Hanshi - The path to 8th dan:Hamasaki Mitsuru Hanshi

"It is important for the examinee to practice on a regular basis in order to be able to get a pass from all the judges."
Many kendoka practice kendo with the goal of winning a match.
In order for a kendoka to win a match, no small amount of techniques such as feinting and defense are necessary. However, when a kendo practitioner's goal changes from winning a match to passing a dan promotion, he must change his way of thinking.
When talking about training with the goal of passing the dan, Hamasaki said that his sensei had given him this instruction. "You have to change the way you think about kendo. When you practice kendo, you can't pass the dan examination just by hitting hard. You must practice kendo with an emphasis on the mental aspect."
As a member of the Metropolitan Police Department's kendo team, Hamazaki practiced with the aim of winning matches. Therefore, he was able to react quickly to his opponent's movements. However, the judges viewed this as not having a calm mind and led to a bad evaluation. To avoid being misunderstood by the judges, Hamasaki tried to reduce the number of unnecessary strikes in his training.

Hanshi: The path to 8th dan

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