Kendo Competition, yay :D

Today, I spent eight hours at a kendo competition that was held at Leigh High School.

Woke up before 6h30 (more like 5h30 because of DST). Showered and ate something. D let me borrow the Avalon. Drove to SJSU to pick up Shiva. Drove to Leigh. Got there before 8h30.

I pretty much sat on the bleachers for the next eight hours. Sore butt -_-

I wish I comprehended more, so I could describe the competition. But -shrug-

Jonathan came around 10h30. Veronica and Jay (those are their names, right? >_> I can only ever remember them as the naginata people) came in the afternoon.

Anyway, at first, I couldn't really keep up with anything XP The strikes were a bit too fast for my eyes haha. Gradually, my eyes adapted and knew what to look for in the matches. Jonathan helped me learn what to look for too: Men (head/helmet), kote (wrist/glove), and do (torso). I only saw two attempts at tsuki (a thrust aimed at the throat). And one accidental "tsuki" :P That one looked painful.

I only saw a shinai drop two or three times. Well, one of those times, it was knocked out the kendoka's grip. One of the other times, another guy swung his shinai, and it flew out of his hands >_>

Hmm, SJSU participated in the 5-member team bracket. Had to borrow participants from other dojos. Boman and Siu. Talented guys. Sadly, SJSU didn't make it past Rancho Cordova :( But I'd say the captains' match was really close XP

Ahaha, the little kids were sooo adorable XD There was one boy, who was like three-foot tall, from the San Jose Kendo Dojo. He fought a teenager who seemed to have a three-foot advantage on him XP It was so funny. But that lil kid ended up carrying two trophies >_>

And I have to say that I find most guys' kiai sound so much better and more pleasing than the girls' kiai. Girls sound like they're dying >_> Felt like I was watching a horror movie. Just screaming. Not battle cries :P No strength in the kiai, just a shriek, a slowly dying shriek.

Anyway, San Jose Dojo went home with the most trophies. Not unexpected. They were the largest group there.

I wish I could remember more, but all the clacking of shinai and all the kiai gave me a headache XP Possibly erased some memory too haha.


After the competition, the five of us (Shiva, Jonathan, Veronica, Jay, and I) went to Hometown Buffet to eat. Shiva paid for me (Oh yes, I suppose I should mention that she also bought me two cookies during the competition :P). Some good stuff. I especially liked the cornbread and the fried shrimp, mmmm...

Drove Shiva back to campus. Got the car back to D.

Now, I'm home.


Overall, today was chill and exciting. I was blown away by talent. And cuteness haha. Seriously though, I wouldn't mind doing this again :)


Oh, and Shiva likes to steal my warmth O___O So scary -___-; Should I feel threatened? I feel threatened. Though, it was nice to release some of that body heat. I retain too much heat -_- But still, that was a lil weird >_>