Packed Practise

Yesterday, our relatively small dojo hosted what was the last practise for Honda sensei and his students for their London visit; the turn out was amazing. At first this was quite a sight, more and more kendokas from all around London kept turning up as we went along, but pretty soon I began to realise this was probably not such a good thing afterall. For one there was literally no space to practise. Half the time I was hitting other kendokas that wasn't even my opponent. Also, selfishly, what you want to be doing is practising with Honda and his students on their last keiko! Ok, I suppose I'll always benefit from fighting other people I don't normally get to practise with, but even so! May be another day, today is UCL's turn to have a go at these guys.

Luckily

Fukyōdai in London

The Japanese contingent from Fukuoka led by Honda Sensei landed in Britain on Monday. They were far too tired to visit us at UCL that night, so I had to pop over to Tora the following day to meet them.
I got to tell you, it's always great seeing friends from afar again. I dropped in late as usual, but just in time for jikeiko; which is all you want really from a session with these guys.
My first keiko I ran straight in for Taro, had a hearty hug and a good fight. The bugger is still shit-fast as always, but you wouldn't expect anything less. Managed a few nice kote, he kept the tsuki on most of my Men cuts so I guess I'll have to work on improving it ... just as I thought it was getting better as well. To be fair though, both Honga and Joe did say it was better, so there must be some truth in it.
Then I lined up for Tanaka, Kubota sempai ... and kept the best for last, Honda Sensei. Since the queue was so long though I only managed a minute in with him, I was a bit tense I guess as I really wanted to impress him and show improvement since I last practised with him, managed to create two opportunities, but missed hit just like that! Rubbish.

 
Taro gave me some fancy chopsticks, and the main tip for the day was to bring my hind leg in faster after a cut. Hmm ... same thing Nabeyama said back in Bangkok! Then Kubota topped it off with the whole 'relax more to go faster' speech. Great pointers! I'd consider that a pretty successful hour if you ask me.
The pub was good too. After socialising, only the Wakaba senseis were left and I got them discussing my kendo. Katsura sensei's advice was to free more of the 'I am a big motherfucker' spirit and be less afraid to get hit. Right. Back to the drawing board then!

*All photos in this entry were taken from Honga's facebook

Fukyōdai - Gasshuku

There's probably soo much I can write about this! I don't even know where to start. All the drunken debauchery and banter provided by us in the Mokkeiso at Fukyodai will not be easily forgotten. Spearheaded by Joe, my sempai, the representation of UCL was in good hands ... however, what happens there (onsen, sumo wrestling, infestation of alien-sized insects, etc.) stays there! All you'll get is a bit of kendo.

Living in the Mokkeiso, more or less a halls of residence for the kendokas of the university, was truly an amazing experience. The yakinikku + sushi welcome party, inclusive of free-flowing amber liquid, was enough to win me over. As with most cases, alcohol became the international language, and it didn't take long for everyone to warm up to us despite the initial language barrier. To be fair, their English was way better than my Japanese. So there we go.
The duration of my stay proved to be one of the most demanding kendo training I've ever experienced, minus a couple of camps in Thailand. The Kyushu summer sun worked wonderfully well in helping the dojo feel like an oven. It was hot and humid. At least the dojo floor was magnificent.

The first thing anyone will ever tell you about the dojo at Fukuoka Univerisity of Education was the warm-up ... God, that was the shocking to say the least. Most of them won't tell you much about it though, as the effect might be dampened. You'll just have to experience it, but I assure you there's nothing like it. After that, it is loads of kirikaeshi, uchikomi, some free waza (for kihon), then finally ji-keiko.

The time of practise varies depending on the day of the week, the most dreaded one was probably the Asa-keiko, having to get up as early as 5am. The rice and miso in the morning sure is a life saver though.

Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to get much advice from M. Sumi sensei (8dan), except for his take on kakarikeiko. He'd rather us think of it as active kakarikeiko.
No matter, I still got loads of advice from good ol' Honda sensei. Tips on improving my Men cut, small and big, various ways to seme and keeping centre ... and as always he liked my kamae! So that's the positives, kendo wise, to takeaway from this Gasshuku. Of course, the memories and friends I've left there will've ensured that I'll head back there as soon as the next opportunity arises!