Kendo has interested me for a while, and I’d like to hear of anybody’s experience with the art. Thanks in advance.
im a first dan…well I was.
Anyway it’s a greuling sport. Wearing your To (headgear) is like working out in a heated box. You get faint and the kendo teaher I had was of the old school mentality, (If you haven’t fainted, your not trying) Its a cool samurai connection and you can easilly kill somone with a boken, but for martial sports I’d suggest wrestling. They also have more gear than hockey players and experienced Kendo players can still knock you out by hitting you on the back of your headgear. Also a good kendo player can bruise your wrist through your wrist guard with a bamboo shinai!. Definately not a sport for the weak at heart. Also the cardio needed is intense you may have to charge 30 times before getting a hit on an experienced player and people make fun of you for wearing a dress. It’s less pansy then western fencing because when your in close it’s a pushing match and whomever get the best hit wins. Of course there is no electrical equipment (last I heard) so politics are involved. Also hitting the (do) stomache is often easy, but it has to make the right kind of sound for it to be counted. It trains (spirit) yi well and overall it’s worth doing. I sound negative because I had a stepdad that wanted to live out his world champion dreams through me. Maybe other teachers are more lax about it
King of the Assyrians
Thanks for the info, 8step,
I’ll be doing my Taiji forever, but I’m interested in doing something a little more external while I’m still not over the hill, and the full speed sword sparring/sport competition really interests me more than other forms of martial sports. I’m just trying to gather some opinions before I make a committment.
Kendo Rumor
I recently heard something interesting about kendo that I wish to confirm. In the first 3 star wars flicks they consulted kendo masters to create the lightsaber fights.
Possible. There are some kendo-like moves in the fight sequences.
They have sword-type implements.
Other than that, some older-style kenjutsu would be more likely as a similarity, but still not very likely.
B, can’t see the kendo moves…
Yup, ObiWan used a very kendo like style.
kendo
Just started kendo again after a break of 1.5 years or so.
OK, so it was 35 degs and about 80 humidity in the dojo, but I’d forgotten just how hardcore it is.
I run a bit, and do boxing, wrestling etc, for 1.5 hr classes, drilling, full-on sparring 3 min rounds with 30 secs break etc, chi sao for 1.5 hrs etc, but none of it even touches the kendo.
Starts with kata, kirikaeshi (two-person stepping/shomen drill), then jiyuu-geiko (free practice). 1.5 hrs then a five minute break in seiza, then another half and hour.
Gassed seriously after an hour and fifteen then again about every 5/10 minutes.
There may be a couple of factors. One thing I’d forgotten is how heavy the kendo armour is. OK, so it’s not like a weight vest, but with the head-towel, the men, hakama, do and gloves it’s heavy enough and hot.
Then there’s the kiai… and lots of it.
Plus my teacher reckons I’m still cutting aiki style, which is based on kenjutsu, so my blows are trying to go through the head, whereas he wants a more relaxed gentle sports strike which bounces off the head. As he says, my cuts hurt the opponent and tire me out. Partly this is due to having a longer hilt on my shinai than most people, which gives more power but less speed.
Anyway, just burbling. Thought someone might be interested.
Thats cool, Mat. I’ve always wanted to learn a Japanese Sword Art, but they are always few and far inbetween or just bunk…
sucks for me.
must be good to be in japan
amen
Yeah it is.
u need to take pics of some of those hotties if u have a digital and post it up in miss ora 04
Re: kendo
Originally posted by Mat
[B]Just started kendo again after a break of 1.5 years or so.
OK, so it was 35 degs and about 80 humidity in the dojo, but I’d forgotten just how hardcore it is.
I run a bit, and do boxing, wrestling etc, for 1.5 hr classes, drilling, full-on sparring 3 min rounds with 30 secs break etc, chi sao for 1.5 hrs etc, but none of it even touches the kendo.
Starts with kata, kirikaeshi (two-person stepping/shomen drill), then jiyuu-geiko (free practice). 1.5 hrs then a five minute break in seiza, then another half and hour.
Gassed seriously after an hour and fifteen then again about every 5/10 minutes.
