"You will never beat an opponent you respect highly."

[ben]

What does this statement mean? Do you agree or disagree with its general thrust?

b

[Andoru]

I'll have a go.

I find that statement open to many interpretations. I am inclined towards view #2.

Here are some of my interpretations:

View #1:

If I believe that I can never beat an opponent that I respect highly, then chances are, I'd most likely lose. There'd be a degradation of fighting spirit or perhaps I'd be more vulnerable to the 4 kendo evils etc etc. Mentally speaking, I have already lost: "if you think you will lose, then you have already lost". Perhaps I could have won that match if I'd applied myself fully, but I lost because I refused to believe that I could win.

View #2:

I so respect my opponent that I try my best to do good kendo with loads of ki - the objective is to win (by ki, by sword etc). It is only right that my opponent expects my best, given the respect I have for him/her. I do not believe that I cannot beat this opponent.

I hope that makes sense (1.36am here).

[Lucien]

I can see two different readings as well:

1. I respect this person highly and will show this by beating him if possible. In reality, the closest I will ever get is to be on a par with him. (Andoru's view 2)

2. I respect this person highly - he could be a beginner who engenders respect - the best I can do is help point the way.

[[Kensei 剣の聖者]]

"before you can conquer the enemy you must conquer yourself" - if you put too much respect in your opponent then your giving him a benefit he hasnt earned, beat him first, then respect him.. .

[Gerald Audette]

Interesting statement ben.

My take is that I'll do my best to score on an opponent I respect highly. There are several club mates of mine that I respect alot, but still can beat them most of the time. On the other hand, I respect alot of people who are better than I am - my senseis and sempais for example. There are also other kendoka I respect that its a toss up...they could win or I could win. So it depends on who I'm playing. I always want to get a good point of my own design, which can be very tough when I'm playing sensei ... I sometimes wonder if all the points I get they've let em take them. :)

Will I beat them?...it depends. But I'm going to do my best in whatever situation I'm in.

Just my 2 cents worth.

[Gumbi]

to look at that statement another way, I have to do my utmost to defeat the opponent, otherwise I am not showing him respect.

but to go back to your original question, it depends how you define respect. If by respect you mean you recognise his/her skills abilities and qualities, this does not necessarily mean you are going to lose. If however you are using respect to mean 'awe' of of your opponent you have already lost, because you are already categorising yourself as inferior.
Also, I think in Kendo, there are a lot of things you can respect about a person, their speed, their skill, their men cuts, but ultimately although you may be inferior in some aspects, it is possible (and likely amongst people of similar levels) that you have areas where you are superior to your opponent (in terms of skill, ability and your progression) Therefore it is possible for you to have immense respect in some aspects and yet stil have the confidence you will need to give a good account of yourself in a match, and hopefully win

Sorry that was going to be a short comment, but I got carried away

[Louis X]

Why not ? I respect all the people in my dojo (and even outside ;) ) but there's no link between victory and respect in that sense. Maybe you feel that wining against someone is showing you're better than him so that he's worse than you, etc... I tell you, you shouldn't go that far. lol

I loose against most people...just because I'm a beginner. But i hate when my partner lowers his level just to let me score.

[nalogg]

I disagree wih the statement,

I think it is possible to beat someone you respect highly...maybe it's just a bit harder.

similarly it's QUITE possible to lose to someone who you don't respect :)
(internet gaming is based on this fact)

[hyuna]

What does this statement mean? Do you agree or disagree with its general thrust?
Taken in the most superficial sense, it seems false. You can respect someone for their character, but perhaps they are awful at kendo. Perhaps they are tremendously educated and intelligent in kendo philosophy but are not able to compete for some reason. Perhaps they are a very strong fighter but happen to have a "blind spot" that you know about (assuming that we agree that it is possible to respect someone who is not "perfect"). There are many possibilities why someone worthy of respect might not win a match. However, I think this is only a very superficial interpretation and not particularly illuminating.

This kind of thought does raise one interesting question. Is it possible to "highly respect" someone that one can beat? Perhaps one can for reasons outside of kendo, but that is probably not what the comment is about. Is it possible to respect highly the kendo abilities of someone who you can defeat at kendo? If someone can be defeated half of the time, it would seem that they should be considered a peer, and how can you "highly respect" abilities that are merely the same as yours? Maybe if you can win 1/4 of the time, you can respect them, but "highly?" What is "highly" anyway? So, anyway, perhaps the statement is true by definition: it is not possible to defeat someone who you respect highly because anyone you can defeat is not respected THAT highly (if one uses a very lofty and strong definition for "highly").

