being completely ignored by sensei

[ACRAWFORD]

I know this, kind of a weird question, but I have started to learn kendo. I am learning a lot and enjoing myself imensly at the same time. However one of the senior students has been assigned to teach me the basics, which is expected but the headmaster has literally ignored me. My sensei the one that is teaching me basics tried to explain this to me.

He said that he is not ignoring me, he is observing me to see if I have what it takes to stick it out long enough to warrent his attention.

Is this normal, because I also train in Shotokan Karate and iaido, and have not been treated in this manner before.

Any thoughts or insight would be most helpful
Thank you
Andre R Crawford

[JSchmidt]

Yeah, it's relativly normal.

[Halcyon]

it's quite common at a kendo dojo for a senior student to teach the beginners. it all depends on the particular teaching style of that dojo. some sensei like to get hands on with the beginners so they don't pick up bad habits in the beginning. other sensei will wait until the beginners at least pick up the rudiments of footwork and suburi.

some sensei don't give a lot of detailed verbal instructions even to relatively advanced students, instead spending their time actually doing keiko with them, which in my opinion, is much more valuable.

then at critical moments they will dispense key bits of advice to set them on the right track again.

so i wouldn't really take it personally if your sensei is not paying a lot of attention to you right now.

[meow]

Hi there,

nice to see another newbie. :D

Could describe the situation a bit more in detail?

Is the headmaster treating you unkind or is he just watching your progress?

Do you feel that you progress?

Do you feel motivated to learn and practice at home?

How do the other students behave? Are there any other newbies there or are you the only one?

I think because of the Kill Bill movie and the Last Samurai, a lot of people are coming to a kendo class, stay for a few weeks and never show up again. In our club there a visitors every time and most of them just watch and never show up again.

Maybe your sensei has made some bad experiences and just wants to see, if someone is real about kendo. Fair enough. :wink:

I wouldn´t worry about it. What counts is if you are real about kendo. Just continue your practice and if possible practice at home (suburi and footwork. If possible, ask sensei if he can show you some exercises that you can do at home.)

I see that you have experience in other martial arts, so you surely know, that it takes a lot of patience in the beginning until you begin to feel comfortable in an art.

Set yourself goals: I startet in january and my first goal was to stay with it until the end of february. No quitting no matter what happens. I achieved this goal now and my next goal is, to make progress that I am allowed to wear gi and hakama. (This will be in another 4-8 weeks I hope...) So I have these little success-stories and keep motivated. :D

Just try your best and show your sensei that you are really serious and worth their attention.

And don´t forget to tell us how it works. :wink:

[xvikingx]

Andre,
Once you get past the basics and start participating in regular keiko with everyone else you will hear a lot more from your sensei.

[Hyaku]

Yes. Its normal. Dont worry he has his eye on you. When you actualy get to face him in armour you will probably wish he had left you alone a bit longer.

[takashijarosu]

lol that was good as a sensei i do this the same i learned in japan and found it is normal for sempai to look like they are incharge, suburi, rei, keiko teaching the little things, it kinda has to do with japanese society its very structred and the big man dose little unless its very needed. see your sensei wants to be by your side but has others you are learning the very basics and he is trying to teach wazas and get his gakusei an edge, so know he will be across from you soon and will teach you in keiko. i teach all my gakusei ashi sabiki to throw them off, but i like it its cool i teach them the prime basics, and follow them latter on.

dont worry its all good and it will go on soon. just watch your feet and keep in a line.

[orayakab]

This is quite normal...especially when Kendo has an attrition rate of 99%. Most have the five minute fever and disappear within six months...

If you are still around and practicing regularly after six months to a year...maybe he will begin investing a little more time teaching you or giving you feedback...

Remember.....it's when you don't think he's watching you the most is when he is actually watching you closely....

Orayakab, U.

[Kaoru]

lol that was good as a sensei i do this the same i learned in japan and found it is normal for sempai to look like they are incharge, suburi, rei, keiko teaching the little things, it kinda has to do with japanese society its very structred and the big man dose little unless its very needed. see your sensei wants to be by your side but has others you are learning the very basics and he is trying to teach wazas and get his gakusei an edge, so know he will be across from you soon and will teach you in keiko. i teach all my gakusei ashi sabiki to throw them off, but i like it its cool i teach them the prime basics, and follow them latter on.

dont worry its all good and it will go on soon. just watch your feet and keep in a line.

