The Mindset of the Learner

It can sometimes be very rewarding to teach beginners as they have few expectations and biases and are a mostly empty cup to fill.

Putting your brain into the student mindset

Those of you who have been living in my eyebrows for the last few years will know that my budo interests have been steered towards improving budo coaching through some shallow dives into sports coaching theory. These dives have taken me past the colourful coral gardens of ZPD, scaffolding, the GROW model and other interesting underwater features. These have been very much focussed on the role and workload of the coach/teacher/dojo leader and has treated the receiving side as a pretty much homogenous mass of pink jelly that responds to the occasional blast of sound vibrations or poking with a sharp stick.

This year I have so far spent just over 9 weeks in Japan doing a lot of training in Ishido Sensei's dojo, and a little in other dojos. Something that occurred to me in my latest journeys was a noticeable difference in the responses of students with regard to feedback from various teachers. This hasn't been isolated to Japan; once it came to my interest in Japan I started noticing it in the UK and Europe as well.

Before I jumped into writing this, I did some light academic research looking at various articles on the subject of corrective feedback in coaching. I have extracted a few lines from the articles that I found relevant and interesting to just set the scene. These are not only useful for the student but also a superb set of pointers for coaches as well:

The Organization of Corrective Demonstrations Using Embodied Action in Sports Coaching Feedback

"However, unlike classrooms and medical internship discussions, sports coaching is a bodily affair; there is no “talking through a subject” to get the job of these settings done. Errors then are not a matter of what one knows but what one does. Error correction is a matter of showing the athlete(s) what they did wrong and showing them how to do it right. Talk is an instructive guide on where to find the action, but re-enactment is the central part of this setting’s instructional work."

Five Principles of Reinforcement

"Coaches should strive to use only reinforcement – mostly the positive kind – to shape player behaviours."

"Nonetheless, if you say “well done” when the athlete has not performed the skill very well, it’s false praise, and the odds are that the athlete will know it’s false praise. It’s tough being honest sometimes, but if you have built a supportive but challenging climate and you support your players striving to improve, then you’re in a good position to give honest feedback."

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What I want to focus on is something I have noticed in that, depending on the student, there can be an overly long process from the point of receiving feedback to making any changes, see image below.

I noticed in particular in Japan that the older students tended to skip the disappointment and acceptance stage. They might spend a bit more time improving their comprehension by asking for more detail and confirmation. 

In both Japan and Europe though, the younger and often more talented students seemed to need to go through a disappointment stage and a protracted emotional acceptance stage, sometimes asking for evidence or proof to back up the feedback.

I should add that I have always encouraged the people who have asked to learn from me to be sceptical (I'll come back to this sceptical mindset subject a bit later) of everything including anything that I have taught. This disappointment stage though isn't what I mean; it's an emotional reaction based on a range of the following mindsets in the student:

1. "I thought I was doing it right and you're telling me that I was wrong."
2. "I have devoted so much time to doing it this way and now you're saying that I wasted my time."
3. "You could have told me this sooner."
4. "You're being inconsistent in your teaching of the subject."

In one example of this, while I was in Ishido Sensei's dojo recently, there were quite a few other visitors there from Europe and China. One visitor, who will remain anonymous but is a very skilful and dedicated iaidoka from Europe, was training a notoriously difficult seated okuden kata. They were doing it with a lot of speed and fluidity as is appropriate for okuden. After a short while, Ishido Sensei came up to them and explained that they had misunderstood the kihon (basic version) and showed them what they should be doing. The visitor worked on this for a while but was having difficulty achieving "satisfaction". Of significance though was the surprise, or even shock, on the face of the student that what they had been training turned out to be incorrect. When they took a break during training I heard them express disappointment in themselves and were clearly confused. 

And I get it! This person had been instructed a certain way a few months previously (I think by Ishido Sensei) and they were now being told this was wrong. Had the koryu changed? Had they misunderstood the original instruction? 

Trying to resolve the question, had the koryu changed, takes us down a different road that I don't want to explore at the moment in any detail; suffice to say that any instruction will change in time; the teacher's perspective and level changes, the student changes - change is inevitable and we should be always mentally and physically prepared to accept that change. As is the motto of iaido, tsune ni itte, kyu ni awasu (be in the moment, adapt to the situation quickly).

