How you found Kendo?

[morpheus]

I have recently signed up to this sight and have been reading through some older threads but have not seen this one. So excuse me if this is an old question, for it is new to me.
How did most of you find Kendo and begin with your study? Do you find that students who make there way to Kendo while studying other arts are more apt to stay? Do you find Kendo helpful to the other arts you study?
I am currently studying Aikido and have been doing so for 12 months. My Sensei is supportive of my decision and desire to engage in the study of Kendo simultaneously with my Aikido training.
What are your thoughts and feelings?
thanks Jeff

[tyler]

for me it was almost by accident. my friend and i had heard of it but didn't know what it was or what it looked like. He dared me to join our university club, we ended up joining together and that was that. He eventually stopped, it wasn't for him, but I kept going. So a dare, i suppose.

[chidokan]

I was doing karate but had to stop as my teacher left the area. My friend told me about the class, and I knew the teacher as I used to train with him in aikido. I used to turn up to any MA class as we were desperate to learn anything then, and the kendo class looked the best thing going at the time. Although I still do kendo that also led me on to iaido, my main art nowadays due to an injury to my leg.

Tim Hamilton

[Sorigin]

You'll probally find this odd but I first got interested in it because I was watching Anime and I saw sword fighting. Then my cousin started karate and his Sensei started to teach him some kendo, He knew I liked it so he showed me some of it... yeah...yeah...-_-

[Tachi]

I was interested in Japanese swords first. The strength and beauty in their construction is just awesome...I guess it was a natural progression to want to know how to use one! Now I dream about bamboo swords! :D

[KATSUJIN]

ahhh.... interesting ways to find kendo...

I joined my school and still did not know abt kendo until i was walking around after my lessons and saw the club members.. and i joined... but i still don't know why i joined...

[Andoy]

Hmm well i was really interested in feudal Japan. I did alot of reading on Samurai and happened to stumble on kendo. So I said to myself "why don't I give it a shot?" And I'm glad i did! :silly:

[Miravil]

I first started learning Taekwondo. I wanted to learn kendo since early teenage years (can't remember how I start to know about it). Sadly, it was not easy to find a dojo here. Then 2 years ago, I found out that my Japanese language teacher is actually learning kendo in the Japan club. I didn't even wait until my seniors to explain what is kendo and I signed up. Still happy that I'm able to learn kendo. :p

[Yowai]

I found it underneath a vending machine!

[Jagaimo]

The first time I experienced kendo was in the form of a computer game 12 or so years ago. You had the choice of fighting with a bo, nunchuku, shinai, or bare handed karate. Wen you fought with the shinai, it was the only time the character used a kendo outfit rather than the karate outfit. At the time, my brother and I didnt like the way that the character seemed to just swing the shinai back and forth at varying degrees, but we were 8 and 11 years old. Give us a break!

The second time I experienced kendo was in real life, just this past summer. I went to the Obon festival in my hometown and the Japaese American Club was giving a demonstration. My closest friend was part of the JA club and was thinking about joining the kendo club. We joined the club together thinking that it would be fun to spar with each other, but when the summer was over I transfered to a new college so we wont be able to spar until we are both finished with college. Until that time, we are going to train seperately in preperation for that fateful day. Then we shall find out who has the superior skills.

How's THAT for motivation?!

[Noe]

I've been a Japanese language student for some time now, 3 years or so, and I founfd out about kendo from studies. I really thought it would be great to do it....but I live in the US where kendo isn't very popular and hardly known. But I was just browsing sites and such and found a link to the All US Kendo Federation. I found a dojo near me and started. I almost got pulled out of it though, when my mom found out there would be 'contact' involved. :laugh:

[Shazzanzzz]

My roomate started me on it, but he quit and I am still doing it.

[Rularn]

I was just lucky enough to find Kendo at the Uni I was going to attend. If they didn't have a club back then, I'd probably never pick it up as I live in Arkansas. No Kendo around for miles and miles :P

[Anjin-san]

Personally I was into swords first, started browsing around the web for websites regarding swords, and stumbled accross KWF forums. Everyone seemed pretty friendly, and it sounded like a lot of fun, so I thought, why not?

[LNGUYEN]

I know about Kendo when I was a teen learning Judo in Vietnam. I want to learn Kendo too but nowhere teaching it. Then I move to US, work hard and no time to learn, went to college, no place around, graduated and get married got two kids and woke up one day and thought, damm it I have to start to learn it now.

[Craig Jones]

Great thread.

I first discovered kendo about 11 years ago during a very unhappy time in my life, everything in my life that helped to define who and what I was had crumbled or left. Things had been going from bad to worse and I needed something to help me turn things around and I happened to pick up a copy of the local Parks and Rec course guide listing various martial arts classes. I had tried out a few martial arts in my childhood but never really liked them much as I did not care for the hand to hand combat, and as a result almost tossed the guide aside when I saw a class on swordsmanship... Kendo. I thought why the heck not. I have always had an interest in Japan and this class mentioned something about providing insite into Japanese Culture. I was hooked from the very first class. But unfortunately the class was canceled due to low enrollment a year later.

Again 3 years ago while going through another rough patch on the road of life I stumbled across another Kendo club at the university. I hooked up with them and have been training ever since. Kendo has been a good stablizing force in my life and like an old friend it has always been there when i needed it most..

[Gatchaman]

Sorry to move off-topic, but I noticed that you were from Louisville and I've been searching for someplace to study Kendo in Louisville. Any recommendations? Southern Indiana is good too.

