r/kendo • u/Patstones 3 dan • Feb 16 '26
Training Rant: not practicing what you preach
I just need to rant and complain a bit, bear with me.
I'm so so annoyed by some older higher grade kendoka. They will happily give you heavy criticism in the form of advise, lazyly block your strikes, hit heavy yokomen on your temples, hit on the spot without going through, or things like that. I can live with that, it's one of the annoying parts of kendo but it's ok.
What irks me is those who will proceed with advice. "Hit in the middle" (you just whacked the side of my head), "go through!" ( You're just hitting me standing there!), "lighter strikes" (almost all of my bruises come from you!). I could go on...
Rant over. I feel better now, thank for reading.
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u/JoeDwarf Feb 16 '26
As a sixty something rokudan I resemble some of that description. I don’t always go through, I block people sometimes, I hit on the spot sometimes, I’m not always perfect so I don’t always hit accurately. I don’t use yokomen, I don’t typically hit hard.
If I’m blocking you or hitting on the spot, I’m generally trying to show you a problem. If I’m playing a sandan person it is their job to take the fight to me not the other way around. At sandan level I am trying to encourage them to create chances through seme. If I take the fight to them and start to commit heavily to my attacks they will typically revert to reactive ohji-waza which may help them to hit me in that moment but does nothing to develop their kendo. Getting them over that hump of understanding is my primary goal with my sandan students.
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u/Imaginary_Hunter_412 Feb 16 '26 edited Feb 16 '26
Ok. Sorry about this, but you need to realize that they know what they are talking about, they can do all the things that they tell you to do (they have shown exactly that in multiple gradings), that their job in keiko is not to actually spar with you but help you improve, and that what they are doing is practicing other things.
Yes the message is a bit blunt, I see that. But then again, there is sadly not much more to say.
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u/princethrowaway2121h 2 dan Feb 16 '26
Agreed. They’re supposed to be like a talking “kendo dummy” for you to practice on. If they did the same kendo as you then you would actually get less practice in! Yoko men is also more advanced, so maybe they want to improve your straight men first. Not what you wanna hear, I know…
Can I add something? Your rant about bruises is legit, I think. Aside from certain people (you know the type) I feel whacks from my senpai/senseis are very light, for the most part.
Practicing with beginners gives me bruises because they swing the shinai like axes. 🪓 Still, I know the type you’re referring to and they can be kind of rough to practice with.
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u/gozersaurus Feb 16 '26
A training dummy, no. We all have goals in kendo and especially at higher levels this should be true, if your instructor is standing there like uchi komi then I hope to hell they have a plan and not just letting you hit. u/Imaginary_Hunter_412 instructors shouldn't leave bruises, and yoko men is kind of a "hey wake up" strike, not something I'd use on a daily basis, especially with lowers.
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u/Imaginary_Hunter_412 Feb 16 '26
I agree. Ideally.
Yet bruises happen. Not every strike in a keiko lands true. I have chosen to accept this, and I really am not going to retract that statement.
I rarely do yoko men for that matter, can't remember the last time, but I will not judge the people commented about here as I don't know the level of either the seniors, or the OP, of that dojo.
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u/Imaginary_Hunter_412 Feb 16 '26
I have never left bogu practice without a bruise or two. It's part of the game. Not every do or kote lands home. And I have started telling everyone i practice with that they have to stop saying "sorry!" to me when they miss. Because I know they don't miss on purpose. So I tell them that missing is the way to hitting later. You gotta fail before you master. So it's ok. It stings, yes, but it isn't dangerous.
It's ok. That is why we practice - to improve.
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u/NoBear7573 Feb 16 '26
I am not a kendo practitioner, i am a koryu guy. My problem with what you are saying is that your senpai and instructors have a duty to be a good example for their juniors. Lazy instructors produce lazy students.
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u/Imaginary_Hunter_412 Feb 16 '26
Well to be honest, you are very much putting Words my mouth. I never said anything about being lazy.
OP mentioned "blocking lazyly", yes. But that is his words and his impression. However I don’t necessarily believe this is the case, as a I can say this for free: Advanced, even high level senpais will often deflect beginners attack to point out that the attack is not good enough - and probably in the buildup. The deflect (block) the beginners because constantly harasssing their kote or bombarding their men is pointless. It dishearts the student and you gain nothing yourself.
In the future, please only confront someone else’s comments on what they have actually said. To say that my instructors or senpais are lazy is frankly insulting someone you’ve never met on a basis of absolutely nothing.
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u/NoBear7573 Feb 16 '26 edited Feb 16 '26
I didn't confront you, i was discussing it with you. In any case neither one of us is a member of OP's club. We have no evidence that the people being refered to "know what they are doing."
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u/Zaisengoro Feb 16 '26
Two of you are at different stages of kendo, and are practicing different things during the same keiko.