This isn't limited to non-Japanese budoka either. I have witnessed many times even in Ishido Sensei's dojo, Japanese students making sounds of exasperation or disappointment when being told that they were doing something incorrectly, or that there was a "better way". There would then be a period of non-aggressive "arguing" (by this I mean, the student was trying to establish why they were being corrected) and then, after some time, they would then accept the advice and try to implement it.

And this is such a waste of time and energy. In fact even being annoyed at oneself for not doing this correctly in the first place is not only wasteful, it could even be considered to be slightly arrogant and self-centred. I mean, of course we are all doing something wrong at some point, what's the point of having a teacher in a dojo if the point wasn't to have these errors identified and resolved?

As noted in the image above, this kind of reaction only leads to the following:

• Loss of training and teaching time
• Problem identified and potential solution starts to become of secondary importance to proving the student is doing something wrong
• Teacher/coach can lose patience

We now enter a stage of this article that I desperately want to avoid trying to appear to be the "star student" and so I will try to contextualise my position. I have been the main translator for most of the larger iaido and jodo events in Europe for many years, working with Yuki Kanto Sensei and others to ensure that the instructions from visiting Japanese sensei were translated accurately, efficiently and meaningfully. I have been in a rather privileged position of not just being able to understand directly what these sensei have been saying but also to directly ask questions, to seek consultation on problems, and to discuss subtle points on subjects, all without having to bother someone else to carry out the tiresome task of translating. I would say one of the most significant outcomes of this is that I deeply appreciate that these teachers have already wrestled with the problems that students present; they might even be still struggling with these problems now. In any case, the resolution to many issues isn't always an ideal solution, it is simply the best solution for the time and the stage of training. They haven't received divine inspiration from the gods, they are human and they are also pushing themselves to travel along the same paths as the rest of us. When they give advice, unless it is something "trivial" (I mean something that should be consistently agreed like a distinct instruction on ZNKR iaido or jodo), they don't give the advice lightly. They give the best advice they can.

When in the past I have been given advice about iaido from teachers who aren't my own teacher, such as Oshita Sensei, I am extremely grateful that they have given the time and effort to look at me and express their opinions, to calculate a solution on a problem and then explain it to me in a way that might not be a general consensus among all teachers but is the best advice that they can. I have in fact gone out my way to ask Otake Sensei and other Jodo seniors to be extra strict with me to help with me with my ongoing Jodo development. 

Conclusion - the right response

And so, what is the right answer? I have come up with the simplest of algorithms for the fast shift to resolution, I have even furnished it with the appropriate Japanese response...

(Image above: SEE HOW MUCH SHORTER THIS IS!!!)

1. If I understand the critique and know what to do to resolve it, my simple answer is "Hai. Wakarimashita."
2. If I understand the critique but don't know what to do to resolve it, my next simple question is, what should I do to make it right. In Japanese these could be easily asked by "Dou sureba ii deshou ka".
3. If I don't understand the critique then I will ask a few more details; naturally this verbal response will depend on the situation but I will be careful to not suggest that I'm not doing the thing they are pointing out, for example:

- "You're dropping the kissaki in furikaburi."

- "No I'm not!"

- "FFS!"

(goes and fetches video camera)

Finally, there have been situations where I simply could not understand what I was doing wrong in comparison to what the teacher was saying I should do. While it's easy to get angry and emotional at this point, in the past I have simply asked what is the physical difference to what I am doing compared to what the teacher wants me to do. It is simply a case of error identification and adjustment. If in doubt, asking them to physically move your limbs, body or weapon into the correct position or through the correct course can help.

Denial will take you nowhere.

To a certain degree of satisfaction, I have found that in this particularly long duration of spending time with Ishido Sensei and really hammering Muso Shinden Ryu koryu iaido, this approach has seen my though quite pleasant and smooth days of training with Sensei being pretty complimentary about my comprehension of the koryu (actually doing it well requires a lifetime of training). I'm not suggesting that I know everything or that Sensei won't have some severe corrections to make of me, simply that he never seemed to get impatient when we were working on a difficult point; in fact he gave me some of the most interesting advice for some of the more difficult kata, almost from a student's perspective.