Gatcha~

[Rawoo]

I love kendo
although I hated it for a little while
but now I like it again and I think I am gonna do that for the rest of my life
my life without kendo can not be described by words
although I am not a good player yet
but I believe if I keep trying I will be one someday
:D

[A P]

I know about kendo since I was a child. Back then I lived in Thailand.

I was reading comic then, that is how I first know about kendo. I was amaze

by how cool the bogu look. At the same time that I found out about kendo

I was already admire by the sword(in genaral) and I was really in to sword

fighting. However there were no kendo club near where I use to live

(Nonthuburi).

Then I move to the USA when I was 12 years old (Stillwater,MN) and after

I finish my high school I move to Minneapolis for college. After two years

of living in Minneapolis, I decide to look for a martialart class to take.

I was planning to take Akido or Jeet kun do, but then I saw kendo.

And so my child hood has come back to me. And I decide to go with kendo.

One of my fantasy dream is to learn how to sword fight. And now I am going

to make it come true.

[New Guy]

I have always been interested in Japanese swords, rather, swords of most kinds, and I'd always wanted to learn a style. So, I was introduced to a club that a friend goes to. I hope that it is the style for me :cheerful:

[Twobitmage]

my great uncle practiced kendo till he hit about 5th dan and stopped.

He impressed me by saying he won 3 consecutive tournaments (i'm assuming it was an island wide competition) so I joined hoping to get as good as him

Im far from it so far though :ermm:

[midnightdawn]

Hah, I owe finding out about kendo to DDR actually. I my friend introduced me to a friend of his at work b/c he also played DDR. Then one day I went over to play ddr at his apartment where I met his roommates that did Kendo. After hanging out a few times they said something on the lines of, "there needs to be more girls kendo", I went to the call out (for my university's Kendo club) and dedided to try it.

And it worked out great!

[litige]

I was 5 (yeah very young) and in my karate dojo, my sensei had a picture of two kenshi sparring in a outside scene in japan (maybe my sensei himself)
and then one day he did a jigeiko with is wife in front of the class. when i left the dojo because i was moving away, i told him i wanted to do kendo
(i was then 8) and he gave me a shinai as gift, i never found a dojo where i lived, even if I had , I was to young to do Kendo here in québec ( it bugged me because in Japan they start so young).

[Bayushi]

I found kendo after looking for amartial art that i could do with out getting thrown around alot.

I have a weak leg and was looking for something a little less brutal as karate etc..i tried aikido but that was stil to much...i let ot go for a year or so and then i heard about kendo ina magazine...and then found this site and found a dojo...too bad the closest one is 2 hours drive away... but i stil plan to join next yoear when they hold there introductory session. :smiley:

[Jin-e]

It all started way back in the old 2001's when they showed samurai-X (aka Kenshin) on Tv . I loved the show so much that I decided to practice kendo by myself.

[Arkel]

Since kid back in the sixties I was interested in Kendo (old movies on the TV) , then in 1999 my teen daughter was interested in doing fencing so i spoke to my brother that was into some japanese fencing club ( at that time i was not realized yet , that it was Kendo) , so she started doing Kendo, a month later my wife asked me to join the kendo class instead of just waiting outside. Well my daughter quits class because too much homework at school , and I stayed since then. Now simply I can't live with out it, it's a way of life, it helped me to sleep well, to keep in more or less good shape, helped me at work (to remain calm in time of crisis, to take quick decisions, etc..) also I made very good friends from all parts of the world you know World's Kendo Brotherhood.( also noted that all japanese sensei enjoy cold beer after class... :D )

[Rurøuni]

The first thing that got me completely into Japanese lifestyle and swordsmanship was Anime, as well as a lot of you. I love Rurouni Kenshin. It was the first, and it gave me the biggest kickoff into Japanese culture, history, and samurai. Everything about it was so appealing to me! However, I had no idea that Japanese swordsmanship even existed these days. I thought it had long since 'died out'. But, last summer, I took a trip to Old Montreal. It's touristy, with lots of shops and attractions, so I rather like it there. Along the channel, there's a long path that is always filled with tourists and contains the locks, Imax, Science museum, and lots of things like rentable vehicles and along the sides they often have exhibits. So, a few friends and I rented a quadricycle, and we pedalled up and down the street. As I was driving, I cought a glimpse of a man carrying a Shinai. I knew what they looked like from Kenshin, but I had NO IDEA that they existed! So, of course, I yelled, "OH MY GOSH it's a REAL kendo sword!!!" which rather disrupted the friends I was steering around, and I nearly ended up running into several tourists and a fence alongside the road. But, I managed not to hit anything, and as soon as our rent was up, I asked to go back and see what it was about. I went back to the place where I saw the guy walking, and I followed him back to his exhibit of the Montreal Kendo Federation (or something). I asked him what it was about, etc., and he let me participate in a demonstration. He put bogu on me, told me the parts of it (in a French accent, so it was extremely hard to understand.. Japanese in a French accent) handed me a Shinai, and showed me the three basic moves: Men, Kote, Dou. After that, I was hooked. I went home and did some research on the internet about Kendo and Kendo academies nationwide, and found that there were only a few in each state. But, I looked for my state, just in case there MIGHT be a chance that there was one pretty close....and I had success - the best kind. There was one federation in the southern part of my state, but I live in the northeastern part. And, I found another, more privately owned Academy, right "in my backyard". I couldn't have been more pleased - the Academy was right down a few roads. I just couldn't not join - and I fullfilled that! I called, and my Sensei--who is one of the nicest people I ever met--sent me a brochure in the mail. I joined a Kendo, Iaido, Tanto-jutsu, Iai-jutsu, Ken-jutsu Academy, all taught in the same class, all taught by the same wonderful Sensei, and I love it!!!!!