SHQ - Some kendo stuff

#752 [2004-05-17 19:20:53]

Some kendo stuff

by secretarytocapt3

My new experience in kendo...
I've watched a couple of classes, spoke to some students etc etc
skimmed a book...saw their drills and everything is pretty nice and
organized and funny when people "miss" their strikes etc

and I spent a couple of sessions just going over the basic skills

Okay so I attended kendo club today the only problem is the club is
way different from the class...

Those of you who have seen Shinsengumi Kepporoku know that the doctor
tells Okita to get fresh air and rest (the dark stuffy dojo and dirty
gear is bad for him)...today I got to smell dirty gear...why did I get
the dirty men...I shudder to think how a bunch of -guys-, the
Shinsengumi kept their kendo gear clean (sorry guys I'm making a huge
generalization to drive a point home). As soon as I put on the
tenugui and carefully tied on my men nice and tight (these 2 steps are
complicated to say the least) I felt like clawing my face mask and I
wanted to scream "get me outta hear it stinks and its hot and I can't
see! Aaaaaargh!"

The whole bit about calloused hands...I look at my blistered palms
and I think "will bath & body works lotion cure this?" Note you also
get calloused/blistered feet too...stupid sticky floors....I even
tried the recommended "caress the floor with your feet" technique.

now technically one must spend "several" and not a couple of sessions
practicing strikes and learning how to walk---now I do the kendo glide
across my apartment at work and around campus LOL! But today one
person failed to come to the club meeting so I had the good fortune of
being the "dummy"...after a couple of drills (I can't remember all
their names)...I began to really feel the weight of the gear and the
shinai. To make things really fun the gym was around 70 degrees but
under the stuff you have to wear it felt like 90 degrees...

Our teacher was very rigorous with all the drills and you really had
to concentrate to hear his advice over all the screaming and
yelling...I just nod to everything he says. Because I'm a cautious
and considerate person it seemed that my training partner took this as
a que to be really dramatic when he started hitting me...I'm just
looking out for his safety but right when I got the nerve to hit him
REALLy hard we had to rotate partners...and this is interesting as I
mentioned at www.shinsengumimb.com about the importance of height etc
because in practice you had to constantly readjust to practice on
different partners and when you had a really tall guy you were almost
on tippy toes to hit him on the top of the head/men

In a chat session I mentioned the unity of mind/body...so I'm
beginning to realize this (ofcourse atheletes/dancers and people who
concentrate really hard on their endeavours can relate)...but in the
case of martial arts you have to be very precise in how you are
hitting your opponent and your own posture and how your own hands/arms
end up and how fast you moved in on your opponent etc.

I won't get to continue beyond 1 or 2 months for various reasons but
it is really fascinating to experience kendo...by the end of 2 1/2
hours I felt like curling up and saying "please please stop hitting
me..." LOL! Now I have a taste what was meant in Shinsengumi
Kepporoku when during a practice session a guy had a bucket of water
thrown on him and the teacher says "this isn't your soft city
dojo"...I mean I'm with a university club practicing modern kendo and
the Shinsengumi were training to be effective as possible with their
varied lineages.

[Next #753]

#753 [2004-05-17 19:48:56]

Re: [SHQ] Some kendo stuff

by spiritus_saitou

Man oh man oh man... will you start writing some fiction???? Geez, you could write some of the most incredible behind-the-scenes Shinsengumi stuff, stuff that always gets left out or misinterpreted (by people like me) and is unique to the experience of groups like the Shinsengumi... and with the personalities those guys had, it could be so much fun! That's a big part of what I loved so much about the film "Cruel Story," that we got to see them *living* and not just fighting to keep Kyoto safe. I'm so *envious*!

phil

---------------------------------
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[Previous #752] [Next #754]

#754 [2004-05-17 20:43:52]

Re: [SHQ] Some kendo stuff

by okitasoji

Sounds like you had loads of fun! I guess the one drawback to starting kendo is having to use used bogu =/ I'd eventually like to take a bit of kendo to supplement my iaijutsu. I definately hear you on the hands and feet issue though. BTW, Did your knees/legs hurt from sitting in seiza for long periods of time on the wood floor? Although we have partner kata, we can't actually hit targets since most koryu kata don't utilize bogu (bokken kata). The height differences is something that I had to adjust to as well when I switched from my old iai school to my current one. With partner drills I found out really quick that small people are fast and big/tall people although slower have extremely long reach. I still find it hard to compensate for these differences at times, which is one of the reasons why I'd like to try kendo, since most of the curriculum is practiced with a partner. Good luck in your training and I hope you get the guy back the decided to go a bit extreme in hitting you ^_^ hehe.

