On Saturday the 18th I went to morning practice at Konnoh Dojo right near Shibuya Station.
This isnt my usual dojo so going to this kind of practice is called "Degeiko　(出稽古)" literally going out practice in Japanese!

Practice starts at 10:15 every Saturday morning and focuses heavily on kihon and uchikomi. most of the participants are kids and parents and the practice had a really nice atmosphere because of it!

Dojo at Konnoh

My recent shiai performance reflected these wise words perfectly.

In both, my performance was less than satisfactory, losing both of my fights.

I was lucky enough to get a buy into the second round, my opponent for the first round didn't show up.


I lost in the second round of the individuals to a student from Aoyama Gakuen University, losing men, but only losing by one point. It was a good ippon from the student, after both attacking kote, we separated, and he came forwards again, I pushed in to attack and I was caught by a nice debanna men!

In the team tournament I fought on Michi no Ko team C, we came up against Aoyama Gakuen team C in the very first match of the competition.

Michi no Ko C team, in white. From left to right: Doherty, Funahashi, Ariga, Miura, Walter.

I fought as senpo, and despite my best efforts I lost two ippon. The first was men, from an ai men, and the second was nuki do. I had to retie my do himo and from the restart, (foolishly) went straight for men, this played right into the students hands and he just whipped past me with a nuki do. If id been practicing more I would have thought before I cut! I'd not of gone in so quick!

Anyway it was all over after that, we lost 3 matches, with the fukusho and taisho both getting scoreless draws. I was disappointed for losing the do, but over all felt my performance reflected the preparation that I hadn't done!

I didn't feel bad, or annoyed at losing, because I knew that's what I deserved. I cant expect to turn up to a shiai having barely practiced and get something out of it. Especially not the 3 dan group for individuals which is full of university students.
I wont make excuses, it simply wasnt good enough for me to not prepare well.

I wont let that happen again.

The last two months have seen my amount of practice drop significantly, from 5-6 times a week to maybe 2 or 3. There are a number of reasons for why I haven't practiced as much, but I think it has more so been my lack of drive during the keiko that I have attended, that let me down in the shiai. I didn't prepare for this shiai as I would have usually, I didn't increase my practices, or really focus myself towards it at all.

I think its now extremely important for me to make sure that each keiko I can go to, I treat like my last! Giving everything during each session (well more than usual of course!), and making sure that if I go 2 or 3 days without keiko, I still feel like I did enough at my last session. Of course I do suburi every day at home as we as the usual home exercise, and a good dose of running every day (I play soccer with my junior high students most days) but I must make sure not to lose focus on my Kendo.


AND NOW FOR THE EXCUSES!!!

I've been really not practicing as much since moving in with my lady, I feel it would be unfair to head off to kendo 5 - 6 times a week and leave her feeling alone having just moved to Tokyo. So instead of kendo I've been enjoying some home comforts, cooking and cleaning etc as well as going out a little bit more. Once she gets a bit more settled Ill be able to get to more practice.

Last week, I went to my dojo for practice since my school was on holiday. I went bananas.

Full tilt from the beginning, kiai like a mad mad, striking men like a charging bull and just not stopping! It was great, I was exhausted and felt really good after having some nice jigeiko.

The next day I went home from work early with pain in my lower back, I took the next day off aswell to rest. The next few days I had travel plans with my missus, so of course I had to go, walking was extremely difficult, and even sitting down was painful. The pain did subside a little before the taikai, but I think it affected my performance quite a bit.

Anyway, excuses aside, I must make sure not to let my focus drop. Ensure that each keiko I attended I attend as if I wont get to practice ever again. Ensure that I give everything in kihon keiko, and maintain that focus during jigeiko.

Thanks for reading, and I hope to have some more stuff up soon.

Take care!