Advice for goals in Kendo at 56 years of age (as a re-starter)

by Markus
(Switzersland)

Dear Imafuji-San,

First of all thanks a lot for your great website and the may helpful Videos. Keep on that way!

I kindly ask you about an personal advice about goals in Kendo in my case.

I'm a single guy and close to 57 years old. Until 1991 I practiced Kendo for ca. 4 years and stopped when I was about 21 due to bad experiences in the traning and a mixture of low self esteem and other issues. I did only Iaido for myself after it. I realized what Kendo could be for me and so here we are with another mindset and after more than 30 years of absence and I started this January again in a Dojo near Lucerne, SWitzerland.

It feels great and was one of my best decisions during the last years. I was allowed to wear the Bogu from the first session and it felt as "home" again. Of course, my Kihon and Waza are not solid, yet at 5th Kyu only, but I have a good understanding about Basics and I am quite fast compared to others doing it longer than me. I go to training if possible 3 thimes a week and do a lot of Midori-Keiko. So, Kendo became an important part of my life (or the rest of it). My goal is (today) achieving at least 5th Dan and become a strong and competent Kendoka able to share my experience with others and and teach. So the question is:

What's the best "game plan" to achive this goal? I have not big expectations from tournaments, but I will go there and want to compete strong. The thing that panics me is to assume I could become around 80 years before I will be even eligible to go to the 5th Dan exam. I am very aware that there are waiting times between Dan gradings and no shortcuts (as far as I know). However, can you give me any advice how long it would take in my case from 5th Kyu to 5th Dan and what's best way to reach the goal in the most efficent way

and in a reasonable time span?

Thanks for your reply and help very much.

Kind regards,
Markus


Kendo-Guide.Com:
Dear Markus,

Thank you for your email, and first of all, welcome back to the kendo community! It is great to have you back after 30 years. Also, thank you for your kind words regarding my work; I am very happy to hear that it helps your training.

Step 1: Your Immediate Focus
To reach your goal, you must listen to your sensei carefully and get 1-kyu first. For 1-kyu, it is very important to:

• Be loud! (Big Kiai)


• Do big cuts.


• Focus on your kirikaeshi and basic strikes under your sensei’s guidance.

Also, please start working on Fumikomi. You don’t need to do it perfectly right now, but you should start practicing it. This is one of the biggest hurdles for many adult practitioners.

The Timeline to 5th Dan
Regarding your concern about time: after you get shodan (1st dan), there are mandatory waiting periods:

• 1 year to get 2nd dan.


• 2 years to get 3rd dan.


• ...and so on.

In total, it will take about 10 years of eligibility to reach 5th dan. However, once you reach a certain age—usually 60 or 65—some federations offer a "discount" on these waiting times. They actually stopped this system for a while, but they brought it back (at least in the US). Please double-check with your local kendo federation, as rules can vary from one federation to another.

How to Train Effectively
It would take a long time to explain everything here, but please make sure you know what is expected at each level. I recommend you read this article: Requirements to pass 1-dan, 2-dan, and 3-dan.

My biggest advice is this: Have one specific goal for each practice. Many people train randomly, hoping to improve faster, but that doesn't work. Choose one thing for one training session—for example, "be louder" or "keep the left knee straight."

Anyway, since you emailed me, I will make a video for you and send it over. I think that will be much easier to explain.

Thank you again, and welcome back to kendo!

Best regards,
Masahiro Imafuji