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.

Zanshin explained

Zan-shin: literal translation is "remaining mind" which means "undivided alertness".

No cut will be considered complete unless a correct Zanshin is implemented. Always.

Zanshin is not a physical attaching technique but it's a way to exhibit the move required in real sword fighting.

It does not require physical strength hence omitting Zanshin / doing it wrong is just a proof that you have not understood the basic kendo protocol, or even the meaning of kendo.

In short, failing to do the correct Zanshin makes your kendo superficial.

Zanshin, originally, was meant to be done towards the person who fell down by receiving a fatal injury from you.

The purpose of Zanshin is not to be complacent about your victory and keep alerted even after your opponent has fall down. (Because they might just be faking it.)

So, Zanshin in olden days was often done towards a dead body, but in case the opponent is faking their death, you still stand a chance with a correct Zanshin.

Failing to do Zanshin could lead you to your demise. If you can't be asked to follow such key protocol, you might just not bother kendo altogether, because there are lots of other protocols that seem pointless unless you understood its history.

You don't need to know everything but when something is required for a correct cut like a Zanshin, you'd better do it properly. Doesn't matter if it's in a match or basic practice, when you cut, do Zanshin, always.

It's more important to do Zanshin in non-competitive set up because unless you makes it a habit, it won't come up during a match, and no Zanshin almost inevitably means no Ippon in a match. No matter how deadly your actual cut is.

Once you cut and gone through, turn around asap and back to cyuudan with a readiness to launch another strike.

Only then, it counts as the end of a cut sequence.

Institutional abuse in kendo community

From my observation, there is a worrying tendency in kendo community which attracts (and sometimes promote) anti-social and abusive behaviour.

These abuses are often take place thinly disguised as part of kendo discipline, and we were led to believe that some unpleasant, manipulative and devious behaviours are part of kendo culture, so, shut up and put up.

But after a few years of regular practice in various dojos, seriously questioning my own findings and some in-depth discussions with experienced practitioners, I now feel that I'm able to distinguish abuse from discipline reasonably well, so I decided to share my concern with wider kendo community.

I believe this phenomenon exists due to the misguided perception of kendo - brutal, archaic, hierarchical & somewhat exotic discipline that (incorrectly but often romantically assumed) operates outside the norms & boundaries of everyday life.

This is far from the image the mainstream kendo community wants to portray, but the reality is that often hierarchical culture in kendo is used as a platform to exercise one's petty authority and inflict abuse on junior members by senior people of undesirable traits.

This issue is not limited to far-flung obscure dojos. Reputable and established dojos in big cities are equally susceptible to this type of insidious problems.

Allowing such devious behaviours poses a risk to the entire kendo community in the eyes of the wider society.

In short, our reputation is at stake.

The institutional problem here is that the victim often feels powerless due to the hierarchical nature of kendo.

Grade and past achievements are highly respected and such prestige culture is a big discouragement for the victim to challenge their senior, and even when they plucked up the courage and complain, they meet with dismissive or indifferent response from their peers and seniors.

Too often their voice is not taken seriously due to the myth that in kendo the higher rank you get more righteous you become.

Such simplistic association is unrealistic yet the kendo community quite readily accepts such naive view when it comes to its members.

There's also a critical flaw in the system, such as the grievance procedure set by the national umbrella organisation which designated the dojo leader as the first point of contact for any grievances - it is wholly inadequate if the dojo leader themselves are causing the problem.

There is also no anonymity for the victim to report an incident, and their complaint is very rarely investigated by the umbrella organisation. Such record simply vanishes into the void.

Given that kendo community is highly intertwined - almost incestuous, even talking to a complaint officer from other dojo risks victim's welfare if the complaint officer is happened to be well-connected to the accused.

They could gang up on the victim and make it impossible for the victim to practice kendo wherever they are present.

Alongside such weak system to prevent abuse, too many aspects of dojo management is left to the discretion of dojo leaders that could be used to conceal internal abuse.

Some dojos carry an air of cult such as blatant hostility towards other dojos and demand excessive devotion to the club from its members. Such controlling atmosphere breeds unhealthy attitude & often resulted in abuse.

Some seniors routinely take advantage of their position to harass junior members of the opposite gender.

When such concern is voiced, typically the dojo leaders (who are not the accused) are disinterested in dealing with such issue and put most of their effort in silencing the victim or sweep the matter under the carpet, or even throw out the accuser from the dojo.

If an adult can be abused like that, more vulnerable group are equally at risk if not grater.

Any of these behaviours are totally against the mainstream kendo value, but the obscure presence of kendo in society, weak internal system and naivety amongst the member are currently allowing such institutional abuse to continue and its victims to suffer in silence.

Such injustice should not be associated with kendo whatsoever, but sadly, that's the current situation from my observation.

And since the abusers are getting away with it, this culture could attract people with similar undesirable dispositions.

It is this indifferent attitude that needs utmost urgent change, and I believe the solution is quite simple.

Think this in terms of acceptable behaviour in a workplace.

Albeit kendo is primarily charity/volunteer activity, that doesn't warrant harmful behaviour. Volunteer activities can be done in a professional manner and such professional culture would attract more people with the right idea into kendo.

