Kendo

This past Tuesday I participated in my first Kendo class at Nishi High School. Kendo is a sport martial art that was derived from samurai practice drills way back in the day. Our first day was pretty fun, running around with our shinai (a training sword made of 4 bamboo slats held together by leather fittings) and whacking things. Ok, there was a little more structure than that (line drills galore!) but you get the idea.

The Kendo sensei and two students before class

All of us ryuugakusee (exchange students) before class

We learned strikes for two different targets. The set-up for both strikes involved raising your shinai up and back until your hands were above/behind your head and your shinai tapped your back. For the men strike, you brought your arms down until your shinai hit the top of your target’s men (protective helmet), and for the kote strike, you aim for your opponent’s wrists, which are protected by the kote (gloves).

Some classmates decked out in the bogu (protective armor) and receiving instructions from Sensei on how to be targets. (Really, they should have seen that one coming when they asked for volunteers to try on the bogu).

We learned some footwork too, nothing too crazy for our first day. Then, at the end, two of the club’s members demonstrated a match for us, which was pretty cool.

This is a clip from a documentary on kendo to give you an idea of how it works. It has some match footage in real speed and slow motion too. Check it out here.

And then on the way home I made a new friend. :)
He was just sitting there meowing on the sidewalk, obviously mooching for attention. It worked. I figure he usually just lies there in wait for all the Nishi high school students. As soon as they show up, he sits in the sidewalk and meows until they pet him.

And on another martial arts related note, I got to try out a karate class at a friend's host father's dojo in Hakodate. No pictures from that one though. I did not get the name of the ryu (style of karate) (I'll ask again next time) but it was another derivation of Okinawan karate. (Unfortunately their patch was just an abstract symbol, no convenient writing out of the name of the system. Darn it!) (Whenever I start with the parentheses I always seem to go overboard...)