newbie wants convincing...

[RustyDK]

Hey guys.

At the risk of sounding repetative, I was just wanting to get the low down on kendo and other related martial art styles. I have considered starting kendo and am pretty certain of wanting to do it, however i have some questions. How long does it take until you get the uniform, or do you get it on arrival? Hearing the stories of your experiences at your dojo's it sounds fairly strict, is this the case? I've looked at naginata, jodo and iaido as other possible avenues...i know a little about each one, i like the sound of jodo and kendo, and naginata looks interesting too and iaido looks practicial for the katana....i was wondering what you guys thought of each one in terms of practicality and popularity?

In other words, as vague as it may sound, i want to be convinced to go to this jodo to take it up...try and convince me to do so or take up another similar style please! LOL!

thanks, any help would be appreciated. BTW im in Australia in VIC near Melbourne

[Nanbanjin]

Hey guys.

At the risk of sounding repetative, I was just wanting to get the low down on kendo and other related martial art styles. I have considered starting kendo and am pretty certain of wanting to do it, however i have some questions. How long does it take until you get the uniform, or do you get it on arrival? Hearing the stories of your experiences at your dojo's it sounds fairly strict, is this the case? I've looked at naginata, jodo and iaido as other possible avenues...i know a little about each one, i like the sound of jodo and kendo, and naginata looks interesting too and iaido looks practicial for the katana....i was wondering what you guys thought of each one in terms of practicality and popularity?

In other words, as vague as it may sound, i want to be convinced to go to this jodo to take it up...try and convince me to do so or take up another similar style please! LOL!

thanks, any help would be appreciated. BTW im in Australia in VIC near Melbourne
I trained karate for seven and a half years from when I was eight to when I was sixteen. I went to Japan on exchange and discovered kendo. I have never looked back.
Melbourne has a few good Dojos. I know Kenshikan Dojo is well respected as is Fudoshin kendo club. There is a good club at Monash University as well.
You will likely have to organise your own uniform when you are ready. Somebody at the club you choose will probably be able to assist.
Kendo is pretty strict, but I trained much harder with much less reward at karate.

Another good thing about kendo is that it tends to be welcoming to beginners. The first lesson is unlikely to set you back anyway, so why are you sitting around wondering?

[Shazzanzzz]

kendo is a relatively small community, and because of the teachings of kendo, most people are nice, sociable people. So, you have a lot more fun when you go to big kendo events and stuff. Kendo is only strict when you're practicing, afterwards, hehe, i'll let you find out.

[Grautr]

Hey guys.

At the risk of sounding repetative, I was just wanting to get the low down on kendo and other related martial art styles. I have considered starting kendo and am pretty certain of wanting to do it, however i have some questions. How long does it take until you get the uniform, or do you get it on arrival? Hearing the stories of your experiences at your dojo's it sounds fairly strict, is this the case? I've looked at naginata, jodo and iaido as other possible avenues...i know a little about each one, i like the sound of jodo and kendo, and naginata looks interesting too and iaido looks practicial for the katana....i was wondering what you guys thought of each one in terms of practicality and popularity?

In other words, as vague as it may sound, i want to be convinced to go to this jodo to take it up...try and convince me to do so or take up another similar style please! LOL!

thanks, any help would be appreciated. BTW im in Australia in VIC near Melbourne

Hi,
Well I think it depends on what dojo or gym you go for how strict they are. When I was training in Muay Thai it was very relaxed. We never learned the ryu kry or anything like that it was more like an English boxing gym. I supose its the same with kendo but I think in general all the Japanese weopon dojos are far more into the traditional side of things.

[RustyDK]

Ok cool....what about in terms of the different weapons i mentioned? what do u guys think of them and prefer?

[Shazzanzzz]

um.... can't you decide for yourself? how would we know what you would like.

Kind of weapon doesn't really matter anyways, it's not like you're gonna take a katana or naginata on the street and start killing people.... are you?