I think one more interesting question is what does it mean to "beat" someone. For example, if someone has a very strong style, and you feel it is more powerful than your own so that you must adjust your style to adapt to theirs, then there is a sense where you have already lost the fight. Even if you defeat your opponent in the fight, they have controlled you and you gave in. Of course, we in the modern world would say that we adapted to the situation and won, not lost, because of that adaption. But, the point is that if you are too "respectful" of your opponent's skill to take them on directly, you have given into their power and looked for a different way. So, the actual conflict that was won is a different, secondary, fight from the initial battle of wills. One finds to a new style that is "better" than their opponent, so some measure of "respect" (perhaps a better word is "fear") for the style is lost. In this interpretation, I think it can be true that one can never beat an opponent that one respects highly. If you respect your opponent too highly, you will not be able to be direct with them as you are, in some sense, under their influence (and, therefore, control).

That brings up a second interesting question. What does it mean to "respect" a person? If you think of "respect" as thinking that someone has admirable qualities, then it doesn't necessarily have any impact on your behavior. Just because someone is admirable doesn't mean you have to treat them well, or even fairly. Indeed, if you think that someone posseses an admirable amount of skill, perhaps it is motivation to treat them quite unfairly in a competition. This is exactly the sense of the word I used in the beginning. It makes the statement seem trivially false, becuase my opinions have little connection with my abilities.

However, often when we say "respect" we really mean "deferential." That is, when it is said that one should respect their sempai, it is not generally meant that one should feel a sense of awe in their sempai's abilities-- it means that one should defer to their sempai's judgement. In that sense, of course one will never defeat someone they respect highly. One obviously cannot simultaneously defer to someone while defeating them. Even if you think that it is their wish for you to defeat them, if you think of winning in kendo as killing them, how can you kill your mentor/teacher? If nothing else, it means you cannot learn from them the future. One might be tempted to ask what about an enemy one respects? Well, that is confounding these two interpretations again -- in terms of admiring the skills of your enemy, that kind of "respect" doesn't change your behavior; in terms of being deferential to your enemy, well, why would you do that? So, here is another sense where it is indeed impossible to defeat someone one "respects highly."

That is what went through my head when I read that sentence...

[Wout]

Why not ? I respect all the people in my dojo (and even outside ;) ) but there's no link between victory and respect in that sense. Maybe you feel that wining against someone is showing you're better than him so that he's worse than you, etc... I tell you, you shouldn't go that far. lol

I loose against most people...just because I'm a beginner. But i hate when my partner lowers his level just to let me score.

Actually the opposite is more true, if you do not respect your opponent you will be blind to his/her abilities. I would say respect your opponent, learn from and about him, because he's the one you'll be fighting. Don't let your smugness be your defeat.

[mingshi]

Personally I find two terms being ambigious - "Beat" and "An opponent you respect highly"...

First of all, as mentioned by other posters, there are a lot of respectable people in a dojo. Despite most sensei and senpai, there are enthusiatic beginners, young kids, girls, handicapped, etc. etc. worth looking up to, even though their skill is not as good as myself.

Secondly, what is "beat"? One Ippon, or completely trashing them? Some of the senpai fight only half a level higher than me, some always try to show me openings that I can see. Now, if I do get the Ippon, both sides should be quit happy. They teach I learn, as simple as that.

IMHO I think the statement should be rephrased into:-
"You should always try your best to beat an opponent you respect highly."

[Wout]

Ehm actually the phrase that's excactly what I wanted to say was to be before the whole post, somehow it was deleted. I disagreed with the original post not with what Louis said.





Actually the opposite is more true, if you do not respect your opponent you will be blind to his/her abilities. I would say respect your opponent, learn from and about him, because he's the one you'll be fighting. Don't let your smugness be your defeat.

[Munnin]

When I sit down at the chess board I know that I provide each of my opponents enough respect to assume that a mistake may simply be a trap, yet not so much respect to assume they could not have made a mistake. To me that is the correct level of respect of your opponent.


While this may be a reasonable answer to a vague statement I wonder who made that said it, in what context and in what language.

