New to Kendo

[morpheus]

Hello all,
New to the forum. I have been training in Aikido for 12 months. I am going to visit a Kendo dojo this upcoming Saturday. The Kendo school accepts new students in April and October only so I am hopeful to be accepted into the school. The school is located in Lexington Ky, the Central Kentucky Kendo Club.
What should I expect?
thanks Jeff

[samurai999]

I hope the advice I give to you is of some use...

Usually, your first practice gets you familiar with reigi and the "dojo customs". That is, bowing before you enter the dojo, bowing before you leave, where "shomen" is, etc. Totally basic stuff that you should know each time you enter the dojo, bow in to start practice, bow out to end practice and leave the dojo. They get you accustomed to some Japanese (maybe Korean if it is Kumdo??) dialogue that is used. (rei, shomen, otagai, sensei, counting (ichi ni san shi etc) If there is time, they start showing you some basic basic things such as the proper stance, and maybe some simple footwork. This is what our dojo does usually. Each dojo obviously is different and have their own way of doing things, but this is to the best of my knowledge what is done for a students first day..

If I'm not mistaken, Aikido uses a hakama and a gi as well so you already there in terms of apparel. And... this is the first time i have heard of a dojo that "accepts" people into their ranks. Usually most dojos have an "open door" policy where they let you observe and join whenever you want. Our dojo had an overload of students come in so we restricted our registrations to the beginning of each month.

My 0.02$ (US)

Tim

[morpheus]

Tim~
Thanks for your response. The reason for "accepting" students is due to the limited number of instructors. There is no club fee so they have no ability to get new instructor's. I feel lucky to have found them at the right time. All the require to begin training is a Shinai. Typically how soon will you need all the armor? I understand this to be realtively expensive.
Jeff

[Neil Gendzwill]

Our club also only accepts beginners at specific times (September and January). Two reasons - first is that we have a limited number of instructors and so we can't have lots of different groups at different levels. Second is that beginners tend to do better when they start as a group.

Regarding armour - depends on you, your level of practice and the standard your dojo sets. In our dojo, minimum time is around 3 months for the most talented/dedicated students, typical is closer to 6 months, some take as long as a year. Many clubs have rental or loaner sets - if your club does I strongly recommend you rent for a while to determine if kendo is for you. If/when you buy, you can get a decent beginner's set for as cheap as $US350 or so these days.

[kendomushi]

Our club accepts new students at any time though we try to actively recruit them at the beginning of the calendar year and right after the summer break.

Most of our students are told to start looking for armour at 3-4 months into regular practice. That ends up with most of them wearing it about 6 months in.