Excuses in kendo, or martial arts in general

[Caleb]

Every time I go to kendo, one of my sempai give me a lift, since I dont have a car. We always talk on different ideas, and things pertaining to the class, or recent events, and one night, we were talking about excuses. My sempai is a karate sensei, or used to be, until he retired because of knee enjurys (notice the excuses) and told me that if your late or if your sensei asks you if you did something, you shouldn't give him "state your given excuse here" after a yes or no answer because its disrespectful, and I agree with him. But every time I hear a Kendoka give an excuse, its just annoying. Everyday in life, we hear needless excuses on why we did this or why we didn't do that, and Im just wondering if it is disrespectful to give a motive behind our actions. Is it wrong to give unwanted information, or sometimes wanted information in the form of an excuse? I wont give you an excuse why I want this answer, as the decour of this post is not giving them. lol.--

[Eldritch Knight]

Well, I can't speak for other martial arts, since I've only practiced kendo in Japan, but in my club, if we're late to practice, then its considered customary to tell the senpai why you were late (the excuse is recorded in our club logbook) and then join practice as normal. If you did something out of place or bad, however, then you simply take credit for it without giving any excuse - it builds character.

[sminki]

Well, I can't speak for other martial arts, since I've only practiced kendo in Japan, but in my club, if we're late to practice, then its considered customary to tell the senpai why you were late (the excuse is recorded in our club logbook) and then join practice as normal. If you did something out of place or bad, however, then you simply take credit for it without giving any excuse - it builds character.

Excuses are recorded in the club logbook.. This is for adults? Is the excuses log reviewed/checked for any reason and result in appropriate punishment?

[LNGUYEN]

Yes, the punishment is the pinky for 5 lame excuses, thumb for 20 lame excuses, and for the serious violation (100 to 150 lame excuses), the punishment is castration.

[mystic_kendoka]

what happens if you get 100 to 150, then the next time, the same again? do they cut off a couple of inches more?

[LNGUYEN]

What inches? I thought you got no inch left after the first 100 to 150 excuses

[John W]

Excuses have thier time and place.

Sometimes they prevent others being hurt.

Excuses are good as long as you don't use them in excessive amounts!! :ko:

[mystic_kendoka]

they cut the WHOLE thing off? aaiii...

[hyuna]

Im just wondering if it is disrespectful to give a motive behind our actions. Is it wrong to give unwanted information, or sometimes wanted information in the form of an excuse?

It depends on the purpose of the excuse. Most times people try to give an excuse, it is because they think they are not really wrong by virtue of the reason. This is disrespectful in the sense that sensei is giving you a lesson, and giving an excuse is like saying sensei is wrong because the lesson does not apply in this instance. One should gratefully accept sensei's instruction, not turn around and criticize its applicability.

[Caleb]

That makes sense. The short and extremely simplified version of my conversation. You keep your ear out and find who constantly gives an excuse (ie- Its my fault, but I wouldn't have been late if it weren't for my mom)- although they accepted the blame for a millisecond, the pushed the blame aside. ITS SO ANNOYING! Any way, I beleive that in some cases the excuse is necessary to explain your actions, but constant explanation of your life in the dojo especially is not needed. I dont want to know what you do on thursdays! No, I dont care if your car blew up, and you couldn't find the keys to your jaguar- just state a simple "im sorry for being late" -just an opinion, but im open to disagreement thats within reason

[Sir Percy]

I'm in a business where people offer explanations for their behavior and expect those to be sufficient to excuse their behavior. There is a vast difference and the sooner one learns the difference the better off you will be.

Example: I gained 10 # over the holidays (an explanation).

Example: I was kidnapped, and forced to overeat at gun point. (an excuse).

Kendo works the same way, learn to distinguish between excuses and explanations.

[Eldritch Knight]

Excuses are recorded in the club logbook.. This is for adults? Is the excuses log reviewed/checked for any reason and result in appropriate punishment?

The excuses aren't reviewed, merely recorded, but it is inherently shameful to not show up for practice without a good excuse (I practiced in Japan, so...) and I've never really seen someone be late to practice unless they were seriously incapable of being there (having an exam, being sick, etc).