It's a new year! A time to reflect on what came before and how to improve for the future. Last year wasn't full of a lot of significant moments for me but there were a few standouts, including trying to get back to regularly writing new posts here. I have to say, I did a lot better job at it than I did in 2017, where I wrote one (1!) article. Looking back through my timeline, I actually wrote more posts in 2018 than I have since 2012, coming in at twenty-two articles. Not bad. I'd like to think that even if I don't write anything educational here, it is at least entertaining. I'm not a high-ranking teacher or have a ton of experience, but I like writing and sharing what I know and what I've done, along with some of the very real struggles that I have in my pursuit of kendo.
One of the biggest moments of last year had to be passing my test for 4 dan in February. I can't believe it's been almost a year already! It seems like it just happened, and I can still feel the nerves that I had when I stepped out in front of the judges for my rounds of keiko. I was much more confident in my kata, since I study and practice kata pretty regularly, but up until the moment that I saw the results I was fairly certain that I had failed. Even now sometimes, when I'm having an off day at practice, I wonder if I'm living up to my rank. Sometimes yes, I am; sometimes, I'm not so sure.
Fighting in the 4 Dan+ division now is definitely a different challenge. I've yet to win a match in individuals, but I'm gaining a lot of valuable experience with each tournament I enter and match I fight, and I'm trying to use that to improve for the next time. I've done fairly well in teams, though, so I guess that evens everything out? I've always been one to look at tournaments not just as something to win or lose, but as a learning and training tool. I love competing and seeing what's working for me and what isn't, and using that knowledge to change, grow and evolve. I'm looking to more of that this year, as we have the UW Taikai and Rose City Taikai within the next few months, along with a handful of tournaments in Vancouver that I'm considering attending.
Another big event last year was the end of our previous dojo location. We'd been there since 2012, if I remember correctly, and it was great to have our own training space. I spent countless hours there, both at regular training and at my not-so-secret lunch trainings. We are still training at a new location, though, and will hopefully have another permanent dojo sometime soon. Honestly, as long as we have space to train and people to train with, we can grow and improve, though.
Last year we were able to host a couple of seminars, which I thoroughly enjoyed. A few teachers and students from the Seattle area traveled over to join us and we went over shiai points in our first seminar and shinpan training in our second seminar. It was nice to have visitors, as I always love having them, and being able to participate in learning opportunities like that on this side of the mountains. We were also able to have some local members attend that might not normally take the trip to Seattle or Portland for seminars there, so it was nice to include them this time around. I'm looking forward to more roaming seminars like that in the future.
Speaking of visitors, we hosted quite a few visitors to our dojo last year, not only from the Seattle area but from as far away as the Midwest Kendo Federation, Northern Virginia, and even Japan! I love having visitors because it always changed the feeling in the room. Everyone steps up their spirit and their training, and everything feels a bit sharper. Plus it's good to mix the different flavors that people bring, and to not only do my best to train with them but to see what I can learn from them, no matter their rank or experience. In fact, our last training of the year was very special, as we had visitors from Japan as well as my senpai and friend back for a special visit and training. Hopefully 2019 will bring in more visitors for us to meet, train with and share a beer or two with after.
This new year, I feel, will be more grind for me as I work to improve my kendo, piece by piece. I have a few things I'm focusing on right now, with my footwork, sword work, spirit, etc, and trying to gain advice and instruction from everywhere I can. I hope I can take every piece of advice with a humble and willing heart and see how I can use it to my advantage. I'm looking forward to competing when I can, training as often as I can and really working to improve myself and my kendo, for my benefit and the benefit of my dojo. Happy new year to anyone reading this, and let's train hard this year.
Yeah kendo!
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