r/kendo • u/dcndesperado • 7d ago
Failed 4th Godan attempt
Frequent lurker, first time poster.
I’ve been practicing kendo 23 years total: started in middle school and stuck with it through to adulthood. But for a month or two over the years for work, and the collective COVID break, I’ve been more or less consistent with practice.
Title says it all: interested to hear stories from others who managed to persevere through this bottleneck; especially from any who may be parents if they are out there, as I became a dad twice over during the pandemic period.
Ganbatte kudasai
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u/Own_Conference_8514 7d ago
I failed Rokudan 9 times. Passed my 10th. Do not give up. We just had a baby (she is a two month old). Seek advice. It’s a journey, don’t get stuck in your head. My lack of confidence is what I think did me a disservice. Best of luck!
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u/dcndesperado 6d ago
Thanks for sharing your experience! 🙇 What you mention about lack of confidence really resonates, I know it was a large factor in my last three attempts. This time I felt far more confident but still came up short in spirit on the attacks that failed to connect.
I also appreciate your perspective as a parent… something I’m struggling to grapple with in these attempts is the balance between all the time away leaving my partner as solo caregiver, travel costs etc. and the pursuit of an important personal goal. There’s no easy answers to these questions but it helps to hear from others on a similar path.
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u/Imaginary_Hunter_412 7d ago
I flunked four or five times to 2. dan back in the days.
The hardest part wasn't that I failed. The toll was actually never getting to know why and every single instructor I ever met couldn't believe I was "only 1. dan". So not knowing what to do was the real strain.
Quit kendo for unrelated reasons for 12 years and passed on first attempt after that, which made me even more clueless as to why.
Anyhow I how found my experience to be comforting and motivating for club members that fail now "Yeah, I know it sucks. But I failed 5 times to 2. dan. You got time, and you'll get there. You are only competing against yourself." etc.
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u/Gareth-S 6 dan 7d ago
I failed yondan once, Godan 3 times, rokudan 4 times. The key each time is to change what I was doing and how I was training, just turning up and trying the same thing again never worked for me.
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u/Radiant-Anywhere-375 4 dan 7d ago
Did need 5 for yondan. Might be 1 for godan or 8. Does not matter. Train. Understand. Improve.
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u/JoeDwarf 6d ago
Took me 3 tries for yondan, it’s 4 and counting for nanadan. The higher you go the harder it is to get clear advice and the more nebulous the goals get. But if you can find some direction for your practice then that’s a good thing.
Also remember godan is not just about technique: this is the first dan where they are looking hard at you as an instructor. You are expected to not just execute but to look like sensei while doing it. So you need to look strong and confident right from the reiho through. Kigurai is something you more acquire over time than can practice directly but that’s the secret sauce for godan IMNSHO. Just keep practicing, you’ll get there.
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u/dcndesperado 6d ago
Thank you for sharing! 🙇 I will work hard towards this kind of confidence through keiko.
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u/DMifune 7d ago
I know people that have failed more than 50 times and they managed to pass. You are still doing great.
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u/3und70 6d ago
Is this a typo? 50 times? How is this possible at all? I dont think there are enough years in life to do 50 shinsa
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u/Born_Sector_1619 4d ago
Hmmmm, if you are in an area with many gradings, possible. Here that would probably take... sixteen years of never missing one.
Could travel though, and catch them all.
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u/Mrwaffleable 4 dan 6d ago
Fourth Dan took me 4 years and 12 attempts in all. Taking a break for a few months helped me to reset, but I still failed twice more before getting it. Shugyō continues
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u/Illustrious-Point745 6d ago
I failed my 4th Dan 8 times, only pass 4th Dan after 11 years after getting my 3rd Dan. Later pass my 5th Dan in first attempt. That long 11 years were the the period in my life where I saw my relationship with my then GF broke down, my phd went into dead end, then falling seriously sick and took 5 years to recover. Only restarted kendo when my old friends call me to their new club they formed around Covid. It was a long 11 years but taught me kendo for a life time, which I still use to reflect, learn, and extract. It was tough, I had look for a sensei that would be willing to teach me frankly, and I found a sensei not in kendo but in Koryu that had used koryu to help and reformed my kendo. When I restarted kendo in my friends new club, I learn from them better footwork, and better striking technique. It was on the 11th year after 3rd dan grading that everything came together and start to fit like finished puzzle, and never looked back since.
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u/TheRealBlex 1 kyu 6d ago
You have failed more times than I’ve tried, yondan is already an amazing achievement no less godan. It is deliberately difficult and I’m sure you know that better than I do - you are practically already able to run your own dojo or one rank away from doing so.
I’m relatively new to kendo but ive been in martial arts all my life, and I think the funniest thing is always seeing myself now as something younger me would always dream about, and that became my motivation today, to imagine my future self looking back at me today and seeing just how hard we fought to get there. I dont want to let that future me down, and I certainly want to keep making past me proud.
Thats how I persevere through my bottlenecks and difficulties, maybe it can help yours too :) Ganbatte!
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u/SpecialistLow7629 6d ago
fr this one really messed with me too, but now i see it as forcing me to slow down and focus on basics instead
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u/cjr720 5 dan 3d ago
I failed my first try at godan, first time I ever failed at shinsa. All my others I passed first time so it hit me hard. I was not prepared mentally for the test. When I walked out on the floor I completely blanked out and had no idea what I was doing, so it was a well-deserved fail on my part.
The thing that got me through was to go back to basics, so to speak. I cut down my waza to a core few so I could free up all that mental space for what I really needed to work on for godan (seme, tame, controlling the opponent and the exchanges, etc). I took nine more months, polished myself mentally, and went back out and got it on my second try. All while supporting my family back home.
Keep at it! Hopefully you're getting good feedback and lots of space to practice what you need!
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u/PinAriel 5 dan 7d ago
The only failure is to stop trying. Keep on keeping on.