Sempai *look* like they are in charge? They ARE in charge. If a sempai tells me to do something, I do it. Or, sensei will not be pleased. Teaching waza is not about giving a student an edge. It is to teach them good Kendo.
Beginners should only be learning ayumi ashi and okuri ashi.

i teach all my gakusei ashi sabiki to throw them off

What is this supposed to mean? A sensei is supposed to teach basic footwork. It isn't meant to be used to throw a student off.

There is no such thing as "ashi sabiki." It is "ashi sabaki" and that means just general footwork as a whole. It's not a specific type of foot work. You can't throw them off with just footwork, and that's NOT the point to teaching. Oh, and the reason you can't throw them off using ashi sabaki, is because a sensei is supposed to be teaching the students proper footwork-not try to throw them off! Remember, all ashi sabaki is, is the footwork in general. And, as motodachi stands still for the beginner and other students, you can't use footwork to mess them up anyway. Besides, in keiko, as far as I know, you don't watch the oppponent's feet. That's asking to get clobbered. And, that's the only way to get messed up by footwork as far as I know...to be paying too much attention to what the other person's feet are doing. Bad idea.

The definition is below.

Ashi-sabaki - Footwork used when attacking or evading; the four types are ayumi-ashi, okuri-ashi, hiraki-ashi, and tsugi-ashi.

Beginners only learn the first two.

Sorry for being skeptical, but when you say stuff like that, it's not good. If you are a sensei, you should learn the proper terms and what they are.

Kaoru

[takashijarosu]

lol you are right on the spelling my bad typo but i have to clearafy what i ment by throw them off. when you step into a japanese dojo in japan it is hard to tell who is and is not sensei some times there is 2 even 3 and same thing with sempai, when i learned kendo at first it was with Abe san at the middle school he taught kendo there and i thought he was my sensei but the man i practiced with Takasuka san was realy the head sensei , i had no idea. and latter felt good to know the head sensei took time to teach me alone the first steps in kendo...i hope you follow what im saying. thats what i do im 24 not 42 and do not look like a sensei being young and all so if you se a 65 year old and he is sitting you will asume he is the sensei, but it was really me, none the less to not cause any more trouble at the end of the first class i learned who was sensei durring rei.
and as of sempai in charge but not it is he is not the head sensei. please do not take these words wrong , but try to understand this japn training and america are very very diffrent gaijin sensei tend to try to act like nihonjin sensei and focus on nihon go and nihon tradition and loose sit of what is ment , the practice of kendo not terms , 6 terms for walkin is stupid its foot work. but you seem to be smart and know your terms its a shame you have more to learn on rei and ki.

[Kaoru]

[QUOTE]lol you are right on the spelling my bad typo but i have to clearafy what i ment by throw them off. when you step into a japanese dojo in japan it is hard to tell who is and is not sensei some times there is 2 even 3 and same thing with sempai, when i learned kendo at first it was with Abe san at the middle school he taught kendo there and i thought he was my sensei but the man i practiced with Takasuka san was realy the head sensei , i had no idea. and latter felt good to know the head sensei took time to teach me alone the first steps in kendo...i hope you follow what im saying.

No. You meant exactly what you said, in the first post. You are just trying to make an excuse right now. You MEANT throw them off using footwork. What you said here, has nothing to do with what you wrote in the previous post you made. And, you address ANY sensei teaching you SENSEI, not SAN. Furthermore, there are sometimes several sensei in a large dojo. You STILL address the sensei that is not head instructor, sensei, see? You should have written thus, Abe-sensei, and Takasuka-sensei.

thats what i do im 24 not 42 and do not look like a sensei being young and all so if you se a 65 year old and he is sitting you will asume he is the sensei, but it was really me, none the less to not cause any more trouble at the end of the first class i learned who was sensei durring rei.

Stop talking about being a sensei. That's wrong. I don't see anyone else doing that here. If you really are one, you'll not do that.

and as of sempai in charge but not it is he is not the head sensei. please do not take these words wrong , but try to understand this japn training and america are very very diffrent gaijin sensei tend to try to act like nihonjin sensei and focus on nihon go and nihon tradition and loose sit of what is ment , the practice of kendo not terms ,

By the way, this is wrong, too. There are many Japanese sensei here in the US. It does depend on the dojo as to how strict the dojo is. But, you have not bothered yet to go to the dojos I gave you, have you. How would you know? And, it is an insult to say sensei here just try to act like Nihonjin sensei. Focusing on the traditions is what is supposed to happen. Without proper reigi, and Japanese tradition, it just becomes hitting with sticks, so to speak. You should know that. Oh, and gaiijn, by the way, is a somewhat derogatory term. Did you know that? We here, do not practice terms. We do KENDO. Wakarimaska?

