Learning

[Yulya]

Has anyone run into something similar?

I can listen to my male sensei times and times over explaining something to me and trying to show me the proper way to do it - 50% of the time I don't really get how what I'm doing is different from what I'm seeing.
But after watching and being instructed by a female in my dojo, things just started clicking! I don't know whether she can see what the male sensei don't, or whether I can better tell her movement from a big bulky guy movement - or maybe a combination of both, but it works so much better.

[Sparv]

That's sounds very common to my ears. The uchi, the fumikomi, the ki-ken-tai... Three or four different explanations from three or four different sempais, and one which makes a bell ring. That's why I often ask the same question to many people (including you guys on KWF!)
I felt it too in many school subjects, from quantic physics to marketting.
Maybe your female sempai has a way of thinking closer to your than the male sempai?

I think it's my first post in the women's forum. I'm feeling like a young boy lurking in the wrong showers...

[nodachi]

It could be a male vs. female issue, but a lot may just have to do with different descriptions and demonstrations from different people. I've been told how to do things a thousand different ways and then it just randomly clicked one day. Sometimes just changing the phrasing of things slightly will make sense to different people. We also get that "light bulb moment" at different times and maybe you were just ready to have things make sense coincidentally when the female sensei is teaching. I think there is a lot more involved than just female vs male teaching, but I could be wrong.

[Kapplow]

I 100% agree. Sometimes we need to be told things using a certain wording to make it "click". I've been told how to do small men about 5 different ways but it wasn't until one of those people worded it a certain way to make it "click" for me. It doesn't help that I'm a half-wit :)

I need people to "write it in crayon" for me :p

[Yulya]

Yes, that is a good point.
I am talking about actually watching the person - not just having things explained to me. The wording of the female kendoka I am learning from is actually quite simple due to not being a native english speaker (but I am not a native english speaker either I guess, maybe I just need people to write things in crayon for me too lol) - it was actually watching and trying to imitate her form that made it click for me.
When I watch a regular bulky build guy do Kendo all I see is a big jumping bookshelf XD
Of course thats not to say that my male sensei are of no help - learn a ton from everyone in general being as new as I am.

[Rob W.]

At seminars or during godo keiko sometimes a sensei will explain something to me that my sensei has been saying for months, but the different language or example suddenly clicks a light on and I get it.

edit: Wow, about ten people said the same thing while I was typing.

[dwez]

edit: Wow, about ten people said the same thing while I was typing.

And the great thing is so many people have said it that just one of them will make it 'click' like a 'light bulb moment' and those seeking understanding will have a revalatory 'road to Damascus' epiphany - suddenly they will understand like a light shining in the darkness of ones mind where once was darkness, before confusion, now there will be comprehension. A sudden, intuitive perception or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.

Or it could be boys are rubbish and girls are great.

[Yulya]

Why does it seem like there are only guys replying to this? This is a women's forum, no? I'd like to know opinions of other female kendoka :)

[Lady_Kitsune]

Yeah, here am I... the problem is that I have not a girl sempai to compare all the males sempai we have in the dojo... Now once I had this training with a girl sensei but again I can not compare cos she was a sensei, she had been training a llt of people during a lot of years. So about your question, Yulya, I can not answer it at all.

[stephanie dee]

*Sigh* Nope, I don't have that problem..... Nothing ever "clicks" for me in Kendo, no matter who is showing me!!! :(

[futabachan]

Why does it seem like there are only guys replying to this? This is a women's forum, no? I'd like to know opinions of other female kendoka :)

I've noticed that in a number of other threads in here, too. I think we're outnumbered, even in the women's forum....

[Kapplow]

Sorry. I never check to see what section I'm posting in. I click "new posts" right from my cp.

[futabachan]

Sorry. I never check to see what section I'm posting in. I click "new posts" right from my cp.

If other guys are doing the same thing, that may explain some of the posts that I've seen in other threads that seem to violate the groundrules hereabouts. One woman posted about being uncomfortable having guys in her personal space, and was promptly jumped on by lots of men blaming her for having a bad attitude.... :-/

[Alicia]

Hi,
I have had various male and female teachers, and haven't found that I learned more from the women neccesarily. My guess is maybe she demonstrated a bit slower, or maybe did a move slightly differently or with an emphasis on a different part, that you could relate to better, but a guy could do the same thing too. I find the most helpful part of having female teachers is for advice for things like taiatare etc, where the stronger guys haven't neccesarily had to worry about the same problems. but if you had a puny male sempai, i guess it would be the same...

