19th Oct 2007
Kenshusei, Assemble!
by Kim Donovan
Summer Kenshusei is nothing like normal classes. Just being there, you’re put on the spot; sometimes, even in your dreams. There’s nothing more interesting than waking up at two in the morning and hearing your sensei yell “Okay, it’s weapons class!” and then getting up, to see you’re the only one awake.
It may have been the seven hours of class, six days a week. It may have been the hour-long session of zen each morning - sometimes, a straight hour with no break. But over the course of that month, you could sense the bond forming between the Kenshusei. We were in this together. We would end it together.
Kenshusei was abnormal for more reasons than just the classes. We had a strange obsession with 300, both the movie and the intense workout that Toyoda Sensei had us do if we screwed up. Every day as we swept and folded sensei’s hakama, we grew to expect various movie quotes, Pulp Fiction being our favorite.
I still remember when we played “Assassins” with corn cobs, and can’t help but chuckle when I wonder how many people were frightened by us that night. And now that I’m back in school and taking level 3 Spanish classes, the one thought that runs through my head is “Me gustan las cervezas - CEREZAS!”
I can still hear Maite Sensei laughing at my blunder.
It makes me sad that now I don’t see many of these people on a day-to-day basis. But I realize that we are all still together, in spirit. We went through it, and came out alive, together. Nothing would change that.
Kenshusei, assemble!
Kim Donovan is a 2nd kyu student at Soshinkan dojo in Burbank, IL.
