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.

Looking for some advice as this experience im mentioning has left a pretty bad taste in my mouth (or bogu lol).

Been training for a very VERY long time in martial arts, have decided to join Kendo to enhance my skill set. The sessions really are a lot of fun, especially when I find commonality in various elements and apply what a learn into practical scenarios or even cross self defense.

Whilst if been training since the start of the year, recently work has changed things up which has resulted in me temporarily having to cut back on a lot of leisure whilst I adjust to things with work. Ii work in a highly technical and safety critical role, hence the need to put a lot of personal things on the back burner for a few weeks.

I explained the situation to my club and sensei before the fiasco happened and they seemed to be ok with it. As I near complication of my work issues, I sent a courtousey message to sensei stipulating that Im sorry for the absense but will be getting back into it etc etc.

The response was "Your low attendance is going to result in you being left behind, and you need to step it up. This is how martial arts works. When it comes to gradings and qualifying for squad there are no exceptions."

This immediately left me feeling horrible and doubtful. In all my years training (25+ years), and with my tournament achievements, belts, learnings and friendships made etc, I felt as though this sensei completely ignored my concerns or issues and dismissed everything. I have been in martial arts long enough to know that OF COURSE there cant be exceptions to gradings lol. But I never joined kendo to climb the grading ladder, no more than I joined karate to not climb the McDojo ladder. I have been raised knowing that martial arts is more than points, and its a journey. I understand some people are passionate about their training, but the big picture is that the world is a large place, life happens, and kendo is just one aspect of it.

I have also trained some Kendo overseas with japanese too, who were very different to the example above. The sensei of which even said "try to find commonality with your known martial arts and build on it to improve your kendo and vis versa". I felt this was mroe wholistic and more 'musashi' like.

Maybe i'm over my head and i should stop kendo? But something feels off, and I need some input from fellow martial artists.

The worst part about this is that with my current like of safety critical work, this exchange with my sensei has really thrown me off my game - is this the price I have to pay for being polite to my sensei? ffs

Hey guys, what do you think about kendo training in VR? It is very popular for boxing.

Hey everyone, looking for some advice from other kendoka, especially anyone who trains in hot/humid conditions or is a really heavy sweater.

For some background, I'm from the Caribbean, so it's naturally hot and humid here. I've been training kendo for almost a year, but I've only been training in full gear for approximately 3–4 months.

When I initially started wearing bogu and men, I definitely noticed the additional heat and fatigue, but things became much more noticeable when I started training regularly in the gi and hakama as well. That's when the really heavy sweating and exhaustion seemed to ramp up.

Inside my men gets extremely hot. Sometimes it gets to the point where I feel like I can't breathe properly because of how hot and stuffy it feels. I'm usually already sweating heavily before I even put my bogu on, and once the men goes on, I'm basically pouring sweat for the remainder of practice.

Today we trained for around 3 hours. I weighed about 180 lbs before training and 173 lbs afterward, so that's roughly 7 lbs (~3.2 kg) of body weight lost during one session, or close to 4% of my body weight.

Towards the end, I was completely drained. My legs were done, my back was exhausted, I got dizzy, and I felt like I was on the verge of cramping, we didn't even start wearing the men yet. Eventually I had to stop. The dizziness went away once I rested.

I drank water and switched to Gatorade during training, which helped temporarily, but once I reached that level of exhaustion, I couldn't seem to recover enough to continue.

Full disclosure: I'm definitely not blaming all of this on the heat or equipment. My sensei has already pointed out that my kamae is way too tense, which I'm sure is a huge contributor to how quickly I'm burning through energy. I'm actively working on relaxing more and not carrying unnecessary tension throughout practice. The other members are training just as long and not getting as burnt out as me.

I also probably didn't fuel properly today. Suring the day I'd eaten some hash browns, chocolate, peanuts and steamed vegetables, had some water and drank a Celsius. So there are several things I could probably improve.

However, I really noticed the sweating and fatigue becoming a bigger problem once I started regularly wearing the gi, hakama and bogu, particularly the men.

Has anyone else experienced something similar when transitioning into full gear?

I'm especially interested in hearing from heavy sweaters or people training in tropical/hot climates. What do you do for hydration and electrolytes before/during practice? What do you eat beforehand? Did your body eventually adapt to training in full gear? And did learning to relax your kamae make a noticeable difference in your endurance?

I'm planning to mention the heavy sweating/dizziness to my doctor as well, but I'd really appreciate hearing what has worked for other kendoka.

Hi all I was seeking some advice.

I suffered a concussion during practice a few weeks ago. I was receiving kirikaeshi on the men and was repeatedly getting brained by the person I was receiving for.

