Thursday, 21 April 2011

Tough Night at Tora


Paid a visit to Tora kendo club this week... phew, it was a tough one.

A combination of reduced practice (holidays), warmest day of the year and the athletic kihon blew me out.

Its times when I visit Tora and UCL when I realise I need to improve my kendo fitness, they are able to handle extended kirikaeshi drills and kihon with enough energy for 15 mins of jigeiko at the end.

By this time I was a gonner with arms/ legs like lead.

I did gain something positive out of it though. For some reason my kirikaeshi has gone to ratshit over the last 6 months, my left hand is all over the place while my right remains centralised.

One of the seniors at Tora suggested my sayumen angle is too flat (coming in sideways) and so I should angle it up. This immediately improved my cuts. Now I know what to sort out I can work on cutting properly again.

I've also ordered a new men from Miyako Kendogu in Japan as my existing one is getting a bit manky. I have to wait a few months for it to be fabricated and sent over.

3 comments:

  1. Is it the Tokuren custom jissengata men? I ordered mine in December and if all goes according to plan it'll ship in a week. Considering how my current one is a clunky POS that doesn't fit properly, you could say I'm a teeny bit excited.

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  2. Yeah, thats the one... wow, thats a long time. Saying that I had to wait a similar period for my urushi do from Chibabogu.

    I'm a bit apprehensive about my order, ive got a bit of an odd shaped head and it took me three purchases until I found my current men that fits okish. Joys of ordering online.

    Let me know how you get on!

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  3. Bizarre heeeead! haha Giegers alien springs to mind!

    I feel your pain with the lack of fitness.. a month on my back has destroyed the good work from Feb and March. Its going to be a killer a week on Monday.

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