Know your place

Wherever you practice kendo, you need to be aware of the dojo layout, especially the notion of the 'cardinal side' within any given practice space.

The cardinal side serves as a reference point to determine who does motodachi first, and this is the side you should never invade to wear/correct your armour.

This is the side exclusively for sensei/leading senior/dojo flag etc. Consider this in the same context as the altar in a church, only without physical features.

You should treat the cardinal side in the same way as a church altar and do not leave your bags or prepare yourself on that side - unless you are a sensei or the leading senior who sits facing everyone else during the line up (and I believe those senior people are already familiar with this spatial concept).

*Note that kendo doesn't push religion. It's only a reminiscence of it and modern kendo regard such notions only as custom/tradition.

The general criteria for deciding the cardinal side & where the line up starts:

1. the most detached (usually long) side of the hall from the entrance
2. line up starts from the furthest corner from the entrance

So, the position of the cardinal side & lining up order senior --> junior is not fixed, it's totally depending on the position of the entrance and the furtherest long side of a given space.

Snr->Jnr line up criteria example (some house rules apply): Higher grade in armour > if same grade = older first > people in dougi > people with plain clothes > people came late (regardless of grade)

Now you know your place.

Picky about partner

When you practice in a carousel format, intentionally skipping your turn in order to avoid / select who you practice with, is blatant cheating & extremely rude.

If you are ready to go but stand around by the carousel when there's a spare person standing in the waiting corner, it's the equivalent of telling them 'you are not good enough for me' in their face. That's arrogance.

It's not just rude to the person who wasted their time and disadvantaged by your act, but this sort of selfish behaviour is hindering the club's growth as a whole, and to a large extent detrimental to the development of the entire kendo community.

It should not be too difficult to realise that you take your senior's experience to improve yourself, likewise you are RESPONSIBLE for the development of your junior - in the same way as your senior spent time & effort practising with you, no matter how boring it might've been to them.

If you wilfully break this cycle and only practice with your seniors, the whole system will collapse.

What if your senior had the same idea and refused to practice with you? If you think it's OK for you, you cannot condemn others for behaving in the same way.

There's a very good reason why kendo practise has various formations & formats. These are developed over time to ensure that the skills are passed onto the next generation effectively.

When a carousel format is in place, refusing to practice with whoever standing in front of you is a clear indication that you are ignorant, greedy, irresponsible & undisciplined. You are telling everyone that you have failed to grasp the core value in kendo.

Some may regard such behaviour pathetic, but they won't tell you that because they don't want to waste their breath.