Personal Safety

[Moshe Shanon]

Hello Everyone,



I am a board member of the Israeli Kendo and Budo Federation

www.kendo.co.il One of the decisions in our last meeting was the increase the trainers personal safety i.e. prevention of training accidents. Does any one have anything to contribute? For example do you have regular equipment inspection any guide lines to follow? Do any of the official bodies have regulation on that?

(We are talking about Iaido, Kendo and Jo)



Please e-mail me at mosheshanon@gmail.com



Best Regards,

Moshe Shanon

Equipment Officer.

[LarsCW]

My senseis always remind the beginners that aren't in keikogi and hakama to roll up their trousers if they could be too long and during taiso while we have to run we are warned about the possible too long hakama.

Ofcourse we are reminded to check our shinai before ji-geiko.

[Anime12478]

I have several things in mind.

1. Eat a good meal, preferrably something with carbs and protein, before going to practice, yet do not eat them too close to the time of practice or some of that meal might end up on the floor.

2. Drink lots of water before practice. This is especially important for those that wear armor since most people do sweat a lot.

3. Before ANYTHING is done in Kendo, make sure that you stretch first. It will reduce injury due to non-flexible muscles and it helps reduce the lactic acid buildup from straining your muscles.

4. If you notice any sort of pain beyond blisters during Kendo, tell the sensei/sempai immediately! It's foolhardy to think that you can go on with an injury untreated. We need to gain more kendokas, not lose them to injury due to wanting to be "samurai-like" or tough.

[Pauly]

Shinai maintenance.

[mystic_kendoka]

Shinai maintenance.

yes i think that would be the most important, one of the scariest things in kendo, is learning that one of your friends have never oiled/sanded their shinais...

some dojos dont even tell their students (how) to do so..

[vyung]

I agree with all the points that were mentioned in the previous posts.

Keeping a first aid kit in the dojo and having at least one person who knows how to apply first aid might also be ideal.

[ratdeau]

4. If you notice any sort of pain beyond blisters during Kendo, tell the sensei/sempai immediately! It's foolhardy to think that you can go on with an injury untreated. We need to gain more kendokas, not lose them to injury due to wanting to be "samurai-like" or tough.

So true! The most important point IMHO.

[Seiza_Seizure]

Blood on the dojo floor from mishaps. Ensure that it is cleaned up with dissinffectent immediately, to minimise the chance of spreading any blood born virus`. The bleeder should then be asked to commit seppuku.

[nodachi]

Seiza seizure.... fix your order there... if you clean up the blood and THEN order sepuku, you have to do twice the cleaning. The sepuku should be immediate so you only have to clean once!

[Seiza_Seizure]

Seiza seizure.... fix your order there... if you clean up the blood and THEN order sepuku, you have to do twice the cleaning. The sepuku should be immediate so you only have to clean once!

How silly of me. Good thinking there nodachi. No double handling!

[ReKru]

Do any of the official bodies have regulation on that?

DKenB (the german kendo association) requires taking apart and reassembling your shinai for 5th kyu - under the watchfull eyes of the grading committee.
Most people hate that part of the grading, some don't perform very well, but I think at that stage you should be able to perform such a mandatory task of shinai maintenance, so it's not that out of place.
Would frighten me of someone with 6-12 month kendo experience doesn't know how to disassemble his shinai for maintenance (sanding & oiling).

[Paikea]

DKenB (the german kendo association) requires taking apart and reassembling your shinai for 5th kyu - under the watchfull eyes of the grading committee.
Most people hate that part of the grading, some don't perform very well, but I think at that stage you should be able to perform such a mandatory task of shinai maintenance, so it's not that out of place.
Would frighten me of someone with 6-12 month kendo experience doesn't know how to disassemble his shinai for maintenance (sanding & oiling).

There's a good idea...probably adds a lot of time to the shinsa though.

[ReKru]

There's a good idea...probably adds a lot of time to the shinsa though.

Not that much. Maybe an additional 5-10 minutes while the judges fill in the extensive paperwork german gradings require.

Don't know if that's a DKenB rule, but every tournament I've attended until now had mandatory shinai checks before the action started.
Not measuring the shinai, but some experienced people looking at the condition of the shinais that are going to be used in the tournament - checking for splinters, if all the cords are tightly tied etc.
Those that pass get marked (usually some fancy colored tape around the handle) and only the ones that passed are allowed to be used.

Adds at least some minimal security that you don't get clubbed to death with the least splintering club someone found at the bottom of his drawer.

[nodachi]

That happens at lots of tournaments, but the ones I have been to use a stamp that gets stamped on the shinai by the tsuba.

[Charlie]

Shanon-sensei, we'd love to hear more about the state of kendo in Israel.

We have two golden rules at practice.

1) The foot rule. "If your feet hurt and you can keep going, okay, but if they bleed, STOP."

2) The dehydration rule. "If you feel like you're going to pass out, are dizzy, or are going to throw up, STOP. You may be dehydrated and may have to sit out the rest of practice." (Sorry, no puking in the men here.)

We also warn noobs and even some advanced people about taiatari. Namely, to hit back with your guts and to do so with straight feet so that you don't get knocked on your back/back of head and so you don't twist your ankle staggering backwards.