New Years Day Training

[Jerry Wellbrock]

The New Year has started on a good foot, even if it is a sore foot at that. How appropriate that Issue 4 contains an excellent articles on blisters. Our kendo club started training at 5:30 AM and worked out hard for about 3 hours to be followed by New Years Celebration. Good food and beverages but best of all the good company of fellow kendoka. I am wondering if others of you have a New Years tradition of training or celebration. Best wishes for the New Year. Jerry:D

[Charlie]

Same to you, Jer. We always make the first one of the year a hard one, and sometimes celebrate afterward with barley sodas.

[odqstr2]

Last night was our first practice of the year. For most of the members (myself included) this was our first “First Practice” with a Japanese sensei. We had heard rumors and looked forward to it with some trepidation. Slight change to the routine where after mokusou we saluted each other with “SHIN NEN AKEMASHITE OMEDETOU GOZAIMASU”. After a typical warm-up we brought out our shinai and performed shomen-uchi continually for what seemed like hours. “Just getting started” smiled sensei. He then brought out a miniature shinai and stand and told us that we would be doing choyaku-men (haya-suburi). This time however we would not be counting. This time we would continue until last man/woman standing. That person would be awarded the mini-shinai. I lasted long enough to be one of four left (what seemed like 20min but probably closer to 10) . Once I bowed/passed out the group of three valiantly continued for another 10min. Our winner was a recently discharged Navy diver (had the inside track on condition training) and a kenshi with a lot of heart. The rest of the evening was dedicated to shiai geiko, another first time experience to most. All in all we had a great time, we had survived.


Paul

[Kangaxx]

Every new year there's a seminar called (translated) "South German New Year's Training".
It's always in different cities in South Germany. This time it's the 12. Training, with
over 75 kendokas participating, led by Kato Sensei, 8. Dan, Hanshi. The seminar lasts
from the 2. to the 6. January.
Happy New Year!

[saki_wooah]

We did our first practice of the year this morning at 9:00! Guess how much people attended it? 5 !!!!!

[aikanaro]

At our dojo we have the custom to begin class about one or one and a half hours before midnight, and when New Year comes we're doing geiko, until everyone has been geiKO'd :) (until you have done geiko with everybody, as a minimum) ... then we do a meditation, then is time fore some dinner/beers/whatever .... :)

[Hyaku]

The New Year has started on a good foot, even if it is a sore foot at that. How appropriate that Issue 4 contains an excellent articles on blisters. Our kendo club started training at 5:30 AM and worked out hard for about 3 hours to be followed by New Years Celebration. Good food and beverages but best of all the good company of fellow kendoka. I am wondering if others of you have a New Years tradition of training or celebration. Best wishes for the New Year. Jerry:D

Six oclock all the old students who are now Hachidan down to Yondan come back to their old High School to practice until 7:30. Then its down to the University to do the Hatsugeiko with all the University old boys at nine. Eleven, off to another high school to do a practice followed by food and drink. Three practices then home to see the family who are by this time well drunk and passing out.

Me? This year I will be at the beach house after a morning dive tucking in to barbecued piggy and a "few" beers. There's more to life than letting people hit you over the head all day then listen to some drunken ojisan talking about work.

A few days after that I have seminar with forty people.

Besides they dont have "Christmas" in Japan

A Happy New Year to all

[Eldritch Knight]

When I was practicing in Japan, I went to a more traditional high school so our kendo club had hatsugeiko at 6 AM. We'd head down while it was still dark and warm up as the sun rose to meet us. Its a great feeling to just be screaming at the top of your lungs with 30 of your fellows as the sun rises on a fresh morning with the entire town totally dead - it feels like you're on top of the world and that kendo brought you there. We'd follow that with an hour of normal practice, and by then, our sensei would come in with his fellow kendo sensei (about 20) and they'd join us for practice. We'd do jigeiko until almost noon and then head back home (where we'd head off immediately to do the year's first prayer, etc). Ahh, the nostalgia ^_^

[xvikingx]

Well, I just got back from my dojo's new year keiko. It was quite an event. I had the pleasure of seeing some military kendo senshu mop the floor with some of our dojo's best college senshu. First time I had ever watched a match and thought "glad that isn't me". A bit late but happy New Year all!

[Kiki]

My dojo does not have a New Year's Keiko but West LA does. It's a great feeling to get up early, greet the new year and practice kendo. They start at 7am sharp. Some years there is a visiting sensei from Japan. This year we did 250 suburi, followed by lots of kirkaishi, some kihon drills and then jigeiko until almost 9. My guess would be about 20-25 people including some who drove over an hour to get there.

The last thing we did was send off one of their sensei who was going back to Japan with some kakarigeiko torture. Seven yudansha lined up down the dojo and sensei worked her way through. It was amazing to watch because she never got sloppy and kept a strong kiai the whole way.

After keiko they always go down to Little Tokyo and pound mochi to sell as a fundraiser until about 4pm. This year Shou Tokyo dojo gave a kendo demonstration. Their kids did a great job.