6 terms for walkin is stupid its foot work. but you seem to be smart and know your terms its a shame you have more to learn on rei and ki.

Correction. FOUR terms, not 6. And, many terms for footwork is not stupid.
As a supposed sensei, why would you say that?

Oh, by the way, if you are Japanese, you should know that "rei" just means bow. The term you are looking for, is "reigi," which means etiquette. "Ki" means "spirit." I have no idea why you used that word for.

Kaoru

[takashijarosu]

humm nani jin anta desuka, to doko anata no dojo to nani jin anato no sensei desuka. wa ka ru.
also sensei is a title inside dojo and out side friendship is importaint to. why would i adress the teahers i had out of context? they are my tomodachi to sensei. Abe san is my sensi and prefers when in kendo to be Abe SAN ...that sorta stil is strange. as of Takasuka sensei well see sensei in japan means doctor or teacher and if you talk out side the dojo it is not right to say sensei but san. and unn watashi wakaru anata wa...

as of saying sensei i see no others than kyuu and some times dan it is better to hear from sensei that have knowledge. and lets see clevland csu well 2 sensei if thats what they are one shows up some times the other no way that group has a bad reputation. the other group at osu never meets and the sensei i talked to 2 years ago is not there he was cool. the pres of the kendo club is korean and never showed up all we did was talk about kendo and he said only 3 members remain. as of the other group well they fell apart i heard.

also you still dont realize my point of this throw off thing its the fact that sempai could have taught me my first moves but i learned it from the sensei .

and rei is rei respect reigi is some what the same but what is it in bushido?

r e i.

also this is dumb perhapse you need to focus on more kendo tamashi

[Hai_hai]

It's a pretty good sign that you have been assigned to teach beginners. If you sucked, then you wouldn't have been assigned.

Kendo is about learning the way of the sword, not trying to get the attention of the sensei. If you school has many students, then the sensei does not have time to give everyone one-on-one attention. Everyone tries to help each other, those of the same rank and sempai can always give you advice.

[takashijarosu]

no i dont suck and as of the dojo thing, yeah duhh we all help and try to get to reach the best we can...? that made no sense okay again we all try to be the best so we become the best. as of sensei noticing me no he had his things to do all i cared for is my waza and traing to be better and show i can do it good. i did have moments were i wanted sensei to put his all in on me during ji geiko but hey what can you do. all i noticed was japan training there was much diffrent than america. in japan there was less strictness but alot on practice when it came to tournament time it was hellish but you loved it longer class and harder practice every person gave there all, as of me i was tould all i needed to know by three sensei and nothing said here can change that, also all my students enjoy their classes, so do not criticize what you have not seen or done.

and good luck in your trianing haihai.

[mingshi]

Heheheh... expecting students to address you as Sensei when in America, but prefer to become tomotachi with the sensei in Japan... Is that the difference in the Japan-visiting-American point-of-view?

We got enough 4Dan+ seniors here to educate people on the subject matter.

Before displaying your reigi tamashi maybe you need to focus on spelling and punctuations. I wonder why you spell the nihongo (since you'd better do it in kanji) so clean but your eigo is in such a mess...

[kendokamax]

humm nani jin anta desuka, to doko anata no dojo to nani jin anato no sensei desuka. wa ka ru.



whaaaat .? nihongo ganbatte!!!!!

[canadasword]

Andre:

However one of the senior students has been assigned to teach me the basicsQuite normal as others have said.

the headmaster has literally ignored me. No, he hasn't. He's watching, don't worry about that. And he'll probably have discussions with his senior instructors about you and your progress. Focus on perfecting what you have been taught.

