First kendo practice of the year...

Just got back home from kendo practice at the Kent dojo... lots of fun. I'm sore, but not as sore as I could be... good thing for me Kent only practices for one and half hours, unlike the two and half hour practices I'm used to at Renton. My body still needs to get in shape. Shiv had dinner at my house with me and she came with me to practice - she finally got to see what it is "I do" for physical exercise. It's funny how I'm not that much of a "sports guy" (besides football and watching everything else on TV), so I don't think she's really seen me "exert myself" before.

I suppose now that she's seen me fighting, she's seen another part of me that most people don't see - not that I turn into some sort of raving maniac, but once I'm suited up in my bogu and I'm holding a sword... it's sorta strange to say it, but I feel more comfortable with myself and dealing with people. My kendo sensei used to say that when people fight on the floor, it's like that floor is a different world - a world without the normal inhibitions we carry around in life. It strips away the masks we wear in life and reveals the spirits of people - some people are naturally aggressive, others timid; some people are full of compassion, others are full of cruelty.

Fighting is an odd sort of litmus test for people's character - when people are stuck in a contest of wills (the essence of what any fight is) their true nature comes out. Yet out of fighting and learning how to fight, the so-called "violence" of martial arts... there comes a lot of good things - self-discipline, learning to respect others, staying calm under pressure, compassion, and a love for what really matters in life: other people. In the end, these are the importants lessons I've taken from kendo - because as much I'd like to, I don't wear a breastplate and carry a sword strapped to my side 24 hours a day.

I guess my words aren't great enough to describe things, but I suppose people who do a martial art with full-contact fighting will understand what I'm saying.
posted by G at 10:24 PM   |

in?scrip?tion (n-skrip-shun)n.
1. The act or an instance of inscribing.
2. Something, such as the wording on a coin, medal, monument, or seal, that is inscribed.
3. A short, signed message in a book or on a photograph given as a gift.
4. The usually informal dedication of an artistic work.
5. Jeremiah 31:33