Charle's Thoughts on the Gekken Tournament

On Sunday, a gekken tournament was hosted in White Plains, with 22 competitors. Much fun was had by all! The spectrum of differences between competitors was fascinating to me — from nearby Genbukan Dojo, whose students have a similar if slightly different attitude to gekken to us, to more distant Konjaku Kioi Dojo, whose students also practice our style but with a distinctly different emphasis, to HEMA competitors, whose students practice a different style and weapon altogether.

Afterward, gekken practice occurred, and I felt I fought much better during practice than during the tournament. I know at least one other person there felt the same way as well. Why is this?

For me, I think the main difference was that I was not afraid of getting hit during practice. This is not to say that I wanted to get hit, or that I attacked recklessly in a suicidal manner. It's that I wasn't as timid and cautious as I was during the tournament. I was more bold and assertive, which led to me both applying greater pressure on opponents and adopting stances that would be more effective during parrying. I also was more willing to adopt less conservative stances, ones that I don't think my opponents saw before, which might have given an advantage as well.

Another key difference was I was willing to have fun during practice. I did still take practice seriously, but I think this positive attitude allowed to cut loose more and be more relaxed, which certainly would lead to better fighting.