Practicing Naginata at School

In Japan, the new school year starts in April. And the new students also join clubs then. Since two of the schools I teach at have Naginata clubs, I recently started practicing with the new students at those schools three times a week, unless I have a meeting or there's a change in the school schedule due to holidays, etc. I practice as long as the new students do, which is 2-3 hours each evening. So far the new students are only learning kihon (basics) and engi (forms). The older students wear bogu (armor) and shiai (spar).

I'm lucky because Saga is exceptionally strong in Naginata. One of my schools won the All-Japan High School Naginata Competition last year, and the coach at the other school is the Naginata World Champion!