How do you handle it?

[munenmuso]

In reference to Nodachi's militant sensei thread:


Do you get offended if your sensei or sempai hit you so hard intentionally at the head, your back or any unguarded spot after you made a mistake or didn't get his instructions correctly. How do you interpret such acts? Thus it send a strong signal that you shoudn't do it again or otherwise he will whack you like a Zen master over his half-asleep meditating student .

Is the kendo character "nyunanshin" familiar to you guys?

Just my wandering thoughts again guys.....:)


munenmuso

[alexpollijr]

Well, if I was to get offended by such things I'd be playing soccer now. But no sempai ever did that kind of thing to me, only these old yokomen-nuts japanese sensei around.

[Atama]

I personally would get offended if a sensei or sempai hit me hard for a mistake, but I think it all depends on the way we are brought up Japanese values are very different to british ones. I would see such an act as hittting a student hard for a mistake totally disrespectfull, and I feel that there would be less people doing kendo in the UK if sensei were like that.

If a student didn't understand an instruction it is the sensei reponsibility to explain themselves more clearly, there are many sensei who are great kendoists but not all can teach.

[Confound]

I can understand a sensei giving you a whack, even if it's hard, as long as it is on an armoured area. The only exceptions to this are when they whack you on the back of your knees to make you go faster, or sling you around with a shinai across your back (which doesn't hurt, it just throws you off balance).

If someone is hitting you in the back of the head, or some other unarmoured area, it isn't very respectful, nor is it safe. Once bogu is off, have a little talk with them.

c

[Paburo]

one of my japanese sensei has 'police style' jigeiko so i get bruises everywhere when i do jigeiko with him, even if i'm doing the right thing.

another sensei hits me conan men if i do something wrong.

i don't get offended at all and i think this is ok, it keeps your reflexes keen, and focuses you on getting better always...

and as long as you don't bleed to death...

i however, was really mad and offended when in jigeiko a foreign yondan sensei hit me IN THE BACK OF THE HEAD BY TREASON URAGIRIMONO STYLE... just because in an earlier move i kote nuki men-ed the back of his head (unintentionally, he lowered his head in kote).

[aru-ma]

Originally posted by Paburo
just because in an earlier move i kote nuki men-ed the back of his head (unintentionally, he lowered his head in kote).

well thats his fault for lowering his head to far in, if he kept his back and head straight I dont think it'd happen. In saying that you mut have a really long reach that you can hit the back of his head with a kote-nuki men, unless you were doing kote-nuki run behind him and then men :D

What do you mean by police style training? I know what it refers to but I dont know what its like.

[Paburo]

i did normal kote nuki men, just a bit stronger than usual (for the guy was a taller than me, and much heavier). it just landed on the back of his head cause the guy sort of crouched weirdly to avoid the hit. tsk tsk.

police style is more 'harsh' than normal kendo. i don't know how to explain it really. you'd have to see it.... or feel it in your own elbows :D

[munenmuso]

Police style or police brutality?

I remember a session where a Japanese instructor pushed me to my limit. I came from a long vacation before I practice again, you know, a few minutes of training made me pant like a dog. After several rounds of keiko, my last opponent of the day was one of our instructor, notorious for being "militant".

For the very first moment, I was competetive and my fighting spirit is at the height. But coming from a long vacation, I started to feel its toll at the middle of our round. I felt I was about to collapse and from fourth gear, I suddenly shifted to first gear and almost at rest because I think my lungs were about to collapse. I can hardly manage to deflect his attacks as he was pushing me up against the wall. At this moment, he kept on attacking me because I was all defense cause I can't carry an attack. I understand that he was trying to encourage me to fight and turn aggressive again but I think it was too much.

He was pushing me up against the wall repeatedly while shouting. But what I didn't liked was when he was using his tsuba to push my head against the wall! I felt my head hit the concrete wall several times. I shouted at his face "yame" then he stopped. Did I felt bad? Of course I felt bad, I know that it was excessive and unlikely for an instructor. the headmaster doesn't even do that to his student. Again this instructor is notorious. But all ends well, I know that despite my condition he wasn't able to land a good hit. Good for me.HEHE:D

Police style or "Police Brutality".

:)

[nodachi]

I feel that there is a limit to how far one should push a student. If the student can keep putting in an effort, then it is okay to push them a bit. However, it is a completely different story if the student has exhausted themselves beyond recovery. It is like a bad coach who trains his/her athletes too hard to the point where they burn out and ruin their athletic carreers. I strongly dislike this kind of mentality and I have known far too many coaches like this that my anger towards them sometimes carries over to "militant" sensei who don't realize when they need to stop pushing their students.

[Old Warrior]

Am I missing something, I know a small amount of jostling is allowed, but repeated pushing against a wall seems over the top.
I strikes me that there is no education involved where the "teacher" breaks the rules. I can think of a dozen ways to get you "out of my face" none of which are within the rules, all of which are subtle and painful and take little energy. I recommend accidently stomping on a foot and apologizing profusely. It will end the bout.

[kendo_chick]

Personally, my old sempai, in order to correct my chudan would whack me on my elbow, on purpose in order for me to learn that I should turn my wrist in to avoid getting hit there. It worked, but I had a bruise the whole size of my elbow and most of my upper and lower arm.

[stevemcgee99]

It seems my job as student is to learn. How could someone in my position fully understand what is going to teach me what? I can only do my best to make sense of what I'm being taught and try hard to get it right. Like in other things I've studied, I didn't always get to choose the lessons, and didn't always learn what I expected. Especially about myself.

[munenmuso]

Ego and pride are two of kendo's mental stain, these characters hinders the student to absorb and learn the values and methods that he his being taught. A good and dedicated student must possess the "nyunanshin" character or literally translated as "softheartedness". That is accepting things as the sensei wants things the student should learn and without question, his moral and authoritarian ascendancy should far exceeds the student's inexperiences and drives him to the right path of learning kendo. That is the only way for the student to learn it the hard way, and there is a presumption that the teacher is expected to bring out the best and correct the worst from his student. Do you agree?

Do you think that he is also doing that because what he do is his "truth in action" or there is simply a breach of proper conduct and abuse of authority or ego-tripping?