Shodan baby!

Good to be back! Man have I missed the internet, especially to document all the changes and events that have happened since I last posted. The biggest event that happened is that I changed host families. I'm now living with an elderly couple that sort of remind me of my Grandma and Grandpa Martins. They live fairly close to five grandchildren and two children, so I get to play big sister again, only now it's like big cousin or aunt or something. Whatever the case, I see all five them at least once a week and boy do I LOVE it. I've missed my own siblings and teaching karate to the little guys and my neighbors and all the kids I see everyday. Of course I still miss them, but these five guys are great and keep me healthy, at the very least. One little five year-old I see every day and we always run around and play and read and do lots of things together. Her mother is always apologizing to me, but really it's me who should be apologizing. I'm the one instigating it and she's the one keeping me company, not the other way around.

And of course, I tested for my shodan in kendo. I passed. It was a completely different test than any of the ten or so tests I've taken in karate (where I'm also a shodan). For reference, I'll explain my karate test. It started on Friday evening when a mafia of black belts watched me teach an advanced kids' class. The kids left and I stayed until about 10:00 PM (about three extra hours) sweating to my Senseis' content. The next morning, we had a rather big testing (maybe 17 or so people) so it took a while to get through the beginning. I showed up the next morning at 10 and went again until lunch, which was around 1 or so. Then we kept going at it until 7, when they finally let me limp my way home. Besides the Friday evening teaching (and other miscellaneous forms of torture), I spent most of the test actually preforming every technique I've ever been taught. I also did numerous katas, a few sparring matches, a few board breaks, and holding stances. By the time the test was over, my Sensei's knew very well where I was and what things I needed to improve. It was a very personal test and no two black tests are identical, as far as I know. The reason is that we are encouraged to make the art our own and so as the martial artist grows in skill, the art starts to become unique to the person. This means that two equally ranked brown belts will probably fight very differently from each, depending on the individual's size, strenghths, and personal preferences. It's often times interesting to see personality taking root in a person's fighting style.

Here's how my kendo test went. We had a rather small testing (only 200 or so people) so it went by rather fast. I came at 9 in the morning, when they removed the strip of cloth from my kendo gear and assigned me the number 82. I sat in seiza for about an hour and in "indian style" for maybe another hour or so until it was my turn to prove that I am worthy of the rank of shodan. This means that for thirty seconds, I swung the shinai to my heart's content, got stopped, and did it again with the next person. And then, I went, took off my gear, and waited to see if I passed or failed. I passed. On to section two, where I aced a written test consisting of two questions. They hand-checked all two hundred questions in a matter of twenty minutes or so and then it was on to section three, where I spent about three minutes performing three very short katas. And then it was over and we waited to see who passed and who failed. I passed. It was completely impersonal and very different from any martial arts test I've taken before.

So my host family is great, my school is great, my kendo is great, life is pretty great. It's been like two weeks since I last had internet access! Man is it good to be back!