Too Much Repetition

The Problem

Lately I’ve found that since I’ve been practicing with a small group (my dojo) over-and-over again that I’m beginning to style my kendo in a way that matches each individual I fight.  I’m also finding less variety in my kendo than I would like.

This has manifested itself in two ways.

Subconsciously

On a sub-conscious level I am reacting to certain moves or feelings without thought.  Everyone has a particular style and when I see certain patterns or feel ‘uneasy’ in certain ways then I’m reacting with a counter-move that is tailored for that individual and situation.

Consciously

I’m more consciously choosing certain tactics that I know to work based on my opponent rather than focusing on “what is good.”  If I know somebody prefers kote, for example, I’ll leave it open as a decoy.  Not because I am waiting to see if they take the bait but rather because I suspect (based on past encounters) that they will.

Solution

So what am I going to do about it?

I’m afraid I can’t do much about the automatic reactions.  But I was recently reading about Musashi and how he once stated that one should never do the same thing more than twice.  The idea is that you are ever-changing and difficult to predict.  It also leads to more ‘discovery’ of things which may be useful.

I’m trying to apply this idea to my kendo now.  Each keiko I do I’m trying things I would never do and trying to limit the amount of repetition in my style.  This also involves thinking less about my tactics themselves and focusing more on the situation at a high level (where am I, what’s open, what does my opponent see, how does he move, etc.) rather than focusing on attack/counter-attack.  I think this is helping some.

I’m also finding a lot of things that don’t work!  But this is part of the fun.  Why didn’t it work?  Could it work?  Does it at least keep my opponent guessing a bit?  How do people behave when I do <something>?  I believe that failure is only bad if we don’t learn from the failure.  And learning from a mistake is often more valuable than getting it right the first time.

I’m also going to be trying to visit at least one other dojo once a month.  This will add some diversity to the number of people I practice with and place me in more  situations where I simply can’t predict my opponent.  This will probably be more helpful in the long run as it will require more dynamic adjustments to situations.  I will also be seeing other styles and finding things that work for others.  Hopefully I will learn from them!