BEGINNING AGAIN

 by Phillip Starr

In 2015 at the age of 66, I had the chance to study iaido (the art of drawing and cutting with the Japanese sword). I'd wanted to learn this special art since I was very young but back in those days, there weren't many iaido teachers in the U.S. When the art gained more popularity, I was still unable to study the art; the instructors lived on the coasts and I resided in the Midwest! Just my luck...

Life goes on, despite our disappointments and I taught gong-fu for several decades before meeting the gentleman who would offer to teach me iaido. I was thrilled! NOW, after all these years, I'd get to train in this art! And I dove in head first!

I was a beginner again, and that was okay (no, I didn't give up practicing gong-fu; I just started something new in addition to my “wife” art). I thought I had some idea of how to handle a katana (Japanese sword) properly...until I took up iaido. It took me at least two years just to figure out how to grip it properly. Even now, after more than four years of practice, I still foul it up now and then. Not only that, but the footwork is considerably different as well.

The katana is employed in a manner that is very different from Chinese swords. My favorite has always been the broadsword, but decades of practice with that weapon did me no good at all when I picked up a katana.

My teacher was a very patient man and that was fortunate for me. I've never been a quick study. He gently corrected me even after I'd made the same error a thousand times! 

Some people have asked me about beginning again, especially in an art that is so different from the ones I've been practicing for over seven decades. I tell them that it's really very enjoyable being a novice again. You're never too old to start something new...