Since moving to Japan I don’t get much chance for competition. In a good year, maybe 3 or 4 shiai at most. Humph. But why compete anyway? How important is it in search for the meaning of kendo?
If we look at Japanese kids kendo progression we see that (for the ones that get good at least) they spend the majority of their early kendo lives (from 6yrs – 21yrs) practising kihon and taking part in shiai. The former exists for the latter. For some kids shiai come often and in rapid succession. 20-30 competitions a year doesnt seem too high a figure if we talk about serious kendo kids in serious kendo clubs. When they get older the amount of competitions will fall and, when you enter adulthood, they might stop competing altogether.
So, is shiai important? Personally, I feel that everyone must go through a competition-heavy phase in their kendo career. Without it there will be something missing in your kendo. Of-course, practising outside of Japan we dont have the infrustructure in place to compete so often and especially not at younger ages. Too bad. But this is changing for the better.
Going back to my problem: living in Japan and studying kendo as a non-Japanese I find myself competing very little and often against terrible odds!!! To combat this, i’d like to have an All-Japan-Foreign-Kenshi-Kendo-Championships type of thing started. It might take some time to happen, but I reckon I will live to see it done!
