Is this good or bad?

[Taylor]

No. Of course not. You have? Who hit you with their men in the face?

I got hit in the face by my sensei during kakarigeiko, have the scar to prove it.

[Davey]

Have them store your equipment in an office where you can gain access to it. They will feel they have positive control on the situation. Give them a schedule of your Kendo class times etc. All you really need to train with on the side is your shinai to do suburi with. Cardio is good as well. Find some common ground with them and be polite about it. Educate them about Kendo. I hope this helps some. Good luck.

[rfoxmich]

I like where Davey is going with this. I'd go a bit further.
1. Tell them you understand their concern about other students possibly grabbing your stuff and using it as weapons and that you sympathize with their need to maintain a safe and supportive atmosphere at the school.
2. Let them know your dojo's practice schedule.
3. Refer them to some videos of shinai kendo and kendo kata so that they can see what you are doing and why access to a boken, your shinai and your bogu are essential for practice. Refer them also to the purpose and concept of kendo so that they can see why you practice (http://www.kendo-fik.org/english-pag...t-of-Kendo.htm)
4. Ask them to suggest a procedure that would satisfy them that their concerns are met while allowing you to continue their practice.

Negotiate with them around what they suggest, until you can find something that meets both of your needs. Ask them to review this process after a trial period to see if it needs any adjustment. Be flexible and understanding of their concerns for the safety of their students and their legal exposure if a student is injured by someone using your boken.

I feel/fear that in our modern society this is going to increasingly be a problem for younger kenshi. We as the world kendo community are going to have to start to develop strategies to work with schools to meet their concerns while retaining our ability to help younger kenshi practice so that kendo can continue to grow.

Best of luck. Let us know how all this works out, what solution you found and how well it worked. We can all learn from this exprience...as i recall there was another thread similar to this involving a U.S. college in Pennsylvania IIRC.

[jjcruiser]

I got hit in the face by my sensei during kakarigeiko, have the scar to prove it.

This is very confusing to me. You mean your sensei crashed into you, while both of you were wearing bogu, and it was so hard it injured your face?

I'm not doubting that happened -- although this is the first time I've ever heard of such a thing -- but I should clarify what I meant. I meant that his bogu (men specifically), by itself, sitting on the OP's floor, doesn't look anything like a dangerous weapon. I meant that no one picks up a men off the floor and swings it around. And if they did, it wouldn't be any more dangerous than a laptop or a six pack of diet coke, so I didn't see why it should be banned.

[Tort-Speed]

I'd guess the "men" looks kind of Darth Vaderish, unlike an American football, or a motorcycle, helmet, the face guard scary compared to foil-fencing, right? The padding's on the outside (tare, doh), compared to baseball, hockey, soccer and so on's protectors. People tend to fear or mistrust what they don't know. A matching, dark blue Kendo bogu set can look strange - most folks, I imagine, haven't seen it up close...or at all. Bureaucracy means, gotta work within or carefully tread around the system: as those in charge have the control, can't fight it.
Just 5¥ worth from a formerly totally rebellious student. I suggest checking out the game of Go (or E-Go), which can help how to think "outside the box". Its attack goes all around the wooden board on which black and white stones are placed. If you can't succeed here, you look elsewhere, etc. May be interesting cross-training for battling bureaucracy.But beware they don't try to confiscate your board or stones, so buy a cheap portable, plastic set; practice it in games on the Internet?

[Taylor]

This is very confusing to me. You mean your sensei crashed into you, while both of you were wearing bogu, and it was so hard it injured your face?

I was doing kakarigeiko and one thing lead to another, I wasnt wearing men and smacked my face into his men. Good times

[Taylor]

Oh, and more on topic, people in my dorm were too scared to touch my stuff. Just incase they caught something from it.

[Ruleslawyer]

Might try and see what their policy is on Olympic fencing equipment. It might give you a template on how to approach the school. They're much more likely to have experience with that than kendo equipment.

[sarge127]

we'll after a long chat over the small break (The Beginning of 2nd semester), they will allow me to keep my PERSONAL POSESSIONS.
However, if i ever go train in the basement (Which is huge, compared to our dojo). I can't let anyone come and fiddle with it because everyones curiosities around kendo... I gave them a big stack of photocopied paper on Kendo... So all is good gentlemen! My kendo road is now set and sail... x]