I've made this mistake once in front of class which was brought out by an unexpected participation during those moments when the teacher/instructor picks you out. At that point you either demonstrate that you know it or you don't. It's like one of those moments when a coach gathers his team around in a circle and select one random person so that he, the coach, can demonstrate the proper way to grip a bat or dribble a ball or whatever. The poor soul selected to demonstrate will effectively do one of two things: demonstrate the right way, or, demonstrate the wrong way - of which the coach will point out. It's quite the effective teaching tool.
Remember, Kendo is in a serious atmosphere where everybody stares you in the eye, face-to-face, with the look of killer in their eyes. But i will never forget the day when the instructor quickly motioned that I should pause and wait and check myself, and I knew that something about me was wrong. My feet looked okay, so was my grip and my posture and everything that I could quickly think of. I was golden.
But something was really wrong. Something was very wrong. That day, in front of every member of my class, I demonstrated something which I now consider simply as unorthodox.
I had made a slight mistake in my gripping of the sword. Instead of holding it the "traditional" way, I accidentally held it so that the blade was facing upward so that if I were to happen to swing to large, I could potentially cut my own face. Of course there was no noticeable difference in the grip. To better describe this, I drew a detailed illustration.
The right way: Blade is facing down.
The wrong way: Blade is facing up.
Shortly after this discovery followed by my quick readjustment, I had an uncontrollable smile for about an hour. Amazingly, everybody else managed to display a slight smirk. And that's when I knew that I was among real, true Kendo enthusiasts. Serious were their middle names.
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