- Shai Hulud
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- Exalted Mythic Member
With B.B. gone, the passion of Bungie.net has lessened.
If you didn't read Session One (late Friday and Saturday), you should read it now (if you're at all interested in this topic).
Session Two (Sunday)
5 am: Woke up and sluggishly got ready for the 6 am running/taiso. With the pain I was feeling in my legs, I was not pleased with the fact that I had to do this. I thought the running was fun the first day, but on this second day, not having as much stamina and having more pain.... it wasn't very fun. I had to stop running and catch my breath once, but I finished running with the the front part of the group. After the running, we did Taiso which involved the normal shinai-swinging excercises, one of those "normal" ones being an extremely fast semi-jumping one that we have to do, usually, 120 times. That was painful and tiring, but it wasn't too bad, since it gave me energy for the rest of the day (don't ask me how it does that, since it seems to be a contradiction). Actually, I kinda liked the running and Taiso... even though it sucked (see what I mean about contradictions?)...
7: Half-assed breakfast (I'm not big on breakfasts)
7:05: Went back to my room and rested for an hour and a half, massaging my muscles, then got ready for the rest of the day.
9: Taiso (...yey...), basics, Kakari Keiko and Open Keiko. "Run-of-the-mill," for 2 of the 3.5 hours of this part of the day, but those who wanted to (which included me) could do Eie (uses a "real" Katana sword, blunted) instead of the basics. This gave me a chance to see different techniques used in Eie outside of my dojo (for example, the common way of putting the sword back into the scabbard is different from the way my dojo does it... my dojo's way is horizontal, rather than slanted).
12:30: Lunch, and a group song-writing contest (I hate these kinds of contests). The song-writing part actually started the day before, but since I never heard from the other people in my group (I also couldn't remember who they were), I didn't really get to help out. I think my non-help was a good thing, though... since we won!
2pm-6: Taiso (again...), Kendo-no-Kata, Kakari-Keiko, and open Keiko. In Kendo-no-kata, I was given a partner that I would have for the contest later that night. We both knew the movements well enough to not be overyly doubtful of our abilities, which was a good thing. Although open Keiko was supposed to involve the whole Kendo Camp, our mini-group (collectively called the Intermediates, since thats what our ranks/experiences were basically at... an intermediate level.) did something called Engine Shiai (Shiai, I think, means something like test).
In this, our group made a circle, and two people would volunteer to go into the middle and fight. Whoever scores the first point (judged by a watchful sensei) stays inside the circle, and the loser goes back to join the circle that encloses the winner. Then, someone (anyone in the circle of people) has to run in and fight the winner. The process continues until its time for the class to end (at 6). The first time I went in to fight someone, I got them out quickly. I beat one more person after that, then I got out. The second time I went in (5 minutes later... the fights are short), I won another 4 or 5. I can't remember exactly, since the last fight lasted a long time. Both me and my opponent were very tired, and we couldn't score good hits. I wanted to quit, but I knew that quitting is never the right thing to do.... so I stayed in as long as I could, not letting my opponent score good hits. By this point, people were actually cheering me on (to my great surprise)... By the time he beat me, I was too tired to even kiai (yelling.... things like, "High-yah!" but I don't use that "phrase" as my natural kiai)... After that, I didn't go in again... much too tired. But later that day, a few people told me how well I did in it, since I stayed in the longest and had the most wins. I don't think I did well, since I didn't have the stamina to keep good form throughout the whole thing... But I thanked them for the complements, anyway.
6:30: Dinner! Lovely Dinner! Yum-yum, it was!
8-10 pm: Kata Shiai (Kata competition). We split up into two groups, and had a big ladder-tournament. The losers would be out, the winners would continue on to the next ladder. From each group was judged by 3 senseis, and it went 2 pairs at a time (from each group... so a total of 4 pairs would be up at one time). The senseis would watch each pair, and then decide who did better.... So my partner and I were up first from our group. Another pair came up with us... and beat us. My partner and I both forgot to go directly into the ending stance after our last kata (each pair has to do 3 katas before they finish)... which is one of the most obvious mistakes you can make. Luckily, one of the senseis did give us his vote, since he said the other pair made mistakes, too, and wasn't as strong all the way through the 3 katas (but this sensei happened to be our sensei, the head of the dojo that both me and my partner go to... so maybe he was just being nice?). But since the other two senseis gave their votes to the other pair, my partner and I came in last place through the whole thing. The pair we were up against was good enough to continue on to make second place out of 24 pairs total (total from both groups put together), so even if we didn't make our mistake, I think we would have lost anyway...
My mother, who is usually terrible at kata (I'm not being mean... she admits it herself), ironically came in 3rd place (tied, since it was an even number... there were 2 3rd place pairs). So I congradulated her on kicking ass against the 2 pairs that she went up against before being smacked down by the same pair that smacked my pair down.
10 pm: "Bed" time. I didn't actually get to sleep until 2:30, again... But this time, that was a good thing. I stayed up watching a kendo video in a lounge with some of the other kendoists, chatting with them and eating Ramen Noodles (these japanese-style ones are much, much, MUCH better than the crap you can buy in common grocery stores) and plum candies. Yum!
My mother, my sensei, and a few others that go to my dojo stayed up and drank a bit of saki rather than go to the lounge... I don't like alcohol, so I didn't join in on the "fun." I'll stick with Ramen Noodles, thank you ;-)
So that was Session 2. As unenthusiastic as I may sound in typing these sessions, I really did have fun every minute of it... even the running and Taiso, believe it or not. And Session 3, still to come, was just as much fun as Sessions 1 and 2.
And I apologize if my Japanese spellings are wrong. I dont' take japanese yet, so I'm prone to being incorrect.