I don’t do reverence, just as much as I don’t don’t self-abasement. I bow to a senior in the same way I bow to a junior or an equal : I bow to another human being in the hopes of a mutually beneficial exchange.

I don’t do “bow to your sensei” (hopefully you’ll get the reference).

Many flavours of martial arts are plagued with dominant/dominated dynamics in the way they are transmitted, and that I won’t perpetuate. I’m glad my teacher is a person who also sees the importance of humility and non-alienating benevolence in the act of transmission. Being listened to and being sought after is reward enough for the act of giving advice. It’s a two-way system that doesn’t warrant anything else. None of the neurotic mannerisms we see a lot of transmission wrapped into anyway.

Actually it is not surprising that I clicked with him so much as I believe I chose to follow him more than he chose to accompany me along the way.

But anyhow, here I am, a young dojo-leader kendoist with a measured but resolute statement about transmission and thus, a criticism of some parts of our martial art’s traditions.

But really, I’m pretty sure it’s for the better.

The pace of the trainings is coming down to once a week as my wife gets closer to her due date. I’m ready to go into kendo-hibernation for roughly the rest of the season.

I spoke to sensei and asked advice for the specific problems I’ve been facing lately and I’m amazed at how spot-on his description of what I’m going through was.

I won’t be able to work on it seriously any time soon but I’ll start small during our regular practice sessions.