Bobblehead Knight

As I was leaving the ashram in February, I was wondering what would be the first thing to make me completely lose the peace I'd found. It happened a mere month later, at the annual International Budo Seminar in Chiba. The beauty of the seminar, besides all the hang-time with good friends, is the chance to try a martial art that you don't practice. This year was my 8th, and the only thing I hadn't tried yet was kendo. So, donning the Jawa-like gear, I ran through a series of drills, under the eyes of a few of Japan's highest ranking kendo practitioners. I have to admit that I find Kendo kiai hilarious. To watch a group of males jumping forth, repeated yelling "Men!' always brings a smile. And on this day I got great delight in bellowing a Homer Simpsonesque, "D'Oh!" with every strike to my opponant's midsection. The last part of the session was spent sparring. We traded partners every few minutes. My first three "bouts" were pretty mild, my opponant and I both giggling as we tapped and poked each other with the bamboo shinai. My last partner ended the mirth. Seconds into our bout, as I'm looking for a place to poke, he brought his shinai down on my head full force, making my ears ring. Playtime's over I thought, and started to gear up for battle. His shinai came down again. "Fucker!" I yelled, muffled by my head gear. So it went, him smacking me hard, me losing it, me then smacking him back full strength. When we finished, I went up to him, patting him amicably on the back.
"You do karate?" I asked.
"Yeah," he said.
"Competitive?"
"Uh-huh."
"Thought so. You're pretty fierce, man"
Drenched in sweat, I drank tea in the lobby, my aikido-gi stained blue. I hadn't expected kendo to be that hard. I was already exhausted, but we had two more training sessions left. What to do? My body said kyudo, but my pride said judo and aikido.
Pride won, as it does, but for the next two days, my body wouldn't shut up about it.


(My friend Jeff wrote of his experiences, and does a fine job of summing the event up in his usual humorous, self-depreciating way:
http://jeffsbudoblog.blogspot.com/2007/03/double-super-mega-post.html )


On the turntable: "Heavy Flute"
On the nighttable: Larry Watson, "In a Dark Time"