New development

[berghaan]

So what is general opinion on new technology in kendo/naginata?
please check out this link to see what I mean.

http://www.electricnews.net/frontpage/news-9375586.html

at the bottom of the article it mentions a smart shinai

[xvikingx]

Sounds like a waist of time and money. "An application is being developed that will help a beginning kendo practitioner learn the basic moves." What about sensei? I think they would be better off developing a really good kendo book in English. :wink:

Also I certainly hope that shinai is not intended to be used during keiko. Besides the fact that the sensors would be ruined after a few men uchi, I wouldn't want to step on a chip or something that fell out/off this thing during practice. :scared:

I feel that instead of doing stuff like this and making kendo more expensive, new technology should be put into making kendo less costly, so that kendo is more available to people.

[berghaan]

good points
I agree with you.

Although I think maybe this could be something for the "lonesome trainers" out there. Its better to have something telling you that you are doing ok or not then noone/nothing.

Shouldnt get any weirder though eh, no targetting systems with lasers and homing kensen and stuff. ;)

[Neil Gendzwill]

All this widget would do is track shinai motion, so it could tell you your cut is straight if it understood where it was in space. Have to add a gravetometer to the sucker. Then it would have to understand where the target was, I guess a sensor on the target and some bluetooth comms to get info back and forth. It would be useful if it could also tell you if your back was straight...

I've got an idea for a real-time feedback device that tells a solo practisioner most of the stuff he needs to know. You can look at it and instantly evaluate if your cut is straight, your back is straight, you hit the target. I call it a "mirror". Think I can find a market for this radical idea?

[Nishi]

Shouldnt get any weirder though eh, no targetting systems with lasers and homing kensen and stuff. ;)

:laugh: Laser sight for those learning tsuki....i love it!!!!!

[Phlebas]

I think you're onto something, Neil. Just slap a decal on a full-length glass that says "Neil's High Performance Kendo Mirror" and apply for a patent. You'll be printing your own money within a year, and you'll be able to buy yourself a province when you retire. I recommend the Yukon.

Seriously, a mirror is a very useful training tool and I've just recently started using one regularly -- I should have started sooner. Wish my dojo had more than just one. We can't all use it at the same time!

p.s. Neil, can I have a freebie from your first production run? That laser-guided, gravometric, ultra-funky shinai with a squintillion microtransistors just sounds too high tech for me.

[Goomba]

I actually think it is a good idea. Granted it is probably not going to be cheap. If 3-D imaging can help a golfer perfect his/her swing then it can help in kendo. I am sure a machine that will tell you if you are not extending your left hand enough, helicoptering, or other problems will be of great benifit. I think it will be a great supplimental learning tool. It won't replace a sensei, but should be able to help out nicely.

[Kaoru]

Hi!

Now I am laughing! A smart shinai?? I think they have their hearts in the right place to want to help a beginner, but I think that it probably wouldn't really help in the end. I also would prefer a mirror, a good sensei to tell me what to work on, a standard shinai and my brain.

If you ask me, we are becoming too dependent on things like this. People need to be able to learn to think and correct their mistakes on their own when practicing outside the dojo. If this is taken away, then that person may never learn as much as they might without the little sensor telling them everything. As a result, they may be rendered unable to learn discern good technique from bad technique due to relying on the little sensor telling them whether or not they did a cut correctly or not every time. Also, I think it would be useless, because once that person using a smart shinai switches to a real shinai, they may not know how to recognise a good cut from a bad one because all of a sudden they have to think about how they are doing a cut because there is no sensor telling them whether it was right or not. And, if one doesn't learn how to think about how to properly execute a cut, then how can they possibly correct themselves when practicing alone?

Well, just my beginner's two cents...

Kaoru :)

[mochi_pig]

Maybe one of the researchers was a kendoka and thought kendo would be an interesting example to test their technology. However, it does seem like an expensive way to do what a video camera could do for thousands of dollars less.

[Kaoru]

Oh, I didn't think of that. You could be right. If it's for testing new technology, that's ok. But, I agree with you that a video camera woud be a heck of a lot cheaper-not to mention a better learning tool.

Kaoru

[dorkusxmaximus]

A mirror is all you need ^_^. It helped me improve my basics a lot.

[Kaoru]

I like a mirror the best, too. :)

Oh, and I love your sleeping Pikachu! Very cute!

Kaoru

[elfboy]

I'll be honest, I do like the idea but only because it signals that kendo is still open to some changes in technology. Don't get me wrong - tradition is half of what attracts me to the art but it's also great to have Kendo move with the tide of technology. However, I don't see much use out of this electric shinai. Several people who replied are right that a mirror does much more for correcting swing errors, and plus, I doubt that this 3 dimensional spatial imaging shinai can teach you proper chudan-no-kamae. Electric kendo equipment in general is a very strange idea, as it would start to resemble European fencing equipment and the need to illuminate every hit, every thrust, etc. A light up bogu would be pretty scary, though jigeiko in the dark is a cool idea :D. Either way, I don't see myself rushing out to get this electric shinai once it hits the shelves. It is interesting though...

[dorkusxmaximus]

I like a mirror the best, too. :)

Oh, and I love your sleeping Pikachu! Very cute!

Kaoru

Yup, a mirror can never go wrong ^_^. Thanks. It's my favorite gif.

[Kaoru]

Konban wa!

You're welcome! :)

Kaoru

[A P]

Hello. Helllooooo. Mina san.

A smart shinai...??

Dudeeeee..... Now thatsss is something new that I haven't heard of.

Sound kindna weird, but I can live with that.

I have taken a martial art class before (karate green belt. Moves)

I still think that Mirror is still the best thing to go with and not that

smart shinai.

At lease from my opinions.

Euseihiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii