Hey Guys

[TsuchiSwrdFghtr]

Hi everybody. I am new here and need some help. I am a little new to Kendo. Kendo has interested me for quite some time but I have had no place to learn. So I took up practicing on my own for a while. It's been a dream of mine to learn since I was 10. I am only about 18 but have been practicing (on my own) with different swords for almost 6 years. I practice at least 10 hours a week. Although I have no formal training I wouldn't consider myself a complete noob. Mainly because a lot of the practice I do is with friends and on my own. Basically us sparring with PVC pipe wrapped in foam. Although Again, I have no technical training I have looked online and didn't find anything that really worked. Basically I want to learn the correct way, not just by watching videos and reading pages online. I practice (again on my own) with a Katana, a single-edged Straight blade, a set of Khukuri, and (don't laugh) a buster sword. However, next fall I am going down to Cape Girardeau. Is there any dojos down there, and if there are which ones would be a good choice. I want to be the best I can so any suggestions would be great. Thanks a bunch.:nervous:

[tango]

sorry.. don't know of any in that area...
think that place is almost equidistant from nashville, memphis, and st louis..
maybe closest to st louis and they've got a small group there (can't remember if they're at st. louis univ. or what...)

long haul anyway you look at it...

if you're interested in the st louis group, shoot me a PM....
i've contact info for the group there but it's in my computer at the office, so.. it'd have to wait til monday or so..

[TsuchiSwrdFghtr]

Sure. Please send some info that would be great help. I have family up in St. Louis so I could possibly go up every other weekend so learn. Thanks

[Anonymous]

Not to be rude or anything, but it would be a good idea for you to stop playing with sticks on your own before trying to get a real dojo. You'll find that doing all that stuff built up a lot of bad habits that'll get harder to break the more you do that kinda stuff. You're better off just working out or finding something else to do while looking.

[Sparv]

Not to be rude or anything, but it would be a good idea for you to stop playing with sticks on your own before trying to get a real dojo. You'll find that doing all that stuff built up a lot of bad habits that'll get harder to break the more you do that kinda stuff. You're better off just working out or finding something else to do while looking.

Let me disagree here. At the first parctice he will understand that what he used to do and what he is going to do are totally different. It's like skiing and snowboarding (I'm not an expert in one of those domains, so the analogy can be wrong): as soon as you understand that they are difernt things, everything goes on fine.
TsuchiSwrdFghtr, play with sticks if you want to! (at least as long as you don't show your skills on youtube with a "kendo", "kenjutsu" or "ninjutsu" tag ;) )

[Anonymous]

Let me disagree here. At the first parctice he will understand that what he used to do and what he is going to do are totally different. It's like skiing and snowboarding (I'm not an expert in one of those domains, so the analogy can be wrong): as soon as you understand that they are difernt things, everything goes on fine.
TsuchiSwrdFghtr, play with sticks if you want to! (at least as long as you don't show your skills on youtube with a "kendo", "kenjutsu" or "ninjutsu" tag ;) )


Well my comment was more from personal experience moving between different unarmed martial arts. I'd imagine that habits built up wailing on your friends for a few years wouldn't be all that different.

[TsuchiSwrdFghtr]

Thanks for the advice Anoymous. I do understand what your saying and that's why I want to start actual traing so that I can get better. I appreciate the thoughts.

[TsuchiSwrdFghtr]

Oh, and I hae people who post crap on youtube and think it means they are "special" or something. Basically don't worry about me posting dumb stuff on youtube. I really do want to learn more lots more. Are there any other martial arts in Cape that would be good for me to learn? ANy suggestions?

[Kaoru]

Hello!

Welcome to the forum! :)


Hi everybody. I am new here and need some help. I am a little new to Kendo. Kendo has interested me for quite some time but I have had no place to learn.


Well, can you give your state and location please?

hehehe, You'll find I'm a bit tougher than others here because I hate it when people play with swords when they have no training, and for good reason. Serious injury and even death can occur, and that is no joke. So... :)


So I took up practicing on my own for a while. It's been a dream of mine to learn since I was 10. I am only about 18 but have been practicing (on my own) with different swords for almost 6 years.Why do you think it was/is ok to play with 3 foot razor blades? It really is not ok. They are very dangerous. Swords are NOT toys and they are NOT intended for use by untrained people. Do you understand that you are not invincible and that you could seriously injure yourself or even kill yourself by playing with those swords? I'm not kidding and you need to understand that what you are doing is VERY bad. You don't know how lucky you are to still be living after six years of messing with sharp 3 foot razor blades that you have no business using because you are not properly trained. I'd be willing to bet they were cheap wallhangers, too, which are incredibly dangerous and are NOT meant to be used.

