This season we’ll be working on preparing the various shinsa, and in my humble opinion, the yudansha of my dojo should be able to pass if they show their best kendo, the one I know they can do.

The danger lies within the fact that in certain situations, it all falls apart, and if not addressed, “falling-apart” can become the habit. So for the next 6 months we’ll work on developing the correct attitude, through kihon, kihon and kihon.

It seems to me that the biggest challenge for my dojo’s yudansha is mainly to not let aite fool them into twisting their own kendo to match aite’s style. Kendo is a dialog and as such, one should not worry about what someone who’s not willing to participate in the discussion does or does not do.

If someone never attacks and blocks all the time while you apply correct seme and try to initiate strong, big cuts, then you are not at fault, you are in front of a sparring partner who’s more concerned about protecting their ego than doing what it takes to improve their kendo (they should be applying seme as well and seek shikake-waza opportunities!).

There are also the cases when there is an obvious skill difference, with aite being more skilled than you are but only wants to dominate you and won’t engage in a balanced dialog with you. That would be, to remain within the idea of dialog, as if an adult used elevated language to speak to a toddler. Each participant in jigeiko must seek to “talk” to the other in “words” that they can understand. (Kendo is not a fight to the death in which winning is paramount).

We should not let such encounters make us deviate from the correct path : reiho, posture, attitude, resolve, energy, correct distance, seme, tame, strong and resolute shikake-waza that are clear cuts, zanshin, rinse and repeat.

We cannot let ourselves be taken off the road to improvement to enter ego-matches in which hitting and not being hit become more important than the dialog. Because it is not. We must strive to apply the basics and be fully present in what we do.

But If you feel nothing is working as it should, just remember :

You are not responsible for aite’s unwillingness to participate in the kendo discussion, and you should definitely not let it bother you! Stick to trying to build a dialog. Don’t let their incorrect attitude screw both of your kendo’s progress over.