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Post by Jonathan Anderson on Feb 21, 2010 2:36:40 GMT -4
To everyone interested:
Attached is the registration form for the W&M Taikai - to be held Saturday, March 27th, 2010 - and the Shinsa and goodwill geiko - to be held Sunday, March 28th, 2010. If you wish to compete or test, your form must be completed and received by the W&M dojo by Friday, March 12, 2010. If you're testing, I HIGHLY recommend that you do not compete as you will not be able to go into your test fully rested and fresh. Further, if you are testing, you will need to bring your form to me so I can fill in the "instructor recommendation" area.
If there are any questions, please let me know.Attachments:
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Post by sk8ter10121 on Feb 22, 2010 21:40:56 GMT -4
One question, Iaito size really having issues, I cant seem to figure this one out and really dont want to screw this one up lol
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Post by Jonathan Anderson on Feb 23, 2010 18:20:19 GMT -4
For those of you that wish to attempt the shinsa, you will need the following:
Page 4 from the attached TournamentInvitation2010.pdf filled out entirely
Testing fee check:
$20 if you are testing for 2 Kyu or below (should be anyone wishing to test)
$30 for 1 Kyu and above (on the off chance I forgot any potential 1 Kyu or 1 Dan candidates)
Menjo fee check:
$10 if you are age 17 or below and testing for 1 Kyu or below
$20 if you are age 18 or above and testing for 1 Kyu or below
$30 if you are testing for 1 Dan... that is all.
All three items must be received by Friday, 12 March, 2010. You may send them in on your own, or give them to me to send in one envelope all together.
If there are any questions, please let me know.
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Post by Jonathan Anderson on Apr 1, 2010 9:32:57 GMT -4
Greetings All,
Well, the Taikai and Shinsa has come and gone, and I know there's a mix of excitement and disappointment going around as a result of the weekend.
As most of you know, Yoko-dono and I competed in the Taikai, and though we brought home no medals, we did bring home some highly valuable knowledge and experience. We both had the chance to fight some very skilled, very strong Kendo practitioners, and were exposed to a great variety of different tactics and techniques - I'm still a little jealous of Yoko-dono for the fact that she was exposed to Brian Sherry's Nitou. ;D
As for those that attempted their first Shinsa, I know we had all our hopes on reaching Ni Kyu, but I urge you to remember that you were promoted - James and Juan to Yon Kyu, and Amalia to Go Kyu - which shows that the judges felt that your skill is there. Further, this gives us a baseline from which to proceed. I was a bit shocked when they asked you guys to perform Do Uchi during the Kihon portion of the Shinsa, but that just gives us a new thing to include in practice just that much earlier - still not going to worry about Tsuki until you guys are at least Ikkyu, though.  Something else that came to my attention (after the Shinsa) is this: in years past, sensei/dojo heads would, when sending someone to test for any rank between Rokkyu and Ni Kyu, simply put either "Ni Kyu" or "open" on the Shinsa form, and count on the judge's panel to place the student at the rank their skill demonstrated. The high-level sensei want to move away from this practice, and have the dojo heads enter a more personally tailored rank request - that is to say, to not rely on them to choose what rank the student is testing for. I must say that, despite the fact that this will make my life a little tougher, I fully support and agree with this decision. Indeed, I'm amazed that it hasn't happened sooner. What this will do is force those of us that are in the Yudansha ranks to both understand the requirements for each rank - very important, as the high-level sensei will not be around forever to do it for us - and it will make us view the Mudansha students with a more critical eye. I must admit that, to date, I have no idea what a judging panel will look for in a tester for any rank, really. When Michael and I went to test for Ni Dan, I think we both had a few nebulous ideas about what might be looked at, but I know that I had no concept of what the judges would be looking for specifically in a Ni Dan-hopeful that was different from a Shodan or San Dan. As an extension of that, I currently have very little idea of what each Kyu rank should have, aside from the fact that Ikkyu starts utilizing Kendo no Kata, and requires an essay. All of the things I was telling you when we were getting ready for the test are still true - strong fighting spirit, proper reigi and wearing of the uniform, O-waza with firm impact, etc. What I'm not sure of is the difference in skill/presence between, say, a Yon Kyu and a San Kyu. When I tested for Kyu ranks, I pretty much went in with the thought "do your best." Not a terribly strong testing strategy when you really look at it.  As such, I'm going to start reaching out to any sensei I can to start trying to develop a clear picture of what skill is indicative of each Kyu rank so that we can start to more adequately prepare everyone for when they do eventually test for promotion. Bear in mind, this is not going to absorb our training. We aren't going to "train for the rank," as rank promotions are far from the end-all be-all of martial arts practice. Remember: we don't train to attain rank - we train, first and foremost, to refine ourselves, and secondly out of a love for the sword; rank is tertiary to that. Rather, I intend to use such knowledge to refine our training to make it more effective and meaningful for everyone. As for feelings of disappointment on the part of our three testers, I know only too well that such feelings are quite natural. One always seeks to do their best in anything they choose to pursue, so feeling disappointment from this weekend denotes, I believe, an underlying feeling of failure. You three did not fail. You were promoted in rank based on your skill. I've been doing a LOT of reading since this past weekend, and one passage that I read described the feeling one should have upon being struck by an opponent, or even in losing a shiai to an opponent. One should not feel bitter about the strike/loss, nor should they berate themselves over it. One should feel grateful to their opponent for helping them to see where their weakness is so that they may then learn to overcome it. By the same token, you should view the outcome of the Shinsa as 1) a good thing, as you were promoted, and 2) a challenge to push yourself to become even better.