----- Original Message -----
From: secretary
To: SHQ@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, May 17, 2004 7:20 PM
Subject: [SHQ] Some kendo stuff

My new experience in kendo...
I've watched a couple of classes, spoke to some students etc etc
skimmed a book...saw their drills and everything is pretty nice and
organized and funny when people "miss" their strikes etc

and I spent a couple of sessions just going over the basic skills

Okay so I attended kendo club today the only problem is the club is
way different from the class...

Those of you who have seen Shinsengumi Kepporoku know that the doctor
tells Okita to get fresh air and rest (the dark stuffy dojo and dirty
gear is bad for him)...today I got to smell dirty gear...why did I get
the dirty men...I shudder to think how a bunch of -guys-, the
Shinsengumi kept their kendo gear clean (sorry guys I'm making a huge
generalization to drive a point home). As soon as I put on the
tenugui and carefully tied on my men nice and tight (these 2 steps are
complicated to say the least) I felt like clawing my face mask and I
wanted to scream "get me outta hear it stinks and its hot and I can't
see! Aaaaaargh!"

The whole bit about calloused hands...I look at my blistered palms
and I think "will bath & body works lotion cure this?" Note you also
get calloused/blistered feet too...stupid sticky floors....I even
tried the recommended "caress the floor with your feet" technique.

now technically one must spend "several" and not a couple of sessions
practicing strikes and learning how to walk---now I do the kendo glide
across my apartment at work and around campus LOL! But today one
person failed to come to the club meeting so I had the good fortune of
being the "dummy"...after a couple of drills (I can't remember all
their names)...I began to really feel the weight of the gear and the
shinai. To make things really fun the gym was around 70 degrees but
under the stuff you have to wear it felt like 90 degrees...

Our teacher was very rigorous with all the drills and you really had
to concentrate to hear his advice over all the screaming and
yelling...I just nod to everything he says. Because I'm a cautious
and considerate person it seemed that my training partner took this as
a que to be really dramatic when he started hitting me...I'm just
looking out for his safety but right when I got the nerve to hit him
REALLy hard we had to rotate partners...and this is interesting as I
mentioned at www.shinsengumimb.com about the importance of height etc
because in practice you had to constantly readjust to practice on
different partners and when you had a really tall guy you were almost
on tippy toes to hit him on the top of the head/men

In a chat session I mentioned the unity of mind/body...so I'm
beginning to realize this (ofcourse atheletes/dancers and people who
concentrate really hard on their endeavours can relate)...but in the
case of martial arts you have to be very precise in how you are
hitting your opponent and your own posture and how your own hands/arms
end up and how fast you moved in on your opponent etc.

I won't get to continue beyond 1 or 2 months for various reasons but
it is really fascinating to experience kendo...by the end of 2 1/2
hours I felt like curling up and saying "please please stop hitting
me..." LOL! Now I have a taste what was meant in Shinsengumi
Kepporoku when during a practice session a guy had a bucket of water
thrown on him and the teacher says "this isn't your soft city
dojo"...I mean I'm with a university club practicing modern kendo and
the Shinsengumi were training to be effective as possible with their
varied lineages.

visit

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[Previous #753] [Next #755]

#755 [2004-05-18 03:42:15]

Re: Some kendo stuff

by secretarytocapt3

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "Okita Souji" wrote:
BTW, Did your knees/legs hurt from sitting in seiza for long periods
of time on the wood floor?

***not really with the seiza business because although I was
born/raised in the USA I spent alot of time at a Thai Buddhist temple
and we usually have to sit in a position very similar to seiza but not
propped up on our toes
by the way one of unique personal traits of hist. Saitou is something
like this on 3-hajime it says he sat with his legs folded under him
casually or something along those lines

Although we have partner kata, we can't actually hit targets since
most koryu kata don't utilize bogu (bokken kata).