[RustyDK]

it doesnt hurt to ask for other peoples opinions on what they think. Im thinking of the kind of disipline that would most suit my background...im not asking for you to tell me what i would like, but what you uourself prefer and like the look of...i've been in here for what....? 4 days and im already getting blasted, gotta love chat forums... :tired:

[Shazzanzzz]

it doesnt hurt to ask for other peoples opinions on what they think. Im thinking of the kind of disipline that would most suit my background...im not asking for you to tell me what i would like, but what you uourself prefer and like the look of...i've been in here for what....? 4 days and im already getting blasted, gotta love chat forums... :tired:


I wasn't trying to be mean... But, you're at a kendo forum, so, i would think 99% if not 100% is going to say kendo. I would say kendo over the other ones any day.

If you are able, learn them all :).

[kendokamax]

KENDO is the super super fun

do kendo and you will be super super happy

[orayakab]

The Only person that needs to convince you; is you.

You are the one who needs to convince yourself whether you want to do Kendo..Whatever all the people here say, doesn't mean anything.

Orayakab, U.

[John W]

Practicing Kendo has numerous benefits as does Naginata, Iaido and Jodo.

To be honest I have practiced all of them save Jodo and I have enjoyed practicing them.

If I had the money and time to practice these arts in more depth I would happily do it.
Unfortunatley like most of us on these forums we do not have the luxury of such things.

So my advice- give them all a go if you can. Then reflect on which one you would like to study further- if time and money is on your side- do them all!

Good luck! :happy:

[AlexM]

Here's why you should do kendo:

1) It's got all the best (and worst) aspects of a sport but still remains an authentic for of budo.

1a) You've got competitions and means to test yourself openly against others. If you're looking for glory though, be warned that no one, inside or outside of kendo, will care who you are. We're all amateurs by the way... well, most of us.
1b) Despite it's sporting aspects, it's still centered around the idea of developing oneself through practice (regardless of how you do in competition). What you want to focus on in terms of self-improvement is up to you.

2) Kendo is full contact. Unlike many martial arts, you get to square off against anyone and at full speed. The older you get the better you get, as long as you practiced properly in your youth.

3) Kendo is not repleat with dueling organizations, federations or "schools". Generally speaking, if you do kendo then you fall under the "jurisidiction" of the International Kendo Federation (which no doubt has an affiliate federation wherever you are). This means that instructor qualifications are easy to verify. Many less "McDojo's" pop in kendo (If you meet a grandmaster, soke, Dr., shihan, etc. of kendo he or she is a fraud. You may however encounter these people in certain other martial arts). Also, if you do kendo in one dojo then you can go anywhere else that has kendo and practice with them.

4) Kendo is easier to learn (and find) than some obscure Japanese sword forms. It's also much easier to find than Naginata. There is a small but fairly close knit kendo community: if you decide to go with some ancient sword form taught by the "Japanese dude near your house" then you won't exactely get much interaction on the subject.

5) Kendo makes no claims to being able to teach you how to defend yourself. This is not about using a sword like a samurai (kendo is very much post-samurai). It's all about bettering yourself. How you go about doing that? Well, ummm... I'm still trying to figure that one out. :D

6) Kendo seems filled with good teachers that enjoy teaching, don't take their "kendo" credentials too seriously (if you're looking for glory and respect outside the dojo go to med school) and the best one's continue to be good into their 70s (which can't be said for alot of other martial arts where the "masters" age badly after realising they didn't practice form but rather just used brute strength and speed).

7) Kendo is SIMPLE. Four targets. Basic footwork. But the more kendo you do, the more you realise that being simple just means that you have to work the details until they can go no further. You spend a lifetime refining basic technique. Like sculpting something for the length of your life (such poetry! :D ). Grace and form in kendo is as important as speed and control.

8) All kendoka can spar with any other kendoka (I think I should write these out as commandements :D ). 'nuff said.

9) The use of armour and shinai in kendo levels the playing field a bit (I got this one from Tetsushi Abe). You don't have to be the naturally strongest or the biggest to do well. You can spar with men or women, the old or the young, the big or the small, the weak or the strong. You learn something from all them (mostly when they smack you around).

10) The girls are seriously hot.

This is just my interpretation of course. You can take it or leave it.
But when you compare with other martial arts out there... these criteria always favour kendo.