[hyuna]

IMHO I think the statement should be rephrased into:-
"You should always try your best to beat an opponent you respect highly."
that strikes me as quite the opposite meaning of the original sentence.

to say that "one can never defeat someone that one respects highly" suggests, to me, the idea that respect for one's opponent is a personal weakness, and that one should not respect the enemy.

however, like you said, "respect" is rather ambiguous. i think virtually everyone would agree that it is a critical error to not respect (in the sense of underestimating) one's opponent, so presumably "respect" is intended to mean something different from a simple sense of admiration of ability.

[ben]

Some great posts. I agree the statement and its terms are vague, that is why I asked to respond to its "general thrust" i.e. your own first interpretation. Sometimes to desire clarification is to procrastinate from grasping the matter at hand. However I took "respect" to mean in terms of kendo ability and stature. Not warm-hearted fellow feeling, but a kind of respect that you can't run away from. Perhaps you even dislike them as a person, but their kendo forces you to respect them. I took "beat" to mean a single decisive ippon, the kind that can change the feeling between two kendoka. Many people made good replies based on their own interpretation. It doesn't matter so much.

It is interesting the different personalities of each poster comes out in the way they respond. Munnin I really like your definition of respect for your opponent. This is a great baseline statement I feel. I suppose though that kendo doesn't allow the time for reflection during the match that chess does.

Mingshi I really like how you turned the statement around to be a positive kind of kendo aphorism. It works well like that. At the same time however, in terms of considering the question at hand, it lets you off the hook without having to face it.

I personally feel that I can never beat someone whom I respect highly and that I'm frustrated by the fact that I can never be sure if it's my respect for them or their greater skill that is the difference. Not ever beating them is a wall, and like a wall, it hides what lies behind it. I therefore feel that I cannot truly perceive my opponent when I have too much respect for them. I cannot beat them because I lack the information or the insight to do so. This issue is the crux for me of the mental side of kendo.

b

[ben]

Taken in the most superficial sense, it seems false...

...I think one more interesting question is what does it mean to "beat" someone. For example, if someone has a very strong style, and you feel it is more powerful than your own so that you must adjust your style to adapt to theirs, then there is a sense where you have already lost the fight. Even if you defeat your opponent in the fight, they have controlled you and you gave in. Of course, we in the modern world would say that we adapted to the situation and won, not lost, because of that adaption. But, the point is that if you are too "respectful" of your opponent's skill to take them on directly, you have given into their power and looked for a different way. So, the actual conflict that was won is a different, secondary, fight from the initial battle of wills. One finds to a new style that is "better" than their opponent, so some measure of "respect" (perhaps a better word is "fear") for the style is lost. In this interpretation, I think it can be true that one can never beat an opponent that one respects highly. If you respect your opponent too highly, you will not be able to be direct with them as you are, in some sense, under their influence (and, therefore, control)...

Lovely response Arthur. Gave me much food for thought. Many things I'd like to respond to but I'll take just two for now...

Firstly I agree that the statement is somehow "superficially false". I think therefore that at a deeper level it is quite true. I also think however that at another level we haven't touched on yet, it is once again false. But that is jumping the gun a bit.

Secondly, I really like your observation about being forced to adapt as being a sign of being "beaten". What a great insight! These are the sort of things that we rarely discuss but they go through everyone's heads I'm sure during keiko (if only James Joyce were alive and doing kendo, he could write a novel about a single jigeiko and it would be as long as 'Ulysses'!). I've been told that the samurai had all different levels of technique for different situations and it was a sign of defeat if they were forced to use their best technique to defeat an inferior (in class) opponent, e.g. if a commoner in the street attacked them they had to win without drawing the sword (e.g. using joint locks). I'm sometimes bemused to wonder why I so often try and win with my worst waza. It's part of developing my skill, but there are also people on whom I would never use anything but my best. These choices are not conscious at the time, and I think indicates I have an unconscious mental map of my kendo colleagues in terms of levels of respect for their kendo.

Which leads to the question, should you fight every opponent as if they were an 8th dan, or should you only use just enough effort to beat them?

b

[Neil Gendzwill]

Which leads to the question, should you fight every opponent as if they were an 8th dan, or should you only use just enough effort to beat them?
You can't fight every opponent like that. For one thing, if you're talking jigeiko then it is of course counterproductive to both you and your opponent to be playing your best kendo against a beginner. If shiai, junior people don't respond to subtle technique in the same fashion that senior people do. You can try to have a big tip-fighting battle of wills, but that newbie is not even going to notice, he'll just keep barrelling in from the outside over and over like he always does. And finally, from a mental perspective, it's just really tough to get that "up" for a fight against a beginner.

