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| After the grading: orange belt - 9th kyu |
Two and a half months after starting Traditional Shotokan Karate, I passed my first grading last night and now have my orange belt. I am absurdly pleased!
Paul, a brown belt, said to me afterwards with a wry smile: "Welcome to the ladder of hell!"
The Sensei was extremely helpful in this first grading (I got most things right) and confided that he had hated all his gradings: "Except one time, when I was taking my second dan back in 1995. I suddenly realised half way through I was enjoying it."
I was of course nervous beforehand, even though it's really hard to fail your first grading. You really want to display all the skills you think you have, and not be flustered.
The next phase of training focuses on the first of the Heian katas, Heian Shodan.
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