I'm not sure I agree about the first instance you mentioned as a sort of means of fate keeping. As far as entry into bogu every Sensei and dojo usually has its customs. Those are to be respected generally, but yes, I would certainly not put people in armour on a whim. There's a few factors which include their safety, the safety of everyone else and as you mention their own basic skill level. As long as there's a reasonable level of those three aspects in place then I wouldn't hold someone back from armour because "time is a wasting" as they say in the classics and we need to "crack on". You do need to have "paid your dues" a bit though for sure. I might cover this in a video soon because I feel like there's some things to unpack and discuss of note on the topic. Thanks for the comment. Well done for coming back to Kendo after all those years as well.

I think there's a D in there as well. Which is, "you're maybe not such a great person to begin with and not looking to change your ways" . Unfortunately still reasonably common in martial arts. As I said in the video though I think these people occupy a very tiny percentage and the majority will better off from where they started to varying degrees, and it may mean different things to each person depending on what they came searching for and, what they end up discovering about themselves.

Building a better way of life, yes I agree with that. A better society? One would hope but that takes many cooperating to achieve. Doing your part can only help though so, sure okay. 👌 The white belt fights black belt thing, I'm not sure if I follow you correctly, so correct me if I've misunderstood : Do you mean a white belt fights the black belt so that they may improve? If so, something to consider : I arts who where belts the black belt is a symbol of a beginning and not an end. It usually means one has acquired the fundamentals and is now ready to learn what the art really has to offer. Kendo and Iaido have no belts but the shodan (1st Dan) to Sandan (3rd Dan) roughly equate to a "black belt" phase with the 3rd being the point at which one is recognised to have "acquired the basics". The 1st Dan being the grade at which one is "ready to begin". If I took your meaning correctly though that you need those with more experience to reference and try to level up to, then yes. Though as a person in the higher of those two positions you often find the "white belts" also have something to teach you in return. Perhaps not so much in terms of technique but certainly in other aspects such as how different people interpret your coaching methodology. How they respond to different tactics. Why they're there and what they're searching for and so on. So a healthy dojo needs both high side and low side and everyone in between to be a healthy environment. Also I tend not to think of it as fighting at all but rather mutual study and improvement. A symbiotic relationship of sorts. Although I'm sure you were likely not being literal. As I said feel free to correct my misinterpretation of your comment if I've not understood correctly.