***but you know when we hit targets naturally the shinai bounces right
off the armor and we don't "follow through" with the entire motion and
this doesn't happen with real swords...not many people enjoy
practicing on the sidelines on their own before class starts...I have
to because I'm a newbie so I just move really really slowly to
understand the swings etc

***when you put on the bogu equipment for the first time you kind of
lose whatever "progress" you made earlier from the weeks (we have 3
practices a week) of practice...your posture goes...everything
goes...because the bogu is a whole new "factor" in your education

***about that funny training partner...there was a black and white pic
at e-budo of two kendo guys demonstrating grappling of some sort and
it looked like the guy on top was strangling the guy beneath him...I
would like to add a caption "here take this you weirdo...we are
practicing dangit...I'm a newbie"...we have to do this "push" thing
where we use our wrist and tsuba to push the other persons sword
aggressively to the side and then land a hit and he had plenty of
fun...I notice when I get hit you kind of "feel it" through the
noise/snap of the equipment too not just the decisive thud and echo in
your head...funny

[Previous #754] [Next #756]

#756 [2004-05-18 03:48:25]

Re: Some kendo stuff

by secretarytocapt3

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "secretary" wrote:

> by the way one of unique personal traits of hist. Saitou is something
> like this on 3-hajime it says he sat with his legs folded under him
> casually or something along those lines

***I missed the were "NOT" he did not sit with his legs folded under
him him casually

***seiza...we sit like this before and after class and if we have to
adjust our equipment and sit to the side we have to sit seiza as well...

[Previous #755] [Next #757]

#757 [2004-05-18 04:16:30]

Re: [SHQ] Re: Some kendo stuff

by okitasoji

***not really with the seiza business because although I was
born/raised in the USA I spent alot of time at a Thai Buddhist temple
and we usually have to sit in a position very similar to seiza but not
propped up on our toes
by the way one of unique personal traits of hist. Saitou is something
like this on 3-hajime it says he sat with his legs folded under him
casually or something along those lines***

Thats cool, at least you're accustomed to sitting in that position. At least you don't have the repetitive sit-stand-sit-stand type of work in kendo. After a 4 hr sat class it hard to walk sometimes haha. Although i'm sure you feel that way anyways due to the intensity of your classes.

***but you know when we hit targets naturally the shinai bounces right
off the armor and we don't "follow through" with the entire motion and
this doesn't happen with real swords...not many people enjoy
practicing on the sidelines on their own before class starts...I have
to because I'm a newbie so I just move really really slowly to
understand the swings etc***

Ahh that makes sense...the shinai bouncing off due to the say it's designed. I guess thats another difference in JSA, how in kendo you hit, and in iai you cut. It feels really weird to go through kata where I continuously cut through/into your opponent and then go to partner prractice where I have to stop short of hitting my partner. Course to hit or cut in reality it doesn't matter since as long as you reach your opponent with the weapon, thats all that matters in the end. Do you by chance have a training manequin(sp)? When I was at my former iai school that also happened to teach kendo, they used to bring out a sort of training dummy (vs each other) for cutting exercises for the new students.

----- Original Message -----
From: secretary
To: SHQ@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2004 3:42 AM
Subject: [SHQ] Re: Some kendo stuff

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "Okita Souji" wrote:
BTW, Did your knees/legs hurt from sitting in seiza for long periods
of time on the wood floor?

***not really with the seiza business because although I was
born/raised in the USA I spent alot of time at a Thai Buddhist temple
and we usually have to sit in a position very similar to seiza but not
propped up on our toes
by the way one of unique personal traits of hist. Saitou is something
like this on 3-hajime it says he sat with his legs folded under him
casually or something along those lines

Although we have partner kata, we can't actually hit targets since
most koryu kata don't utilize bogu (bokken kata).

