New Gekken Experience at the Tai Kai by Charles Choi

So during gekken at taikai, I advanced a lot further than I thought I would -- into my fourth round, the pre semifinals in the gekken event. Each bout basically embodied a lesson I learned in class.

 

During the first round, I basically tapped at my opponent's sword with my sword to test him, moved backward, and when he moved to follow, I noticed that he stuck his sword out first before he moved the rest of his body. I then struck quickly with a kote strike, and that was it -- one strike and done. I've made the same mistakes all the time in class -- sticking my arms too far out, not moving my body with my sword -- so I think I've come to see it in others and hit quick.

During the second round, my opponent kept on trying to circle around me. This is something I tried with Dan once, who pointed out that when I did so, I often left my center exposed. That's how I finally got this opponent -- when he shifted, he left his center open, and I cut into him when his arms weren't in proper position.

During the third round, my opponent was a kendo kid, one of the volunteers helping clean out the areas during taikai. He was pretty fast, and hit hard, but he had kendo zanshin and very little gekken zanshin -- he just kept charging in and trying to hit me, with little apparent concern for getting hit in return. This was very annoying, often led to ai-uchi (yes, if I learned to parry better, this wouldn't be a problem), and always raised the possibility that I wouldn't be able to respond with a strike in time to make it ai-uchi was opposed to a point against me. I did notice that he kept leaving his left hand exposed when he adopted jodan stance -- he held it pretty far in front of his head. It's kind of a blur now, but if I remember correctly, I lured him by striking at his head, and when he moved back into jodan I swung again with virtually the same strike, only aiming at his left hand instead, which I got. Setting up your opponent is something sensei's told us many times.

My fourth round, I faced Dan, and my senpai was very nice to me in not beating me to a pulp. He got me with a strategy that's got me time and again in class as well -- he made a few strikes at my upper body, and when I moved my arms up to defend, he got my hands from underneath with a gyaku kesai. I dearly look forward to the day when I learn to not fall for that move.