2012-03-11 19:29:00
Yesterday's class was as usual: kata, warmup, ashi-sabaki, kihon, waza, geiko. Two things were out of the ordinary: the footwork training included 2x2 lengths of continuous men-uchi and the kihon practice pitted bogu-less kendoka against those in bogu who were constantly serving as motodachi.
Serving as motodachi I was happy to see that I've built enough experience to at least notice basic problems in my opponents. So those were aspects that I tried to really help them out with: point it out and encourage them to work on it. So, that's them. How about me? Plenty of stuff!
In the debriefing Kris also forwarded a message from the jurors at the NK kyu/teams. It echoed a lot of the things that I've written about before: our grasp of etiquette and procedure sucks and our kendo really isn't up to snuff. Kris and Hillen indicated that they could be stricter with us as a group, but that won't cut it; it needs to go both ways! We all need to be involved and have a stake in our team.
So, after all of that Sander and I made a pact. From here on we'll be the stern voice in our ranks, despite the fact that we're only ranked in the middle of our group. Whenever people are chatting or slacking, we'll remind them to stay attentive.
EDIT:
With regards to pointing out perceived issues in other people's kendo: as Marli has warned me, I probably shouldn't. I'm nowhere near the position to do so and thus it falls under the same category as before: just shut up. Sensei and fukushou will undoubtedly mention the same things, so I should just butt out. As the Madison Kendo etiquette guide says: "Never instruct others unless you have been told to do so by the lead instructor. It is important to let less experienced participants learn by observation and improve their reaction speed. They will learn faster by doing it than by having someone tell them how to do it."
I just realized that my "helping" others in this case was becoming a matter of pride. That -really- has no place in kendo. "Shut up" is the motto from now on.
kilala.nl tags: kendo, sports,
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Posted by Thomas
Thanks for that excellent piece of writing Z! I really do appreciate the exposition.
In this case, what I was referring to was a simple misunderstanding that I got lost in. I tend to think very convoluted and when I misunderstand a basic thing in someone's sentence I can go off on a tangent where we get further and further away from each other. In this case it was with Hillen-fukushou, who was leading class. Instead, at the very first sign of confusion I should have simply acknowledged what he said to me and did that. No ifs or buts, just do it. I could tell he was frustrated by it, so I apologized at the end.
Thanks again :)
All content, with exception of "borrowed" blogpost images, or unless otherwise indicated, is copyright of Tess Sluijter. The character Kilala the cat-demon is copyright of Rumiko Takahashi and used here without permission.
2012-03-11 20:02:00
Posted by ZvA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuhari
"I should shut the heck up. Just listen and acknowledge!"
Good advice.. :P our Western upbringing is the cause of this. The moment where you can actually start saying stuff is in the second or 'ha' phase of "shu-ha-ri" which roughly corresponds to the time from 3rd or 4th dan to 6th dan.
Before that you should just stfu and do as you are told since your level is not high enough to have enough overview of the matter. The only things you have to do is to mind your own kendo and to trust that those who are your actual teachers (usually people in the 2nd and/or 3rd phase of shuhari) will guide you along a way that is best for you.
So what usually happens when both the shidachi and the motodachi are not of very high level is that the motodachi will ask his teacher to check out a flaw that the shidachi has, the teacher will then come up with a solution that may or may not be the same as what the motodachi already thought.
So in academic terms:
The first phase, shu, (<4th dan) is the Bachelor's degree, where you just follow the course and get your diploma qualifying you as someone who has basic knowledge of a certain field.
The second phase, ha, (4th - 5th orso dan) is the Master's degree, where you have deepened your knowledge of a certain field and are able to figure out certain less known details of your field, but still with the help of a supervisor.
And the 3rd phase, ri, (>6th dan) is the PhD, where you have full control of your direction. You conduct your own research, exchange thoughts and information with peers and you begin to teach others about what you have learned.
P.S.: I can't find those estimated dan levels anymore, i remember reading them somewhere, and i'm almost sure those boundaries i mentioned are correct but...
For now I just took the highest dan you could get as a highschool student (3rd) and the first dan which has a title attached to it (6th) as theoretical boundaries.