[Neil Gendzwill]

When we set up this forum, I suggested it be women only but the consensus was to allow men to contribute, so long as they were being helpful. If you feel a post of any sort doesn't belong in the women's forum, use the report function (the red triangle with the exclamation mark) and I'll deal with it case by case.

[futabachan]

Thanks a lot!

[Yulya]

Didn't mean to say I don't want to hear guys opinions on this - this is a place for discussion after all. The original question was kind of directed at women though, so was hoping to hear more girls than guys opinions on this.

[Alison2805]

Yes, that is a good point.
I am talking about actually watching the person - not just having things explained to me. The wording of the female kendoka I am learning from is actually quite simple due to not being a native english speaker (but I am not a native english speaker either I guess, maybe I just need people to write things in crayon for me too lol) - it was actually watching and trying to imitate her form that made it click for me.
When I watch a regular bulky build guy do Kendo all I see is a big jumping bookshelf XD
Of course thats not to say that my male sensei are of no help - learn a ton from everyone in general being as new as I am.

I know what you mean. Watching guys vs females do kendo there is quite a big difference - no that one is better than the other, but Ive always found it easier to imitate females. I think its easier with them being similar size etc. It would be better if there were more here!!

Im never going to be able to do kendo the same as some huge stocky guy anyway, they way they move and everything is totally different to me (other than the basics).

[Inner_Silence]

hummm

in my humble experience, ive learned that there is no "woman" or "man" kendo, there is only one kendo. from that logic, the "female movements" souldnt be different that the "male movements".

of course male and female are different, it means that male and female movements in kendo should be different, but just in a beginner stage (with beginner I mean the first 10-15 years, senses often say that takes 10 years of kendo to learn the basic tecniques). and of course that different body types should encourage adapt ourselves to the different tecniques in order to take advantage in the areas that we are strong and try to strengten the areas that we are weak, kendo doesnt adapt to the kenshi, is the kenshi that adapt to kendo.

personally ive seen female senseis (6th dan) that moves the same than a same grade male kenshi, you can tell the difference only in the kiai. but of course, you can notice that she has adapted herself to kendo tecniques, using a so called "disadvantage" like a less strong body than men, or shorter height, or lower resistance as an advantage to perform kaeshi, suriage waza or debana, and uses her oponents advantages like strenght or speed against him/her.

[ShinKenshi]

While I was still at my college kendo club, we had a couple female kendoka and we also had a female sensei from a nearby dojo come to our practices once in a while. I think it's good to have female sensei's around to, in a sense, serve as an example for beginning female kendoka's to encourage them. To be perfectly honest, her visits also showed the guys in our club that regardless of gender, height, or any other physical difference, it's a person's confidence behind their kendo that matters.

[Raindrop]

I'm a complete Newbie to Kendo but in the few lessons I have had I noticed that each and every sempei/sensei has a different input and sees different things that they comment on. My male sensei gives different tips than my female sempai, so there is a difference, but maybe it's not so much the gender but the different point of view.

Just my 2 cents. I'm not new to Martial Arts but I'm new to Kendo. ^_^

[Yulya]

I'm a complete Newbie to Kendo but in the few lessons I have had I noticed that each and every sempei/sensei has a different input and sees different things that they comment on. My male sensei gives different tips than my female sempai, so there is a difference, but maybe it's not so much the gender but the different point of view.

Just my 2 cents. I'm not new to Martial Arts but I'm new to Kendo. ^_^

I think you're right about that. Sometimes it seems like everyone's saying a different thing - I like to stick to receiving advice from a small amount of people, 1-2 at most. Well, not so much receiving advice (I will accept anyone's advice) but doing things a certain way - it's hard to do one thing in 5 different ways at once, I find that I don't learn much of anything if I attempt to do that and can't concentrate on correcting 1 thing at 1 time.

[Mugu]

We don't have a lot of female in my dojo, so all the stuff I've been taught are from male. Though, after while, I do see things differently than I was taught. Well, let's just say I was always taught do it this way, but not completely understanding why. I like to experiment and understand why, so when I give feedbacks to my kohai, I sort of go into a bit more detail and explaining why through my own experience. Maybe women are a bit more detail oriented?

[LarsCW]

Sensei Vitalis (7th dan) and Sensei van Hattum (6th dan) both explain each technique into detail. With Vitalis Sensei this is at a different way because he seems to approach things from a different view. I haven't had any training from female sensei sofar or had much experiance training with women.

I think it's alot up to the person's background.

Sensei van Hattum is a teacher by occupation which also comes back in the way how he teaches kendo. I think he brings everything over in a clear and understandable way.