World Languages Day: Kendo

The morning of the World Languages Day was near perfect. The air was a warm cool, the sky a beautiful blue, and the rising sun made for a good morning. I had left for the Memorial Union with only a few hours of sleep behind me but I was charged with energy. I met Mark early and helped him carry up the bogu (armor) and shinai (bamboo swords) up to the Great Hall on the forth floor.

As we prepared the area for our Kendo Demonstration, Tyler from the Kendo class came in, followed by Dominique. It wasn't long until a few of the high schools started showing up. By the time we started warm-ups, the Great Hall was filling up quite well. When Eric arrived we were ready to begin.

Mark introduced the UW Kendo program under the direction of Kiyota Sensei. He followed it with a demonstration of the basic strikes and attacks. When we finally decided to engage in combat practice, the audience got into it. Dominique fought Tyler with Naginata, a long pole halberd, demonstrating the graceful combat capabilities of the weapon. My part of the demonstration was to show kirikaeshi (warm-up drill) and a bout of ji-geiko (combat practice).

At the end of the demonstration, a few students came up with questions. I was excited to share with them experiences in my short time with the program. They were equally excited to share the armor I let them handle. In the crowd, I recognized a few people including Laura from the Monroe Street Fine Arts Center. My mom and dad had picked up my sister from school and the three of them dropped by. And although this was not competition by any means, it was the first time my family had come out to see my Kendo played.

Fei-O-Meter
Activity: 3 | Energy: 2 | Friends: 3