The sceptical mindset

So, is this moving one away from the recommended (by me) sceptical mindset? More than anything I think it is a question of timing and also being aware that there are important differences between being sceptical, cynical, and arrogant.

Working in reverse, by being arrogant I mean attending training with the expectation that you are doing the right technique. Hopefully you are. One hundred per cent. That would be nice wouldn't it. You're probably not though and it is a good idea to bear in mind that the first role of the "sensei" in budo is for someone to be taking responsibility for yo' ass and is looking out for you. They have your back. They're your wingman for a lot of the time even if they don't strip off and play greased-up beach volleyball with you whenever the sun shines. 

Being cynical means that you consider that the teacher/coach/sensei is as prone to making an error in their judgement of your performance in budo as you are. The very translation of sensei (one who has been born/lived/experienced before you) would suggest that they might have gone through the same errors as you have. More than anything though, if they're seeing this from the outside then they may well have a far more objective observation of what you're doing than you are. I'm not talking about unconditional respect or deference, I simply mean that on balance they are more than likely to be making an accurate observation. I mean who wants to waste their time making up errors for someone else???

A healthy degree of scepticism is, I believe, based on doing the right questioning at the right time. Asking yourself is the teacher correct at this moment while they are giving you feedback might lead to negative consequences. The time to go over what has been said and to do an appropriate amount of mulling is probably after the training especially after you have had the opportunity to hear the teacher out and trying to implement their suggested solution. 

That's a pretty short set of conclusions on a fairly broad topic but I hope you find it useful; in short, your passport to happiness and ongoing success might well be in the form of simply saying "Hai!"*

* "Right!", "Got it!", "Thank you!", "I understand" etc are also fully acceptable alternatives.

Ask a Squirrel Wrangler Episode 1

At the trusted radio programme “Ask a Squirrely Wrangler”, we received the following question from avid listener, Simon…

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“The question is about the commands for reiho.

Mostly in the context of bigger national or international seminars.

(Side note: I've noticed that on dojo-level there is a large variety of ways to do this. So I am assuming this is more of a local dojo-culture rather than a uniform set of rules.)

Could you please explain what the correct order of the commands for the opening and closing reiho is, and if there is a reason behind that order.

Also, when is it appropriate or not to use certain commands?

I am familiar with most common commands, at least on a superficial level, but I feel I am lacking a bit of context for some of their applications.

And there are, of-course, also specific differences for Iaido and Jodo.

I am thinking of commands like these. Although, I'm sure I'm forgetting some.

Shomen ni rei

Sensei ni rei

Otagai ni rei

Sogo ni rei

Shinza ni rei

Ichido rei

kokki ni rei (I guess only relevant for European championships)

Seiretsu

Ki wo tsuke

hairei

Sorry for my long-winded way of posing a short question.

But as I said, please only consider answering if you have the time to spare.”

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Essentially at a dojo level it is up to the dojo leadership to decide on the order of commands. This is influenced by lineage and custom as well as time available in any training session to do reigi.

There is a custom to bow from most important to least important in the opening and the reverse order in the closing, an example in Jodo would be:

1. Shomen ni Rei
2. Sensei ni Rei
3. Sogo ni Rei

and then

1. Sogo ni Rei 
2. Sensei ni Rei 
3. Shomen ni Rei

Which would be easy to remember except that Sogo ni Rei is often used as a general greeting and therefore goes at the end of both opening and closing stages, i.e.,

1. Shomen ni Rei
2. Sensei ni Rei
3. Sogo ni Rei

and then

1. Sensei ni Rei 
2. Shomen ni Rei
3. Sogo ni Rei

In our dojo, we don't have a lot of time as we do both iaido and jodo in the same session totalling 4 reiho episodes. To cut out time-consuming sitting and standing, for iaido we do:

1. Shomen ni Rei 
2. Sensei ni Rei
3. To ni Rei (we don't do a command for this)

and then

1. To ni Rei
2. Sensei ni Rei 
3. Shomen ni Rei

(we then do an informal standing bow to each other with hugs, high-fives and pledges of undying love).

