Is it to late for me to start Kendo...?

[MBassist]

Hi I am your average 15 year old in high school well this year I became good friends with a kid my age. He has been taking kendo for about 10 years now and really got me interested in it so I started thinking to myself how long it would take for me to get really good at it and if I should bother starting. I was thinking about the discipline aspect of kendo as well since my grades have been lacking this semester. So can I get anyone’s opinion on this?

[Atama]

I estimate the average age of a person starting kendo in the UK to be roughly 25 years old, but we have guys in our club who started aged 53. Your 15 why you'd think this is to old to begin training I don't know your still young, now is a perfect time to start.

[qpuppy]

15?!?!?!?..... You have a big career (kendo wise) ahead or you... kids at your age has a big advantage to start for the future of the kendo world.... if you start now... you never know... you can be competing in the WKC in about 10-15 years time.. or maybe even shorter time...

what you waiting for..... "MENSUGE~~~~".... :D

[xvikingx]

I wish I started at 15.

[Siglith234]

Heh i started at 13

[etherknot]

Hi I am your average 15 year old in high school well this year I became good friends with a kid my age. He has been taking kendo for about 10 years now and really got me interested in it so I started thinking to myself how long it would take for me to get really good at it and if I should bother starting. I was thinking about the discipline aspect of kendo as well since my grades have been lacking this semester. So can I get anyone’s opinion on this?

If you do not start now, then you will regret not starting earlier later. Get in on the action now! The rate of "how good you get" is only determinable by how well you progress. And I can tell you that you won't make the best men cut in the dojo simply by sitting around and pondering wether or not you started too early or too late.

I think Kendo might also help you with your studies. It teaches you focus and perseverance. Of which you will need to use both to get through both studies.

Stop worrying about it and just do it!

[Haggis]

Yeah 15 is fine, you could already be a shodan (have to be at least 14) by now :P.

[wingdelta]

I started a year ago (when I was 15) and regret not starting earlier... =(

[kendomushi]

You are too YOUNG to start kendo if you are not able to take instructions, persevere through sometimes difficult lessons, and try your best.

You are too OLD to start kendo if you are not able to take instructions, persevere through sometimes difficult lessons, and try your best.

[xvikingx]

You are too YOUNG to start kendo if you are not able to take instructions, persevere through sometimes difficult lessons, and try your best.

You are too OLD to start kendo if you are not able to take instructions, persevere through sometimes difficult lessons, and try your best.

I like that. I am going to have to steal it.

[kendomushi]

I like that. I am going to have to steal it.

Feel free.

[Bane]

Feel free.
I am 21 and have just started, I'm still young

[Andoy]

I started Kendo at 16. I think that 14-20yrs is a good way to start kendo because it's only that age area when most kids start to get serious about their training. But yeah, u can start kendo from virtually any age. I've seen a 5 year old student that goes to another dojo! So cute!

[James]

Nice one kendomushi,

whatever age you start you will want to have started earlier. I regretted not starting earlier until at the world championships I met a Tanaka Sensei who told me he started at 45yrs; I wasn't going to ask what age he was now, but he was a 7th dan so you can do the maths. BTW he looked pretty tough.

Probably most people on this forum would give their right arm to have started at 15yrs (assuming they correctly use the power from their left arm).

START TODAY!

[xvikingx]

Nice one kendomushi,

whatever age you start you will want to have started earlier. I regretted not starting earlier until at the world championships I met a Tanaka Sensei who told me he started at 45yrs; I wasn't going to ask what age he was now, but he was a 7th dan so you can do the maths. BTW he looked pretty tough.

Probably most people on this forum would give their right arm to have started at 15yrs (assuming they correctly use the power from their left arm).

START TODAY!

He started at 45 and is a 7 dan?! Are you sure he didn't say he started 45 years ago? If he started at 45 and is a 7 dan he must be older than dirt (no offense)! :nervous:

[JSchmidt]

He started at 45 and is a 7 dan?! Are you sure he didn't say he started 45 years ago? If he started at 45 and is a 7 dan he must be older than dirt (no offense)! :nervous:

I can't remember exactly how it goes, but in Japan, people over a certain age can skip grades.