The bottom line is, when a type of behaviour is unacceptable in the wider society, it's still unacceptable regardless of whether someone has an exotic hobby or not.

It is rather puzzling that may people within the kendo community seem to think that there's a different law operating inside the kendo community therefore they are exempt from the normal rules & regulations. (a cult-like mindset)

Such misconception is not only irrelevant but also dangerous.

In order to promote healthy & mainstream image of kendo and deliver on it, all of us are responsible to identify and tackle such institutional problems.

I would suggest 3 points below to be introduced and maintained. This level of openness and firm attitude towards abuse would send a strong message to the entire community that kendo will not tolerate abusive behaviour and the perpetrator will face the consequence regardless of their reputation, connection, grade or past achievement.

- acknowledge potential risks and raise awareness amongst its member (education)
- set a clear and fair grievance procedure by the umbrella body (system)
- any incident reported should be anonymised and (with a permission of the victim) shared with the entire community annually as case studies (feedback + preventative effect)

Challenge authority if there's a valid reason.

Kendo should taught you to make a good judgement and act upon it without hesitation.

How to do basic Fumi-komi footwork in Kendo

Stand with both of your knees slightly bent.

Push your right kneecap with your right leg while the balance shft forward (with the upright posture maintained), only when your posture no longer can sustain your forward-shifted balance, your right foot should 'take off' forward and quickly land on the floor again, immediately followed by your old friend the left foot. The 'flight duration' of the right foot should be kept minimum.

Nice Fumi-komi noise happens when you learn to subtly adjust the angle of your ankle on landing. You should feel that the front-half of the right-foot sole captures a packet of air and squash it without putting any pressure on the heel.

Never kick up the right foot like French can-can. Not only the landing noise will be dull but also you are risking to injure your heel bone by landing on it in high velocity with your full weight. Bad idea.

The sole of your right foot and the floor should be as parallel as possible all the time. Even if you can adjust the angle before landing, adjusting a wide angle takes more effort and time than keep the angle always optimum.

If the arch of your right foot can be seen by the people around you, the angle of your sole is too open. To get the optimum angle, the adjustment has to happen in your ankle.

Under any circumstance, including Fumi-komi, you should never land with your heel. Take your heels as  the 'little resting stools' to place your weight from time to time, but not something you can land with it at full power.

Compared to the discipline of swordsmanship itself, fumi-komi is a relatively young technique, apparently. And this is one of the reason why there's no effective, fool-proof way to teach fumi-komi - so I was told.

Said that, it is an effective technique and was developed in order to achieve sharper and quicker footwork with the minimum impact on the body at landing.

To my understanding, fumi-komi should work as a shock absorber with minimum interference to the overall body movement necessary.

Importantly, never forget your old friend the left foot. Fumi-komi is complete only when your old friend catches up with you. Don't leave it alone. I could get very lonely and spoil your kendo.

This article is just for basic technique. Once you become able to make the noise consistently, there are a lot more subtleties to work on to make the sound surprisingly loud. But people who can do fumi-komi consistently should know what to work on, so I won't talk about it now.

Kiri-kaeshi common misconceptions

Receiving role = set the pace but not the distance.
Attacker role = decide the distance but otherwise follow the receiver's pace.

The receiver set the pace (rhythm), attacker decide the distance.

This must be strictly adhered, importantly, regardless of the relative rank between the pair.

Frustratingly, it is very common (and very wrong) to see a senior attacker just cutting like a mad, completely overriding a (junior) receiver's pace.

If the attacker override the receiver's pace, the receiver will never become a good receiver and they will only pick up a bad habit from the misguided attacker, and they will do equally questionable Kiri-kaeshi to other people in their dojo and beyond.

Such indifference will pollute the overall quality of Kendo. Those people are not helping anyone.

And if a practice partner were happened to be trained in a more traditional environment, such Kiri-kaeshi style can be considered as an ignorant and poor behaviour.

Your Kendo credential will be instantly judged by those who know & care.

If the receiver's skill is not up to scratch, the experienced attacker must help the receiver to do better.

Being a receiver also requires a good skill and it comes with practice. The experienced attacker must help the receiver to make that happen.

Overriding the receiver's pace is practically stealing a leaning opportunity from the receiver, and the attacker might wonder why their receiver is always such a pain to practice Kiri-kaeshi with. Well, duh.


Likewise, it is none of the receiver's business to decide the distance.

Unless practising with a 4 year-old beginner as an attacker, the receiver never adjust the distance for the attacker.

Simply because the receiver cannot know the length of the attacker's limbs and how far they can jump. Two individuals with the same height will have different swing range and jumping ability. So, distance is strictly the responsibility of the attacker.

When cuts are done the receiver simply slows down and stop in the position so that the attacker can turn around and adjust the distance for themselves (while the receiver is STATIONARY). Don't even fidget in the slightest. Moving 2cm makes difference.

If the receiver kept moving about, the attacker is just chasing the receiver and cannot decide the correct distance until the receiver eventually stops moving.

The receiver never should waste attacker's time like that.

Kiri-kaeshi sequence is carefully constructed for the maximum effectiveness and efficiency. Being 'creative' doesn't help under such circumstance.