Judo is full contact and competitive, usually has only one national federation governing it (no guarantees) and is much easier to find than kendo. But it has lost some of it's budo type leanings because of an emphasis placed on competition (plus modern competitive judo looks AWFULL in my opinion and I've seen people wave to the crowd from the shiaijo... Jeezus!). Tae Kwon Do is essentially the same (in terms of pros and cons): except that there are more dueling governing bodies, credentials are tougher to check and the emphasis can either be placed totally on competitions or totally on form, usually the former (and it ain't "budo" perse because it's Korean).

Kung Fu, Ninjutsu (if such a thing exists), Jujutsu, Wing Chung, Capoiera, etc. are full of dueing "grandmasters" and schools and it is almost impossible to check legitimate credentials. The ability to spar differs greatly from one to the other: There's such a thing as jujutsu competitions but what are you going to do to practice ninjutsu? Kill people in the dead of night? Some of these forms *cough* Wung Chung *chough* are filled will acrobatics that quite frankly make it closer to figure skating than martial arts (and no, figure skating is not a sport). Plus, form competitions bore me to death, and they look like dance nowadays anyway, "blech".

You can't really spar in Aikido, Iaido, Jodo or some of the other forms I mentionned above. But at least these are considered budo. And aikido looks really cool when you flip some guy over by holding his wrist... just don't presume that it will help you fight the biker that just put a cigarette out on your hand.

Karate... you can spar (limited) but you have so many wackos teaching this stuff that it makes you wonder. Find a good and legitimate teacher (good luck) or beware. Modern forms competition are becoming disgracefull (see my rant in the Lounge on US Karate Open Championships)

The less said about Juko kai, Tew ryu, Red Warrior or other forms of baffling budo the better.

You wanted convincing, that's as convincing as I can get. I like kendo for the mix of sport and budo, the emphasis being budo. That's my take on it.... whoa... I didn't think it would be that long...

[Grautr]

Here's why you should do kendo:

1) It's got all the best (and worst) aspects of a sport but still remains an authentic for of budo.

1a) You've got competitions and means to test yourself openly against others. If you're looking for glory though, be warned that no one, inside or outside of kendo, will care who you are. We're all amateurs by the way... well, most of us.
1b) Despite it's sporting aspects, it's still centered around the idea of developing oneself through practice (regardless of how you do in competition). What you want to focus on in terms of self-improvement is up to you.

2) Kendo is full contact. Unlike many martial arts, you get to square off against anyone and at full speed. The older you get the better you get, as long as you practiced properly in your youth.

3) Kendo is not repleat with dueling organizations, federations or "schools". Generally speaking, if you do kendo then you fall under the "jurisidiction" of the International Kendo Federation (which no doubt has an affiliate federation wherever you are). This means that instructor qualifications are easy to verify. Many less "McDojo's" pop in kendo (If you meet a grandmaster, soke, Dr., shihan, etc. of kendo he or she is a fraud. You may however encounter these people in certain other martial arts). Also, if you do kendo in one dojo then you can go anywhere else that has kendo and practice with them.

4) Kendo is easier to learn (and find) than some obscure Japanese sword forms. It's also much easier to find than Naginata. There is a small but fairly close knit kendo community: if you decide to go with some ancient sword form taught by the "Japanese dude near your house" then you won't exactely get much interaction on the subject.

5) Kendo makes no claims to being able to teach you how to defend yourself. This is not about using a sword like a samurai (kendo is very much post-samurai). It's all about bettering yourself. How you go about doing that? Well, ummm... I'm still trying to figure that one out. :D

6) Kendo seems filled with good teachers that enjoy teaching, don't take their "kendo" credentials too seriously (if you're looking for glory and respect outside the dojo go to med school) and the best one's continue to be good into their 70s (which can't be said for alot of other martial arts where the "masters" age badly after realising they didn't practice form but rather just used brute strength and speed).

7) Kendo is SIMPLE. Four targets. Basic footwork. But the more kendo you do, the more you realise that being simple just means that you have to work the details until they can go no further. You spend a lifetime refining basic technique. Like sculpting something for the length of your life (such poetry! :D ). Grace and form in kendo is as important as speed and control.

8) All kendoka can spar with any other kendoka (I think I should write these out as commandements :D ). 'nuff said.