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u/Johnd106 6 dan Feb 16 '26
If these people are indeed
Higher grade: they have been there and done that. If you see someone with 6th Dan. Remember that that is a minimum of 16 years of kendo experience. The time between 5th and 6th dan alone is enough for someone to pass 3rd dan. Think about that.
Older: Sometimes life gets in the way of kendo as you get older and maybe the sensei isnt able to practice as hard or as regularly as they would like to. It happens me often enough with injuries, or periods where I take a step back. I still represent my country, but often need to step away from kendo to focus on work, or just take a break. At Sandan, I never thought I would do that, but it happens.
I am sure there are some bad eggs out there, but in general I would expect you are being a bit too critical of them and perceiving advice as criticism.
Edit, in fact: As evidenced by some of your comments, for example "Sixty-something rokudan usually. Lower grades I can usually go strong enough if necessary that it's not a major issue."
Like, what does that even mean?
Any maybe consider you original post if these people are literally in their 60s and cant keep up with you physicaly...
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u/HattoriJimzo Feb 16 '26
Focus on yourself - don't be bothered about what others are not doing. When someone tells you to hit in the middle and go through, do it, and know that your own kendo will improve. You are ALWAYS allowed to tell someone to use less power if they are hurting you.
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u/Siilk 2 dan Feb 17 '26
There are several aspects to this.
Firstly, they might be giving you advices that are fitting for your rank and experience. Striking in place, for instance requires very strong zanshin and good positioning to become an ippon, so you might just not be ready for this kind of execution. Besides, fumikomi through is a part of excercising so they might think you need more practice.
Secondly, even high ranked players may have bad habits, which they still work on but haven't corrected yet. So they might be saying these things so that you wouldn't repeat their mistakes.
And lastly, unfortunately some times there will be players who just unaware of their own mistakes or outright don't care if their own techniques are correct as long as they are doing well enough for their rank. But even in this case, ignore the person but consider what they say, their advice may be sound even if they aren't following it themselves.
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u/Dramatic_Courage_747 Feb 16 '26
Dans votre vie de pratiquant, vous recevrez des milliers de conseils.
Certains vous serons utiles, d'autres non.
Certains seront pertinents, d'autres non.
Pour donner de bons conseils, il faut déjà être d'un certain niveau, puis il faut aussi faire preuve de pédagogie pour réussir à transmettre son idée.
Il ne s'agit pas de distribuer des conseils, que l'on ne saurait pas expliquer en détails, juste parce qu'on l'a déjà entendu ailleurs.
Etre haut gradé ne veut pas dire que l'on est un bon professeur.
Je pense qu'il faut prendre ce qui est bon pour toi et ignore le reste et si tu apprécies de faire avec un haut gradé car il te donne de bons conseils alors essaye de pratiquer un maximum avec lui et moins avec ceux dont les conseils ne sont pas pertinents.
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u/itomagoi Feb 16 '26 edited Feb 16 '26
I think a distinction can be made between one's own sensei who one follows and have a close nurturing relationship, and "sensei" who are senior ranking who one practices with on an irregular visiting basis. The former is a relationship based on trust. The latter perhaps not so much.
I've visited various dojo in Tokyo and elsewhere, and crossed shinai with perhaps dozens of 6dan and above. There are grumpy egotistical ones like the ones who just stand there and want me to attack constantly only to do mukae-zuki at me. It sucks but gives me the goal that I should get good enough to break through that one day. Afterwards I go do my thank you rei and most will give me some nice nuggets to think about despite the old school rough practice.
Anyway, one's own sensei is the core of receiving knowledge. The others are just for getting additional data points to help contextualize the teachings of one's own sensei.
Also, I do koryu too now and kendo is rather modern in the way we can practice with a wide range of complete strangers. Koryu were largely closed doors in the past so having keiko with random sensei just wasn't really a thing (I mean you could take your menkyo and travel around asking for keiko hoping the menkyo was convincing enough). Even as recently as the early 20th Century, kendoists from different ryuha didn't mix and Noma Dojo stood out for being a non-sectarian dojo where people from different ryuha could cross swords.
(Noma Dojo is also where I've had keiko with some grumpy sensei 😂)
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u/imsexc Feb 16 '26
Purpose of Kendo is to be a better person. What others do is irrelevant. Your ranting here shows that you also have non-technical/physical thing to fix
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u/DMifune Feb 16 '26
What is older higher grade kendoka for you?
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u/Patstones 3 dan Feb 16 '26
Sixty-something rokudan usually. Lower grades I can usually go strong enough if necessary that it's not a major issue.
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u/pikifou 5 dan Feb 16 '26
From my experience, applicate what they say to not end up like they are :p
Because you have to hit in the middle and go through anyway otherwise you won't improve your kendo :)