.
To me, this Friday jigeiko is a chance to ‘summarize’ and ‘test’ everything I’ve learned from Monday through Thursday.
Can I actually apply what we’ve learned over the week in actual fighting situations?
It’s a chance to confirm that, or a challenge try to do them.
By the way, my goal for jigeiko that I set for myself before practicing today is…
I’ll announce it now!
*Drumroll*
🌸Goal 1: Attack right down the center at all costs (remembering the infamous “Guuuuuu!!” training),
🌸Goal 2: Try to use debana waza
Well…, after I finished jigeiko, I looked back to see if I’d achieved these two goals.
OMG!!
What a surprise!
What happened was that the moment I started jigeiko, I’d completely forgotten about the goal I’d set for myself!
Wow… I was really surprised and shocked…
I can’t believe this…
What are you doing?
Well, anyway, I left the dojo and, on my way home, I tried to remember what I’d learned from jigeiko today.
Looking back on my jigeiko, I reflected on the following:
1) I realized I was overthinking things.
2) I did what I thought I’d like to do without checking my opponent’s reaction, which resulted in a ‘nonsensical’ kendo.
3) I was always somewhat lacking in confidence in my own attack and I did ‘half-hearted’ waza, which made my attack feel weak.
Anyway, there were so many things to reflect on; this was no good, that was no good.
And the biggest thing I regret is, without a doubt, I completely forgot the goals I’d just set before jigeiko.
When and where
I left those goals?
For now, I’ll make sure to remember the goals I set today and mark them as homework for the next week.
Once again, I realize that kendo is really difficult! Hahaha.
The fact that the goal I’d just set for myself completely vanished from my mind means that
I wasn’t fully settled when I faced my opponent.
Instead, I was extremely shaken by my opponent’s movements and distracted by other things.
In short, I realized that my mind was completely controlled by my opponent.
I’m a very unstable person, and I have a hard time disciplining myself…
I see these traits in my everyday life here and there.
When something unexpected happens, I immediately panic and get anxious…
“Oh no, what should I do? What should I do?” keeps going round and round in my head.
I wonder how many times this happens in a year…
It’s a bit depressing, but I’ll pull myself together and
I will go to practice again next week♪