The reason for not doing the command “to ni rei” is that after bowing to the shomen, each individual then enters their own embu or training time and so we don’t usually give a command for this.

In Ishido Sensei’s dojo, usually people come in and out at different times and there isn’t a formal start and end. Individuals come in, put their sword to the right side, bow to Sensei, and then start their shomen ni rei and torei. In principle the reverse is then done when people leave. Should Sensei wish to stop the class at some point, rather than keeping him waiting sometimes practitioners simply sit down in taito, take their sword out and place it to the side, bow to Sensei and then do the rest of the formalities after. At other times the full torei, shomen ni rei and sensei ni rei take place.

I’m not sure about inappropriate commands. I have heard from several high graded teachers both in Japan and the UK that mokuso is for Kendo and is not appropriate for iaido and jodo. I guess it’s really up to the dojo leader but it wouldn’t be appropriate at a seminar.

I will now go through the individual terminology:

Shomen ni rei - this means “bow to the front”. The time to use this is when there isn’t a formal shinzen or kamiza (for further details see “Shinza (or Shinzen) ni rei”)

Sensei ni rei - pretty self explanatory but it’s “sensei ni rei” for one teacher “senseigata ni rei” if there is more than one.

Otagai ni rei - this means “bow to each other” and it interchangeable with “sogo ni rei”

Sogo ni rei - …which has now been formally accepted by the ZNKR Jodo syllabus so one should stop using otagai ni rei in formal proceedings.

Shinza ni rei - or shinzen ni rei….when is a shinzen a shinzen? There is a guide. If it happens to be located on a wall so high up that it can’t be touched simply from the ground then it is a shinzen (it of course should be something like a small altar). If it can be reached from the ground then it is just a shomen.

Ichido rei - like sogo ni rei, this means “all together bow”. It’s not “officially” recognised in the ZNKR manuals, personally I use it as a final command at the end of a day’s events just to add a bit of exciting variety.

kokki ni rei (I guess only relevant for European championships) - correct, this means “bow to the national flag(s)”. If there aren’t any national flags then “shomen ni rei” will do but when there are some then these are what should be bowed to…..complicated innit?

Seiretsu - this is a command which translates as “straight lines”. We most often use it to mean “line up for some joyful bowing”. When doing jodo tandoku dosa or sotai dosa, the expression for people to get into straight lines is usually “seiton” (arrange yourselves).

Ki wo tsuke - means “be careful” but is used to command “Attention!” when lining up.

Hairei - this is simply putting the honorific “hai” before rei. In the dojo this is appropriate for both shomen and the sensei(s), less so for each other as it would be an honorific among equals.

Hopefully that answers that question comprehensively. If you have any questions for “Ask a Squirrel Wrangler” then please send them to the usual address at The Drey, A Tree, In a nice garden, Nutlington.

Cutting exercises in iaido

Frequently, seminars and training sessions start with some form of cutting practice. I used to wonder what the purpose of this was as I learned more and more about modern sports coaching theory and suffered more and more from RSI and Tendonitis. From this I decided to create my own set of cutting exercises and rationale for doing so which I present here for your interest or to be printed out and buried for 6 months in compost....

Firstly, if cutting practice is part of a warm up then it should follow the same rules for warming up in that it shouldn't cause damage or pain to joints and muscles. Movements should be controlled and use the fullest range of movement possible. 

Secondly, participants shouldn't be forced to follow the maximum speed of the instructor. Either the instructor dictates a reasonable speed for everyone to follow or individuals should set their own tempo.

Finally, I don't like using the dojo as a fitness gym in that I don't think any movements should be done just for sheer exercise; there are enough movements available to repeat that some useful technical development should be an output to the exercise, not just improvement in the exercise for the exercise's sake.

So here are some sample cutting drills that I personally use for myself at the beginning of training:

1. Standing swings

From a standing position, raise the sword and allow the kissaki to drop behind you. Swing the sword in a large arc finishing with the kissaki well below horizontal. Repeat.

The point of this is to create some flexibility in the shoulders and get all the connected joints working gradually to become "warmed up". It is important that at the end of the swing, the kissaki is not so low that the wrists are bent beyond an end-cut grip.