I don't see anything wrong at all with adapting my style to the opponent, by the way. If I'm playing a shorter player who specialises in dekote, for example, I'll sure be cautious about those straight men. It's not being defeated, it's about choosing the right approach.

As to the original question, if by "respect" you mean "intimidated by their rank/skill/reputation", then hell yeah that has a big effect on the outcome. But not the normal sense of the word. There are a number of kendo people who I respect enormously just in general that don't give me much trouble on the floor. And vice-versa.

[JSchmidt]

Secondly, I really like your observation about being forced to adapt as being a sign of being "beaten". What a great insight! These are the sort of things that we rarely discuss but they go through everyone's heads I'm sure during keiko

Doesn't that strongly depend on how you change style?. There's people where I know that I have to use my mobility in order to overcome their lack of mobility and opposite, where I know I have to maintain a stronger center in order to overcome their superior mobility. Am I getting beaten?...or is it just sound tactics?.
You could just as easily say that the ability to change style is a virtue on its own.


Jakob

[Louis X]

Be carefull Wout. I keep an eye on you :D ;)

[Paburo]

you will never beat an opponent you fear highly.

i will eventually beat my senpai and my sensei(on a good day of course), and a lot of people in/outside my dojo i respect highly, both in human condition and skill.

ben, i think maybe the answer to your question is kigurai


Which leads to the question, should you fight every opponent as if they were an 8th dan, or should you only use just enough effort to beat them?
IMHO, i think you should fight a 8th dan as if they were a 8th dan, 4kyuu as if they were 4kyuu, and unknown as if they were unknown.

it also depends if its jigeiko or shiai i think. in jigeiko, if fighting a lower rank, you should teach, not crush. if fighting a higher/similar rank, you should do the best, not play or slack.

in shiai, fight everyone as if they were 6th dan.

[litige]

I think not beating someone because you respect him highly is hypocresy, and I wouldn't be an hypocrit to a someone I highly respect. I don't agree with this statement.

[Masahiro]

I've never fought against a hachidan before. I've only had the pleasure of fighting a nanadan. And even then, it was like fighting against the nanadan in the dark. I just couldn't land a strike on him. I was under the impression when you fight someone who is "obviously" much better than you. (such as a hachidan) you ought to just think back on the days when you first began kendo and concentrate on shikake wazas! I am curious to hear what other people think about this though. How would you fight a hachidan?


I will "always" fight to win. Regardless what your adversaries ranks are, the person standing in front of you holding the sword (shinai, if you want to be technical) is you opponent, who is trying to take your life. So, I fight them all the same, I fight to win, to live. So back to your original question Ben. I believe often times we will lose to someone who we highly respect. Because we are not mentally fully enagage in the battle. But if you(your opponent and you) were holding a real sword. Your will to live should out weigh your respect for them. However, if there is fear in you, a fear that you are going to lose. Then, you are as good as dead. These are all my subjective opinions, just sharing. :)

[Neil Gendzwill]

How to fight a hachidan - drop any tricks, and just give him your best basic kendo. Think of it like shinsa kendo. Just as the judges in shinsa won't be impressed by any ducking, cheap kote, windshield-wiper jukes and the like, neither will he. Just show your best, stay straight and try to follow his lead. If he likes you, he might teach you something.

[t3k1lla]

i think that if you respect your opponent highly you'll be affraid to do a bad kendo... and that's why you can more easily loose...
and letting win you opponent because you respect him is not very fair and is a mark of no respect at all...
but the important is not to win is to make the more perfect kendo ever and cross your limits...
my sensei says that the master has to be always beaten by the student so it proves that someday you'll beat someone you respect higly... but the problem he told me is that some teacher want to stay the master the top of the pyramid but that's sad because the sensei don't give all he knows... but that's another discution that...

once again sorry for my bad english...

[hyuna]

Doesn't that strongly depend on how you change style?. There's people where I know that I have to use my mobility in order to overcome their lack of mobility and opposite, where I know I have to maintain a stronger center in order to overcome their superior mobility. Am I getting beaten?...or is it just sound tactics?.
You could just as easily say that the ability to change style is a virtue on its own.
I tried to address this point in my original post. I think it depends on why you change style.