I am telling you this for your own safety. You are not trained and you cannot teach yourself. So, you should never be playing with a sword as a result.


I practice at least 10 hours a week.I hate to tell you this, but that is a terrible waste of your time. This is because you are not learning anything at all. All you are doing it playing and pretending you are truly learning a sword art, when you are not. What you really are doing is making sure that you are ingraining nothing but incorrect and bad habits into your muscle memory. This is a horrible thing to do to yourself. This will make it much harder for you to learn proper techniques in a real dojo. You will instead be spending the first several months at the least, having to unlearn every little thing you have self-taught yourself. I can tell you from personal experience, having been in a McDojo(Fake kendo dojo) for 5 1/2 months before I found out I was not learning the real thing, that it is a royal pain in the rear end to have to unlearn everything you thought you learned correctly once you get into a dojo. It is much better to stop this practicing right now and let your body forget everything you taught yourself and start fresh in a proper and legitimate dojo.


Although I have no formal training I wouldn't consider myself a complete noob. Mainly because a lot of the practice I do is with friends and on my own.Actually, you ARE a complete noob, because you are untrained and don't have a clue about how to do anything correctly or safely. Practicing backyard samurai stuff with your friends or on your own does not make you know something. It just tells me that you don't know anything about what real JSA(Japanese sword arts) are.


Basically us sparring with PVC pipe wrapped in foam. Well, I don't know how safe that even is, because you may not have those pipes covered safely enough. I would highly recommend that you stop doing this. Play sparring with friends is ok only if what you are using is not a hard material inside or out when you are not trained. Otherwise, I will say no way! Unsafe! At least you are smart enough to not use shinai, wooden swords or real swords. :) Those can give serious injuries and the second two can even cause death.


Although Again, I have no technical training I have looked online and didn't find anything that really worked.That is because you cannot use the internet to self teach yourself nor can you use books and videos. That is really a bad idea.


Basically I want to learn the correct way, not just by watching videos and reading pages online. Good. Glad to hear it, if you are honestly serious. :) Again, please give me your state and location. I can help you find a legit dojo then.


I practice (again on my own) with a Katana, a single-edged Straight blade, a set of Khukuri, and (don't laugh) a buster sword. I'm not going to laugh, I'm going to tell you to please get RID of those things!! Again, it is VERY stupid to be playing with very sharp 3 foot razor blades that can cut you very badly or even cause your death. Yes, it can happen. I want you to look at the photos in the following link. They show what happened to a self taught guy who lost concentration for one second and cut himself so badly that he nearly bled to death. The idiot was using a live(sharp) blade. He said he was doing iaido, but he was not trained formally in it.

http://forums.swordforum.com/showthread.php?t=53083

Then, I want you to read these articles on sword accidents that happened to trained AND untrained people who did really stupid things. Please read the entire article:

http://www.tsuki-kage.com/darwin.html

Since you are NOT properly trained you should not be using any live blade or any sword period.

I'm not sure if you know or not, but kendo and iaido are two different Japanese sword arts.

Iaido is the art of drawing and cutting in one smooth motion with a sword. It is a koryu(old school) art.

Kendo does not use a real sword. Kendo uses shinai to strike with and we spar when we finally get into bogu(armour). We also have 10 paired kenjutsu derived kata. For that, we use bokken(wooden swords) and we do not hit each other or wear bogu when performing kata.

In a real iaido class, you will not be allowed to show up in class or practice with any live blade for at least 5-6 years. The reason is, because you have to be considered safe and qualified to be allowed to use one. The only person who can give you permission is a qualified sensei. You will use a bokken(wooden sword) for at least 6 months up to a year, depending on the dojo, before the sensei will decide to let you use an iaito(blunt edged sword). You cannot use just any sword in a real dojo. The sensei must approve the sword because of safety concerns. You will not be allowed to use your wallhangers due to the dangers they hold for injuring yourself and your future dojomates. So, it is a good idea to start saving now for a decent safe sword your future sensei will aprove. This is of course, is if I can find you an iaido dojo. If not, you do not need any sword to play with and I would like it if you would please stop playing backyard samurai right now. This is for your own safety.