For added exercise one can a) bend the knees as the cut is made, b) come up onto the toes as the cut is made, c) remain on the toes and bend the knees as the cut is made. This final configuration really exercises the legs and develops balance.

2. Zen-Go Giri (forward, backward cutting)

Keeping the right foot forwards, shuffle forward and cut to the chin, shuffle back and cut to horizontal. Repeat.

The importance here is not to turn this into a high-speed chopping exercise. The sword should be lifted being sensitive to not allow it to drop below horizontal and being aware of how the grip is changing. The end of each cut should demonstrate awareness of ki-ken-tai-icchi and, in both moving forwards and backwards, the feet should move to consistent positions without losing balance or changing angle.

3. Chushin Giri (centre cutting)

With feet splayed apart, lift the sword up the left side, into the centre above the head and cut down while lowering the hips. Lifting up the right side, lift the hips at the same time and again cut down while lowering the hips. Repeat.

This exercise is meant to develop accurate cuts to the centreline whether one lifts the sword up the left or the right side. To do this I try to align my body centre with a vertical line within the room in front of me. Without going cross-eyed, I check whether my cuts are tending to be on the right or left side of this vertical line and then make suitable adjustments. It is also important to relax the wrists and grip while lifting up the side but to ensure that the sword is more or less horizontal before the cut.

4. Naname Giri (diagonal cutting)

I borrowed this from Shinkage Ryu. Starting from wakigamae (sword on the right), lift the sword and make a diagonal cut (from right to left) with the timing that the right foot reaches the left foot during the cut and the left foot moves back at the lower swing of the cut. Repeat on other side.

The purpose of this is to make hasuji-accurate diagonal cuts without excessive force but making the cuts as large and smooth as possible. During this sequence, concentration should be focused on the back and core muscles to keep the upper body vertical during all the movement and not lunging backwards and forwards or to the sides. 

5. Suihei Giri (horizontal cutting)

Begin from the preparation position of the 4th cut in Sogiri (with the sword lowered to the left side of the body and held horizontally). Without stepping, make a two-handed horizontal cut. From the end of the cut, release the left hand and repeat the technique with the right hand only. Repeat with both hands. Alternate between two-hand cutting and single-hand cutting.

The point of this is to make this cut without one hand dominating control of the sword. While making a one-handed cut, the right hand needs to allow the cut to extend forwards without raising or lowering the sword. While making a two-handed cut, the sword should not be dominated by the left hand only but both hands should work in union.

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There are other "traditional" cutting exercises which are often used in seminars which are basically repeats of components found in Mae. I tend not to do these as they are repeated in the kata and/or are slightly distorted from the kata context. I have described them below but with a caveat of how I think certain elements should be emphasised in order for the exercise to be beneficial to technical development:

- Nukitsuke

Starting with the left hand gripping the sword and the sword held in the middle of the upper left arm, make a nukitsuke movement. Bring the sword back to the left arm and repeat.

I think the main benefit of this is to exercise the left arm and left side of the body adequately so that sayabiki is developed. Additionally, one should endeavour to keep the hips locked to the front while rotating the shoulders. Care should be taken to not use excessive force in the right arm as this isn't the movement to be found in the kata and tendonitis can easily ensue.

- Ochiburi

Starting at the end of kirioroshi, make ochiburi without moving the body. Repeat.

If one should do it this way then I think that it should be performed in a relaxed manner, paying attention to the position of the sword as it approaches the head and being careful to generate the cut by gripping the right hand rather than just swinging the arm. Again, this is an excellent recipe for tendonitis so careful control of the cut is more important than power and speed.

- Yokochiburi

Starting at the end of kirioroshi, make yokochiburi without moving the body. Repeat.

The focus here should be to try and move the kissaki and the right hand at the same time to avoid making the sword flick. At the end of the movement it is important the curvature of the sword positions the kissaki slightly inside of the right hand.

- Noto

From the position at the end of ochiburi, do noto. Draw the sword and repeat.

I think the main point here is accurate positioning of the left hand on the koiguchi before the right hand moves at all. Try not to muddle up the sequence of movements. Better still, don't cut yourself.