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Old 03-03-2002, 09:14 PM   #11
Reuben
 
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Dojo: Aikido Seishinkan
Location: Kuching
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 111
Malaysia
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Most definitely.

There are tons of 2nd dans here who don't somehow meet the standard. My Sensei is a very lenient one and if you ask for a test, he will give it to you though he'll give hints on whether he thinks u're ready. But if u insist, he'll upgrade you and i have not seen someone being failed.

I know of a 2nd dan who could not differentiate between san shu and sankyo although the teacher explained what it meant in English. My sensei was just sitting there hoping he would realise his mistake but he went on for 5 mins performing sankyo before he decided enough was enough. And I don't think it's right to consider ikkyo, nikyo and sankyo as three techniques. But ok this may be due to nerves or misunderstanding, but when it came to the jiyu waza, it was totally horrible. They are supposed to deal with 2 attackers and he constantly was being open to attack from the other one and you could see the ukes politely waiting for him to respond. one time i even caught the guy looking around for his other uke! My sensei also got fedup and told the ukes to attack harder, the guy being tested got flustered and ended up being 'hit' several times if not the ukes pretending to miss through his 'deft' techniques.

I don't mean to degrade the guy but I think you should only take the test when u reach the standard. in my case, it would be when my sensei says, 'hey Reuben, are u taking the upcoming test?'

However due to certain local politics here that i dare not mention, many ppl are given political dan grades even though they may not have reached the level of mastery required. So that's my 2 cents.
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