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In one match I had at least three gogi and the match was stopped more times than that. For instance I got the opponents shinai under my chin, the head shimpan asked if I was ok, then they had gogi and he asked again!! Also, he had problems with pronouncing the commands, sounded like nothing I've heard before.

Simple explanation: inexperienced shinpan.

Unrelated musing...

Check out in the doco "A Single Blow (Tada ichigeki ni kakeru)" how Eiga sensei reflects on his loss to Miyazaki. Now the video of Miyazaki's men always made it look suspect. And Eiga was dumbfounded at the time that his kaeshi do didn't get the point. It certainly looked like he was robbed. But the point was he used that incident as the opportunity to deeply examine his own kendo. In the end he was able, with a lot of effort, to move past it and turn it to his advantage.

Why did he create an elaborate narrative for himself about how the shinpan awarded Miyazaki the point because it was uncalculated, natural, mushin etc? Well mainly because it gave him the possibility of doing something about it. "I didn't win because my kendo wasn't good enough" is not a weak attitude, it holds open the possibility of, "but I'm going to work hard and make it better." "I was robbed" is a weak attitude but also, ultimately, self-destructive because it casts oneself as the victim of forces outside one's control. And victims, while blameless, don't have the power to ever change their situation.

I suppose my point is: victim or perpetrator, the choice is (except in extreme situations) yours to decide which you are.

Just thoughts prompted by the discussion...

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