Stoke grading July 2009

Report by Cameron McPherson (now ikkyu):

Stoke. Not exactly the most picturesque town in England, and a place that I got to see a little more of than I wanted to when I got hopelessly lost trying to find the venue for the seminar and grading over the 18^th and 19th of July. I eventually arrived a little flustered, but reassured by the fact that the same thing had happened to Matsumoto sensei.

After our initial bowing-in and warm-up, the large assembled group was divided into two sections – dan grades and kyusha. The kyusha group was instructed by Davis sensei and Matsumoto sensei, and we focussed on the basics - especially concentrating on good men cutting. I had been fortunate to attend a Davis sensei seminar previously, so I was already familiar with his slightly different cutting style. The highlight of this section for me was receiving personal instruction from Matsumoto sensei about my hand position and posture (a constant bugbear of

mine!)

After a short break, we were introduced to the joys of refereeing. Not a great deal was expected of us due to our level, but it was interesting to see that the St Andrews club members had more of a handle on this than other participants. Despite the good-natured atmosphere, the great importance of refereeing for our own kendo development was emphasised.

The afternoon session consisted of over and hour of jigeiko in a room somewhat akin to a Swedish sauna. I was literally at the point of exhaustion at the end, but the

encouragement that I received from the higher grades who had joined us, specifically Gareth Spiers from Glasgow, kept me going longer than I thought possible. This was  certainly a valuable personal lesson.

Determined not to repeat my tardiness on the day of the grading, I arrived about an hour early on Sunday. The morning session started with an opportunity to polish our kata, for which I was most grateful. It was interesting to see the slightly different styles from kendoka from different dojo. At the end of the session Matsumoto sensei gave us an insight into his own kendo development. He said that in his early years he concentrated mainly on shiai, until his own sensei said to him that without kata his kendo will ‘be like a small tree, unable to grow and without many branches’, and that kata is essential for good kendo. He also pointed out the difficulty that non-Japanese speakers/readers have in finding good documents on kendo, and hinted that he may write a book himself in the future. I sincerely hope that he does!

 After receiving our grading numbers, the ikkyu group filed into the hall to begin the kirikaeshi and jigeiko section. I was quite nervous at this point, but being one of the older people in the group I had the opportunity to watch for quite some time before my turn came. Patrick was up first, and he acquitted himself admirably, so it was up to me to not let the side down! When my turn came, I was quite happy with my attacking kirikaeshi and my first jigeiko, but not so much with my receiving kirikaeshi and second jigeiko. I actually thought I had failed as I felt my posture had let me down again, but I was delighted to see my number on the wall to let me now I could proceed to the kata section. We now had the chance to watch Penny and Derek in their kirikaeshi/jigeiko section, as well as the kendoka attempting higher grades, which gave me a very good idea of the amount of hard work I need to put in before I can consider going for my next grading. The kata section of the grading was pretty much over in a few minutes. All of the kendoka attempting ikkyu lined up together opposite their respective partners, and we performed kata 1-3, one side only (I performed as shidachi). When ‘yame’ was called, it was hard to believe it was all over! The immense relief I felt at seeing my number again on the wall, and then subsequently receiving my menjo, is difficult to describe in words..

I would like to thank Andy, Penny, Dez and Derek for their invaluable insights from their past grading experiences, without which the whole weekend would have been much more stressful. And thanks also to Patrick for his moral support as a fellow ikkyu gradee.