[hapasaparaz]

It all depends on who is victorious I remember something I've heard quite a lot - that when your opponent scores a hit on you, what they have done is effectively helped you by showing you where you left an openning. I think if you look at it that way, the person who scored the hit has gained by scoring the hit. The person who has been hit has gained by knowing where the weakness is (to overcome something, you need to know what you're overcoming).

Don't start reading books and say that you suddenly understand kendo/ iai or whatever MA you do I know what you mean T but in defence of Creepieguy, I know where he's coming from. You can hear something over and over again and understand it in theory as words. Then something happens (whether it be a good thing or a bad thing) and suddenly click, you get it and you really understand what it means. Not suddenly being able to do something perfectly or understand something perfectly but a kind of understanding that enables you to then take that to a new level. I've experienced this in tai chi, chi kung, archery and in kendo (being a beginner in kendo something will finally go 'click' and I go 'ah, I get it' and then I can start really progressing on it, even if it's just a feeling you get, like how you can just tell when an arrow is going to go straight, no matter how many times you get told before that first magical time you experience it, don't let fly unless it feels right).

Ack. That was rather long-winded. Did I make sense?