At the registration table, Hioki (who is a real cool guy) asked me how many I wanted on the Yokonarabi cut. I says 5 says I. He smirked and says "Is that it?" Ok wiseguy, says I, give me 6! He busts out laughing and says "That's all?" Ok smartass, says I, gimme 7! And of course since I had no idea about the rules, I thought if you cut 4 or so out of the number you chose, that you got credit for the amount you cut. Oh no, finds out I when I only cut 4. If you missed the ENTIRE amount you were out. It was that simple. So there I am once again trying to play by rules I don't know about.
Anyway, the same conversation ensued with my buddy Hioki about the "Futomaki" cut. Gimme 5, oh no, gimme 6, aw hell, give me 7! Still thinking if I got REAL lucky and cut them all, I'm champ! But no, I totally flubbed that one and maybe cut 3. Can't remember. But I had a handicap. I had to borrow Mike's sword! Yeah, that was it! Not used to the sword. Always remember to blame everything else but yourself! Hee Hee.
Big Tony, myself and Hioki competed in team cutting and were eliminated after the 2nd round. There is, however, a bright side to my tale. Bob, Tom, Mike and Big Tony all got gold medals! Now that is absolutely amazing. There may have been 8 events and 4 of them went to Americans! What's the chances? I can tell you that the Japanese are very lackadaisacal about their sword training. At least the ones I have seen. It is as if the heart is out of it. We, on the other hand, train like we mean it. It is a common motto in our dojo in Orlando here, "Cut like you mean it!" "Do Kata like you mean it!" "Train like you mean it!" Otherwise why bother? This ain't no social club Dorthy!
Ok, I can hear you now, get back to the story. To finish this diatribe, the last night we were there, we trained at the dojo. The temperature was in the low 40's and the wind was howling. Musta been in the 20's with the wind chill factor. So, as usual, a miscommunication with Sensei and my swords (and Jesse's) are left at his sword shop. So Hataya Sensei loaned me one of his swords. Now I had been cutting like it was my first time at it. Couldn't do anything! So what the hell, I get up to the first wara and do Rokudan giri as a warm up. Man let me tell you that sword was magic! The hair on the back of my neck (yes go ahead and laugh but I do actually have some there) stood up. What the hell is this! Went up to the second stand and did a perfect Mizu gaeshi! Holy hammer knocker Batman! Got another 2 cuts a little later and nailed'em as pretty as you please! Couldn't believe it. I asked Sensei if it was a Kenpaku Yasutoshi sword. He is the swordsmith who makes swords for his shop and who's sword design the "Kotetsu" swords we sell in my shop are from. He whispers to me "No, it is a Yoshindo Yoshihara sword!" Jeezo man, that is heavy artillery. I used one in Chichibu at one of my first tai kais in the nidan/sandan division and came in second place. These swords are magical.
Anyway, we came home worn out and broke. But the memories and experiences made us rich beyond belief!
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