"Going Fishing?"

[mingshi]

Hi all,

How do you normally handle people who ask you,
"Hey what's your bag about?"
"Are you going fishing?"
...when you are walking on the street, on public transport, etc.
That is when you are carrying your shinai bag and/or bogu bag.

(just sometimes it gets annoying :ermm: :ermm: :ermm: :ermm: )

[Phorest]

Tell them its a gun. They will back up in a hurry.

[Old Warrior]

Tell them its fencing equipment. If they ask more because they know about epee, sabre or foil, say its "Asian Fencing Equipment".

[aru-ma]

for me its either

"mind your own business"

"bamboo sticks, for my art project"

"Just got back from fishing"-and I've never been fishing before

[Alicia]

hi guys
i told someone that my shinai was a musical instrument and they went really? sounding interested and i said nah! and they went oh - feeling dumb that they had been sucked in
it is quite fun seeing peoples reactions if you tell them the truth. the other day i booked in my gear at the airport and asked for a fragile tag for my gear and the lady asked what was in it and i casually replied "armour and swords" and she goes "What?" then just stared at me blankly hahaha
seems to me it is a fun way to amuse yourself on the way to training
bye

[xvikingx]

As long as the person who is asking is not a smart ass, I just tell them what it is. By being friendly you may help create another kendoka.

[Phorest]

Being friendly is to easy...gotta have some fun with people.

[kendokamax]

Being a bitch is easy too!

Personaly, I would just tell them what it is. I love kendo and want to popularise it the most possible. You never know how things could turn out, maybe the person who was curious would become a great asset to your dojo in the future! well it is not so propably ! but there is more chance of this happening than if you say its a fishing rode.

however, if its a smart ass, asking me, i will punch him in the face and run away. HIKI PANCHI ATAKKU!!

[Jagaimo]

Hi all,

How do you normally handle people who ask you,
"Hey what's your bag about?"
"Are you going fishing?"
...when you are walking on the street, on public transport, etc.
That is when you are carrying your shinai bag and/or bogu bag.

(just sometimes it gets annoying :ermm: :ermm: :ermm: :ermm: )

The qoute in the subject is something I read in a magazine, I believe it was from a book about bushido. If you are polite you do not lose face and you wont make a new enemy. In the worst case scenario you may regret being rude when the person comes to your very dojo as the new sensei or their assistant. :eek:

[Phorest]

Honestly, I too would tell someone the truth if they asked me what I was carrying. I was being sarcastic for the sake of humor.

The thing is...I always feel totally ridiculous attempting to explain Kendo to someone who has never heard of it before. The best analogy that I've seen work the most is that its "Japanese Fencing". Most people seem to get the idea from hearing that. But explaining that shinai are not simply sticks, and how the bogu work can be difficut at times. Theres so much about Kendo to understand...even to grasp the basic idea of it that I can't offer a quick or easy explanation to someone. Only my friends, whom I've been informing about Kendo gradually over the past year have a real understanding of what it is. But even they ask me silly questions like "Man why can't you just kick him?" :rambo:

But yeah...really I would try to tell somebody what I was carrying...and see how long they listened before their gaze was quickly averted or their eyes glazed over. :tongue:

[xvikingx]

In the worst case scenario you may regret being rude when the person comes to your very dojo as the new sensei or their assistant. :eek:

Poetic justice.

[Neil Gendzwill]

But yeah...really I would try to tell somebody what I was carrying...and see how long they listened before their gaze was quickly averted or their eyes glazed over. :tongue:
No need for a long explanation. If someone asks what's in the case I say "bamboo practise swords". If they ask what for I say "kendo, Japanese fencing". If they're still interested I'm happy to answer whatever questions they may have.

[Phorest]

Wel, when I say that...the next question is usually something like "Well whats that?" etc. And then i feel dumb trying to explain. But...thats just me.

[berghaan]

hehe
Oh I used to go by train and bus with my naginata and shinai every week and almost every week someone asked if I was going fishing (or even ski-ing!)
I usually responded that I was gonna hit people on the head with a stick.
It was usually the busdriver or someone like that.
funny to see it is so common

[mingshi]

My usual response is "Martial Arts", which will freak enough people away. (Actually this was the response I gave just last week when a bus driver ask the fishing question.)

That is, when I am in a good mood. In many cases, especially at late night I don't really want to talk to those people :p All I can do is just ignoring them... So far I have question of fishing, snooker, musical instrument etc., but the closest one is Aikido (doh!)...

I heard from a fellow kendoka that he picked up his girlfriend on the train by the very same question. Now she is doing Iaido and Jodo in his dojo... Lucky guy :D

[Phorest]

:ninja:

For real?!?!

I need to start telling girls that I do Kendo. They'll call me "da kendo ladies man". Yeaaaah. :p

[chidokan]

tell them its a portable hang glider...they fall for it every time...

Tim Hamilton

[SirFingerLickin]

Whenever I tell someone about it, they assume I'm trying to be some Jedi or something, or they say something dumb like 'Cool! Show me a kick or something!' Nowadays I'm happy to just not be asked.

And on the subject of Kendo as a pickup line, it could work. There's plenty of pretty girls who practice. Mine has been doing it much longer than I have.

[Ben F.]

Hi all,

How do you normally handle people who ask you,
"Hey what's your bag about?"
"Are you going fishing?"
...when you are walking on the street, on public transport, etc.
That is when you are carrying your shinai bag and/or bogu bag.

(just sometimes it gets annoying :ermm: :ermm: :ermm: :ermm: )


The question that I hear alot that is related to this is "So could you kick my as*?" Then you try to explain to them that is not what martial arts is about; that it is about developing skills to the level where you are so self confident that you don't have to fight. They never want to hear that and they always look so downhearted with that response. Hee hee; I just treasure that crestfallen look.

An acquaintance of mine once asked me if I could kick my best friend's ass. I asked him why I would want to; he's my best friend. His response was "Yeah yeah yeah. But could you?" Duh! You're not listening. I wanted to tell him that if there was anyone who was going to get a shinai upside the head it was going to be his drunken as* and not my friend. Some people's kids...