I may only come up with a kendo dojo. It all depends on what state you are in. So, then you'd need a shinai instead of a sword. But, you will need to wait to buy that too, because you'll need to find out from the teacher what size to buy and where they want you to buy one from. It needs to come from a reputable kendo retailer and not just any MA shop.

Kendo means "way of the sword." In kendo, you will not wear bogu for 3-6 months typically, but it also depends on the dojo. This is because you have to have good basics before you can spar safely with another person. You will study basics for the first few months which include proper footwork, how to strike men, kote and doh correctly, how to do kirikaeshi and how to have correct tenouchi and ki-ken-tai-ichi(spirit, sword, body as one) and fumikomi. I'll hold off defining those terms for now. If you'd like, ask and I, or someone else will define them for you later. It's late and I am getting tired of writing. Sorry about that!

You won't need a uniform until you find out from the sensei when you may purchase one in either art.

Anyway, PLEASE stop playing with all those swords! It is important because you want to keep all your fingers and body safe and intact. :)

And, if you were my kid, hehehe, I'd be having a ton of fits if I caught you swinging around a 3 foot razor blade! So, think about your poor mother... What if you got hurt? She'd be very sad. I'm sure she'd like to keep her son from being seriously injured or worse. :)


However, next fall I am going down to Cape Girardeau. Is there any dojos down there, and if there are which ones would be a good choice.Well, no idea where that is. You'll have to tell me. Though, an exact location of where you are would be nice. :)


I want to be the best I can so any suggestions would be great. Thanks a bunch.
Well, don't worry about being the best. That's not the correct way to be thinking. :) You need to think about doing your very best. That is what is important. Being the best is not important. That's ego, and not necessarily a good thing. If you try to be the best, that will set you up for huge disappointments because it takes a very long time to learn any sword art. It really takes a life time to learn anything at all. Concentrate on improving yourself and your character through hard and diligent practice in the dojo and at home in between practices in a legit dojo. That's what is best. And, it will make you feel happy. You will certainly make positive progress if you work hard and just concentrate on what you learn each time you attend practice. Just take things one step at a time and before you know it, you will be learning more and more over the months and if you stick with it, years. Really, there is no such thing as being perfect and we at all levels, are still working on things to make them better. You will spend a lifetime learning since learning is a never ending cycle. That's what makes learning a JSA so much fun. :)

Well, I hope this helps you. Seriously, I am concerned for your safety, so please stop using those swords and stop trying to teach yourself. :) You'll learn so much in a proper dojo. You won't regret studying the real thing.

Kaoru

[JCM]

Hi,

If yopu are still reading, where are you at?. There is a Kendo Federation (part of the IKF) in Ireland with a number of clubs, and at one point in other locations. Please check out the federation's website: www.irishkendofederation.org

Events are run often enough in every club that even if you are not close by at least you can pop in for seminars and the likes.

I would encourage you to make an effort to visit any of the Dojo, if you have really been practicing for ten years this is fundamental, we often travel and practice outside our own Dojo as part of our Kendo education. All the irish Dojo have an open door policy for visitors.

Please, do come in!

[dwez]

Hello!

Welcome to the forum! :)

...

I guess you're not using the PocketPC for that one.

[tango]

here's the only info i have for the st louis club...

Missouri Kendo Club
5055 Alaska Ave
St. Louis, MO
Contact: Shawn McGough (314)832-7642
Email: Musashi1264@msn.com

[Big One]

All of Irish member here, please hook him up with something. I hate to see someone with that much of a heart for Kendo going wasted.

[JCM]

All of Irish member here, please hook him up with something. I hate to see someone with that much of a heart for Kendo going wasted.

