My sensei keeps on breaking my shinai...

[KawazoeTamaki]

When you practice men strikes where monodachi hold up the shinai above his head
and uchidachi does men on the shinai,
where on the shinai supposed to be hit?
I've been putting the second hump(?) in the center to get hit,
and my sensei broke 3 staves of mine over past several weeks.
Something just feels off here.

[ScottUK]

Is he aware of the differences between kendo and baseball?

[dillon]

If you are kakarite (the one performing the men-uchi or whatever technique is being practiced), you should try to land your monouchi (the portion of the shinai between the tip and the nakayui so is the first 30cm/12in of the shinai) on target. You should cut as if you were trying to strike their head straight on. The knots in the bamboo have no significance as to what part of the shinai you should be striking with as their location vary.

The motodachi (receiver) should hold their shinai at about forehead/top of head level with arms extended out. This is generally the safest position. Too low and they could get hit on top of the head. Too high and they could get smacked on the face. Generally the motodachi will hold the middle of their shinai around where their head is.

Uchidachi and shidachi are roles in kendo-no kata.

What is meant when you said your sensei breaks your shinai? What is he/she doing when this happens? Is he/she breaking your shinai when you are receiving (seems strange to ask a student to receive unless the sensei is using you for demonstration)? That would imply either your sensei strikes too hard or your shinai is too old/low quality/bad luck (or both). Or is your sensei borrowing your shinai and breaking it while performing strikes? If that's the case then again, either your sensei is striking too hard or your shinai isn't up to it (again, or both). Generally when my shinai breaks it happens when I'm the one doing the striking. If your shinai breaks when you are striking and your sensei is receiving then it's not really your sensei breaking your shinai.

[shred_lord]

Is it just your shinai that he breaks?
Have you spoken to him about it before the world?

[dwez]

I don't see how your shinai is being broken if your holding it horizontally above your head. I don't even see why your sensei would practice this way. If your in bogu he would hit your men, if your not in bogu why would he need to practice this you are the one who should be doing it. If he is doing it and your not in bogu and he's hitting with sufficient force to break a shinai then what happens if he would miss? It's not going to do your skull much good and certainly isn't showing enough tenouchi.

I think we would need a little more description of what the practice is you are doing, your level, and enough info to ascertain you are going to an AUSKF dojo [but perhaps not enough to identify which one which may cause embarrassment]. As you can see there are a number of interpretations of what's going on, more info may help clear it up breaking shinais regularly isn't considered a good thing but it can be a number of factors as dillon explains.

[ScottUK]

Well, as the shinai is only made from bamboo, it is not surprising that it breaks during keiko. I suggest you replace the shinai with your mengane. That is made from steel and will weather the impact much better.

[b8amack]

What I see is "three staves of mine", suggesting you're using the same shinai pieces. Maybe that shinai was just shit.

[R Stroud]

A simple suggestion for this type of training. Use a Carbon Fiber shinai. They work well when you need to offer up a shinai as a target and people (regardless of level) are going to beat on it. I use one for this type of mass receiving, but change to bamboo when I do keiko.

[KawazoeTamaki]

Yeah so I think I should have been more descriptive.
I'm holding my shinai horizontally on top of my head and sensei does men strike on it.
I'm even holding it pretty lightly, trying to use my arm as a kind of suspension,
but like every once in a while, i come home, check out my shinai,
and holy shit. one of the staves of the shinai is just fucking broken in half and it's just dangling there.

My dojo does this type of practice with everyone(bogu and non-bogu) during first half of practice,
then bogu and non-bogu practices separately on second half..

I don't think my shinai is particularly shitty....then again, who knows.

I haven't told my sensei about this, because..wth am I supposed to say? Stop breaking my shinai, sensei?

Now I think about it, every time this happened, we did left hand only strikes.
I'm guessing he ends up hitting extra hard because he doesn't have the right hand to help the tenouchi in the last moment.

[ender84567]

fist problem, you shouldn't be waiting until you get home to discover that it is broken. If it is only when yo get home you notice its broken, how do you know who is the one breaking it if its an everyone practice? third, no need for profanity.

[MikeW]

To be honest I don't really like this style of practice as it seems to go against the kendo tenet of treating your shinai as if it were a real sword. I would never stick a shinken out as a target for someone to come along and hit with their sword.

However, perhaps you should mention that your shinai is getting broken when used this way and ask your sensei if you are doing something incorrectly or if he has any advice. This way you bring awareness of the problem but in no way are you making it sound as if you are blaming someone else.

[KawazoeTamaki]

I apologize for the profanity. That was completely unnecessary.
But yeah, I'm pretty sure from whom my shinai is getting broken
by because my dojo/club is quite small and no one else even come close to being capable of doing this.
There is like a big gap in skill, power, and everything else between sensei and everyone else.

[Toecutter]

Just curious but does your shinai go flying when he hits it or is it a more precise strike. I know we practice this at a couple of dojos I go to, the idea is to cut only one stave, not swing through to the floor. Generally the person holding the shinai gives some feed back if you're hitting it too hard. I know recently a very new beginner broke my shinai because they were doing just that, swinging too hard. I know all of my instructors when they hit you can feel the force but its crisp and sharp, and not like a huge mass cutting something aka baseball bat swing. But as mike pointed out you should at least mention the problem to your sensei, possibly the fact that you're holding it above your own head could be an issue too. We were always taught to hold it at the striking persons head not your own.

[tango]

just out of curiosity, what's the rank of your sensei?

[pgsmith]

Maybe it's just me, but something sounds off about the whole deal. Is your kendo dojo AUSKF affiliated?