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Three posts from this page will be included in my final assignments as informal assignments.
“Hajime!” (*1) With the captain’s yell, the practice (*2) started. Everyone shouted and hit each other. Older students taught how to do well to younger ones, and younger students followed older ones. Same as every day, but everyone was more powerful because the next day we would have a big tournament. I was one of the girls’ members of the tournament, so I was also more enthusiasm than ever. After warming up and practicing basic technique, we had some practice matches. At first, I did with a senior student, who was one of the members of the tournament. As soon as the match started, I noticed he was not like every day. He was more serious than ever; he didn’t go easy on me even though I was a girl. “How can I hit him?” “What is he going to do next?” I was struggling in my mind, but I couldn’t hit any parts of him. I ended up being crushingly defeated, but I enjoyed it. I felt like I became stronger through this one match. I had a few more exciting matches and took a break. Then, the hardest part of the practice started. I started it with full energy. I felt short of breath. It became harder to raise my arms. I wanted to give up. At that time, a junior student came to me and said, “Gambare!” (*3) with a big smile. He must have been tired too, but he encouraged me. I felt refreshed and surprisingly, my body came to move better. Looking around, there were a lot of teammates who was almost giving up. I went to them and did the same thing as the older student did to me. Like that, we all came over the hard practice. Working hard with my best with my teammates whose goal was same as mine was the best experience that I had. However strong I wish to return to this “home”, I can’t. Because we are not teammates anymore and our goals are different... (336 words) (*1) Hajime – Japanese word which means “Start”. (*2) the practice – the practice of kendo (Japanese swordsmanship. Players fight each other by hitting the opponent’s head (men), arm (kote), body (dou), and throat (tsuki) with a bamboo sword.*the Youtube video link) I was in the kendo club at Osaka University (*3) Gambare – Japanese word which means “Hang in there” in this situation. Japan nationals of kendo (2015)
3 Comments
Sean
9/19/2016 09:07:59 am
I enjoyed reading this. I liked how you included Japanese words in your story, explaining their definition at the end of your blog. The video you posted was pretty cool as well.
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Elizaveta
10/16/2016 05:56:41 pm
I enjoy learning about other cultures, and by reading your story I found out what Kendo is, and also learned some words in Japanese :) Thanks for sharing!
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Chuck
10/17/2016 10:46:21 am
I really enjoyed your story. It is really unique and gave me an insight into japanese culture in a way. I also like how you gave the definition of the words in Japanese and then provided a video at the end.
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Katsuki Iio
Born in Osaka, Japan in 1997. Archives
December 2016
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