[PickEmUp]

Oh man... I don´t know if I should put this on flames, but..

How do you deal with curious people looking at your training?
Our Dojo is a big room, wuth nice space and floor, but in a part of a soccer stadium. (damn soccer) So there are always those curious damned soccer players who after their game come around our room, and stand outside looking and laughing.

It makes me mad. The other day, none of the senpai couldn´t come, so I was leading the training. Those guys came around and started laughing, I stoped in middle of kakari-geiko, looked at them, hit the shinai on the ground and told em to "get the hell out". Thinking now, I think I was too rude. Don´t know

How do you deal with this? Have you ever gone through this?

[disappointment2]

Probably asking them to watch without disrupting the class would be better.

[GooogleGuy]

Politely invite one of them to try their hand at it.

[MzTT]

Probably.
But then again, I´m just curious. Does this happens only here, or in other dojo around the world as well?
I mean, not exactly soccer players. Any kind of curious, annoying people.

[TainuibeFaimb]

Probably.
But then again, I´m just curious. Does this happens only here, or in other dojo around the world as well?
I mean, not exactly soccer players. Any kind of curious, annoying people.

we get few of those.. but haven't seen anyone laughing at us yet. normally they seat and watch. if they want to know something about what we are doing, they wait till someone is free to talk to them.

pete

[ttoothh]

Ask them if they are interested in what you are doing. After all, they chase a silly black and white ball all over a big field for 90 minutes. I think that's kind of silly myself. But then, I also play golf, so I chase a little white ball all over the place for a couple of hours.

Seriously, the way to get people interested in kendo is to show them respect and even if they are laughing at you, it's more in ignorance than in spite. You need to develop a thick skin, because people will look at you and think you're crazy for hitting each other with shinai. The bar we go to after practice is a great place for this. The regulars always ask us how practice went, but they understand that we're doing something that's difficult.

You can attract more flies with honey than with vinegar.

[unmalryAlalry]

Ask them if they are interested in what you are doing. After all, they chase a silly black and white ball all over a big field for 90 minutes. I think that's kind of silly myself. But then, I also play golf, so I chase a little white ball all over the place for a couple of hours.

George Carlin on Golf:
You hit the ball, you find it, YOU WIN! YOU'RE A WINNER!

[Jon Woodgate]

I know it´s annoying but beeing polite is probably the best way.

We had a kendo demonstration at my school today. There were people from other schools watching and as soon as we shouted the first kiais everybody in the room started laughing. It felt bad but we did our show with honor and we got pretty good applause at the end.

Usually we can practice in peace without beeing disturbed, but once two guys from the country side showed up. They had called one of us and said that they were interested and wanted to buy couple of shinais so they could practice by themselves. They came to watch our practice and strated touching our bogus and other equipment without asking. Someone then asked them to not touch our stuff and they left.

[kazinopartnerkae]

Yes... have seen it a number of times... especially when we leave the doors open to the room we're practicing in.

About the time people start laughing, somebody cracks a hella good nuki-dou or something on somebody and the the laughs turn to WHOA!s....

... and then shortly thereafter, somebody (one of the sempai or the sensei) will walk over to the door and say, "Would you like to come in and watch?" ... and when they say No, they/he says, "Ok" and shuts the door.

...and then they normally leave.

[noingenah]

It probably happens all over the world and it is mostly ignorance. My Iaido dojo practices in a university rec. center so we get lots of window shoppers. Most times it's just quiet observing but sometimes they start talking loudly and disrupting the class or letting rip with the whole 'SAMURAI!!!!!! WOOT' thing or blatant disrespect.

The best way to deal I find is to just ignore them until they start disrupting keiko in which case you have to talk to them. Besides, what's a bunch of snide comments by ignorant people to us? I'd rather get back to practice.

It's also a good lesson in putting distractions out of mind though this one time I heard of people from the university's kendo dojo making fun of Iaido because it was boring/no action. That was a little unnerving considering they were kendoka (albeit ignorant kendoka) but it's just something you have to let roll off your shoulder.

[amagmasia]

Also... be careful about where you put your gear when unknown folks are coming to watch "because they're interested"...

Normally, we just have all our gear off to one side... At our previous location, a guy walked in off the street (dressed relatively respectful) and he sat down (right next to MY pile of stuff) to watch. He asked all kinds of relevent questions... And he stayed a good hour.

On my drive home from class, I realized my wallet was not in my shorts. So I thought maybe I threw it in my bag. Got home... No wallet.
That was a headache going through all the hoops since he had my drivers license and all my credit cards and what not.

Be careful out there.

[arrendabomnem]

this happenes to me every day i practice. but it doesent bother me too much.

when i kiai, people go bug-eyed because of my seriousness.

the other day, i was showing my 4 friends my new shinai/bogu. then one suggested we have a kedno tournament with slightly modified rules. we agreed no tsuki, and you cant hit the head hard. they went home to get there football equiptment and i got into bogu.

when we drew straws, (too see who goes first) i was not in the first run.
my two friends, instead of hitting eachother, HIT THE STICKS TOGETHER!
finally one person landed a kote blow twice and won.

now it was my turn. me vs kyle. he asked me if getting hit hurts and i took off my men, then said "hit me as hard as you can strait down the middle"
he did, it hardly phased me. so there we were, a kendoka vs a kid with football pads and a shinai. when i charged forwared and kiai'd, he FROZE. and forfitted. at the end i won, but thats probly because of the (them) "stand back and swing, after hitting drop back" vs (me) "going forward striking and following through".

[flanna.kersting]

As for me, I have nothing but respect for Iaidoka.
I look at them and think: "Man, I wish I could do that!"

Someday.
All in good time.

[iodillalm]

As for me, I have nothing but respect for Iaidoka.
I look at them and think: "Man, I wish I could do that!"

Someday.
All in good time.

I am also awed that they can perform all these imaginary fights, whilst looking constipated and not utter a single Kiai.
Truly a magnificent feat.
*Disclaimer* This was a joke before the League of Angry Iaidoka is getting angry.

[ENGINESSQ]

Also... be careful about where you put your gear when unknown folks are coming to watch "because they're interested"...

[Adamdjeffe]

Also... be careful about where you put your gear when unknown folks are coming to watch "because they're interested"...

No problem. we keep our equipment in a safe place.

But I think sometimes is hard to be polite with them. and ignoring doesn´t semm to work, either.

Well...it´s a big problem. Maybe the whole society and stuff.

[Habalinnyf]

I stoped in middle of kakari-geiko, looked at them, hit the shinai on the ground and told em to "get the hell out".

1. What does the shinai mean to you as it pertains to kendo?

2. Do you think hitting your shinai on the ground was a good idea?

[WaydayNef]

Well I look at this sort of thing as a good chance to train. If my concentration is broken by external forces, that's my fault. If my kendo is disturbed by people
mis-behaving in my vicinity that's my fault. In practice, I'm here to train others and to train myself.
Even if somone is interested in kendo they'll need to wait until practice is over.
When you say that ignoring them in general does not work, you miss the point of ignoring them. The idea is not to make them behave. They have to choose to do that. The idea is for you to get on with your training without being disturbed by this disruptive influence. If you can't do that when the disruption is external... how do you hope to be able to practice when your disruption is internal?

[TeveVikep]

Makes sense... Makes sense.

After all, in shiai there´s always lots of people talking, looking or simply standing. And we should focus on the match, not on the people around...
Not only on shiai but on many other aspects of life.

I think the other day I was just more angry than usual..