I'm Doing A What Now???

[Maro]

Hi,

sadly, I don'y know Melissa.

Sorry!

[abryson]

Newbie,

Twilight Samurai - Great movie.. just watched it 2 nights ago.

I am intending on starting Jo shortly, however my sensei advised to wait a month after starting Iai, so as not to get too confused. So there are more of us popping up

How's the training going now?

[Newbie]

Yeah, not too bad actually. Spent tonight getting better acquainted with hikiotoshi and kaeshi and trying to refine honte and gyakute. On Monday, sempai was very complimentary of the progress I made with hote and gyakute but I dunno, proof will be in the pudding I suppose. My sempai doesn't train on Wednesday nights (he has Western fencing) but I always sms him an update on the night's training I'm taking tomorrow night off cos his wife's away and he doesn't have a babysitter but Friday he does so instead of going to the dojo (he wouldn't finish work till training was nearly over) I'm going up to his place and training one on one (But don't tell His Majesty Lord High Sensei Kensen I'm having a night off! He's rife enough that I only train six days a week, not seven!). Probably do a little iaido too. Well, I'm picking up kneepads on the way up there. Last iai seminar I was at, I didn't have knee pads and the seminar was all weekend. I have learnt my lesson.

Sad thing is I have day surgery next Wednesday and wont be fit to train that night so that's a whole session gone a week and a half before grading!! Argh! At least it's a night when I train by myself and my sempai and training partner aren't there. Missing one of those would truly suck.

[Fudo-Shin]

Bugger that! Join it now! By the way, how many are there doing jo in Aus?

There is four regulars including 1 Sensei up in here in little Cairns. I too get the feeling that, per capiter, Jodo is thriving here in the land of Oz.

How many others are scattered around??

[Newbie]

Err...errr.. well, since August moved to Japan, myself, my training partner who's ungraded and our shodan. Umm.. that's it

Hit a snag tonight training with sempai. Found out why I'm not honme (sp?) enough all the time, especially stuffing up my kaeshi tsuki. I don't have a terribly mobile lower back. In fact, I do chi kung every morning just so I can do kendo/iaido/jodo/whateverdo I'm doing that night/day cos I else I suffer from chronic lower back pain. Sempai moved my shoulders around to the correct position for kaeshi tsuki cos my shoulders were almost square facing the front and I'm currently sitting here with a nice warm wheatbag. Gonna do lotsa back exercises tomorrow before I practise, see if it helps. Afterall, grading's in two weeks and my hikiotoshi and kaeshi are far from adequate and I'm still not happy with honte and gyakute.

But getting back to the question, how many jodoka have you other guys got? Just curious, not really sure why

[Newbie]

Disaster. Strained muscle in my lower back. Recovery time is two/three days to two weeks. Grading and seminar is in two weeks.

[Aden]

Newbie

Bad news on the back - just be careful not to come back into training before you are ready - grading opportunities come around every year. It is not a race.

I think you are after the term hanmi - really ya ya hanmi, oblique angled with a line through the shoulders (and hips) rather than truely side on.

On the numbers, there are only @150 registered AKR jodo types running around (and in these insurance cover driven days registration is a pretty good indicator), though the number is growing fairly rapidly - there were under 50 back in 2000, probably more like 30.

We are still the smallest of the 3 arts in the AKR by a long way, iai is about twice as big and kendo about 5 times as big.

Fudo-Shin

You are very lucky being in Cairns - only a few dojo in Australia have instructors of Kuramochi sensei's level in seitei jo (and he is a very nice person as well which is a bonus).

Aden

[Newbie]

Yeah, under doctor and sempai's orders to do nothing but massage, stretch and relax until it's better. I'm planning on doing nothing at all this week and hopefully train all next week. Oh well, there's always theory.

And that's not a bad growth rate

[abryson]

Hows the back healing up Newbie?

[Newbie]

Well, I found out putting heat on it was a bad, bad thing to do so I've been icing it all week, haven't trained at all, been catching the bus to work instead of walking. Also had Wednesday off for day surgery so was able to just sleep and rest and ice it all day after I got home from the hospital (turns out I have a stomach ulcer. Yippee ). Today however, much, much better though still iced it a couple times at work cos I was filing a fair bit. Still going to rest it for the rest of the weekend, do some chi kung and see how I go training Monday night. Thursday I'll try and get a massage after work, ready for two eight hour days of training over the weekend.

[Fudo-Shin]

Fudo-Shin

You are very lucky being in Cairns - only a few dojo in Australia have instructors of Kuramochi sensei's level in seitei jo (and he is a very nice person as well which is a bonus).

Yeah...I couldn't agree with you more. We are very lucky to have Kuramochi Sensei, and in such an out of the way Town as Cairns too. He has somewhat pioneered Kendo, Iai and Jo around this area and these Budo are now quite healthy here, mostly due to his hard work. Hopefully before the year is out we can begin to learn some MSR from him also. He is an absolute fountain of experience in all the Arts under ZNKR and more.

How were the Nationals in Woolongong earlier this year?

[Newbie]

How were the Nationals in Woolongong earlier this year?

Heh-heh, just taking a break from watching them now Wish I coulda been there but.. well, I wasn't doing Jo or Iai then. Hope to be there in Hobart though!

[Aden]

Fudoshin

Overall I thought the nationals went well - though as an organiser I didn't get much seminar floor time (@ 2 hours in each art....), but I did manage to do 1/2 an hour of jo with Kuramochi Sensei at one point - possibly the first time I had done so (he having always been several groups senior to me at the national seminars - I think he got yondan when I got ikkyu....).

Newbie

If thats August's DVD recording then I am the overweight one in the pale keikogi losing to Clare Chan in the Iaido Dan teams final.... not to be confused with Bob who will be in Adelaide next weekend for your seminar / grading who is the overweight one losing to Clare in the Iaido Dan individuals final shortly before.... Clare Chan 2 Wollongong Kendo Club 0 that day .

Aden

[Newbie]

Yup, saw it. Very cool

Back's better but tonight kaeshi tsuke was inducing my asthma. Very weird, huh? But backs and asthma is often related. Still, I don't like to think of something inhibiting my ability to do jo, seeing as the reason I tried it in the first place was cos my asthma was too bad for kendo. Hmm.. I can't wait to get back to doing kendo and until I'm doing all three but I'm really glad my intro to jodo was during a time that I could utterly devote weeks and weeks to it without being distracted by anything else. Really gave me a chance to fall in love with the art!

[Newbie]

Passed

Actually, everyone who graded did! (woot)