Congrats Ben!

[Andoru]

5th dan! Good on ya mate!

[JSchmidt]

Le Woot!

Jakob

[Niels]

Impressive !!
ROCK ON !!
and also congrats

--Niels

[aru-ma]

next time I see him I'll congratulate him personaly but for now Good Job!!!

[LNGUYEN]

Congratulation Ben,

Some body please send a Ninja go after him?

[ben]

*rei* domo arigato

Thanks all for your kind regards. It was a fantastic seminar and comp. A big well done to Kevin, John, Greg and all the QKR members who put on such a great event in such a fantastic setting: being able to dive into the Pacific Ocean to get my head straight before the stress of shinsa and shiai certainly helped!

Ganbarimasu!

b

[Shogun97]

how long did it take :nervous: ??????

[rainmaker]

go for 8th dan soon !!!

[meow]

Congratulations!

I guess now it´s beer-keiko-time...!? :D

[Masahiro]

congratulations ben, by the way great advice on "always make sure your kendo is prettier than your sword." I shall try hard to remember that. So I guess kendo really just started for you huh? Just out of curiosity, what made you go for your 5th dan testing? did your sensei tell you that you are ready? did you just go for it because you wanted to? or do you have a system by which you paste yourself for going to these dan tests?

[ben]

Just out of curiosity, what made you go for your 5th dan testing?
It was time to try.


did your sensei tell you that you are ready?
Yes.


did you just go for it because you wanted to?
Yes.


or do you have a system by which you paste yourself for going to these dan tests?
Define "paste"? :confused2

b

[Masahiro]

Thank you for your reply, oh sorry, I really shouldn't be so haste when posting written messeges in the forum. I also noticed the tone in my last thread was a bit informal and casual, I hope you didn't mind. I meant to give you my utmost respect.

With regards to this "paste" I speak of. I mean this; do you give yourself a specific "date" by which you will test for the next Dan level? Such as maybe after another 3 years you will test for 6th Dan? (As there are minimum time restrictions to test for each dan level by AUSKF standards). Do you try to test as soon as you have cleared this minimum time restriction? Or do you have some other standars by which you paste yourself to test?

[ben]

Masahiro,
Your tone is fine. I'm honoured to be asked in such detail.

It was the first moment I could have graded. Australian Kendo Renmei requirements are minimum 4 years at 4 dan. I graded 4 dan in 2000.

The main reason I graded this time was because I was told there was a possibility of this being the last high-level IKF delegation to visit Australia for the purposes of grading for the forseeable future. Going to Queensland is slightly (though not much) more convenient, and cheaper, than going to Japan so I thought I would give it a go. Although I was very serious about my preparation, I was also expecting to fail.

In Australia, 5th dan represents the transition from student to teacher. Although as you rightly say, my true kendo practice has only just begun, Australia only has a small kendo population and so 5 dan is necessarily considered to be "sensei". This threshhold may increase with time as Australian kendo grows. BTW what level is considered "sensei" in Japan?

The preparation was in itself so illuminating that I was happy just to have the goal to focus on. When I passed I was in a daze. The only other person to pass had been 4 dan for 16 years.

The responsibility is a heavy one, much heavier than for a Japanese 5 dan I think. A 5th dan in Australia is not a face in the crowd: they are under constant scrutiny. They must always be an example. I will be expected to attend every grading, seminar and championship from now until... really for the rest of my life. Even though I always knew I would do kendo till the day I die, that's still quite a scary thought!

Forgive me for talking about myself so much, it's just that there is a lot to absorb about 5 dan and I have thought about it a great deal.

:)
b

PS - I don't think I'll be ready for 6th dan in 5 years!

[Neil Gendzwill]

Congratulations, Ben and good luck with the whole responsibility thing. Fortunately here in Canada we have quite a few 6 and 7 dans so we don't have quite the same pressure at 5 dan.

[munenmuso]

Congrats also ben.

Just always remember the words of a great man in a spider suit,"With great power comes with great responsibility". :smiley:

You deserve it !!!

munenmuso

[Andoru]

Ben: about the last high-level IKF delegation thingy - is that good news to us? Do we have enough high-level senseis to sit on the grading panel?

[ben]

Ben: about the last high-level IKF delegation thingy - is that good news to us? Do we have enough high-level senseis to sit on the grading panel?

Hi Andrew,

Whether or not that actually was the last such delegation is impossible to say. Probably not. However it was a rumour that went around before the c'ships and I chose to act on it. I don't think even the AKR executive could give you a definitive answer on this, and if you hear a rumour about such things from anyone lower down, disregard it.

We have enough sensei in Vic and NSW (and probably Qld as well) to grade to 3rd dan, and maybe 4th dan. Above that you either have to wait for the next delegation or go to Japan.

If you're 1,2 or 3 dan now and you're sure you'll be doing kendo forever, it does pay in many ways to have a think about where you'll be in 5-7 years' time. The earlier you start saving for a 'travelling fund' or 'self-funded scholarship' the easier it will be when you want to go for your higher grades in far flung locales. Maybe hold off buying that 1bu bogu and buy a 3mm instead, then 'invest' the difference in your training future.

You could think of it as a different kind of "enzan no metsuke". :)

b

[ben]

Congratulations, Ben and good luck with the whole responsibility thing. Fortunately here in Canada we have quite a few 6 and 7 dans so we don't have quite the same pressure at 5 dan.


Thanks Neil. One day I'll make it up there to have an all oot bash with you guys! ;)

b

[Andoru]

Thanks Ben - I may have to start thinking about learning japanese too if I would have to go to Japan to sit the exam.

For now, I hope that the rumour is not true. ;)

[Neil Gendzwill]

Thanks Neil. One day I'll make it up there to have an all oot bash with you guys! ;)

We're not exactly a prime destination - but let me know if you make it out Vancouver way for a big tournament or something, a meeting could possibly happen. If you ski/snowboard, one idea would be to come for a skiing holiday at Whistler and time it to hit Steveston taikai... just planting a bug in your ear :)

[Zaphiel]

wow!

5th dan........congrats