9) The use of armour and shinai in kendo levels the playing field a bit (I got this one from Tetsushi Abe). You don't have to be the naturally strongest or the biggest to do well. You can spar with men or women, the old or the young, the big or the small, the weak or the strong. You learn something from all them (mostly when they smack you around).

10) The girls are seriously hot.

This is just my interpretation of course. You can take it or leave it.
But when you compare with other martial arts out there... these criteria always favour kendo.

Judo is full contact and competitive, usually has only one national federation governing it (no guarantees) and is much easier to find than kendo. But it has lost some of it's budo type leanings because of an emphasis placed on competition (plus modern competitive judo looks AWFULL in my opinion and I've seen people wave to the crowd from the shiaijo... Jeezus!). Tae Kwon Do is essentially the same (in terms of pros and cons): except that there are more dueling governing bodies, credentials are tougher to check and the emphasis can either be placed totally on competitions or totally on form, usually the former (and it ain't "budo" perse because it's Korean).

Kung Fu, Ninjutsu (if such a thing exists), Jujutsu, Wing Chung, Capoiera, etc. are full of dueing "grandmasters" and schools and it is almost impossible to check legitimate credentials. The ability to spar differs greatly from one to the other: There's such a thing as jujutsu competitions but what are you going to do to practice ninjutsu? Kill people in the dead of night? Some of these forms *cough* Wung Chung *chough* are filled will acrobatics that quite frankly make it closer to figure skating than martial arts (and no, figure skating is not a sport). Plus, form competitions bore me to death, and they look like dance nowadays anyway, "blech".

You can't really spar in Aikido, Iaido, Jodo or some of the other forms I mentionned above. But at least these are considered budo. And aikido looks really cool when you flip some guy over by holding his wrist... just don't presume that it will help you fight the biker that just put a cigarette out on your hand.

Karate... you can spar (limited) but you have so many wackos teaching this stuff that it makes you wonder. Find a good and legitimate teacher (good luck) or beware. Modern forms competition are becoming disgracefull (see my rant in the Lounge on US Karate Open Championships)

The less said about Juko kai, Tew ryu, Red Warrior or other forms of baffling budo the better.

You wanted convincing, that's as convincing as I can get. I like kendo for the mix of sport and budo, the emphasis being budo. That's my take on it.... whoa... I didn't think it would be that long...


hehe,
An excellent answer.

[Musha]

Hi RustyDK,

Well I started Kendo after Aikidou and the interest has just grown from there! after 2 or so years I am still doing it! with the same vigour as when I started.

In the UK I guess there are a lot of Kendoka but only about 5% of clubs compared with I guess 70% Karate then Judo. But when you say Jodo and Naginata for me that would be quite hard to get into. Maybe it is better in your country but Kendo is still on the top of the Japanese weapons ladder.

Jodo Naginata and even iaido (Art of drawing the sword) could be classed as 'Koryuu' translated as 'Old style' they are quite fun but stress more on 'Kata' (Traditional set movements with a partner) with some full contact practice to help you understand what the 'Kata' are for. In the case of Naginata or as it is called 'Shin-naginata' (New style naginata) you use a kendo style Naginata to hit your opponent.

But on the other hand Kendo is more like a sport, all full contact and a little Kata. I especially like Kendo because of this contact and chance to enter competitions when you get better and see how good your skill is.

To answer your questions,
'How long does it take until you get the uniform, or do you get it on arrival?'

Talking about Kendo, Kendo is not a club, like the army or any where you would join. The clothing you wear are based on every day clothes people would wear in the 17th century. It is not a uniform, I wore mine the moment I walked though the Dojo door. But I suggest you buy your Armour some months after you join. It is quite expensive and you don’t want to quit to early.

'Hearing the stories of your experiences at your dojo's it sounds fairly strict, is this the case?'

My dojyo is not strict at all if you have common sense, just don’t make idle talk whilst practising! if you want to learn you wont have trouble.
I went to Japan for the first time last week on a home stay, it was really fun but my host family arranged the visit to the dojo though a friend well in advance. It shocked me when one of the high level people hit a boy with a shinai on the head, but this was because he had an unwashed head towel and was messing around.

But as was said it is your choice and good luck!