Jakob

[xvikingx]

I can't remember exactly how it goes, but in Japan, people over a certain age can skip grades.

Jakob

O.k. that makes sense. Thanks.

[James]

No he didn't skip any grades, except that as with most adults I imagine he didn't have to do the kyu grades below 1st kyu.

xvikingx, Might seem unlikely but trust me, it is as I said. He is a respected sensei and manager of a national team. I have been in correspondence with him since the championships and he is a sincere man.

He passed all of his grades first time, which makes 21-22 years to get to 7th dan.
That makes him in his sixties, which he was, although he looked younger to my western eyes.
This may seem 'as old as dirt' to you, but not something I suggest you would say to his face.

I asked him if he had done any other sports before kendo, and he had done, a lot; skiing diving, horse-riding etc. He seemed very robust, had a twinkle in his eye and very sound kendo advice. He also demonstrated fumi-komi to me and my wife and made a big sound.

xvikingx - you may remember a thread; nothing to do with age but interesting in this context, when Kaoru was asking for advice about her dojo - and she got a reply from Matsuda which started:

Kaoru,
I haven't been practicing Kendo for that long ... so please consider this as just a few "observations".....

As his post states he hasn't been doing kendo for long, Kaoru later apologises for not realising Matsuda was a sensei,
slidercrank clarifies:

Matsuda sensei is a 5th dan and has represented the US at the 10th, 11th and 12 World Kendo Championships. He was being exceedingly humble when he said, "I haven't been practicing Kendo for that long..."

Matsuda's explanation of his comments on his lack of time doing kendo were:

..My experience is limited when Compared to my Sensei, Sempai and peers, I am the youngest and least experienced of them all....and in fact, I was a late starter to Kendo. People like G. Harada,S. Hosokawa, Y.Onitsuka, M.Minami, S.Hamamatsu, T. Nishimoto, etc. were already practicing at the age of 4 or 5 and were already champions when I started Kendo at age 9.

If someone who started at 9yrs considers himself a late starter, (because he didn't start at 4yrs!) I would say that everyone who starts at whatever age will consider him/herself a late starter.

As well as MBassist at (15yrs) who wonders if he is too old to start I am sure that there are others lurking on this forum in their fifties who are wondering if they are too old to start kendo. I would say to all these people, see kendomushi's comments above!

I personally think that there is something magical in the lifelong nature of kendo, and that it is not uncommon to meet people with similar stories.

A last example, in our London dojo we had a visitor who was working over here for a while, and since he was going to be away from his family for a while he decided he would take up kendo again. He had stopped kendo for over 30years! In the short time he was here, despite having a bad back, he became a valued member of the club, trained hard and entered tournaments. He was also called Tanaka san.
(beginning to think the Tanaka clan have a secret sheeps placenta youth recipe or attics full of rotting pictures)

If you are wondering if you are too old to start kendo
1) It will *always* seem you started too late.
2) Get over it.
3) Get to a dojo immediately.

[m_french]

15? How can 15 be too old to start anything? except maybe drinking? I started kendo when I was 37 years old....yes I wish I would of started earlier, but I also wish i would of paid attention in algebra and that I would have gotten my MBA. regret comes with age...start now....save your regrets for your golden years, and don't ever look back until you can't see forward.

And to echo James A. Matsuda is definately a top notch guy, always has taken time to say hello or offer a few tips about kendo.

[xvikingx]

No he didn't skip any grades, except that as with most adults I imagine he didn't have to do the kyu grades below 1st kyu.

xvikingx, Might seem unlikely but trust me, it is as I said. He is a respected sensei and manager of a national team. I have been in correspondence with him since the championships and he is a sincere man.

He passed all of his grades first time, which makes 21-22 years to get to 7th dan.
That makes him in his sixties, which he was, although he looked younger to my western eyes.
This may seem 'as old as dirt' to you, but not something I suggest you would say to his face.

