Journey to a new style...

[Gerry Seymour11]

There are too many instructors who aren't well-schooled in their art. Their students end up being not well-schooled as well and when becoming instructors themselves, simply continue this trend, unaware of the deficiency in their knowledge. As these instructors may hold multi-dan rank and have physical skills, it's hard for new students to realize their school has a poor sizzle-to-steak ratio.

I think some lineages (for lack of a better term - a progressive string of instructors and their students who become instructors) get focused on specifics of the positions (what things should look like) rather than the mechanical principles involved. The students try to exactly copy what their instructor had them do, but trying to be an exact mechanical copy will always lead to loss of information. Some of those instructors will be pretty good. Some will struggle. Even those who break out of that mold will struggle to teach the things they got easily, because they didn't ever really figure them out - they just did them and they worked.

 

[_Simon_104]

Now I find myself in a learning dilemma!

Ooh, do tell!

I think learning (and testing for that matter) can take many forms, each emphasising different aspects and qualities on a spectrum. I think people can get very rigid with objectivity or an idealistic standard, eg this school's training/test doesn't have this so therefore it's not "legit"! This probably comes down to definitional limitations. Each school tends to emphasise certain aspects over another. As long as a school is honest about what they do it's fine.

I guess I'm at a point where I want to learn other aspects which my school doesn't seem to go into in any depth.

 

[Gyakuto104]

Ooh, do tell!

The Iai world is so small and filled with egotistical ‘ninnyhammers’ I’d rather not elaborate. Some of the worst people I’ve met are in the field of swordsmanship

I think learning (and testing for that matter) can take many forms, each emphasising different aspects and qualities on a spectrum. I think people can get very rigid with objectivity or an idealistic standard, eg this school's training/test doesn't have this so therefore it's not "legit"! This probably comes down to definitional limitations. Each school tends to emphasise certain aspects over another. As long as a school is honest about what they do it's fine.

I guess I'm at a point where I want to learn other aspects which my school doesn't seem to go into in any depth.

I think many people reach this point at some time in their training journey, but your crisis point has been hastened by the various characteristics of your teach. I’m sure you can find a way to train elsewhere and support your current teacher; you’re clearly a nice person and don’t want to cause upset.