I know I know, this is my blog. I am posting arn't I. I'm seriously considering the possiblity of dropping Kendo now. Now that the natural of the art becomes apperant to me, I see that it really doesn't suit my personality. Kendo is, in one word, brutal. You rush at your opponent and attack endlessly with the intention of cutting them into ribbons and then splash their corpses all over the place by pushing their lifeless bodies out of your way, only to cut the next guy's head open, and the cycle continues. I don't mind the yelling and the simplicity of the techniques. What I can't stand is the totally Japanese mentality that comes with the practice. Budo is derived from the life of samurais. Which basically is a method of training soldiers. A good soldier ( or samurai, if you want to fancify it ) would need to eliminate an opponent as fast and effeciently as possible in the field of battle, to ensure the survival of himself. This means there need to be no regard for the well being of the opponent, dehumanize them if you will. Of course, people later find after the war is over, having the same mindset is very very bad for society. Cause what you basically get is this extremely anti-social and hieretical group of people who go around killing people. So they added elements of mutual cooperation and respect into it. This is much of the reason why all Japanese martial art, and the whole Japanese culture in general is so militarilistic. Since it's heavily influences and by Budo. Anyways, the point is that Kendo is way too aggresive for me. Charles just yell at me today " You're like a wildcard! Control! If you're do it again, I'm gonna really wack you! ". He wasn't joking when he said this, he was yelling with the serious Japanese attitude. I mean is the last threat really necessary? I get told by my kungfu Sifu all the time, but he never ever threatens me. Sure, he hits me pretty hard when I do a technique wrong, but only when showing the outcome of what will happen. Anyways, I simply don't like the general attitude in Kendo. The whole "attack attack and attack some more" idea just isn't my thing. I like to wait for the opponent to move first, then counter attack. Of course, I get yelled at when I do that in Kendo. Maybe I'm being a stubborn bastard who won't empty my cup before learning another art. Kendo just isn't for me I guess. On the other hand, I'm enjoying Judo tremendously. The people are nice and relaxed. Take Hein for example. He's really really good, but he never talks to the students with a dominate attitude. He's relaxed and funny but yet very serious in he's actions. Almost all of the other higher ranks in Judo are just like him. A good martial artist should be like this imo. That is how I strive to be when eaching beginners, and that is how my sifu is, and how all the more senior guys in kungfu are. Ok, that's my rant, this should cover for all the times I didn't post :P