James, don't get too bent out of shape. I didn't mean anything by it. I wasn't suggesting in anyway that he was a fraud. I was simply surprised. Excuse me.

[James]

xvikingx I wasn't bent out of shape, just my writing style. I knew you didn't mean anything bad, you wrote "(no offense)!" I was just stressing that is was true.
:cyclops:

french started at 37! damn! I regret not starting a year earlier like you did you young whelp.

[xvikingx]

xvikingx I wasn't bent out of shape, just my writing style. I knew you didn't mean anything bad, you wrote "(no offense)!" I was just stressing that is was true.
:cyclops:

french started at 37! damn! I regret not starting a year earlier like you did you young whelp.

My bad. I misunderstood. Sorry.

[A P]

I am going to turn twenty one this december. And I just about to join a kendo

club.

Anyone got any problem?????????????? :smoker: :smoker: :devious:

[rfoxmich]

Hi I am your average 15 year old in high school well this year I became good friends with a kid my age. He has been taking kendo for about 10 years now and really got me interested in it so I started thinking to myself how long it would take for me to get really good at it and if I should bother starting. I was thinking about the discipline aspect of kendo as well since my grades have been lacking this semester. So can I get anyone’s opinion on this?


Hmm. I remember when I was at Osaka University in summer 1998. I used to trek down into Osaka-jo-koen to practice at Shudokan dojo in addition to my practice at the university. My first practice I met a gentleman who was 68 years old. He said he was a sandan and had started practicing when he retired at 60...

Another hmmm.... Mukashi-mukashi I was visiting my Japanese language teacher who was then in Nagasaki university. He took me to watch a kendo examination. During one of the breaks, one of the nidan candidates came over and struck up a conversation.. he was about 50 at the time. Seems like he had been the kyushi jyu-ken-do champion in his youth, but when his son started practicing kendo in high school, he thought it would be a good idea if he did as well.

Bottom line? There's no such thing as too late to start. I believe there's a trade-off. When you start early, you get more years and perhaps your movement becomes more natural. If you start older, I think you can bring a more mature, disciplined attititude to practice and perhaps learn a bit faster.

Ron

[Old Warrior]

"If you start older, I think you can bring a more mature, disciplined attititude to practice and perhaps learn a bit faster."

And if you have done other martial arts, the sense of combat is very useful. But, the kids are so fast and graceful, that it takes a lot of wilely treachery to overcome their youth and skill. That's what makes it the most fun. Pitting my brain against their talent is the challange.

[Andoy]

"If you start older, I think you can bring a more mature, disciplined attititude to practice and perhaps learn a bit faster."

And if you have done other martial arts, the sense of combat is very useful. But, the kids are so fast and graceful, that it takes a lot of wilely treachery to overcome their youth and skill. That's what makes it the most fun. Pitting my brain against their talent is the challange.

true that! :cool:

[kennosen]

...although I started in my early 30's, mentally and spiritually I started in my teens....

I think that most of us Kendoka can also say this is true.

[JSchmidt]

...although I started in my early 30's, mentally and spiritually I started in my teens....

I think that most of us Kendoka can also say this is true.
Erhh..I certainly hope not.

[Andoru]

GOLD! :D :D

[OSatsu Jin]

I just started and I'm 36.....I'll keep at it till I get tired of it...or too old to move.
My son started with me....he's 11. I hope he stays with it. He took Tae Kwon Do and was ready to take his black belt test and decided he didn't want to do it anymore. I am in the mindset that you do it as long as it's fun for you...apparently he no longer enjoyed it. Seems to love Kendo though.

John

[munenmuso]

you are not late to study kendo and you can still be good since your only 15yo. but if you are always late in every session and misses half of the lessons that is the real problem. there are no age requirements in kendo as long as you have two hands and a winning attitude towards this discipline and crazy about whacking somebody's head could be your next hobby. move on