As I said earlier, you may feel disappointment, and that is somewhat natural, but sometimes what seems natural is actually a result of wrong-minded thinking. Adjusting the way we view things and how we think about them is part of how we grow and mature, not only in Kendo and Iaido, but as people. If you are feeling disappointed, then you may be at a crossroad: either quit training (or just quit attempting for promotion), or choose to overcome what may seem like an obstacle. The choice you make will demonstrate your character - choose wisely.
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Post by sk8ter10121 on Apr 1, 2010 10:15:48 GMT -4
I will admit I was a little disappointed with the outcome of the shinsa, however, this was directed inward in knowing that I was not "fully" there and didnt give it my all. I agree when you say it is a crossroad sir =P but I just sped by it doing 90 in a positive direction. I was also a little shocked they were having us performing Do uchi so in the time between 1-27 I was trying to watch and gather what I could before having to do it myself and im sure im not alone in this I kinda freaked out a little when they mentioned it. I did learn alot by witnessing/participating in the shinsa itself, which is something I should have capitalized on back in Oct for Fairfax. To tell you the truth im scared to see what I looked like at the shinsa.
On a side note I will not be able to attend class this weekend as my wife wants to head to D.C. for an inlaw weekend (save me) so I will be up there till Sunday evening (please help me) having easter dinner (seriously) =D.
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Post by kendocubano on Apr 1, 2010 11:07:21 GMT -4
I think Amalia was very disappointed, and I was a bit. Some of it may have been a function of unreasonable expectations. We had primed ourselves to expect Ni kyu, and, therefore, anything less than that seemed like a bit of the failure. As we reassess, in the clear light of day,we have probably only had about 18 kendo lessons since since we started. That is probably not enough to justify the rank. We were surprised by the do uchi as well, and I did what James mentioned, and tried to figure things out for myself. I don't think that the do uchi was what kept us back, though. For me, I think it was the mistakes I made in the reigi, which I attribute to first timer jitters. I don't have a clear picture in my mind of whether I was using good O-waza, but I definitely think my footwork was poor. I'm pretty sure I was picking up rather than shuffling the feet, as the sensei mentioned in his closing remarks. I'm looking ahead to working on some of those things, and we were hoping to look toward the no. Va shinsa in the fall, as a goal to work toward.
We also will not be there this week, because of a number of commitments, including my call schedule, and three separate events that Amalia has to shuffle on Saturday. I would really like to see if there is anywhere or way to add a second class per week. Is there any interest?
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Post by Jonathan Anderson on Apr 1, 2010 12:34:54 GMT -4
It is true that Ni Kyu may have been a little ambitious. I was trying to set everyone's sights high to bring out an even higher level of effort than what you guys usually give. Foot work was a little sketchy for all involved - your feet must, absolutely MUST glide over the surface of the floor, not lift free of the floor, except when doing fumikomi. The floor in the Adair Gym is very sticky, making this difficult, but that is one of the many challenges inherent in a Shinsa.
Something of note for Amalia: when I read some of the AUSKF documentation regarding promotions, one of the things pointed out is that Shinsa judges will take emotional maturity into consideration when choosing what rank to promote a Kendoka to. When grading a child, they will tend to grade a bit lower. Even stating that a child may have superior technique to an adult, but that an adult's mental and emotional development will be superior to that of the child, simply by virtue of having great life experience. This is not to say that Amalia is immature, or that her emotional development is lacking. Rather, one must remember that in Kendo, as with all martial arts, techniques are only the very basic beginnings of what the art teaches us. Techniques are our alphabet; the letters of the alphabet are what make up the great classics, but the wisdom of Sun Tzu for instance did not come from the letters he used to write The Art of War, the letters were the tools he used to convey that wisdom. In a similar way, how we perform our techniques, from a technical standpoint, is important, to be sure, but it's the way we perform our Kendo that is far more important. That is what the judges are undoubtedly looking at with regard to maturity. Further, per AUSKF regulations, she cannot test for Shodan until she is 14 years old. seuskf.org/AUSKFPromotionRegulations.pdf - see page 7, Section III: REGULATIONS FOR DAN PROMOTIONAL EXAMINATIONS. As such, this is a perfect time for her to focus on the Way she does her Kendo, without stressing too much on promotion - which I'll say again, martial arts training is not about the acquisition of ranks and titles. If it makes her feel any better, little Adam has, especially since this past weekend, started to express quite a bit of interest in learning Kendo. If he does start training, and if he does decide that he wants to stick with it, it will be TEN YEARS before he can even think about attempting Shodan... but think of how good he could become in that time. Similarly, Amalia has the option to build her basics to be very strong before testing to the Dan ranks. With regard to future Shinsa, we're going to continue to set the bar high, but that will be a consistent, in-class goal, not something we dust off just for the test.
