Keiko: A Kenshi's Journey

Wednesday night an odd thing happened.  Due to various circumstances (injuries, plans, etc) I found myself as the only yudansha at training, among a class of about 10 people.  Wendy Sinclair Sensei was there, but she was busy teaching class and making sure we were all doing what we were supposed to so she didn't have an opportunity to jump in with us.  Even though we didn't have that many people, we more than made up for it with the amount of spirit and energy we had.  I felt a duty to lead by example, and so with each and every person I gave 100%, even while nursing a couple of injuries of my own.  That didn't slow me down or stop me, although at one point at the end of class it did make me do fumikomi in place when I would strike. We took a bit of time during class to work on how to properly perform taiatari.  "Taiatari" translates to "body crash" and is a technique that is usually performed after a strike.  The two kenshi will literally crash into

Photo courtesy of W. Sinclair This past weekend was the Rose City Taikai in Portland, OR, hosted by the Obukan Kendo Club.  We took thirteen people down in the kendo van, with 12 of us competing across all divisions.  Once again the bulk of our competitors were entered into the 1-2 Dan division, my division, so I knew it would be a tough fight to the top.  Our weekend of kendo actually started that Friday because after a nine hour road trip we went straight to two hours of training with Obukan.  I was definitely feeling the exhaustion of the day and hoped that it wouldn't leak over into the tournament the next day. Saturday arrived and we packed, ate and then headed out.  My division wasn't until right before the team matches, later in the day, so I had time to prepare and watch my teammates do their best.  My friend and dojo mate Yarrow pulled out a spectular win in the 1-2 Kyu division to take 1st place, and I got to see a lot of good matches from our people in the 3 Ky