He said that he is not ignoring me, he is observing me to see if I have what it takes to stick it out long enough to warrent his attention. I wouldn't think this but I assume your sempai knows the sensei well?? As a teacher myself, I wouldn't say that you don't warrant attention. The teacher is busy and ultimately must oversee the whole operation of the class. He/she is watching all students from beginners to the most advanced. Sometimes, I am assessing the senior instructors, the way they interact with students, teaching points or method, etc... Other times, watching the up and coming students and assessing their progress, etc... Time and attention is limited so the sensei will delegate teaching responsibilities, especially of beginners, to senior students/instructors. It's not about you personally, even though you may feel that way.

Just keep training hard. Remain focused on what you have to do.:old_man:

[Martin (Wakey)]

Set yourself goals: I startet in january and my first goal was to stay with it until the end of february. No quitting no matter what happens. I achieved this goal now and my next goal is, to make progress that I am allowed to wear gi and hakama. (This will be in another 4-8 weeks I hope...) So I have these little success-stories and keep motivated. :D
I had the same idea. I started at the beginning of June with the intention of attending every week until Christmas. I have, so far, achieved that bar one week when I didn't realise their would be a short beginners class before Shiai night and the following week when I was moving house.

As for wearing Gi and Hakama, I seem to have a couple of good weeks where I think I'll be allowed to wear it soon and then I have a bad week (this week was an example. Couldn't grasp one technique, footwork was poor, couln't remember Kata 1 and 2 despite 'Looking at a Far Mountain' being my current bedtime read!) which makes me think I'm gonna be in *cough* loose clothing for ages yet.

[Stimpson J. Cat]

Sometimes, I am assessing the senior instructors, the way they interact with students, teaching points or method, etc
I just wanted to emphasize this a bit more. As others said sensei is probably not ignoring you, probably not ignoring the person assigned to teach you either. These senior students are being trained to be instructors while they are training you in the basics. It's likely that some of those senior students are going to be running a dojo one day, so just as they are a large part of your training in some aspects of kendo, you are a part of their training in other aspects. Sensei is probably discussing their teaching performance (which will probably never happen where you can see it) as well as your performance with them.

[yamaguchi]

Hi all.

I was tutoring half of my College life. One thing I found is that knowing and doing is totally different than teaching. One can do a lot things without knowing why, but if one teaching to the other, one have to understand matters and learn also the reasons. Also when one is teaching, does not mean just teach. Teacher will also learn.

So as kendo instructor, I will ask to some student to teach. But also I do keep eye on them, and time to time check on them. Yes, also this makes a lot easier for instructor too. Everybody is not beginner, and most of them are in Bogu. In this circumstance, the instructor doesn’t have time to teach to beginner in limited time. But I also know that some Dojo, separated time for beginner. In my Dojo, majority of students are Beginner, but I also told them that some students have to teach to beginner when time comes. So listen carefully!

I have been getting help from the other dojo students (adult) to teach my Dojo students (kids). It is like old time of Japan, And most of parents (USA) like that idea. Just like old time, we become so individual in modern society, but something we have been forgotten and missing. So Senpai and Kohai are automatically developed in my Dojo. Something that kids also learns to communicate to adult.



I have been talking to those senior students who teach my Dojo is following.

The respect is not something to force on. You earn the respect from people. So if kids do not respect you, you should learn how to get respect.



Right now, we all Japanese are teaching in all over the world, but also we have to build teacher to teach Kendo for future. This could be one of reason.

So....

What do you think?

Yamaguchi

[Kendo-Militia]

I know this, kind of a weird question, but I have started to learn kendo. I am learning a lot and enjoing myself imensly at the same time. However one of the senior students has been assigned to teach me the basics, which is expected but the headmaster has literally ignored me. My sensei the one that is teaching me basics tried to explain this to me.


Thank you
Andre R Crawford

Yes it is normal for a senior student to teach basics. And the term Headmaster? Did you join a Kendo Dojo or KLAN?

[Lloromannic]

Yes it is normal for a senior student to teach basics. And the term Headmaster? Did you join a Kendo Dojo or KLAN? The term Headmaster is used in many education systems around the world. It would be Principal. Has anyone actually heard of a Klan Dojo (KKKK?) or of a student who is a member?

Also: Some kumdo dojangs call the teacher Master. So the Head master would be the Head sensei.

[Kendo-Militia]

The term Headmaster is used in many education systems around the world. It would be Principal. Has anyone actually heard of a Klan Dojo (KKKK?) or of a student who is a member?

Also: Some kumdo dojangs call the teacher Master. So the Head master would be the Head sensei.3


It was a JOKE Relax.