Hey everyone, hope you’re all doing great.
I just got back from our annual training camp in Geisei Village.
Every year on the third weekend of July, we rent out this lodge called Geisei no Ie in Geisei, Kochi Prefecture, and spend two full days doing nothing but swinging swords.
This year it was on the 19th and 20th, and about forty people came from all over Japan to sweat buckets together.
We all met up at the lodge around lunchtime, trained in this super hot gym until the evening, cleaned up, and had dinner in the dining hall.
After that we moved to the party room for drinks and hanging out until… like, 3 a.m.!
Next morning, training started at 5 a.m. and went until 7. Then bath, breakfast, and back to training until noon.
After lunch, we wrapped things up and headed home.
Seriously, it was nothing but iaido for two days straight.
It felt just like those intense sports club camps I used to do when I was younger, and honestly, it was a blast.
During the morning practice on the second day, I was already running out of energy—my hands hurt, I was sweaty and sticky, and I kept taking breaks thinking, “Man, this is rough.”
But a little ways away, I saw these two guys—one from Kanto and one from Hokuriku—just going at it like they’d been standing under a waterfall, their uniforms completely soaked through with sweat, swinging their swords like crazy.
It already takes serious effort to come all the way out here from another prefecture in the middle of summer, but seeing them go that hard without caring about the heat or the pain… I just thought, “Yeah, I lost this one.”
Iaido isn’t about winning or losing against someone else, but I could tell their mental toughness was way ahead of mine. I honestly respected that.
Can you actually train yourself to be that tough?
Maybe. But then I pictured packing that sweat-drenched uniform into my bag and sitting on a train for hours to get home… and yeah, maybe that’s just not me.
Anyway—it was a super fun camp. Definitely going again next year.