***but you know when we hit targets naturally the shinai bounces right
off the armor and we don't "follow through" with the entire motion and
this doesn't happen with real swords...not many people enjoy
practicing on the sidelines on their own before class starts...I have
to because I'm a newbie so I just move really really slowly to
understand the swings etc

***when you put on the bogu equipment for the first time you kind of
lose whatever "progress" you made earlier from the weeks (we have 3
practices a week) of practice...your posture goes...everything
goes...because the bogu is a whole new "factor" in your education

***about that funny training partner...there was a black and white pic
at e-budo of two kendo guys demonstrating grappling of some sort and
it looked like the guy on top was strangling the guy beneath him...I
would like to add a caption "here take this you weirdo...we are
practicing dangit...I'm a newbie"...we have to do this "push" thing
where we use our wrist and tsuba to push the other persons sword
aggressively to the side and then land a hit and he had plenty of
fun...I notice when I get hit you kind of "feel it" through the
noise/snap of the equipment too not just the decisive thud and echo in
your head...funny

visit

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SHQ_Spy_Division/

our companion list featuring fanfiction/art

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ADVERTISEMENT

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a.. To visit your group on the web, go to:
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[Previous #756] [Next #762]

#762 [2004-05-18 12:48:21]

Re: Some kendo stuff

by secretarytocapt3

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "Okita Souji" wrote:

> Ahh that makes sense...the shinai bouncing off due to the say it's

designed. I guess thats another difference in JSA, how in kendo you
hit, and in iai you cut. It feels really weird to go through kata
where I continuously cut through/into your opponent and then go to
partner prractice where I have to stop short of hitting my partner.
Course to hit or cut in reality it doesn't matter since as long as you
reach your opponent with the weapon, thats all that matters in the
end. Do you by chance have a training manequin(sp)? When I was at my
former iai school that also happened to teach kendo, they used to
bring out a sort of training dummy (vs each other) for cutting
exercises for the new students.

***reaching your opponent in an efficient and timely manner is really
REALLY hard because the proper kendo walking technique is always
enforced...your right foot pushing off with left foot in mind and your
trying to move fast is hard...but kendo "walking" best on smooth
wooden floors is not necessarily used in old kenjutsu lineages I
understand.

***only the more advance students seem to understand the value of
"follow through" when they aren't practicing on an opponent because
e.g. how at the end of the motion your head tends to tilt slightly
forward and the teacher tries to keep correcting this error and there
is the whole issue of shinai's tip almost hitting the floor. There
are definate advantages and disadvantages to practicing on an opponent
and on your own...the mirror is pretty cool to work with ^_^ so you
can check to see if the sword tip is pointed at your throat and your
feet are straight (without having to looke "down"---you have no idea
how funny when some of us are looking down at are feet and saying "are
my feet okay I don't want sore ankles")

***we don't have mannequins I guess due to the small number of
students in the club but during the class (for credits) they use
volleyball net/poles wrapped with mats and I've seen students practice
on these.

***all newbies such as myself are okay when we are practicing on our
own and the instructor says our posture is good...but when we practice
on each other we end up messing up on footwork and our left wrists
start rotating under the shinai hilt...which got me thinking that its
due to our lack of stamina and the length of practice in hot/humid
conditions as well as what I call the "sloth" factor--we get
lazy...now for samurai or any medieval warrior back in the day on the
battlefield how in the world did they take on multiple opponents and
conserve strength and maintain efficiency in movement is simply beyond
comprehension.

[Previous #757] [Next #766]

#766 [2004-05-18 14:38:54]

Re: [SHQ] Re: Some kendo stuff

by okitasoji

***reaching your opponent in an efficient and timely manner is really
REALLY hard because the proper kendo walking technique is always
enforced...your right foot pushing off with left foot in mind and your
trying to move fast is hard...but kendo "walking" best on smooth
wooden floors is not necessarily used in old kenjutsu lineages I
understand.

Thats something I did notice when I watched the Kendo vids you sent me. Everytime they advanced it was with that type of step. And from what I understand, yes it's something not used in most koryu. Something I notice in my ryu and others.