On this note, PM myself or bobdonny for more details

[TsuchiSwrdFghtr]

Wow, thanks for the huge response. First things first, I just thought it should be mentioned that none of the swords are sharp. I either made sure or had them dulled. Second, I really appreciate your concern for my safety, Kaoru. And I will take your advice, i'll control myself and wait for the chance to learn at a proper dojo. The location I am going to is Cape Girardeau, MO. South of St. Louis. I apologize to those of you who thought I am currently in Ireland. I wish I grew up there, but in reality, I'm just from Troy MO. I'm part Irish, sorry, I need to change my flag. Are there any unarmed martail arts that would be wise to learn in conjuction with Kendo? (Just as a side note, the buster sword was used just to help build muscle.) I am going to college in Cape and plan on taking their courses in fencing (English), Tae Kwon Do, and Judo. Any more advice please?

[JCM]

Wow, thanks for the huge response. First things first, I just thought it should be mentioned that none of the swords are sharp. I either made sure or had them dulled. Second, I really appreciate your concern for my safety, Kaoru. And I will take your advice, i'll control myself and wait for the chance to learn at a proper dojo. The location I am going to is Cape Girardeau, MO. South of St. Louis. I apologize to those of you who thought I am currently in Ireland. I wish I grew up there, but in reality, I'm just from Troy MO. I'm part Irish, sorry, I need to change my flag. Are there any unarmed martail arts that would be wise to learn in conjuction with Kendo? (Just as a side note, the buster sword was used just to help build muscle.) I am going to college in Cape and plan on taking their courses in fencing (English), Tae Kwon Do, and Judo. Any more advice please?

Ok mate, I will defer to the US guys here for Dojo info then

[ShinKenshi]

Are there any unarmed martail arts that would be wise to learn in conjuction with Kendo?IMHO, I don't think that any unarmed martial arts mesh well technique wise with kendo. I've taken judo (long time ago) and I think the only thing that I felt transfered was being used to a large portion of each practice being devoted to basics and other exercises before any sparring.


I am going to college in Cape and plan on taking their courses in fencing (English), Tae Kwon Do, and Judo. Any more advice please?A member of my dojo used to do western fencing and for him, the biggest thing he had to overcome was resisting the urge to retreat (a basic tactic from what I'm told) during keiko. He also said that in fencing you aren't supposed to stomp your foot at all so he had a little bit of a hard time getting used to fumikomi (not that every other beginner doesn't anyway). In the end, it's your choice but I'd say maybe pick one or two martial arts and stick with them.

[Anonymous]

Wow, thanks for the huge response. First things first, I just thought it should be mentioned that none of the swords are sharp. I either made sure or had them dulled. Second, I really appreciate your concern for my safety, Kaoru. And I will take your advice, i'll control myself and wait for the chance to learn at a proper dojo. The location I am going to is Cape Girardeau, MO. South of St. Louis. I apologize to those of you who thought I am currently in Ireland. I wish I grew up there, but in reality, I'm just from Troy MO. I'm part Irish, sorry, I need to change my flag. Are there any unarmed martail arts that would be wise to learn in conjuction with Kendo? (Just as a side note, the buster sword was used just to help build muscle.) I am going to college in Cape and plan on taking their courses in fencing (English), Tae Kwon Do, and Judo. Any more advice please?

IIRC some 'tard managed to stab himself with a dulled sword a while back, so those are still kinda dangerous.

For building muscle just lift weights etc. and eat correctly, its far more efficient than risking people making fun of you for a giant nerdsword.

As far as unarmed arts go, make sure that they have an emphasis on full contact sparring. Avoid contracts and all that nice crap, you can find articles about it almost anywhere. And you might want to avoid Tae Kwon Do dojangs, an awful lot of those are horrible mcdojangs. Not too sure whats offered in your area, but I'm sure theres decent boxing and if you're in high school they probably have wrestling too. (I'd imagine that it would be more likely/easier for you to find those than anything else)

With Kendo you'll probably find that very little of your experience with other arts will cross over. I did Wado-ryu, boxing and plain old wrestling during high school, and the only thing that helped me in Kendo was being in decent shape when starting. And I guess already being used to having someone trying to wail on me was nice too.

[Wesley Myers]

Kendo is very different from Tae Kwon Do. There is not much that is similar (except for your 2nd Dan form you will learn a “stomp” as you do a double body block – that’s as close as you’re going to get).

When you find a school/club that teaches martial arts take the time and watch a class. Actually, watch two. Watch the senior adult class and the beginner class (if there is more than one, most university clubs will only have one class). After you have gone around and watched the classes of every MA school in your area you will get a basic idea of which was the best – good attitude, balance and technique of the students and instructors, ask questions and pay attention to the answers.

