First Class

[Yoshitsune]

How did you feel during your first kendo class, nervous, excited, stupid?

[Missingno.]

Awkward. "I'm supposed to yell WHAT?!"

[b8amack]

I was pretty stoked.

[Jonathan4]

I never heard or saw any kendo before, I just went to a training with a classmate of me, from the first minute I was sold!:D
It was a little bit akward in the beginning with the screaming. And I was like:"I must really hit him on the head?"
But mostly it was so much fun!
And now I'm doing kendo for 2 years now and I'm not planning to stop!
It is akward tho when you see people coming to the dojo for a month and when you think now they have got it, they drop out!:(
One time there was a man who was like 30 years old and he was a beginner, he did Kendo for a cople of months and then one lesson he stept to the sensei and said he was going to quit because he thought he was to old to begin Kendo, can you imagine that?

[Jonathan4]

it's a lot of fun if you look back after a year at your first lesson. then you can see how much you developped!

[Kureigu]

I felt awkward on my first lesson everything from holding a shinai and the footwork felt weird. after a few months if felt i was getting better until i got in to armor... now im back to everything being difficult and awkward.

[Ikkyu]

Totally lost, I did kirikaeshi hitting the flaps of the men the first time, my partner wasn't very happy.
The good thing is that same day I stopped smoking when I realized how bad my condition was (is?)

[MikeW]

It was quite some time ago and I don't really remember how or what I felt during and immediately after my first class.

[jacksonart55]

I was scared, and I felt very awkward and out of place. Everyone was in uniform, and I was in sweat pants and a Japan-themed T-Shirt, holding a shiny new shinai in my hands, free from dirt, sweat, and marks. They immediately put us in their warm-up routine, and I can still fondly remember struggling to count to eight in Japanese. And then the swinging, and then the footwork...

I had never been so excited, yet so awkward, in my entire life. All of this was less than a month ago though.

[ShinKenshi]

First day, walked in and thought, "Hey, I remember seeing this when I was a kid, looks like it'll be fun!" After practice, "...ow...ow...ow...so same time next week?"

Now, I walk in and think, "Ok, today I'll pay particular attention to this or this," and after practice it's more or less, "...ow...ow...ow...see you next practice!"

[Yoshitsune]

I was thirteen years old and had wanted to at the very least try kendo so I begged my Dad to take me to a practice, when I got there it just looked like everyone was yelling for no reason and it was a bit embarrassing to have to do it also. But now I'm over it and I enjoy going to practicing even though after two years I haven't tried to move further with my rank, I don't seem to care though I took Kendo to enjoy it not to be worried about moving up in rank, is that wrong?

[ShinKenshi]

I was thirteen years old and had wanted to at the very least try kendo so I begged my Dad to take me to a practice, when I got there it just looked like everyone was yelling for no reason and it was a bit embarrassing to have to do it also. But now I'm over it and I enjoy going to practicing even though after two years I haven't tried to move further with my rank, I don't seem to care though I took Kendo to enjoy it not to be worried about moving up in rank, is that wrong?This might be something to discuss with your sensei but my feeling is that, despite what your sempai and sensei may say, it ultimately is up to you whether or not to test. They may tell you that you're more than ready and just go but whether or not you actually show up at the shinsa is still your decision. I think of testing as seeing where you are in the grand scheme of things and if you fail, it shows you what you really need to work on. If you pass, great, it means you're at the level that you were trying for. My fist sempai's wife's take on rank is that it's like a cloud; you're there at that given moment and periodically you drift in and out of it (but hopefully not too much). I really can't see myself enjoying kendo for the rest of my life without finding something to work on and having some sort of goal to work towards. Just my two cents.

[Josh Reyer]

Koryu rather than kendo, but I remember my teacher getting me into the jodan position and saying, "This is called raito (lightning sword)." Serious martial art, yes, 450 years of history, yes, meant for the improvement of oneself and contributing to society, I understood all that. Still, all I could think was, "This is so awesome!"