10 good things about Kendo

**Anjin-san** · 18th March 2005, 09:16 AM

So go on, write 10 cool things that happen to you in Kendo

- being completely and totally shattered, yet calling your reserves and going for just one more cut

- that once a year jigeiko/shiai when you come up from sonkyo and take ippon right away

- the feeling you get when you get cut cleanly by a junior and think 'shit, they're improving!'

- when a sempai you haven't seen in a while does jigeiko with you, and they're surprised at your improvement

- when you're trying to fix a sticking point you've had for weeks, and nothings been working, then you jigeiko with your sensei, he gives you the tiniest bit of advice and it all comes together...

- doing jigeiko with a sensei who can take you to your physical limit, and then just a little bit further

- getting your first set of armour, the new armour smell, thinking 'I'm a Kendoka now'

- the nervousness of your first shiai, overcoming it, and fighting with all your spirit, even if your level means you're on the floor half the time, getting shoved around by guys twice your size. You're happy whether you won or lost, because it was such a rush!

- that one time where you got an unquestionable, rock-solid, 3 flags up in unison, ippon in shiai.

- going the dojo and knowing 'my kendo will be better when I leave here than it was when I came in'

**neko kenshi** · 18th March 2005, 11:41 AM

Heh, good ones. Hmmm,

5 From the beginners perspective:

Actually seeing an improvement in your men after countless suburi

Getting complimented in anyway by a sempai

Finally realising what you've been doing wrong all this time with that _____ waza

Hearing the sound of what you think to be your first clean men

Laughing at how much you suck and resolving to train harder

**ChaShu** · 27th March 2005, 09:51 AM

Here's another two more:

The moment you realise that what you saw some of the more advanced students doing that first practice, and saying to yourself: "I don't know how the hell I'll be able to do that!" is what you're doing now...

Hobbling away from a particularly hard keiko knowing that you still have a long way to go, and resolving to do so.

**Kendoboy** · 3rd April 2005, 06:26 PM

1. Realizing that the things you like about kendo are the same things that everyone else likes about kendo, that you're part of a community that is world wide, and that something as simple as swinging a stick can bring together millions of people.

2. knowing that kendo came from violent origins, but was turned into something that promotes friendship and understanding.

**Hisham** · 3rd April 2005, 10:55 PM

1) Being part of a worldwide community.
2) A good reason to know about another culture
3) Getting to know your body and yourself more, especially when you're at the limit of exhaustion.
4) The workout
5) The opportunity to experience with the waza fully without "harming" your opponent. (i miss this one)
6) The feeling while and after a clean cut by me or on me.
7) Helps with the Spiritual discipline.
8) Maintaining a shinai (one of the reasons that i don't think that i'll ever go for a carbon one)
9) Playing "shinai hockey", that was great fun.
10) to be from time to time humbled.

**Andou** · 2nd May 2005, 03:17 AM

1. The pride you have knowing that you're practicing something hundreds of years in the making.
2. The discipline that comes with it.
3. The feeling after an intense practice.
4. Seeing what kind of person you really are once you put the men on.
5. How senseis can make you feel like a little kid holding a stick in one moment to an accomplished practicioner in another.
6. Finally getting that quick (sometimes cocky!) sempai's men in jigeiko.
7. Seeing attentiveness on behalf of all the students and watching those that slack suffer.
8. Losing all sense of the outside world and only tuned into your opponent and your own breathing.
9. When young kids or beginners see you in bogu and are envious...that feels good.
10. The fact that I have finally found something that I can honestly call my life.

aaaand.
11. The silent satisfaction of knowing that you could hit the kid's head who was fooling with the yard stick 3 times before he fell to the ground.

**eXact** · 9th May 2005, 03:07 PM

1) meeting japanese chicks
2) doing them
3) oh yah the kendo is pretty fun too

wow i have a long way to go, but kendos about spiritual development isn't it?

kendo-boi · 9th May 2005, 03:30 PM

1) meeting japanese chicks
2) doing them
3) oh yah the kendo is pretty fun too

wow i have a long way to go, but kendos about spiritual development isn't it?

Hahaha.....meeting Japanese chinks??

**Andou** · 11th May 2005, 08:29 AM

Originally Posted by eXact

1) meeting japanese chicks
2) doing them
3) oh yah the kendo is pretty fun too

wow i have a long way to go, but kendos about spiritual development isn't it?

I hope you're kidding.

**GoldenShinai** · 11th May 2005, 08:34 AM

Originally Posted by eXact

1) meeting japanese chicks
2) doing them
3) oh yah the kendo is pretty fun too

wow i have a long way to go, but kendos about spiritual development isn't it?

wow, that was a little overboard.

**Anjin-san** · 11th May 2005, 09:14 AM

Good replies those of you who went with the spirit of the thread. I find that its different every time I think about it, group hug!

I hate to agree with GoldenShinai, but the rest of you guys are freaks. If you had just said, yeah japanese girls are cool then thats ok. But the rest? Its not really appropriate. And this is coming from ME ffs.