I can say quite confidently that over 95% of all MA schools are taught by charlatans. You will start to see this if you take the time to go to them all and watch classes. If a person can’t take the time then they usually fall victim to the place that advertises the most with the slickest ads that is located in the most convenient (costly) location.

Lots of MA schools try to teach weapons because they know it keeps interest and is flashy and will get them students. Some weapons are directly linked to quality instruction and technique but the sword is something completely different and is not related to a punch or block or other strike.

Look at the federation they are affiliated with and do some research and find out if it is a local federation that only sounds good (like Global TKD Federation or Unified TKD Federation or World TKD International or something similar).

Anonymous: TKD dojangs (martial arts school in Korean) are no worse than any others. It’s all about what is the flavour of the day to make money – right now it’s Jiujitsu and MMA. When a school offers lots of different “arts” you can bet they aren’t masters of any.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous: TKD dojangs (martial arts school in Korean) are no worse than any others. It’s all about what is the flavour of the day to make money – right now it’s Jiujitsu and MMA. When a school offers lots of different “arts” you can bet they aren’t masters of any.


I know that, the thing is I see far more TKD/krotty mcdojos than pretty much anything else. Walk around pretty much any town in the US and I'm sure you'll notice that there are an awful lot of TKD/karate masters running around. You don't see that so much with JJ/MMA (although there certainly are people trying to rip you off) since its a little harder for people to avoid actually fighting when competing at real MMA events.

[Wesley Myers]

I see far more TKD/krotty mcdojos than pretty much anything else. Walk around pretty much any town in the US and I'm sure you'll notice that there are an awful lot of TKD/karate masters running around.

Yes, you do see that. Most of them have no idea what they are teaching - the first generation of them received a low belt in the late '60's or '70's and saw the potential for making a lot of money. Since most people had no idea of true martial arts and ye olde Bruce Lee / Chuck Norris media bandwagon drove the frenzy they had no problem getting students. They bought belt ranks from various mail order organizations and learned new “things” from various books and videos and seminars. Most of them used to be ‘karate’ schools and when TKD became popular in the ‘80’s many changed their ‘art’ or offered TKD as part of their lessons or new schools opened offering TKD because it was now the flavour of the week. The same flavour of the week is starting/arrived with MMA/jiujutsu. When you’ve got street brawlers who really have no true technique you don’t need a whole heck of a lot of skill. They can be taught everything they need to know in 3 months of training. The rest of the time is spent just redoing the same things over and over again and weight and cardio training. The same as with kickboxing.

[Kaoru]

I guess you're not using the PocketPC for that one.

hahaha, Oh HECK no!! :eek: I'd have had to hang myself after typing that post on my pocket PC! :dead: Do you know how long that would have taken me?? Waaaayyyy too long! :D Don't wanna even think about just how long it would take... :eek:


here's the only info i have for the st louis club...

Missouri Kendo Club
5055 Alaska Ave
St. Louis, MO
Contact: Shawn McGough (314)832-7642
Email: Musashi1264@msn.com

There is also koryu iaido there. I'll have to go get it when I reply to his post above. :)

Kaoru

[Anonymous]

When you’ve got street brawlers who really have no true technique you don’t need a whole heck of a lot of skill. They can be taught everything they need to know in 3 months of training. The rest of the time is spent just redoing the same things over and over again and weight and cardio training. The same as with kickboxing.


No, not really. If they're going to actively compete then you definitely need to be skilled, and there is no way in hell you're learning everything you need to know in 3 months. Its like saying that because boxing focuses on punching people you only need to show up to practice for three months and you're set. (doesn't work that way, although it would be cool if it did)

Any MMA mcdojos are gonna be found out real quick, but that doesn't mean they're not gonna rip some people off anyway.

[Kaoru]

Hello again! :)


Wow, thanks for the huge response. First things first, I just thought it should be mentioned that none of the swords are sharp. I either made sure or had them dulled.


You're welcome! And, actually, that doesn't matter. You can still stab yourself with the kissaki(tip). It's been done. Please just put them down, ok? You really don't need to be playing with them since you haven't any proper training. :) And, unfortunately, that's really all you are doing, is playing. That just won't help you in the end when you do get to train in a real dojo. It's just a bad idea...