[RustyDK]

Thanks guys, my main reason for this thread was to see what a person on the inside thought of the other weapons you could use cause, they all look interesting and i couldn't decide which one looked the best. I'll be going along to look at a dojo tonight which has kendo, jodo and naginata and iaido, but i think i'll be going for the kendo. Thanks alot for your replies despite my tantrum i really appreciate it. It's weird, I'm actually kinda excited about going tonight haha.

Cheers!

[Bayushi]

Thanks guys, my main reason for this thread was to see what a person on the inside thought of the other weapons you could use cause, they all look interesting and i couldn't decide which one looked the best. I'll be going along to look at a dojo tonight which has kendo, jodo and naginata and iaido, but i think i'll be going for the kendo. Thanks alot for your replies despite my tantrum i really appreciate it. It's weird, I'm actually kinda excited about going tonight haha.

Cheers!


See you there..we are going to check out the same place after all..

[Yzakj]

10) The girls are seriously hot.


You made a lot of good points, without being too biased or anything, it would have convinced me to do kendo probably! But seriously, the girls are hot! Most of them at least, some are just normal. But I went up to Vancouver dojo last week, and boy most of the girls are so hott! Omg, I still remember them, haha sounding like a lecher. But seriously, they probably are more girly than girls that do other martial arts, but I haven't seen them. I just remember from the Manga Great Teacher Onizuka, they showed some girls from a karate club and they emphasized ugliness. Yes hot girls...

[RustyDK]

well i no longer need convincing, i am definately going to do kendo for sure. I think it's amazing how you walk in there and you adopt a totally different style of behaviour, that's what stood out the most for me. It was amazing though and i can't wait until i can organise my frist lesson, i swear it's gonna be the best!

Dunno about the hot chicks comment though...none of them really stood out for me, maybe my tastes differ, hahaha. :lick:

[Bayushi]

Dunno about the hot chicks comment though...none of them really stood out for me, maybe my tastes differ, hahaha. :lick:


?? Cmon...there were a couple that looked alright......you should have been there for the Iaido!...hmmm

oh yeah..and i'm in for kendo too...looks absolutley awesome

[Yzakj]

Dunno about the hot chicks comment though...none of them really stood out for me, maybe my tastes differ, hahaha. :lick:

All the really hot girls practice up in Canada and California, those are like kendo epicenters in North America. So maybe if you have a chance to go to a tournament where some of them will go to, you'll see what we all mean. Plus theres occasionals that go to the dojos with a dearth of hot girls.

[kuwaiti-kendoka]

Dependes on what you feel...... ( i do sound like an oldman don't i)

Seriously if you feel like breaking and twisting and punching. Heck try U.F.C or Pride FC.

Thinking about philosophy and the Budo way. Try kendo, jodo, and any other Budo style.

But pick Kendo coz we like it loooool.

basiclly, it is your nature that desides these things, So go ahead and see what you end up with Bro.

[Malekith]

1a) You've got competitions and means to test yourself openly against others. If you're looking for glory though, be warned that no one, inside or outside of kendo, will care who you are. We're all amateurs by the way... well, most of us.

Never thought about that. Are any Kendokan profesional? I would presume that if any are it would be in East Asia.

I used to Fence and there were only 1 or 2 profesional fencers in the GB squad simply because of funding. The government puts little money into it. Whereas countries like Russia, France and Italy the governments do fund it. This is why teams like GB dont win much in major championships as the funded fencers can train daily 9-5.

I know Kendo isnt just about winning competitions, I'm just curious although I doubt it is the case because of the Japanese attitude towards Kendo.

[Lloromannic]

Never thought about that. Are any Kendokan profesional? I would presume that if any are it would be in East Asia.

I used to Fence and there were only 1 or 2 profesional fencers in the GB squad simply because of funding. The government puts little money into it. Whereas countries like Russia, France and Italy the governments do fund it. This is why teams like GB dont win much in major championships as the funded fencers can train daily 9-5.

I know Kendo isnt just about winning competitions, I'm just curious although I doubt it is the case because of the Japanese attitude towards Kendo.
The top players in Jpan are usually policemen who are hired by the police for their kendo and spend hours training every day and get promotions and raises if they perform well.