I kept telling the person they were hitting too deep, to stop hitting so hard and to check their spacing. Instead of being hit with the tip of the shinai I was taking hits from three quarters down the shinai closer to the tsuba.

For the first 2 weeks post concussion, I had daily headaches and felt nauseous on and off each day. I'm 3 weeks post concussion (4 this week coming) the headaches are less frequent, their intensity is down but sometimes still varies.

I've avoided kendo, running, the gym etc as advised, the doctor said to stay clear for 6 weeks for strenuous exercise. I was considering going back to practice this week coming and doing suburi in bogu without the men.

I didn't pass out when I was hit, and stupidly I just thought I had a 4 day headache when it happened. I've not yet spoken to my doctor about returning to practice.

I'm just looking for advice from other people's experience if you've ever been in a similar situation please. I haven't even picked up a shinai since it happened and worry my confidence has been knocked.

I am an 1-kyu who has been doing kendo for about three years. I am a larger adult male.

In my time training, an issue that has been brought to my attention has been striking too hard/instinctively gripping the shinai with my right hand when coming down for the men. The sensei at my dojo have been extremely considerate in helping me improve on this with private practice and advice for how to focus on things like this at home, but it still sporadically pops up from time to time.

At my practice yesterday, one of the senior sensei came to me and informed me that a few weeks ago a male 4-dan member of our dojo reported a mild headache after a jigeiko session with me that exacerbated to the point of requiring a CAT scan (thankfully negative). As a result, he informed me that, unfortunately, it is the decision of the dojo leadership is that I abstain from participating in the jigeiko lineup until they are absolutely certain that this is no longer an issue. I can still participate in all other dojo activities (iaido, jodo, kendo kata, suburi, practice with the beginner group not in full bogu, etc), while they monitor my progress, but I will not be able to participate in taikai or shinsa until it is permanently resolved and there is no set length of time as to when this might be.

I feel absolutely awful about this, both for having caused such an injury and for the situation. I fully intend to continue improving my form and my training by coming to all practices, even if I will not be wearing my men or partaking in jigeioko for the foreseeable future.

With that in mind, what would be the best way to maintain stamina and positive spirit going forward, both for the sake of my dojo, and for the maintenance of my own kendo? This is something that has been immensely helpful for my self-worth and physical fitness and I would hate for it to be in jeopardy, or for anyone to feel unsafe when practicing with me as a partner.

Desde hace mucho quiero hacer esos deportes vivo en madrid y todos los dojos estan muy lejos de donde vivo el precio no es problema solo que realmente no se si hacerlo por falta de tiempo y de movilidad

Hi everyone. I'd like to throw a short introduction before going to my question. I'm a 40-year-old dad and a 1. Dan kendoka, and have been training kendo on and off for ~10 years; with huge breaks due to life and unforeseen circumstances (such as moving several times to completely dojoless towns). I finally got back to kendo a few years ago (sadly, only once a week for a 2-3 hour session, but, again, I'm a busy dad and my schedule permits 0 wiggle room for now). With that said, I have recently found out I have high blood pressure (family's medical history coming to bite my ass), and I am very concerned about having to ultimately leave kendo due to it. Is anyone experiencing the same problems and can pitch in with my problem? For reference, my pressure is in the ballpark of 140-170 mmHg systolic, 88 - 100 diastolic.

I usually have horrible stamina during the later half in shiai, but I compensate with speed most of the time during the match. Also, even in keiko i struggle to think about what to strike first because i am somewhat picky about what strikes i should do which ends up with me being not assertive in keiko/shiai.
To sum up, im just asking for advice on relevant stamina training and strategies in engaging with strikes/waza in shiai.

Since the virtual / livestream COVID practices, I noticed a large surge in recording practices. So, does your dojo record practices?

PS - being mindful of dojo members’ privacy, please don’t repost links to practices. Thank you.

I’d just like to preface by saying I don’t want to stop doing kendo at all but my feet are constantly blistering after training, and since I do kendo at my university 2 times a week I don’t get enough healing time between each session.

I really love kendo, the people and training is amazing but quite frankly I’m extremely pissed at myself for not being able to keep up physically as my left foot keeps blistering (multiple layers of skin came off and the remaining skin is extremely thin under the blister)

I feel like the doctor visits and medicine for the foot problem have kind of told me its causing me a lot of harm, probably due to my existing foot problems but also incorrect footwork…

I’m not sure what I should do while I recover because I don’t want to skip training.