Second, I really appreciate your concern for my safety, Kaoru. And I will take your advice, i'll control myself and wait for the chance to learn at a proper dojo. You're welcome! I just don't want you to get hurt. So, that means you'll stop messing around with them, right? If so, thank you very much. I'm very glad! :)


The location I am going to is Cape Girardeau, MO. South of St. Louis.Well, ok. But, where are you currently? You said that Cape Girardeau is where you'll attend college next year. I might be able to come up with something where you are now, if I know where you are. For al you know, there's a dojo in a neighboring state that is fairly close or something, depending on your present location. But, I can't help you for this year, if I don't know where you are currently. So, where exactly are you? Are you in Missouri right now? If so, where? I do use maps so I need to know the exact town/city.

There are two kendo dojos in St. Louis(Not just one) and a koryu iaido dojo(Which I'm working on getting for you.) available. That's the best you can have for college, and they are fairly easy to get to. Also, please no complaining about distance because my own kendo dojo is 2 1/2 hours away. So, I won't feel sorry for you! ;) Getting to the dojo is a part of practice. if you want to learn bad enough, you'll find the time to go at least once a month at the very least and more if you have the time.



I apologize to those of you who thought I am currently in Ireland. I wish I grew up there, but in reality, I'm just from Troy MO. I'm part Irish, sorry, I need to change my flag.
hahaha, I very nearly gave you all the dojos in Ireland! :D But then I saw the Cape bit and got confused and decided to ask... Ok, so are you just from Troy or are you currently living there? I didn't see this because you didn't put it up with the rest of the location info.

If you currently ARE in Troy, I don't know why you are just sitting there thinking about NEXT year. Do you realise how close Troy is to kendo??? You are only 50 miles away from St. Louis according to this map. The distance legend is on the bottom left corner:

http://www.sitesatlas.com/Flash/USCan/static/MOFH.htm

THAT means you can start kendo or iaido NOW. You are about an hour away give or take depending on the traffic. So, hehehe, now you don't have a single excuse to NOT go and get into a real dojo! :D :D *gloating*

So:

Dojos:

Kendo
--------

Missouri Kendo Club
5055 Alaska Ave
St. Louis, MO
Contact: Shawn McGough (314)832-7642
Email: Musashi1264@msn.com

------------------

St. Louis Kendo Club at Three Rivers Aikido
7403 Manchester Road
Maplewood, MO
Contact: Ned Reilly (314)516-2639
Dojo (314)645-2345
Email: efr@greensfelder.com
Or contact: Karl Kelley (katokhan2@cs.com)
PH: 314-351-9743

Sorry, but I could not find websites for either of those dojos. I tried. I don't think they have any.

Iaido:
--------

The iaido info you'll have to wait for. I'm in the process of getting contact info. It is in St. Louis too. You should visit both dojo to see what you are interested in learning. I have to say though, the iaido is pretty formal and not just anyone can study with the person I've asked. So, you'll just have to decide just how serious you are about learning to use a real sword. It might take a couple days to get a reply, so sorry for the wait. :)

I suggest that you call both kendo dojos and ask permission to come and watch a practice to see if kendo interests you. They may even allow you to practice with them on the first visit. Though, that depends on the dojo's policy. Each dojo is different.

You don't need to worry about having a shinai or a uniform. The shinai you can borrow once they let you practice to see if you like it, and you will wear clean sweat pants that come just to the ankle so the sensei can see your feet in order to correct footwork and a clean t-shirt for a month or two until you are told to buy a uniform. You'll need a bokken(wooden sword) for kata practice, but that you can get when you are told you can, and you will need to buy that and the shinai from a reputable kendo retailer. That you can do online. Don't buy either until you talk to the sensei about what he wants you to get, though!

As for the Iaido, if you are accepted, you'll just use a bokken but again, you should not buy one until you talk to the sensei. That's very important! He'll tell you what you'll need for training and what you should wear.

You should try both if you can. That way, you can choose which art suits you best. I wouldn't recommend doing both right off, however since you are going to be just starting for the first time.



Are there any unarmed martail arts that would be wise to learn in conjuction with Kendo? (Just as a side note, the buster sword was used just to help build muscle.)
To be honest? No. I used to do TKD and since the unarmed arts don't deal with anything but doing things with the hands and feet, they won't help. They are completely different than a sword art.