I agree that if you see a weakness in your opponent, and you change style to take advantage of that weakness, that is not "losing." But, seeing weaknesses in your opponent is not really a symbol of "respect" in the way that I think we are discussing. Again, I am limiting respect to respect with regard to kendo skill and not respect in general. In what sense can one respect someone's kendo skill if it has a glaring weakness?

Often when we fight with a strong opponent we see no weakness, only strength. So, we might try to take short-cuts (dodging, weaving, snappy little hits) because we feel our normal "straight" kendo has no chance to win. Here, we have adjusted because we believe that our opponent is too strong for us: in other words, we have already admitted defeat to ourselves even if we go on to win the match.

By comparison, one could not give in to the temptation to take short-cuts and instead to try to rise to the occasion. That is what must be done if one does not admit defeat in the very beginning. Not coincidentally, that is also what we are supposed to do when practicing with high ranking sensei.

[Marquis]

"You will never beat an opponent you respect highly"

I think you'll rather lose you fear than from a person you respect. If I stand in a keiko before one of the members who I respect I'll give all I've got, just to show them that I'm serious about doing kendo...

BTW isn't it so that there's often mutual respect??? I think kendo is all about respect...

[hyuna]

I'm glad my ramblings gave you something to think about


Firstly I agree that the statement is somehow "superficially false". I think therefore that at a deeper level it is quite true. I also think however that at another level we haven't touched on yet, it is once again false. But that is jumping the gun a bit.
I'm certainly interested in reading your thoughts about that!


Which leads to the question, should you fight every opponent as if they were an 8th dan, or should you only use just enough effort to beat them?
I suppose that depends on why you are fighting them...

Doing what is easiest is a short-term strategy. We do not improve at things linearly; we make great strides at the beginning, when practicing difficult things, and when one is "good" at something, even great effort produces only small gains. Although, doing what is hard carries the risk of "failure" (but is that really a risk? Should we consider losing a match or failing a test a "failure" if grows from the experience?). So if the goal is to win in this instance, one should probably do what is easy. If the goal is to improve, one should probably do what is difficult.

[hyuna]

But if you(your opponent and you) were holding a real sword. Your will to live should out weigh your respect for them.
Many people feel it is good thing to be able to sacrifice your life for someone that you love or respect. If there is someone you respect so highly that you believe that their life makes the world better, and you feel you are a "normal person," is it not appropriate for your respect to outweigh your will to live?

[Mikeyprime]

How to fight a hachidan - drop any tricks, and just give him your best basic kendo. Think of it like shinsa kendo. Just as the judges in shinsa won't be impressed by any ducking, cheap kote, windshield-wiper jukes and the like, neither will he. Just show your best, stay straight and try to follow his lead. If he likes you, he might teach you something.
Amen to that. My sensei is a hanshi hachidan and became extremely furious when i landed a beautiful katsugi men. He told me techniques like that are fine, but not at the level of kendo I am at or the level at which we are fighting. That was some interesting food for thought. Needless to say, I have re-adapted my kendo to try to beat everyone, mukyu-hanshi with straight kendo. Although still retaining the techniques of katsugi waza, harai, and some feints for my last resort bag of tricks in a shiai.

[JByrd]

Great discussion.

I remember hearing a Japanese saying that summed it up well. To paraphrase: If you're not scared by your opponent's reputation, and you're not intimidated by the sight of him, everything hinges on the sufficiency of your training.

The 6 and 7 dan senseis I keiko with will often let me hit them if I attack well enough, but not always. Sometimes they just plaster me over and over, knock me off balance, stick their kensen against my bare throat, etc. I figure they just want to see if I have the guts to keep trying. Once they know I'm not just giving up, they can evaluate the sufficiency of my training.

[Twobitmage]

Its been said but i'd like to restate that I think it means that when you respect someone, although on a competitive level you might score a point on them, it doesnt mean that you stop respecting them. By winning a match you beat them in combat but you dont nessesarily "kill" that respect.

my 2 cents but I dont suppose its right :confused2

[ben]

It is interesting to read people's posts. Most people have responded to my question at an ideal level. But the thing that's great about kendo is that it helps you with who you really are, not who you imagine you are. This is why the issue of "respect" is such a loaded one. We have all had keiko or shiai when we had to swallow the bile of losing to someone in such a way that really gave us the shits. Sometimes we find it hard to accord our opponent the respect that our polite mind knows they deserve (or do they?...). But we persevere and rise above this small-mindedness. We come back to keiko and continue on the way. This is the "ningen keisei", or developing the human character of the Concept of Kendo. But along the way I think it is good to share some of the dark moments and analyse why some situations are difficult to rise above.