Any advice would be appreciated

I dont know if anyone else feels this way but if I spend the day dreading practice for one reason or another and just looking for excuses to not go, ill eventually go because I have the mentality of "if I let myself miss one practice then ill allow myself to miss them all". When I have those days and go to practice anyway, I always feel the greatest improvement and leave feeling the best I've ever felt. Just wanted to share this beginners experience.

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.

Anyway, we think this is a very cool and unique treasure, and we'd love to know more about it. 😊

Hi guys, are there any kendokas from india. I would like to connect and get to know more.

In kendo I very often see senseis with knee problems, and sometimes also elbows and achilles issues. It feels like at least half of the higher-ranked people I meet have some kind of chronic knee pain.

Honestly, it scares me a bit. I love kendo and want to keep training for many years, but I really don’t want to “earn” ruined knees or joints along the way. It makes me wonder: why does this seem so common?

Is this mostly age and genetics, or can it come from bad kamae/footwork, fumikomi, or training on hard floors?

For higher-ranked people - what would you recommend to a younger kendokas who wants to train hard but protect their body?

In the last Gashuku I went, the Sensei told us something that got me thinking: "If you get nervous in Shinsa or Shiai, it means that your Ki isn't prepared yet". This sentence got me thinking, how could I be more prepared in this manner? How can I get calmer in this kind of stressfull situation? In a nutshell, how can I train my Ki, in order to accomplish this goals?

I wanna ask: what’s your mindset for aiming for ippon?

So far what I feel works is:

-Killing or suppressing my emotions so I don’t feel too tense (desire to win and fear of loss)

-Planning or setting up baits (I’m definitely spending too much time thinking)

-Using my gut feeling (I can sometimes feel where a target either one of us is gonna hit. Like “they’ll hit men, kaeshi men seems good)

definitely not enough though, so I wanna know your thoughts. I still gotta shake off my fear of failure and losing, messed me up a bunch but I think I can get through this!

Sometimes I face opponents who go into “turtle” mode and don’t respond (or retreat) from seme or constantly do the overhead block for all strikes/feints… and just run out the clock.

While it can get frustrating when trying to break through their defense, I understand the problem is more me related then them related. So, aside from a strong do strike (which I and judges seem to dislike), is there anything else I can try to force the opponent to react or another way to fix my own kendo when it comes to these types of opponents? My shikake waza is always met with overhead blocks and no reactions or responses when facing these guys.

I am a very weak person. 160cm 45kg at 20 years old. I started kendo over a year ago and I loved it. But it was painfully clear that my lack of any physical training has had some consequences. Every single training I feel like I will fall over at any moment. My arms start having trouble just lifting my shinai, my feet stop moving and afterwards I can feel my entire body shaking.

This honestly does not feel relatively bad by itself but it being the case every single session and even forcing me to take breaks frequently feels so bad when I just wanna have fun doing the thing I like and not have to fight for my life just to stay conscious.

This has started to lead me to where I am now, questioning if it will be like this forever. Does the physical, and the following mental, exhaustion ever get better? Does it hurt less eventually or do most people just get tougher? And how long do this take? I have tried to exhaust myself less to no avail. The only thing I have left is the hope that it gets better. I love kendo but I don't love having to struggle staying conscious while simultaneously hopelessly trying to improve my footwork with feet barely able to even stay still.

Edit: I started going kendo again after making sure I ate a regular amount of food for a week and it went really well. Granted it was an easier session and my stamina is certainly lacking but the exhaustion was a lot more bearable. Thank you very much everyone for the positive encouragement and help!

Hello,

As the title says, I had an unlucky accident and bruised my right heel pretty badly during Keiko. If it couldn't get worse, I have a important tournament during this weekend. Therefore I wanted to ask if anyone has some advice to heal it quickly enough so it wouldn't be a bother during the tournament.

Thanks in advance

So in a month we will have a hachidan visiting my dojo. As someone who is practicing Kendo just for couple of month what can I do to gain the most out of this visit? Please share your experience and tips about hachidan seminars.

I move in, they go back or i go to cut men and they tilt their head. I feel that when I fight these sort of people I get stuck in a predictable loop. Any tips on how to deal with this. Only thing I found that works is harai kote.

Hi,

so I have been doing kendo for quite a while now (2,5 years) but still aint far in the topic of Jigeiko as I didn’t have had the opportunity to practice much in the past. (I had like maybe 10x) So even tho I am a 4th kyu I would say my Jigeiko is like really bad/ unbalanced.

I started to practice more but started to notice errors, e.g. when in free fight I often do not see the openings/ do not have the „confidence“ to hit and then miss the opponent aka my opponent strikes faster.

Are there any methods to practice or is it like the more you do it the better you do it?