And stop using that buster sword, whatever that is. You don't need to build up muscles. You need to tone them and you do that by doing proper strength training. You'll learn how to do proper suburi(striking practice that you do by yourself) with your shinai and that will help you build strength. You'll be really sore at first, because you will be using muscles you never knew you had, since you'll be learning things right for the first time ever.

I would not buy/use anything like a suburito(heavy shinai meant to build up strength) for a while until you know how to properly hold the shinai and can strike correctly. That will take several months at least, if not more. That buster thing of yours is going to be useless, sorry to say.

If you do kendo, you'll need to start doing lots of cardio because you'll need to build up your stamina. That means, run, jog, take walks, ride a bike, etc. Anything safe that will help build up your endurance.


I am going to college in Cape and plan on taking their courses in fencing (English), Tae Kwon Do, and Judo. Any more advice please?Honestly, that is way too much to put on your plate if you hope to learn anything properly at all. If you are really serious about learning a JSA you need to get serious and pick just one art to study for now.

And, you can stay in the dojo you can now attend this year right away when you attend college in Cape Girardeau. So, that takes care of everything! :)

As for the fencing, that could really mess with your footwork. We have a champion fencer in our dojo currently who just started kendo a couple months ago and he told me that the footwork is different than kendo and it did confuse him sometimes. Funny thing, he says he prefers kendo to the fencing now.

So, I think you need to pick just one art. You need to focus on one right now so you can do well in it. If you try to start learning too many MA at once, you'll just get lost and not be good at any of them. A sword art will take a lot of your time so that's a good reason to pick just one right now, too.

I also just want to say one thing... Don't focus on starting kendo or Iaido next year. Focus on starting this year, right now, because it is possible. It all depends on how badly you want to learn either one. So, think carefully, ok?

Well, I hope this helps! :)

Kaoru

[Wesley Myers]

If they're going to actively compete then you definitely need to be skilled

How much skill does it take to jump on someone and start punching them in the face (using gloves that prevent you from making a proper fist and padding you so you don't break the small bones in your hand)?


there is no way in hell you're learning everything you need to know in 3 months.

That's all it takes to teach someone to be able to brawl/street fight.


Its like saying that because boxing focuses on punching people you only need to show up to practice for three months and you're set. (doesn't work that way, although it would be cool if it did)

It doesn't take a kangaroo any time in order to beat boxers - although that's illegal now, it wasn't at the turn of the century.

If you take boxing you can be in the ring fighting an amateur bout in that time - so yes, it does.

To get really good at it it takes longer, but all the basics can be taught in that time. Attitude and willingness are much more important than skill.

[JCM]

How much skill does it take to jump on someone and start punching them in the face (using gloves that prevent you from making a proper fist and padding you so you don't break the small bones in your hand)?

How much skill does it take to hit someone over the head with a stick? (using armour that prevents concussions and fist padding), you can learn that pretty quick...or can you?

Same applies for doing the same things "over and over" and pairing it with cardio training

I sorta disagree with some of the stuff on your post, I have picked up kickboxing recently in addition to my kendo training, I am a few weeks into it I am just starting to grasp some very basic concepts, there is an emphasis on using the hips, footwork, etc. I keep having flashbacks to the first few weeks and months of kendo for me. There is a lot of focus on what you could call Kihon and footwork, before any paired practice, which 99.9% of the time is not sparring, but repeating the same exercises with a partner

Aye, there are McDojos out there, but I would be tempted to quote our forum-mate Kenshi about using sweeping statements. Just because is not Budo or Asian art, doesn't mean is automatically BS, traditional boxing is a good example of this.

Just sharing some thoughts, I do agree with the fact that there is a lot of crap out there but is not always so...

[Anonymous]

How much skill does it take to jump on someone and start punching them in the face (using gloves that prevent you from making a proper fist and padding you so you don't break the small bones in your hand)?


How much skill does it take to hit someone with a shinai, wearing armor and having a very limited number of targets?




That's all it takes to teach someone to be able to brawl/street fight.

I wish.




It doesn't take a kangaroo any time in order to beat boxers - although that's illegal now, it wasn't at the turn of the century.

It doesn't take a lion much time to rip a midget apart. What the hell does that have to do with anything?


