After a short break

After a 3-weeks break from the kendo training, which felt like ages while the guilt was piling up, I went to the training last evening. Since my senpai asked me to participate the competition in two weeks, I really have to practise now.

In the pass 3 weeks, I was busy with my own outside-of-work project, and also took the chance to fix my neck-shoulder problem with some physiotherapy and acupuncture.

In the training yesterday, my body was drained quickly. However, with a couple of more trainings I should be able to get back in shape.

The video below is a clip from two strong kendokas practising yesterday. Liang Senpai (the slimmer and steadier guy) is the new Taiwanese nation team member who is currently 5 dan. Another is a young 20 year old kenshi, Yasuraoka, 3 dan, who studies aboard at the renowned Tsukaba (筑波) University for the kendo program, and now on vacation. He has a Japanese surname because he is half Japanese and half Taiwanese.

Back at training

Last night I resumed my training after almost two months of absence due to injury. I practised again with the Quebecans here in Quebec City. It was good to see the friends here again, and as the last time, I had a good training.

My task last night was to let my body get used to the kendo movement and intensity. There wasn't anything that I haven't tried before. I was just trying to pickup my kendo two months ago.

Despite wearing the foot support on my injured foot, it still felt sore even this morning. During the training I almost had cramps on my lower legs, but fortunately it wasn't too bad.

I'm going back to Germany in a few days. My next training will be at the seminar in Czech Republic this weekend from Friday, held by Ozawa Sensei. I'm very looking forward to see him and the other accompanying Senseis whom I had met in Tokyo. After the seminar, they will come to visit in Dresden. This will perhaps be the highest profile kendo visit ever in Dresden!

Toe-kyo 2

Oops I did it again...

See that crack?! Why the hell that this kept happening on me? Honestly, while the last time was self-inflicted, this time someone training in the next line kicked right into my little toe. My first sensation was, "Oh, there's a hole on the floor!" When I looked down, only did I find that the "hole" was on my foot, not the floor. The second thought was, "Fuck, no more training." With only 10 minutes before the end of the session, I raised the white flag and packed for home. One month no training... which basically says no more training in Paris.. :((

The training was also lead by Wakimoto sensei. He made us do more kihon-geiko, and gave less talking this time. He mentioned the importance of being alert while being a motodachi. Which is what I think always. Even if the motodachi is receiving the strike, he can train his eyes, identifying when the kakarite was going to strike, and hence improving his debana skills.

Another emphasis that Wakimoto Sensei kept telling was that in uchigomi-keiko, one should strike men directly from issoku-ito-no-maai, without extra step. And after the strike, the right hand punches forwards in the direction of the opponent's face. If the hands are higher, the whole body is unstable and easy to fall backwards, especially if the opponent pushes.

So much so for now..

Now I can only do suburi at home. I'm telling myself to wait patiently until my toe fully recovers. That's life.

Neck pull

Today I twisted my neck during the training, and now I could hardly move it. The same injury occurred before, last year, in exactly the same way. My head tilted backwards too much when I launched the men-strikes, plus I didn't do enough warm-ups (I was late). It'll definitely take 3-4 days to recover. Hopefully not longer.

Good news is that my trip to Tokyo at the end of October has been set. Which means I will have to finish my thesis at the end of September (!). I have to work towards it!

Toe-kyo

You know what? I fucking broke my toe yesterday while doing Kirikaeshi. It got trapped by the Hakama when I moved forwards. Whether the twisted toe then hit the floor and worsened the injury, which lead to the brokage I don't know. It was bad luck. And a lesson -- never lift your right foot higher than you needed to go forwards!!

Pity I was full of ambition to improve my wazas yesterday and this happen. Well, thinking of it now, it's kind of funny. This is actually the first time I broke something, and thankfully, no operation was needed. Here I post the X-ray scan taken by the othopedist this morning. Very monumental. See that crack on the second toe?

At the same time I had the cortisone injection for my trigger finger problem on my left little finger. The needle was hell-wide! Six hours afterwards the "triggering" is still there. Hope it'll take effect soon. [Edit 19 March 2009: after being corrected by Aki Suzuki Sensei the way I do the tenouchi when I was in Tokyo, my trigger finger problem has almost gone away. The problem with my tenouchi was that I didn't twist my left hand inwards enough. And when doing the tenouchi, the muscle at the root of the thumb should squeeze towards the little finger.] 

So the broken toe will put me out of practise for about four weeks. Maybe after two weeks I can do some Suburi with the footwork.