It’s been around nine months since I started practicing Kendo (剣道 kendō, lit. “sword way”), a form of Japanese fencing with bamboo swords known as a shinai (竹刀), at the university. It’s been a great way to relief some stress of university life and making some friends. Everyone was incredibly welcoming when I started. I will write more on my general impressions and thoughts regarding Kendo in another post, but I intended this post to be mainly a reflection on the Novice Championship I attended last weekend.

Day 1: Competitors and supporters

I never really enjoyed competition, or shiai, during practice. It’s much harder to me than regular old training. I end up mentally drained, more than physically. I have no idea when my strikes count, or why me or my opponent gets an ippon. It feels very vague in the moment. I can only focus on my own fundamentals, trying my best to keep proper distance, posture and kiai, not really caring what my opponent is trying to do.

Last weekend was no different. Partly dreading the whole experience, I waited for my turn to face whoever was fortunate enough to get me as their opponent. There was a young kid in my pool, and I lost to him. All it took was a split second of me not paying close attention and he got a clean men cut. After losing that one ippon, the match was all but lost to me. In retrospect, this was probably a poor attitude on my part, I had at least a minute left to tie up the score, but I really wasn’t feeling it at the time. I took the rest of the time to try other waza, before I was only attempting men cuts.

Day 2: Me feeling much more relaxed after a good night’s sleep

That being said, I can’t wait to get back into training for the next shiai. _Shiai _actually gave me a greater appreciation for kendo itself. Finally, I would really like to thank my sensei(s) and the Waikato Kendo Club for organising a great event for kendo practitioners to meet and compete.