Impressions from kendo practice

The Japan saga continues as our young heroine finally decided she had enough courage to brave a kendo practice-- and, more difficultly, waded through a bunch of Japanese ambiguity and evasiveness to find out when and where practices are held.

Kendo, for those of you not in the know, is the traditional Japanese martial art of swordsmanship. Think samurai. Think lots and lots of samurai... kids. Yelling. A lot. While waving around practice sticks.

I thought the elementary kids were adorable in class, but man, you put them in the traditional kendo outfit of a split skirt and give 'em a stick... even more adorable. And the coaches were, frankly, beyond kakkoi (cool) with their fluid movements, weird foot-sliding moves like Noh but with a purpose, and yell of some unintelligible Japanese syllable while slamming their practice sticks down in just the right spot... stopping centimeters from a kid's head or chest. I'm willing to endure a greal deal of pain and sweat to possibly, one day, eventually, be that cool.

I want to be dashing-samurai-Kim.

And, indeed, the sweat started today, although I'd come mostly to watch practice and see if this was something I really wanted to do. The kids usually start off practice with a run, which I was equipped for (I haven't dished out what I imagine will be an exhorbitant sum for all of the kendo gear yet) with new sneakers and comfy if non-name-brand work-out clothes. And, dear deities, am I out of shape. I thought that maybe some of the muscle developed at Highmoor farm over the summer would've stuck around... but not so much. I may even start running again to build up something that could be considered cardiovascular endurance if I don't die from kendo practice.

Sadly, I'm going to have to work for the cool kendo gear as well. My next-door neighbor and kendo liasion said that usually the kids go to practice for ~6 months before ordering their gear. It's kind of a like a test to see if they're really serious about it, and during that time I guess they work on foot movements, the various assortment of bows, and maybe a few sword movements with a borrowed practice sword. Maybe I can get on an only-here-for-1-or-2-years gaijin fast-track to get the ultra-cool kendo outfit earlier.... but it's really entirely up to the coach, who has to special-order any equipment. There don't appear to be any stores in the area with that kind of sportswear, so I'm entirely at his mercy.

Updates to come as they become available..!