Dan Shea
08-01-2004, 12:26 AM
Well, I'm new to this forum, so I thought I'd share my inisghts into my experience with my first class.
I should probably start off by saying that I am taking a 6 week introductory course at the Japanese Culture Center here in Chicago.
The style of Kendo we are learning is more appropriately pre-war kendo, with grappling and body checking and I believe foot sweeps as well.
The first class was very informative and instructive for me. We began with the first kata of Shindo Munen Ryu Kenjutsu using bokken and attempting to get some basic movements down. After that we progressed into practicing cutting with bokken and did some suburi as well. Eventually we will transition to learning some kata from Omori Ryu Iaido as well as sparring in bogu.
Our sensei is an extremely nice and knowledgeable guy. He spent quite a bit of time living in Japan while in the military and has quite an impressive background in the martial arts.
Having had some background with Tae Kwon Do myself (~12 years) I found the class to be alot of fun, especially to be thrown back into the realm of a complete beginner. It's funny how over time you completely forget how bedazzling and confusing it can be at someone's first class until you re-experience it yourself.
I'm looking forward to our next class and I'm hoping that this is just the beginning of a long and prosperous journey for myself into kenjutsu and kendo.
Regards,
I should probably start off by saying that I am taking a 6 week introductory course at the Japanese Culture Center here in Chicago.
The style of Kendo we are learning is more appropriately pre-war kendo, with grappling and body checking and I believe foot sweeps as well.
The first class was very informative and instructive for me. We began with the first kata of Shindo Munen Ryu Kenjutsu using bokken and attempting to get some basic movements down. After that we progressed into practicing cutting with bokken and did some suburi as well. Eventually we will transition to learning some kata from Omori Ryu Iaido as well as sparring in bogu.
Our sensei is an extremely nice and knowledgeable guy. He spent quite a bit of time living in Japan while in the military and has quite an impressive background in the martial arts.
Having had some background with Tae Kwon Do myself (~12 years) I found the class to be alot of fun, especially to be thrown back into the realm of a complete beginner. It's funny how over time you completely forget how bedazzling and confusing it can be at someone's first class until you re-experience it yourself.
I'm looking forward to our next class and I'm hoping that this is just the beginning of a long and prosperous journey for myself into kenjutsu and kendo.
Regards,