[HedoShoodovex]

I started kendo at a Japanese high school when I was an exchange student. The training was hell on earth. Hot, hard, long, pretty violent, and every single day without a break. I've kept it up, but not many of my high school kendo peers have. A minority continued through at university level, and had to quit when they started working. Still, every now and again when they do hit the dojo floor, they still retain most of the skills that were drummed into them in the school dojo all those years ago.

High school is supposed to be hard for the mere fact that kids can take the physical punishment. It is a way of instilling dicipline, and also making kendo movement and techniques second nature (or even first nature!) This base of hard training continues on to the next level (usually at university) where students have still got the high school fire in their guts, but now have the capacity and time to refine their movement, and understand the principles of the techniques they are executing. These two components are what develops into strong seme, so even though high school kid's kendo may be untidy, and very non-orthodox to watch, it is actually serving a purpose. Of course that purpose can only come to fruition if the practitioner continues through to the next levels.

As you get older, you learn to refine your movement out of necessity. You just can't keep up and do the things you could do in your teens (otherwise you risk serious injury). However, if you've got speed, agility, and incredible stamina, why not use it? The point of Japanese high school kendo is to form the base for things to come. In Japan, these stages in kendo development are clearly divided and visible according to age. School clubs offer a very clear example of kendo progress and attitudes. The kendo evolves from elementary, jr high, high school, university, then companies and so on. At each instituition the focus of training is different, and usually suits the mental and physical maturity of the age group. High school kids are strong, fast, and have bags of stamina, but not the maturity of a university students. So training is based around utilising the attributes they have got as a lead on to the attributes they will develop later as they evolve physically and mentally.

In the west we don't have the luxury of jumping onto the kendo conveyor belt, and receiving the training regimented to suit our age and level. Everybody trains at the same machi dojo, together, regardless of age or level. Thus, when a young hotshot high school kendoist from Japan shows up, people cringe at how awful their kendo looks. It's quite simple. It's just a teenage phase they are going through, and this will lead onto bigger and better things. Basically the process which is used in Japan to learn kendo differs greatly to the method of progression outside Japan. For instance, even though many Japanese kendoka start at a very young age, the majority of non-Japanese practitioners start in their twenties, or later. There's no way we should all be doing the same thing...

[Hofonom]

Hi all!

Found this forum a while ago. Have been reading, but now I feel like asking as well.

Umm... So do you think the high school kendo training is effective? I have a couple of Japanese friends who said that a large proportion of the kendo population was lost when those young kendoka got into universities. It is like... their parents/school compulsary education made them into kendo. Whether they will stay as a kendoka for the rest of their lives really depends.

Besides, I think it is quite hard to explain the concept of "seme" and other "technical stuff" to a kid... if they treat kendo as a form of exercise/sports rather than martial arts...

What do u think?

Jenny

[syncFisee]

I've heard that Japanese High School Kendo is the most arduous of the Kendo practices, but because of it its also the most successful way of teaching. Anybody know exactly what they do in those practices to make it so difficult?

[PZXjoe]

Hi George,

It would be very difficult to reach their level without the same sort of full on training they had in their youth. Besides that, they train very hard everyday with the best of them now. However, it can be like the rabbit and the tortoise. As long as you keep training well into your senior years, things seem to level out.

[psbiuigw]

Hi Alex et al,

Without that high-school-crazy-kendo-phase is it possible to become a Miyazaki or an Eiga ?

I, like most people I guess, find it hard to believe that I could. In fact, "hard" is understatement !!

Though I did get Eiga-sensei a good men-uchi in brussels last dec.......

What do you think?

[ZanazaKar]

Judging from the high schoolers and recent graduates I've seen in the states, the training seems to focus as much on speed and stamina as much as anything. Not that speed and stamina are bad, but the few people I've been able to watch and practice with, while blindingly fast and able to practice all day and most of the next one, were, for the most part, sloppy and very "bouncy." Lots of head bobbing, ducking, etc, as well as just bouncing up and down. For the most part, if you just stay on center, they impale themselves on your kisaki.

Now, the university students I've met are something else. They still have all that speed and stamina, but add good seme, control of the center, strong posture, etc.

[Numbiydq]

Large helpings of kakarigeiko, uchikomi and kirikaeshi would have the most influence, in addition to long and frequent practice times!

This isn't necessarily the best way of training for all, though, particularly as you get older.

Hamish

[WhonyGataxott]

Umm...right. Who can afford to practice every single day when they have to cope with heavy academic studies at the same time?
Issue of personal time management?

[asypecresty]

Well, haven't your parents ever made you do something or go somewhere you didn't want to? A lot of times parents push their children to live the life they never had.
And in reference to kendoka dropping out in college: I do kendo at berkeley so we get a lot of students coming from the campus and the problem is that schools tough. We have, out of 15 students who go to the campus, maybe 1 or 2 regulars going to practice. Students make the decision that school is more important than kendo, so that may be why a large portion of kendoka drop kendo in college.