Japanese Sword Fighting (2)

I begged Taro to let me participate their sword fighting training session on Sunday. In fact, he is very keen in getting people to join the club as young Japanese generation is slowly losing interest in this tradition. The problem is ... um.. quite embarrassing for the weak-nerve young Japanese kids, the problem is the SMELL! The protection gears cannot be washed, you can only wipe them or put them under the sun to control the smelly bacteria from growing too fast. The heavy-duty outfit cannot be machine washed, either. The traditional dye is not made of the best perfumy substance, it gives out irritable odor.

As for me, I don't care too much about it (sport is supposed to filled with sweat and danger), besides, I think the smell is not as bad as in underground subway station in New York City in the middle of July. What I don't quite like is the rigidness of order, ranking, manner, and respect. Sword fighting is not a sport for fun, it is rather a spiritual training to get yourself tougher (the idea is suprisingly fitting so well into Japanese culture). Thinking about the Chinese style of martial art, it is comparatively less formal, um, what do I know, all my knowledge of Chinese martial art are from the KungFu movies.

Nevertheless, it is an very interesting experience, you get to hit people (gear-protected) as hard as you can and yell as loud as you can at the same time. The only problem is that you are not allow to run, you have to slide across the wooden floor with grace.