London Cup 2010

I must say I wasn't ready for this tournament. It's a shame really because it is actually one of my favourite events on the calendar. It isn't often you get to cross your swords with quality kendokas from all over Europe.

I blame my Easter holiday in Italy for my lack of preparation; spending about 2-3 weeks there doing absolutely no exercise, and coming back to writing lots of essays without much time to practise. Nobody likes coming back to kendo after taking a break, it is such a nightmare. You have to fumble around and adjust yourself until you find that 'feeling' again when you can actually move relatively naturally without thinking about it ... holding the correct kamae, getting your footwork right, lifting and cutting the way that was best for you.

So yes I was dully shoved into the shiai. We started with the team event on Saturday,

Relationship with an Object

I’m still not sleepy, and it’s half past 8. Ok! Let’s do a double post today, I’m on a roll. My train of thought has now led me to what I was reading earlier in the toilet, Murakami’s book  Kafka on the Shore.

Rant

So! Insomnia kicks in once again. Actually, that's not a fair statement, it's more like I've had too much sleep during the day as I went out in Switzerland last night, and had to catch an early train back to Milan (yes, I'm on holiday away from London, Easter break!) … so naturally, now I can’t bloody sleep.
Since I can’t sleep, my mind starts to wander all over the place; and of course I can’t help going down the kendo road. As I watch the web for news of the European Championships (EKC), my kendo withdrawal symptoms worsens. It’s been almost 2 weeks now without a practise. Kendo really is like some sort of drug. Fabrizio Mandia has managed to win the individuals for the second time, and France got their revenge for the ’09 London Cup in the team’s. To be honest with you I’m jealous of the guy. It makes me kind of bitter that he’s

British Universities Taikai 2010

At last, the event I've been training for the entire year rolled round once again! The British Universities Taikai, affectionately known as the Uni Taikai. This year the event is held up in Edinburgh. I've always wanted to go to Scotland and what better excuse than to compete in a kendo tournament!

The UCL squad was quite upbeat for this event, we feel it's about time we win it again seeing that we're entering quite a strong team too. For the journey North, some of us took the coach, and the others took the train from London.

Straight into the competition, first up on Saturday, we breeze through the pools, and the first round for that matter. We were expecting the SOAS team (who were on the train with me) in the quarter-finals, but it turned out they were knocked out by Queen Mary, which surprised us a little. Easier task for us may be?

Or so I thought ...

IIGT 2010 & 2Dan Shinsa

Finally the weekend of the International Irish Goodwill Taikai (IIGT) 2010 came round. I haven't had a competition since the Summer in Thailand! I hope I won't be too rusty in shiai situations, but not only that, it is going to be a big weekend for me in another aspect. My 2dan Shinsa! Gahhhh ... I hope I pass. I hate gradings, that's why I've never done it up until a year and a half ago when I got my Ikkyu.

After a massive delay and hanging about in Heathrow for longer than is healthy, Aer Lingus shuttled us across to Cork. Being the last flight of the day to arrive, it took us a while to get a taxi. Even more annoying was a bit before that Shohei got stuck at the Immigration for ages, they're real arseholes! Probably really bored with nothing else better to do but harass innocent passengers.

The competition was first on Saturday, we split up into 2 teams of 3s. It took us a while to do so, arranging the order and what not, we were also unsure whether or not