***only the more advance students seem to understand the value of
"follow through" when they aren't practicing on an opponent because
e.g. how at the end of the motion your head tends to tilt slightly
forward and the teacher tries to keep correcting this error and there
is the whole issue of shinai's tip almost hitting the floor. There
are definate advantages and disadvantages to practicing on an opponent
and on your own...the mirror is pretty cool to work with ^_^ so you
can check to see if the sword tip is pointed at your throat and your
feet are straight (without having to looke "down"---you have no idea
how funny when some of us are looking down at are feet and saying "are
my feet okay I don't want sore ankles")

Btw, when you mean follow through do you mean cut big? Like cutting all the way like you're cutting tameshigiri? The mirror thing is pretty cool though, something I use often to check the angle of my sword. One of the reasons why the tip of the sword is pointed at the opponent's face/throat is that they cannot judge the length of your sword which gives you an advantage. This concept might help next time you work with the mirror to help where you place your sword. (if you can't see the length of your sword, then you're pretty much right on) Course this will vary depending on where your immaginary opponent is supposed to be distance wise. The angle will change depending on this distance.

***all newbies such as myself are okay when we are practicing on our
own and the instructor says our posture is good...but when we practice
on each other we end up messing up on footwork and our left wrists
start rotating under the shinai hilt...which got me thinking that its
due to our lack of stamina and the length of practice in hot/humid
conditions as well as what I call the "sloth" factor--we get
lazy...now for samurai or any medieval warrior back in the day on the
battlefield how in the world did they take on multiple opponents and
conserve strength and maintain efficiency in movement is simply beyond
comprehension.

I wonder the same....I know battles waged on for hours on end. I can only image the amount of stamina warriors of the past had.

----- Original Message -----
From: secretary
To: SHQ@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2004 12:48 PM
Subject: [SHQ] Re: Some kendo stuff

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "Okita Souji" wrote:
> Ahh that makes sense...the shinai bouncing off due to the say it's
designed. I guess thats another difference in JSA, how in kendo you
hit, and in iai you cut. It feels really weird to go through kata
where I continuously cut through/into your opponent and then go to
partner prractice where I have to stop short of hitting my partner.
Course to hit or cut in reality it doesn't matter since as long as you
reach your opponent with the weapon, thats all that matters in the
end. Do you by chance have a training manequin(sp)? When I was at my
former iai school that also happened to teach kendo, they used to
bring out a sort of training dummy (vs each other) for cutting
exercises for the new students.

***reaching your opponent in an efficient and timely manner is really
REALLY hard because the proper kendo walking technique is always
enforced...your right foot pushing off with left foot in mind and your
trying to move fast is hard...but kendo "walking" best on smooth
wooden floors is not necessarily used in old kenjutsu lineages I
understand.

***only the more advance students seem to understand the value of
"follow through" when they aren't practicing on an opponent because
e.g. how at the end of the motion your head tends to tilt slightly
forward and the teacher tries to keep correcting this error and there
is the whole issue of shinai's tip almost hitting the floor. There
are definate advantages and disadvantages to practicing on an opponent
and on your own...the mirror is pretty cool to work with ^_^ so you
can check to see if the sword tip is pointed at your throat and your
feet are straight (without having to looke "down"---you have no idea
how funny when some of us are looking down at are feet and saying "are
my feet okay I don't want sore ankles")

***we don't have mannequins I guess due to the small number of
students in the club but during the class (for credits) they use
volleyball net/poles wrapped with mats and I've seen students practice
on these.

***all newbies such as myself are okay when we are practicing on our
own and the instructor says our posture is good...but when we practice
on each other we end up messing up on footwork and our left wrists
start rotating under the shinai hilt...which got me thinking that its
due to our lack of stamina and the length of practice in hot/humid
conditions as well as what I call the "sloth" factor--we get
lazy...now for samurai or any medieval warrior back in the day on the
battlefield how in the world did they take on multiple opponents and
conserve strength and maintain efficiency in movement is simply beyond
comprehension.

visit

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SHQ_Spy_Division/

our companion list featuring fanfiction/art

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links

a.. To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SHQ/

b.. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
SHQ-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

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[Previous #762] [Next #768]

#768 [2004-05-18 16:01:50]

Re: warriors of the past (was some kendo stuff)

by bsher213

>...now for samurai or any medieval warrior back in the day on the
> battlefield how in the world did they take on multiple opponents and
> conserve strength and maintain efficiency in movement is simply beyond
> comprehension.
>I wonder the same....I know battles waged on for hours on end. I can only image the amount of stamina warriors of the past had.
>

It is amazing especially when you consider that people 100-200 years ago
(and more) were generally smaller physically and less well nourished in
terms of vitamins etc.

