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I'm a leftie as well, and I think we have an advantage. ;)

Since most of the power from your swings should be coming from the left hand ANYWAY, you should be golden- after all, lefties are...

Black cotton v-neck tee. It's practically invisible if you're tying your gi properly, and cotton wicks the sweat off of you. And hey, they're cheap- why spend $30 or more for something that's...

UPDATE: Dean has sent me photos of his men himo braiding process, and I have put them on the stand page. CLICK HERE to go to the page and scroll down.

I just kiai with the part that I'm striking... MEN! DO! KOTE! I think that comes from when I was learning and doing excercizes, and we called out a chant in time to our exercizes (like a cadence...

Cool! thanks for the email link and the drawing you'll do. If you need it hosted then just send it along via email. I tried emailing you back, but it bounced for some reason. :(

That's OK... some of the Do on that page are over 120,000 yen (that's over $1100 USD). I hope for that price they're lined with cloth-of-gold or something. ;)

Dean sent me some pics that were a BIT larger... I made a quickie page for them (nothing fancy, sorry-- I'm not a web designer), which you can find >> HERE <<

Hope it helps, and thanks, again...

I'd suggest ALWAYS focusing on accuracy over speed anyhow... When you perfect your form to the point where you can act without thinking, reflexively, then the speed will come all on it's own...

I'm not sure how to use Photobucket, but the pics you have linked above are REALLY teensy... If you want to send them to me via email (imagox@yahoo.com), I'll be happy to host them on my own...

Sorry, last question (wish I could just edit my first post-- appologies)...

The two topmost dowels... I had assume from your pics and from looking at the e-bogu metal stand (which does not,...

Hey, I DO have a question though... In the second and third pics, what is the horizontal dowel with the cord on it used for? Looks like it might be to shape the tare? Ands does the cord have a...

Damn, looks nice... I'm going to try this one out based on the photos. My father in law has a nice workshop, and this doesn't look that complex. Finish is off in a rich walnut or deep cherry...

I actually have read a few things about the psychological impact of having a really impressive bogu. Hey, at the very least in an even-skill match, the stichwork might cause an opponant to be...

Glad to be of help... :D

PS- Here is a GREAT site with tons upon tons of kanon designs...

http://www.otomiya.com/kamon/index.htm

It's in japanses, but it's fairly self-explainatory as far a getting to the images goes.

Yeah, I'm sort of in agreement with this one as well... Unless the usage of the crest was intentinally disrespectful (for example, putting a red slashed "no" symbol over the crest in an attempt to...

I second the comment about talking to your sensei and PARTICULARLY your doctor about this one. A specialist can advise you better than anyone about the specific risks and benefits of any excercize...

Nope.... the lower edge is still underneath the hakama laces and my obi. It stays put.

All great advice here... Something that really helped ME concentrate more on the left is to remember to always keep your right hand wrist turnd IN: ideally, your grip on the shinai should put the...

All this is wonderful (and practical) advice, but really, if you're an experienced and conditioned kendoka and this is a new weakness that did not exist before, then my first advice would be to SEE A...

Yeah, I figured I was probably misreading you (hazards of the forum medium) but I wanted to be sure. Don't want a beginner thinking that they need to be able to endure torture just to advance in...

That or just give it a shot and see if anyone objects... A navy tshirt would be practically invisible under a keikogi. ;)

Is there some reason or stricture in your dojo about wearing just a simple t-shirt? We work out in a dojo space that's a bit chilly before you get warmed up, and in the winter everyone wears...

I've found that a polite, yet simple and direct "Sensei, I wonder if you can explain to me why you're havng us do this drill?" (AFTER class, as has been stated, not during) will usually work wonders....

I have the same issue... my sensei told me to do my excercizes in sonkyo (did I spell that right? I mean the "crouch" that you go into as you begin keiko in case I mangled it). My sensei said that...