Comments for Hit them while they are down?

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Jul 20, 2013
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by: Anonymous

I would like to share a somewhat similar experience I had and maybe get a few comments on that.

I have no problem and understand the philosophy behind allowing executing one strike on someone after they fell down. But only if they fell down by themselves or have been thrown out of balance by a legitimate kendo technique.

What left me in mixed feelings was this year's EKC. I saw by all means something that is quite far from what I regard as ideal kendo.

First of all, as Imafuju-san said, kendo starts and ends with respect. That mutual respect is shown through a performance of specific physical actions such as rei and sonkyo. Through the form of those actions we show our respect.

I'm sorry to say, I saw a little meaning put behind those actions. A lot of competitors weren't paying attention to what their opponent did, it felt like they were just completing a simple must-do set of movements on their own. Especially after the match was over the person who lost seemed to want to get out of the shiai jo as quickly as possible.

And going back to falling down, there was one extremely disturbing, in my opinion, occasion, when a competitor from Hungary intentionally flipped over his opponent. When his opponent was striking men and dashing towards him, he basically crouched to get under the opponents feet and then stood up throwing his hands forward and sending the other player flying.

That looked very dangerous and might have led to a serious injury. Also he didn’t look even once to his opponent's side when he was lying on the floor, just turned his back on him and walked away.

The judges didn't even give a penalty for that, though there's not much point in giving a penalty when your opponent is hurt and can't continue the fight in full strength due to an intentionally caused injury.

Overall I saw a lot of "strength oriented matches", with a lot of pushing and shoving, hitting unprotected areas of the body and then taking advantage, keeping a shinai on an opponent's should for far too long to defend against hiki waza and so on. Kendo should start and end with respect, but it shouldn't be forgotten that there is also respect in between.

Sorry for my ramblings.

Kendo-Guide.Com: Thank you for sharing your opinion. I agree with you. You should pay respect to your opponent and also shiai regulations and rules.

I saw the video in question before it was gone. It was an intentional throw. That was dangerous. In my personal opinion, the guy should have been disqualified.

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