However I think the fact that their very lives and the lives of their
friends and family depended on them pushing beyond their limits had a
lot to do with it.

--
Barbara Sheridan

http://www.barbarasheridan.net

[Previous #766] [Next #785]

#785 [2004-05-19 20:01:34]

Re: Some kendo stuff

by secretarytocapt3

Okita:

> Btw, when you mean follow through do you mean cut big? Like cutting

all the way like you're cutting tameshigiri? The mirror thing is
pretty cool though, something I use often to check the angle of my sword.

Nope not tameshigiri its something else (they were using a different
term but then again there can be more than one name for a cut)...the
more advanced students have to isolate themselves from the newbies :D

mirrors are awesome...I have to check to see that the tip of my sword
is pointing at the ceiling kind of and not Waaaaay back. Ofcourse
after getting hit a few times from a guy much taller and stronger...I
get disoriented---I look in the mirror and say "which one am
I?"...then I wave "hi" to myself to be sure {we are all wearing the
same colors and dark pants} (I have no idea why people online pay for
indigo dyed hakamas...so expensive and they are just starting)--after
which the instructor says "Tiffany do you need a break?" LOL! What's
really funny is fumbling with the gear...folding the handkerchief on
your head correctly and tying on the "men" (I realize from a previous
post that I typed "dirty men" now the yaoi writers MUST've read it
completely differently)...once you're done you turn to look down the
line and note that everyone was patiently waiting for the last 10
minutes....Newbies in martial arts is such a goldmine for comedy...now
why hasn't someone come up with a sitcom yet?

[Previous #768] [Next #787]

#787 [2004-05-19 23:57:21]

Re: [SHQ] Re: Some kendo stuff

by okitasoji

Sec,

>>mirrors are awesome...I have to check to see that the tip of my sword

is pointing at the ceiling kind of and not Waaaaay back. Ofcourse
after getting hit a few times from a guy much taller and stronger...I
get disoriented---I look in the mirror and say "which one am
I?"...then I wave "hi" to myself to be sure {we are all wearing the
same colors and dark pants} (I have no idea why people online pay for
indigo dyed hakamas...so expensive and they are just starting)--after
which the instructor says "Tiffany do you need a break?" LOL! What's
really funny is fumbling with the gear...folding the handkerchief on
your head correctly and tying on the "men" (I realize from a previous
post that I typed "dirty men" now the yaoi writers MUST've read it
completely differently)...once you're done you turn to look down the
line and note that everyone was patiently waiting for the last 10
minutes....Newbies in martial arts is such a goldmine for comedy...now
why hasn't someone come up with a sitcom yet?

Haha, after reading your post and thinking about being new to martial arts I thought of the hakama, something that at times is a bit troublesome for beginners and advanced students. Even after doing iai for a few years, tonight I found myself tripping over my hakama on 1 kata where we move from seiza to standing while advancing forward. I think I tripped over my hakama about 3 times in a row (repeated the kata 2 more times cause I tripped the 1st time). Luckly I caught myself before I commited otherwise my sword would have smacked into the floor ^^;. Normally hakama sabaki (arranging it so it's neat and out of the way) isn't too hard, but sweat for a while and it changes things a bit in repeatedly sitting and standing. Have you gotten accustomed to sitting down and standing up while wearing the hakama without tripping over yourself or stepping on it?

About the indigo hakama for starters, thats insane o_o; some of those hakama are $200+ quite a bit of cash to sink in for a beginner, not to mention they bleed like crazy for the first few washes and wears....which reminds me. Does your gi bleed? I know most indigo gi (even the inexpensive ones) are dyed traditionally and bleed like crazy (I turned a bucket and my washing machine blue with the one I got as well as looked like a smurf after every practice).

----- Original Message -----
From: secretary
To: SHQ@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, May 19, 2004 8:01 PM
Subject: [SHQ] Re: Some kendo stuff

Okita:
> Btw, when you mean follow through do you mean cut big? Like cutting
all the way like you're cutting tameshigiri? The mirror thing is
pretty cool though, something I use often to check the angle of my sword.