With regard to adding a second full class to the schedule, Ervin and I spoke about the direction of the group a few days ago, and he mentioned that we could use the school for additional classes during week days, but it would have to be after the regularly scheduled Impact classes end - 8:30 pm. I am willing to look into that as an option, but even a 1 hour class would have us finishing at 9:30, and I don't want any of our younger students to cut into their homework/class study time to come train. As such, I will want to know what everyone's interest and availability is for a second regular class, so think about it, and let me know.
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Post by sk8ter10121 on Apr 2, 2010 17:06:11 GMT -4
Well I would have to talk to the misses of course but one question I do have to ask is are earlier times possible?
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Post by kendocubano on Apr 2, 2010 19:42:37 GMT -4
Ending at 9:30 is a tad on the late side.
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Post by kendocubano on Mar 16, 2011 10:50:42 GMT -4
Since there is no message for the upcoming taikai and shinsa, I'll use this one. Unfortunately, I'm on call this weekend, so I won't be there on Saturday. I'm going to try to go tomorrow night, and, hopefully, Thursday night, in preparation for W&M. Do we have any plans for meeting on the day of, or anything like that? Amalia may or may not make the taikai, but I know she plans to shinsa.
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Post by kendocubano on Mar 15, 2012 23:04:39 GMT -4
I'm not so sure that we filled out the paperwork for the shinsa for this year John. It is, unfortunately, due tomorrow! Help!
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Something else that came to my attention (after the Shinsa) is this: in years past, sensei/dojo heads would, when sending someone to test for any rank between Rokkyu and Ni Kyu, simply put either "Ni Kyu" or "open" on the Shinsa form, and count on the judge's panel to place the student at the rank their skill demonstrated. The high-level sensei want to move away from this practice, and have the dojo heads enter a more personally tailored rank request - that is to say, to not rely on them to choose what rank the student is testing for. I must say that, despite the fact that this will make my life a little tougher, I fully support and agree with this decision. Indeed, I'm amazed that it hasn't happened sooner. What this will do is force those of us that are in the Yudansha ranks to both understand the requirements for each rank - very important, as the high-level sensei will not be around forever to do it for us - and it will make us view the Mudansha students with a more critical eye. I must admit that, to date, I have no idea what a judging panel will look for in a tester for any rank, really. When Michael and I went to test for Ni Dan, I think we both had a few nebulous ideas about what might be looked at, but I know that I had no concept of what the judges would be looking for specifically in a Ni Dan-hopeful that was different from a Shodan or San Dan. As an extension of that, I currently have very little idea of what each Kyu rank should have, aside from the fact that Ikkyu starts utilizing Kendo no Kata, and requires an essay. All of the things I was telling you when we were getting ready for the test are still true - strong fighting spirit, proper reigi and wearing of the uniform, O-waza with firm impact, etc. What I'm not sure of is the difference in skill/presence between, say, a Yon Kyu and a San Kyu. When I tested for Kyu ranks, I pretty much went in with the thought "do your best." Not a terribly strong testing strategy when you really look at it. 
As such, I'm going to start reaching out to any sensei I can to start trying to develop a clear picture of what skill is indicative of each Kyu rank so that we can start to more adequately prepare everyone for when they do eventually test for promotion. Bear in mind, this is not going to absorb our training. We aren't going to "train for the rank," as rank promotions are far from the end-all be-all of martial arts practice. Remember: we don't train to attain rank - we train, first and foremost, to refine ourselves, and secondly out of a love for the sword; rank is tertiary to that. Rather, I intend to use such knowledge to refine our training to make it more effective and meaningful for everyone. As for feelings of disappointment on the part of our three testers, I know only too well that such feelings are quite natural. One always seeks to do their best in anything they choose to pursue, so feeling disappointment from this weekend denotes, I believe, an underlying feeling of failure. You three did not fail. You were promoted in rank based on your skill. I've been doing a LOT of reading since this past weekend, and one passage that I read described the feeling one should have upon being struck by an opponent, or even in losing a shiai to an opponent. One should not feel bitter about the strike/loss, nor should they berate themselves over it. One should feel grateful to their opponent for helping them to see where their weakness is so that they may then learn to overcome it. By the same token, you should view the outcome of the Shinsa as 1) a good thing, as you were promoted, and 2) a challenge to push yourself to become even better.