Pre-Training at IBU

I left for Taipei on Saturday 25th November and arrived on Sunday evening.  The next morning I flew to Japan for 10 days of training at IBU prior to WKC.  When I arrived they were having a rest day as the 1st year students (ichinensei) had been in a competition that weekend.  I didn`t mind as I was pretty exhausted from the trip and slept most of the afternoon and evening.

The next morning we had Asa geiko which was about an hours worth of practice of Kirikaeshi, Kihon, Jikeiko then Kakarigeiko from 7am.  It felt like an evening practice to my bodymind though – getting up for it was not a problem as I`d been wide awake since 3am.  Asa geiko here is voluntary – most of the international students were there as well as about 15 Japanese students.   No sensei were present.  Another temporary visitor with WKC preparation in mind is Chris Kroebl of the Swiss team.  He`s been here about a month and it was good to meet him again.

It was nice to be back at Budai with the early morning sun streaming through the large dojo windows that look out to the sea.  At this time of year, with its low humidity, the unvarnished wooden floor is very dry and slippery.  The students dot soaked floor cloths around the edges of the dojo so you can dab your feet on them and get some traction.  Posture and distance have to change to accommodate the nature of the floor, otherwise your legs disappear from beneath you everytime you make a cut and you end up burying your face in your opponent`s tare.  As a result, a lot of fighting is done at chika-maai and the left foot has to be planted directly underneath in order to get any push from it.  It`s a great way of fixing a stance that is too wide – it also makes okuri ashi fast and smooth.

The main daily practice here is the club practice in the afternoons from 4:30pm until about 6:30pm.  I was introduced to the 150 or so Kendo students by Iijima sensei and then had to say a few words in Japanese.  There was plenty of murmuring when, after prompting, I told them how old I was and general approval when I said I was yondan.  Most of the students are Sandan or Yondan - in my experience as a student here, I think they find it awkward/boring to fight international students of Shodan or Nidan level. 

At the moment we start with Shiai keiko.  The Sensei sit on chairs at Joseki while the 150 or so students sit on the floor around the permanently marked-out shiai jo.  The students do the time keeping, shimpanning, announcing and cheering.  The visitors and International students who will be competing at WKC make the main team and are pitted against International and exchange students who won`t be going to Taiwan.  Then the main team has a fight against Budaisei - Japanese Students from IBU.

I was made Taisho of the main team and had to fight a Korean exchange student.  This made me happy as I will have to beat a Korean to get out of my Individuals pool and the British team will be in the medals once they`ve beaten the Koreans in the quarter finals. 

As it happened he beat me but there is a saying about bad dress rehearsals.  Actually, I lasted quite a long time with him after initially burying my face in his tare (not quite used to the floor at that stage).  I found he couldn`t do anything to me if I didn`t do anything to him, but that isn`t quite playing the game and it`s also quite boring for the watching students.  After about 4 minutes he got me with debana kote as I chased him to a corner and launched a menuchi at him while he was compressed into a tiny space.  The dexterity of the students here is incredible – without any room to manouvre he managed to pop my kote beautifully – all tenouchi, and blindingly fast.  I cut a good men-uchi but it was after the event and the flags rightly sprang in his favour.

The team faired quite well against the other international team but we were all summarily slaughtered by the Budai team.  Local bias in the shimpanning wasn`t even needed!

Things have improved since I got here though – the jetlag is going and I`m used to the floor now.  The terrible stiffness I felt when I started here has gone with some improvement in tenouchi (its a question of survival!) and I`m less inclined to go backwards.  On Friday I managed to beat my Budaisei with 2 menuchi.  The poor guy looked pretty miserable – I don`t think his friends are ever going to let him forget it.

This morning (Monday) the entire Swiss team – Men and women – turned up for Asa Geiko – there are loads of them!  The Swiss are great as they`ve always been good company at Internationals and were very hospitable at the Zurich cup and Kasahara cup – both of which I highly recommend – just jump on a plane!  Tonight`s Shiai geiko should be interesting as some of the Swiss are so tall – I don`t know if I`ll be fighting with them or against them.  I`ll let you know how it goes.

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