This is the third area David, where I think the statement becomes false. Ultimately the opponent is not your opponent. Your own ego is. No news there. But perhaps in that case the amount of respect you can accord your opponent is the amount of respect you accord yourself. I have a theory gleaned from my not so many years of keiko: that those who see much strength and potential in the people around them are in fact the strong ones, even though they may come across as self-effacing and meek. OTOH those who denigrate all around as being weak or lacking in skill/nerve/etiquette/respect/whatever are themselves the ones who lack. It's a theory you can test pretty easily by applying to those people you know, or to yourself.

What do you think?

b

[Tholon]

Lots of good posts that gives me something to think about.

For me, the main person to win over is myself. Still being a newbie, I find it more important doing "good kendo" than actually scoring. Not that is is a contradiction, but I hope you understand my point.
And yes, I do respect myself.
So yes - you can win over someone you respect. Yourself!

[hyuna]

This is the third area David, where I think the statement becomes false. Ultimately the opponent is not your opponent. Your own ego is. No news there. But perhaps in that case the amount of respect you can accord your opponent is the amount of respect you accord yourself. I have a theory gleaned from my not so many years of keiko: that those who see much strength and potential in the people around them are in fact the strong ones, even though they may come across as self-effacing and meek. OTOH those who denigrate all around as being weak or lacking in skill/nerve/etiquette/respect/whatever are themselves the ones who lack. It's a theory you can test pretty easily by applying to those people you know, or to yourself.
I find this to be a very interesting insight.

It seems important in this light to recognize that strength is relative. An opponent is "strong" if they are "stronger than you" in this context. So if one has a low opinion of oneself, of course one will always see strength and potential. If one has an inflated opinion of oneself, one will see weakness. But, there are so many layers to things: maybe someone has a low opinion of themself but does not have the inner strength to admit it to the world, and so they denigrate others. In either case, such a person is acting from self-esteem and not any "real" assessment of skill. So I think the relationship between talking big or humbly and actually being weak or strong can go either way.

I do agree with the basic idea I think you are getting at: it takes strength to admit one's weaknesses and, therefore, to acknowledge the strengths of others. At the time, though, it takes some measure of strength to admit to one's strengths as well. For some, it is easier to take too low an opinion of oneself in order to evade the responsibility that their strength might impose on them: if one considers oneself stupid/clumsy/etc then there is no pressure to succeed, no shame from failure, and there is no responsibility to make appropriate use of one's skills and one does not have to take the blame for not applying those skills.

I suppose ultimately the question of respect for one's opponent is an issue of mindfulness. To respect or (or disrespect) one's opponent is to be aware of them as an individual, with everything that entails. I think that is a mindful activity. But I remember once hearing Ebihara sensei say that kendo is nothing more than doing the right thing at the right time. If we have "no mind" then doing the "right thing" does not depend on who the opponent is and, therefore, if we respect them or not. It also does not depend on our opinions of our own abilities. In this sense, I suppose we can say that we should not "respect our opponent," per se. At least not during the fight. This reminds me of the Musashi story published in the most recent PNKF newsletter, where Musashi says "In my martial art, when I step out grasping my sword, neither I nor my enemy exists."

(the full story can be read at http://www.kendo-pnkf.org/news/kenyu.phtml )

I think it is easy to see how that applies to a fight, but much, much harder to see what it means in our daily lives.

[Old Warrior]

[QUOTE=hyuna] I suppose ultimately the question of respect for one's opponent is an issue of mindfulness. To respect or (or disrespect) one's opponent is to be aware of them as an individual, with everything that entails. I think that is a mindful activity.[QUOTE]
You hear the word "respect" often spoken in the commentary to a boxing match. When someone comes out and is too conservative because they fear getting tagged with their opponents power punch, one often hears "He's showing a lot of respect...".
In the context of this discussion "respect" is being used to convey a state of mind that prevents one from using their best kendo, out of fear of failure. I don't think if one is not possessed of "fear of failure" that it translates to arrogance or lack of respect. From my perspective, every encounter MUST be faced with a certain mindlessness to "fear of failure" or there is no hope of success. Until one loses the fear of failure he can never reach his potential.