Jishin! and Kendo!

So, I was just doing my own thing last night, sleeping on my futon on my bedroom floor. At about 3:45 AM this morning I wake up and I'm being shaken. Ha! I'd woken up during an earthquake! It was kinda strange. The house was shaken by many little tremors in quick succession, and then there was a big tremor. I could hear the trinkets rattling around in their cabinets and on the big shake the foot of my futon actually moved northwards. It was kinda crazy. I can now say that I've actually experienced an earthquake!

However, there was one last Sunday, also during the night. But I had slept right through that one. Nobody in the house had felt it except for my "sister."

Speaking of earthquakes, I went to a kendo club practice last night after class was over. Kendo is basically Japanese fencing. It literally means "way of the sword." It was actually really interesting. One of my friends, Thomas, recently joined the kendo club, so I've been talking to him about it. He showed me where they hold practice and so I went to go check it out last night after class. He introduced me to one of the club members there who got me a chair so I could sit and watch.

Then people started coming in. Now you have to keep in mind that I'm in Japan and there were only two other people there who weren't from Japan, and one of them was half Japanese. So I really stood out, especially since everybody wears a uniform. The kendo uniform consists of several parts. First there's the keikogi which is the top piece that people wear when practicing karate, except most of the people in the club had dark blue keikogi. Then there's the hakama which is basically a pair of pants with HUGE legs. It actually looks like a skirt when the legs are together. It ties at the waist and falls down to the ankle. Kendo is done barefoot apparently.

Then, they wear this armor called bogu which has it's own components. There are four basic areas of the body that you are supposed to hit: the top of the head (men), the wrist (kote), the stomach (dou), and the throat (tsuki). Bogu armor covers all of these places as well as the groin area. There's a mask that looks similar to the European fencing mask except it has a piece that protects the throat as well as two pieces that protect the sides of the neck and shoulders. They wear gauntlets to protect the hands and wrists as well as a large plate around the stomach.

So basically you can't tell who is who when they're fully dressed because almost every inch of skin is covered. They did some exercises at first, and then they began practicing. I almost felt like I was in an earthquake! Apparently you have to almost stomp your right foot when you attack, so with everybody doing that it was like a never-ending earthquake. Not to mention the screaming and yelling. During a tournament you get points taken away if you DON'T yell when you hit your opponent. Oh, and I guess I can't forget the weapon. They have this sword that looks like it's made out of bamboo.

Like I said, it was quite interesting. I think I'll try to take pictures and maybe a video next time I go. I actually want to join as well...

Oh, I also forgot to mention that Kanpai (that word from the last post) actually is the Japanese way to say "Cheers!" You pronounce it kan (as in the con in con artist) and pai (as in pie).