Purple Belt Sword Grading - PASSED!

It's been a long time coming too...

Posted by Paul Whitrow, 16th July, 2008 | Permalink | 6 Comments

Images

A purple belt, just like mine :)

I've just got home from my usual 3 hour Wednesday night training session with the Bushido Academy of Martial Arts, and am so happy right now. I passed my first part purple belt in Ken Kai Ryu (our form of Japanese sword), and boy did I have to work at it! It was the hardest grading I have ever had, even more so than the Karate gradings (started doing sword whilst a green belt in Karate), and that is quite a testament.

It consisted of three main parts:

1. Free form bokken sparing with Dohigh Alan who was also grading for purple. It was supposed to demonstrate our skill and restraint, but we went at it a little too hard and broke his bokken. Add to that several injuries, including but not limited to being hit in the left nut, stabbed in the hand, and clubbed on the fingers and it was a pretty rough start. This lasted for an hour and was basically just a warm up.

2. Physical limits test. This took the form of a 60 minute full on battle, no holds barred, no stopping and no breathers, to have done so would be to fail. This was incredibly hard, in fact definitely the hardest physical test I have ever done. Full on aggression, full of strikes and parries, and full of kiais, meaning the tank was completely empty at around the 20 minute mark! It's at this point that you have to dig deep and find out what kind of a person you really are, and how much you want to pass.

3. Demonstration and further bokken matches. After just completing the 60 minute physical marathon, it was outside for the final hour to demonstrate to the Karate boys how sword should be done. But our Sensei had a twist planned, the others would have bokkens too and would be allowed to just come and challenge us at any point, including the high grades and black belts. This part put paid to any energy that may have been left, and any area of the body that hadn't been hurt yet!

But we did it, and we did it well, and we passed, And I couldn't be prouder of either Alan or myself. We have been doing Ken Kai Ryu for a little over a year now, and this fourth belt has been hard earned.

So I sit here now, having just had a cuppa, typing this with shaking hands and fingers that are bleeding and swollen from being hit so often, with feet covered in blisters and so painful I can just about walk, with a back so sore I can barely sit up, and a body so tired and wracked with fatigue that I could sleep for a week... and the biggest god damned smile on my face.

Posted on Wednesday 16th July, 2008 at 11:29 pm by Paul Whitrow, and filed under Bushido and Martial Arts