If you take boxing you can be in the ring fighting an amateur bout in that time - so yes, it does.

No, most places won't even have you sparring for at least a few months if not a year.


To get really good at it it takes longer, but all the basics can be taught in that time. Attitude and willingness are much more important than skill.

I agree with the part about attitude and willingness, but thats about it.

[Wesley Myers]

Sorry if I appeared 'brusque' yesterday - I was being brisk, not brusque. (I can only access this site to post at work and I only had a few minutes to write).

My point about kangaroos was the same type of point that you can 'teach monkeys to fly better than that' from 'The Battle of Britain'. (obviously my point was lost due to the fact I didn't make the connection - sorry)

These guys have no real martial skills, it's just like you said about taking and stick and whacking on people - it doesn't take much skill to be able to do that. However, to be skilled at it (proper Kendo training) is a whole other thing altogether that really can't be compared.

I don't know if you have any experience with street fighting or traditional fist/foot martial arts but you really can teach a person to be able to brawl in 3 months and to win (as long as they have that attitude/willingness). If they don't have that attitude and they are training in traditional martial arts (no, McDojo's aren't tradiitonal MA) then they will stay. It's like someone wanting to learn to 'fight' with a sword going to a Kendo class, they won't stick with it as it's not what they are looking for, it's too slow.

Look at Greco-Roman wrestling. How many weeks until you are in your first match (fight) when you learn? Only a couple in high school. Amateur matches are the same way with boxing/submission fighting. The coach isn't going to stick some kid who can't kick butt in the ring - they will put that guy (or woman!) in the ring who has the right attitude to win/be aggressive and who has shown that attitude needed to win. If someone has no clue what they are doing the trainer won't put them in the ring and the person doing it probably won't want to go in the ring.

When it comes to the type of people who join MA compared to submission fighting they don't cross over very well. People join and stay with traditional MA to learn self-defence. People join submission fighting to fight.

Please don't mistake those competing at international level with amateurs in their first fight.

Bell. I have to run. Another short (but overly long) post.

[Anonymous]

Dude, I really think you need to take a look at the definition of martial art. If you want to learn "self defense" you don't go learning TMA, you learn what works. If it don't work, you can't exactly defend yourself can you? Theres nothing wrong with traditional arts, but if they train in a way thats incredibly ineffective, its best not to bother unless being able to fight isn't that big a deal for you. I do kendo, but I don't do it so that I can fight with a sword.

And to say that to compete in MMA with other skilled opponents who often hold fairly high rankings in other martial arts (even in amateur fights) takes no skill is just absurd. I suggest that you actually take a look at some of the stuff you're talking about.

[Raindrop]

Just wanted to chime in that Kendo has actually helped my Karate. It's weird but ever since I started learning about ki ken tai ichi, my scoring in karate has become so much cleaner and I have great fist - foot - kiai - synchronization :)

Although I officially do shotokan Karate, we do sometimes dive into Gōjū-ryū (hard-soft) which in turn is again even more about your mental strength and knowing your body which I can relate again to Kendo. Maybe technique-wise there aren't really any unarmed MAs that complement Kendo, but if you make a choice, I'd recommend another Japanese art, such as traditional karate (read: avoid "cobra kai" dojos) or do Judo, Jujitsu or aikido (aikido includes very pretty individual sword katas).

And yeah, stay away from TKD. Your kicks won't do you any good in Kendo.

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to chime in that Kendo has actually helped my Karate. It's weird but ever since I started learning about ki ken tai ichi, my scoring in karate has become so much cleaner and I have great fist - foot - kiai - synchronization :)

Although I officially do shotokan Karate, we do sometimes dive into Gōjū-ryū (hard-soft) which in turn is again even more about your mental strength and knowing your body which I can relate again to Kendo. Maybe technique-wise there aren't really any unarmed MAs that complement Kendo, but if you make a choice, I'd recommend another Japanese art, such as traditional karate (read: avoid "cobra kai" dojos) or do Judo, Jujitsu or aikido (aikido includes very pretty individual sword katas).

And yeah, stay away from TKD. Your kicks won't do you any good in Kendo.



Personally I've also found that the mental aspects of Kendo tend to help out with other arts as well. Not so much for things like footwork and technique though.

And iirc theres a pretty good MMA gym in Las Vegas called Cobra Kai...