Nope not tameshigiri its something else (they were using a different
term but then again there can be more than one name for a cut)...the
more advanced students have to isolate themselves from the newbies :D

mirrors are awesome...I have to check to see that the tip of my sword
is pointing at the ceiling kind of and not Waaaaay back. Ofcourse
after getting hit a few times from a guy much taller and stronger...I
get disoriented---I look in the mirror and say "which one am
I?"...then I wave "hi" to myself to be sure {we are all wearing the
same colors and dark pants} (I have no idea why people online pay for
indigo dyed hakamas...so expensive and they are just starting)--after
which the instructor says "Tiffany do you need a break?" LOL! What's
really funny is fumbling with the gear...folding the handkerchief on
your head correctly and tying on the "men" (I realize from a previous
post that I typed "dirty men" now the yaoi writers MUST've read it
completely differently)...once you're done you turn to look down the
line and note that everyone was patiently waiting for the last 10
minutes....Newbies in martial arts is such a goldmine for comedy...now
why hasn't someone come up with a sitcom yet?

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#789 [2004-05-20 03:29:24]

Re: Some kendo stuff

by secretarytocapt3

Well, since I know I can't continue beyond summer I didn't buy a
hakama or gi...however I kind of went with the tradition of other
members and wore a navy blue T-shirt (w/ school logo) and dark blue
work out pants...so basically everyone looked the same when they are
in armor...I understand that some dojos don't let their students start
off with hakama right away because when worn/tied a bit lower at the
waist the teacher can't see your feet/ankles too well to check on your
footwork...but hakama to me look comfortable for stretches and they
seem to "breathe" as well...perfect for those hot days right? :P But
even regular workout pants don't allow for as much movement as say
karate/judo pants which can get pricey. If people are interested in
learning more about hakama or gi just search google to read about
their maintenance and how to fold them...interesting stuff.

[Previous #787] [Next #790]

#790 [2004-05-20 05:31:56]

Re: [SHQ] Re: Some kendo stuff

by okitasoji

>>>Well, since I know I can't continue beyond summer I didn't buy a

hakama or gi...however I kind of went with the tradition of other
members and wore a navy blue T-shirt (w/ school logo) and dark blue
work out pants...so basically everyone looked the same when they are
in armor...I understand that some dojos don't let their students start
off with hakama right away because when worn/tied a bit lower at the
waist the teacher can't see your feet/ankles too well to check on your
footwork...but hakama to me look comfortable for stretches and they
seem to "breathe" as well...perfect for those hot days right? :P But
even regular workout pants don't allow for as much movement as say
karate/judo pants which can get pricey. If people are interested in
learning more about hakama or gi just search google to read about
their maintenance and how to fold them...interesting stuff.

Ahhh ok, now I know what you mean when you mentioned you were all the same color. It all depends on what material the hakama is made from. A lot of the lower end hakama, like the black one I have, is a polyester and tetron blend, so it tends to get a bit on the warm side, especially now since it's getting closer to summer. The 100% cotton ones definately breathe a lot better, but are a pain to care for in the pleat department, even if folded after practice. After 1 good practice, the pleats start to dissapear. Interestingly, in recent years new hakama which have the pleats sewn at the crease to keep them in, have started to become available. Having the pleats in makes it much easier to fold up into a square when not in use.

----- Original Message -----
From: secretary
To: SHQ@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, May 20, 2004 3:29 AM
Subject: [SHQ] Re: Some kendo stuff

Well, since I know I can't continue beyond summer I didn't buy a
hakama or gi...however I kind of went with the tradition of other
members and wore a navy blue T-shirt (w/ school logo) and dark blue
work out pants...so basically everyone looked the same when they are
in armor...I understand that some dojos don't let their students start
off with hakama right away because when worn/tied a bit lower at the
waist the teacher can't see your feet/ankles too well to check on your
footwork...but hakama to me look comfortable for stretches and they
seem to "breathe" as well...perfect for those hot days right? :P But
even regular workout pants don't allow for as much movement as say
karate/judo pants which can get pricey. If people are interested in
learning more about hakama or gi just search google to read about
their maintenance and how to fold them...interesting stuff.

visit

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SHQ_Spy_Division/

our companion list featuring fanfiction/art

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a.. To visit your group on the web, go to:
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b.. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
SHQ-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

c.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.

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