there was a great documentary on nhk yesterday following Ogata-Sensei (a 5th dan jodan kendoka) who took part in a kendo endurance test.

his sensei was Shindo-Sensei who finished 3rd in the 38th all japan champs and who taught him jodan. Shindo-Sensei had died several years before and this endurance test was in his honour. i'm not sure, but it may be a yearly test.

Ogata-Sensei, and 5 or 6 others, had to fight continuosly for 3 hours against 36 opponents. the matches were not sanbon-shobu, all were the same length, and i think that the level of the opponent increased as the tournament went on.

Ogata-Sensei was awesome, often scoring 5 points in a match. i think that he only drew 2 or 3 matches and lost one. by the end of it he was pretty done in, as you would except. his opponents towards the end were showing him no mercy and repeatedly taking advantage of his fatigue and knocking him down but he kept getting back up.

it reminds me of a quote by daredevil evil knievel;
"the bottom line is, a man can fall many times but he only stops being a man when he refuses to get up."

the documentary was in the style of the well known one about Eiga-Sensei, blending clips from his home life, work (as a prison officer) and his training.

has anyone here ever taken part in such a similar test?