I am really warming to the subject of kendo teaching, so thought I would give it one more burst. I noticed that a dojo in the Mid West is offering online kendo tuition. This may be a great idea, but it reminded me, and perhaps it will my older readers, of the advertising in the back of bygone boys comics for postal courses on “jiujitsu” sic. and bodybuilding. One of these famously elicited the reply, “Dear Charles Atlas, I have completed your course, please send me my muscles”
Seriously, I do not know if you can learn kendo online, or from books or videos, for that matter. I have always thought that the traditional Japanese teaching approach of demonstration followed by the individual constantly repeating the action until everyone is satisfied, as being the easiest way to commit kendo techniques to muscle memory. I am also wary of over analysis and thinking too deeply about kendo in that we are aiming to react to opportunities instantly in a state of “no mind”.
Following Tesshu and Ittosai’s guidance on repetition leading to mastery, kendo has developed on the principle that you should train exhaustively until each technique becomes an extension of yourself. However on the basis of “garbage in garbage out” it pays to have a qualified teacher watching over you and ensuring that you get it right from the start and continue to make it better.
Do books and visual aids work? I am sure they do, but not in isolation. Books, web sites and blogs offer theory, history and discussion, but are not ideal to learn technique. Video whether online or DVD gives you the opportunity to watch techniques carried out by experts.
Chiba sensei’s latest book incorporates a DVD which shows each technique in full motion and correlates to the relevant page. Information of this kind is a valuable supplement to your normal dojo training, but would not work on its own for a raw beginner.
My own favourite instruction manual is Youtube, which has some great video footage of kendo. If you seek out the semi-final and the final videos of this year’s eighth dan holders’ competition, you will see a master class of how men and kote should be done in shiai. However as for learning exclusively from the screen or books, I am not so sure. As always please don’t, and I am sure you won’t, take my word as gospel, as I may be biased. My last experience of e-learning cost me a laptop, when I knocked a glass of wine into it whilst trying to learn a guitar solo.
Dear Geoff,
My name is Matt and I have been following your blog for about a year now! I’d just like to say that I have enjoyed reading every single one of your posts and was wondering if you’d be open to an email interview regarding kendo and its teachings?
I believe the issue to be that many people who do not entirely understand kendo think that kendo is something that can be self-taught… after-all, Miyamoto Musashi taught himself fencing (before meeting the famed Priest Takuan). In my experience, the majority of people seem to think that if Miyamoto Musashi did it, so could they! I admit that when I first started learning kendo (at 8), I was guilty of the same thoughts.
Most of us are not as talented as Musashi for one, and besides– none of us want to live in the mountains for decades eating squash and raw birds (movie/taiga drama reference
).
Personally, I am a firm believer that part of one’s kendo journey is the pursuit of knowledge. A technique, for example, may not make sense to you when a teacher is attempting to teach it to you directly. It may, however, become clear once you read it thoroughly described, explaining every subtle detail and the meaning behind each movement.
Thanks for the opportunity to reply to your post!
Dear Matt
Thank you for your comment. I would be happy to do an email interview with you.
You make some interesting points and I agree that people, especially younger folk may take the view that kendo can be self taught. My grandson, aged 5 told me that he did not have to go to football training anymore, because he learned how to play football last week.
Also Musashi sat in a cave and formalized his thoughts on technique after a lifetime of killing people with a sword, and he had started his career with rigid kenjutsu training.
Kendo tends to appeal to very bright, well educated people, in my experience many of them come from science backgrounds. The challenge therefore is to get them to suspend their analytical approach and just do the basics without thinking. This applies to building the physical kihon necessary to develop in kendo.
As you progress you will of course want to learn more about the history and theory which you can get from a variety of third party sources. Once you have the basics, you want to learn more about which techniques work in which circumstances, how to react to different opponents etc. and you can learn from other’s experience, online, from a book or a chat over a beer.
Kind regards
Geoff
Dear Geoff,
Sorry I didn’t know where else to contact you. Could you please send me an email through the one listed above? Or email me at info@kendokorner.com. Thanks!
Matt