There may be a couple of factors. One thing I’d forgotten is how heavy the kendo armour is. OK, so it’s not like a weight vest, but with the head-towel, the men, hakama, do and gloves it’s heavy enough and hot.
Then there’s the kiai… and lots of it.
Plus my teacher reckons I’m still cutting aiki style, which is based on kenjutsu, so my blows are trying to go through the head, whereas he wants a more relaxed gentle sports strike which bounces off the head. As he says, my cuts hurt the opponent and tire me out. Partly this is due to having a longer hilt on my shinai than most people, which gives more power but less speed.
Anyway, just burbling. Thought someone might be interested. [/B]
Oh yeah. Kendo has got to be one of the smelliest of all Japanese arts. That men really turns into a head cooker in a hurry.
I just read an article about film producer Akira Kurosawa. Turns out he trained Kendo everyday as a kid. And his father had samurai ancestors.
just wanted to throw that out
Originally posted by Kristoffer
[B]I just read an article about film producer Akira Kurosawa. Turns out he trained Kendo everyday as a kid. And his father had samurai ancestors.
just wanted to throw that out [/B]
Interesting.
Kendo
I will be going to view Obukan Kendo Club’s practice on Thursday.
I am very excited about this. I looked into this kendo club a couple of years ago, however there was not a location/club in my city for me to attend/join. It appears that now the Okuban Club has a thursday Dojo in my vicinity.
I, like many others, have been a large fan of Japanese fencing for some time now. Though I never was able to recieve any formal training, I have taken it upon myself to familiarize myself with many aspects of this art when ever able. I have a friend who used to spar with me a lot with bokken, I think I will persuade him to join as well.
I will post updates of my new adventure in this thread.
[QUOTE=Lucas;844448]I will be going to view Obukan Kendo Club’s practice on Thursday.
I am very excited about this. I looked into this kendo club a couple of years ago, however there was not a location/club in my city for me to attend/join. It appears that now the Okuban Club has a thursday Dojo in my vicinity.
I, like many others, have been a large fan of Japanese fencing for some time now. Though I never was able to recieve any formal training, I have taken it upon myself to familiarize myself with many aspects of this art when ever able. I have a friend who used to spar with me a lot with bokken, I think I will persuade him to join as well.
I will post updates of my new adventure in this thread.[/QUOTE]
Kendo is great fun, and a superb exercise.
It is NOT swordsmanship, but nevertheless, one can train certain tools there.
From what I gather they also practice Iaido.
The last thursday of each month I believe is dedicated to Iaido. Which should prove to be super fun. I only wish they had more than Thursdays available in my area. Though with luck, perhaps there is an informal setting that I can become involved in.
I am hoping that if I can get my friend to sign up, this will re-initiate our personal sparring practice.
We include the following wooden weapons when we spar.
Staff
Bokken (large and small, single and double)
Broadsword (chinese)
Straightsword (chinese)
Tonfa
Sai’s (metal, dull)
Naginata
Misc.
It’s been about a year since we sparred on a regular basis. Friend had a son.
Secretly this is one way for me revitalizing my friends passion for weapons and sparring. So that we can fight some more
Also this will be a great place for me to test various aspects of my training, as well as give me a competative format to play in.
[QUOTE=Lucas;844464]From what I gather they also practice Iaido.
The last thursday of each month I believe is dedicated to Iaido. Which should prove to be super fun. I only wish they had more than Thursdays available in my area. Though with luck, perhaps there is an informal setting that I can become involved in.
I am hoping that if I can get my friend to sign up, this will re-initiate our personal sparring practice.
We include the following wooden weapons when we spar.
Staff
Bokken (large and small, single and double)
Broadsword (chinese)
Straightsword (chinese)
Tonfa
Sai’s (metal, dull)
Naginata
Misc.
It’s been about a year since we sparred on a regular basis. Friend had a son.
Secretly this is one way for me revitalizing my friends passion for weapons and sparring. So that we can fight some more
Also this will be a great place for me to test various aspects of my training, as well as give me a competative format to play in.[/QUOTE]
I am not a fan of Iaido, I am one of Kendo, I see very little “matial value” in iaido.