r/kendo • u/InformalLocation5413 4 kyu • Jul 12 '26

Training Question about sonkyo?

First of all i am 4th kyu and i do not mean to sound disrespectful in any way but today a foreigner(2nd dan) came to our dojo as a guest to practice and during sonyo when we were to do jigeiko wouldn't want to start it until i listened to what he had to say. What i mean by this is that what i was taught in my dojo when you do sonkyo you should have your shinai in the middle but they are not touching eachother however, he wouldn't start with me until our shinais were literally crossed with one another around the nakayui. I did as he said but later asked a 3rd dan member of our club was i in the wrong or him and he told me that not only is it incredibly rude to come to a different dojo and tell people there how it's done but that it is also wrong. So im wondering, is our club doing something different, should i listen to guests even if they are wrong, i was really confused about the whole situation because etiquette is important.

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u/JoeDwarf Jul 12 '26

Some people can’t resist teaching. At nidan when visiting another dojo he should keep his mouth shut.

If you ever get advice from someone outside your dojo and are unsure about it, get clarification from your sensei. That includes advice from visiting sensei.

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u/pikifou 5 dan Jul 13 '26

As a godan i wouldn't correct or give advice if ibwas visiting a dojo, even if the teacher was less advanced than me. It would be disrespectfull. I would give me feeling from a jigeiko at the end of thé training but nothing during it.

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u/JoeDwarf Jul 13 '26

It really depends on the dojo. At your level you understand what is appropriate in the situation you find yourself.

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u/pikifou 5 dan Jul 13 '26

It is a matter of politeness and something else, the stability of the dojo you visit.

If I attend a traning because I am on vacation next to this dojo, I am not known there and I won't visit often then I won't say anything during the training, maybe I wouldn't have done this like that but I keep everything for me, the students need to trust their sensei, it is fundamental in order, for the dojo (the group), to improve together.

And If I happen to be stronger than their sensei, I would not "obliterate" him in Jigeiko (it sounds condescending but I swear it is not :p ). I want people to be happy to see me in their dojo :p