DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - What does it take to graduate to bogu -- instructor's POV

**oneliRafmeene** · 03-27-2011, 05:45 AM

making someone train for (say) six months before they can really experience kendo could be considered unreasonable.

My instructors have noted some students who started out very keen, but stopped coming once they were expected to wear bogu. Its a further shame for those students who actually invested in a set of bogu for which they ultimately had no use.

Is this a noted phenomenon anywhere else?

First off, i think everyone is different, and that there is no set time for wearing bogu! i think too early can be a hiderance to many people

My sempai kept me out of bogu for 6 months, by the time i got it i could do a fairly decent big men and good kirikaeshi. i think by being introduced to the way a kendo class worked without bogu, and getting used to cutting on the men, going through, recieving on the shinai etc all made it easier for me to get used to the bogu. 6 months later i passed my shodan, so im fairly confident that this method works!

but, as an instructor now, i know that not everyone is as eager as i was then, and that you sometimes have to make decisions based on individuals! so long as they can do ippon uchi (nidan waza too) and kirikaeshi to a decent level then i think its ok to let them have a go!

i think that happens everywhere!

03-27-2011, 05:45 AM	#17
oneliRafmeene Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 409 Senior Member	making someone train for (say) six months before they can really experience kendo could be considered unreasonable. My instructors have noted some students who started out very keen, but stopped coming once they were expected to wear bogu. Its a further shame for those students who actually invested in a set of bogu for which they ultimately had no use. Is this a noted phenomenon anywhere else? First off, i think everyone is different, and that there is no set time for wearing bogu! i think too early can be a hiderance to many people My sempai kept me out of bogu for 6 months, by the time i got it i could do a fairly decent big men and good kirikaeshi. i think by being introduced to the way a kendo class worked without bogu, and getting used to cutting on the men, going through, recieving on the shinai etc all made it easier for me to get used to the bogu. 6 months later i passed my shodan, so im fairly confident that this method works! but, as an instructor now, i know that not everyone is as eager as i was then, and that you sometimes have to make decisions based on individuals! so long as they can do ippon uchi (nidan waza too) and kirikaeshi to a decent level then i think its ok to let them have a go! i think that happens everywhere!
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