advice for beginner at kendo, any tips?

[verus]

Hi, I'm steve, from Leeds, wondered if anyone has any good advice for someone starting out as a novice kendoist, what should I look out for ect..

[ferrischan]

hi steve, the impt thing is kendo is train and train and be focus

"ki ken tia e shi" is one of the most fundamental skill you will have to master

[Shiro]

hi steve, the impt thing is kendo is train and train and be focus

"ki ken tia e shi" is one of the most fundamental skill you will have to master

I think ki ken tai ichi needs a little bit of explanation, sice he's new.... :)

ki = mind
ken = sword
tai = body
ichi = one

Mind, sword and body are one.

This means you have to focus one the fact you must hit with the shinai, do your kiai and stomp your right foot at the same time.

[Curtis]

It is: Ki, ken, tai, itchi, not ichi.

Itchi means coming together as one. It is two characters that make it up.

Ichi just means one.

This is a common mistake when romanizing this.

[Yowai]

Noone really cares.

[Chopstix]

:D

I would care if I have an itch.

[Shiro]

It is: Ki, ken, tai, itchi, not ichi.

Itchi means coming together as one. It is two characters that make it up.

Ichi just means one.

This is a common mistake when romanizing this.

Good to know, but I think he'll get the point :).

[Curtis]

Noone really cares.

Somehow I think you've mistaken this for noone really cares about you. You should change from yowai to kowai since you insist on hiding yourself. You contribute nothing but negativity. It must be frustrating being you. And to top it off by your own admission you don't really practice kendo. Yet you have plenty to say about everything. I'm sure the number of kendo students you had in the past must be in the dozens.



I get the impression that you are just another spoiled brat from Japan living off of mommy and daddy.

[ALI G]

Noone really cares.

Ezpeciallyz youz..cuz youz a 3 dan kwitta!!!

[Eldritch Knight]

Its two characters?? I thought it was 気剣体一. Right/wrong?

[Ross]

Hi, I'm steve, from Leeds, wondered if anyone has any good advice for someone starting out as a novice kendoist, what should I look out for ect..
I am new to Kendo myself so I don't know if I am really qual. to give any advice. I can point out where I know my problems are.....

Relax..... this is something I am struggeling with. I am so tense at Kendo it hurts after. Also remember this takes a life time to master, so don't try and do it all in one night, take your time and listen real hard in class...... then go home and practice pratctice practice.

[Curtis]

Its two characters?? I thought it was 気剣体一. Right/wrong?
Yep, its two characters. Straight out of the Japanese-English Kendo Dictionary.

The character is chi or itasu. The radical is shi or itaru meaning to arrive. Sorry I can't put up the character.

If you look up the literal meaning for itchi it lists union and agreement among its meanings.

[gUnDaL]

.......Relax..... this is something I am struggeling with. I am so tense at Kendo it hurts after....heh i have the same problem i cant relax and im too tense... and it does hurt afterwards

[verus]

I am new to Kendo myself so I don't know if I am really qual. to give any advice. I can point out where I know my problems are.....

Relax..... this is something I am struggeling with. I am so tense at Kendo it hurts after. Also remember this takes a life time to master, so don't try and do it all in one night, take your time and listen real hard in class...... then go home and practice pratctice practice.

Ross that was the best advice that I have recieved, much better than the rest of them, I will keep you informed as to how I get on, cheers, steve

[Deco]

It is a common thing in beginers to quit, and the best advise i can give you is to be persistent, don't give up if you get hurt. This is common. But you should fell when your body is on the limit, and see a good doctor if you need some tips on how to avoid muscular problems.

You should practice suburi and suri-ashi.

Cheers

Deco

[twotoedgiraffe]

Hardest part is probably showing up at the dojo in the beginning. Maybe you should get some half tabi slipshoes so your soles will feel okay. You could just wait until you've shed a few layers of skin under your sole, then develop some callouses. Problem is that you'll have to keep practicing to keep the callouses otherwise they go away quickly. There's nothing more annoying than having a big piece of skin rip off the bottom of your sole and having it drag against the floor while the new skin underneath is blistering already and pussing up ;) If you're not doing so, you should start doing 2-300 jumping big motion men strikes daily...for the rest of your kendo life. At least a good 100 or so before practice will usually loosen you up more.

[Ross]

Maybe you should get some half tabi slipshoes so your soles will feel okay. You could just wait until you've shed a few layers of skin under your sole, then develop some callouses.
yeah, something I just learned, take care of you feet.
Been doing 150 to 200 chuyaku-saburi every night to try and get kendo fit and loosen up, problem is, the skin on my toes loosened up much quicker than the rest of me. Blisterd under the callouses and then they ripped off.

Looked kind of funny at kendo today with my big toes wrapped up. Of course I would use white tape so they they were so noticable and looked so much bigger. Oh well, at least I still hit the floor and didn't sit on the side lines.

Word of advice, if you do blister, before anything, make sure you keep the area clean. They will infect so quickly and that could put you out for a few weeks. If the 'roof' of the blister is broken and flapping, cut it off with a fine sharp pair of scissors and then use a good ointment and wrap the area up nicely.

If the 'roof' is not torn, but the blister is really painfull, use a sterile pin to prick the skin then drain the blister. Once all the gunk is drained, wrap the area and keep it clean.

Ok enough of my rambling...... Ross

[meow]

Hi,

you could try to get in shape (If you are not already...) and do some jogging ore a decent workout at a gym.

The most important thing I guess is:

- Listen to everything your sensei says
- Concentrate and try to pick up as much as you can
- Be polite
- Do some practice at home between classes (ask sensei what you can do at home)
- Take kendo serious
- Respect your dojomates
- Have FUN!!!!! :D

greetings

meow