Long hair in Kendo

[kumdoman]

First off, im not in kendo, im in Kumdo. I know that there all different concepts that are they teach in kendo. I was wondering if there is anything symbolic about having longer hair?

[xvikingx]

It means you are sloppy and lack discipline. You better shave the top of your head and tie the rest up in a top-knot. Perhaps they don't stress that in kumdo?
Seriously though, I don't think there is any meaning. In fact I have not seen a kendoka with long hair (besides women). Probably because it makes it more difficult to tie your tenugui and gets caught in your men-himo.

[Paul Kerr]

One of the guys in our dojo has long dreads all the way down his back. Since he's also on the Dutch national team it doesn't seem to get in the way of his kendo at all.

[jfluh9]

Only thing is..if the guy is smaller.....he will look like a girl in bogu.....other than that I think that it looks very sloppy.....especially if they have nappy hair!!!

[Wout]

I don' think their is anything wrong with long hair- maybe short hair is a sign of lazyness ^_^ (I'm better at retorics than I am in kendo) - in fact I know a few kendokas with that wair long hair (me too). But idd it is kinda hard to put on a tenugi if you let it loose, best to tie it together before practice (should learn to follow my own advice, actually).

[Wout]

bytheby: you are basicly wearing something that looks like a skirt and noone can see your face clearly. :)

[wahwah7]

I had trouble with my tenugui probably due to tying up my hair. Someone said to try the cap style of wearing the tenugui and I haven't had any problems since.

[Wout]

cap style, plz do tell, is there anywhere I can find a description.

[wahwah7]

I'm sure that someone will know webpages with the instructions but I used the one in Hiroshi Ozawa's Kendo the definitive guide.

[Shogun97]

there's absolutly nothing wrong with long hair in Kendo.
even the old Samurais had long hair. That was part of being a Samurai and it was part of the Bushido(the way of the warrior).
I myself am on the best way to get long hair(one or two years will do the rest).

[kumakage]

I used to have long hair at one time. i never realy had a problem tying my tenugui. A lot of people watching the class thought i was a girl until I took off the men. Thats when they were like "oh s**t its a guy." The only reason I cut my hair was for work. Could't afford to get my hair caught in an engine.

[cockknocker]

there's absolutly nothing wrong with long hair in Kendo.
even the old Samurais had long hair. That was part of being a Samurai and it was part of the Bushido(the way of the warrior).
I myself am on the best way to get long hair(one or two years will do the rest).

You have long hair...oh, I envy you so much, because my hair don´t grow in length but in heigth...

[moetl]

cap style, plz do tell, is there anywhere I can find a description.here it is: the ultimative kendo equipment manual! (http://www6.big.or.jp/~budogu/book.html )

the link is at the right bottom corner. have fun!

[Wout]

thnx m8.

As to the comments of shogun97... ( -_-;)
Long hair doesn't make you a Samurai, Kendo doesn't make you a Samurai, In fact only your ancestors makes you a Samurai.


I allready knew that there is nothing wron with long hair in kendo, but what does it have to do with bushido. my hair isn't going to win fights for me, same as yours.

[Shogun97]

thnx m8.

As to the comments of shogun97... ( -_-;)
Long hair doesn't make you a Samurai, Kendo doesn't make you a Samurai, In fact only your ancestors makes you a Samurai.


I allready knew that there is nothing wron with long hair in kendo, but what does it have to do with bushido. my hair isn't going to win fights for me, same as yours.

You're right there, you are!
However the bushido tells you: If you want to be a Samurai you have to have a certain haircut!
Stupid thing though!
I didn't say that long hair makes you one, did I?
If I did ,sorry to everyone who bothered!

[hyouriittai]

However the bushido tells you: If you want to be a Samurai you have to have a certain haircut!


Would you like to cite that? :p

[Hai_hai]

This topic is lame. It is very "pretentious" to have long hair for the sake of feeling more samurai-ish or whatever other reason. Kendo is not about hair length.

[Cypher]

My hair's pretty long, but not because of samurai (or ronin) hairstyle-wannabeism. Quite frankly I have my hair how I like it and other stuff fits around that. I agree, its not really much of an issue.

[mingshi]

erhm, how come nobody has mentioned it yet?... Wait for a month or two and you'll see how HOT it is to have long hair with your Men on!!

...with the combination of sweat and smell... eww :confused2

[hyouriittai]

erhm, how come nobody has mentioned it yet?... Wait for a month or two and you'll see how HOT it is to have long hair with your Men on!!

...with the combination of sweat and smell... eww :confused2

I kind of have a mop growing out of my scalp, and I find it hard to wear a tenugui. Not to mention that my hair already gets caught in the men himo, being as short as it is. I say, take preventative action: haircut haircut.

However, if you really are a samurai, then by all means!

[Wout]

erhm, how come nobody has mentioned it yet?... Wait for a month or two and you'll see how HOT it is to have long hair with your Men on!!

...with the combination of sweat and smell... eww :confused2

Well, ehm it's always hot I guess wether you have long hair or not, well I know it's hot when you have long hair anyways and the sweat seems also seems to affect the short haired ppl in our dojo :).

[CUDALAX21]

I don't think long hair really means anything in kendo but what do i kno? (nothin)

[not-I]

people,

i have to agree with hai hai and mingshi on this.

wear your hair how you like. if you go for the hippie or rasta look, fine, although i venture to guess you'll regret it at the height of summer training.

regarding "samurai" haircuts, puleeeze, there are no more samurai. they haven't existed since the meijei era, when they were disbanded. a lot of you seem to be talking about jedi knight-style. but if you want to go for the "retro" samurai hair-doo, you'll have to shave the top sides of your head and tie your not-really-that-long "tail" in a topknot. if you feel like walking around your local streets with that haircut, more power to you! the world needs more freaks.

as for me, i'm too lazy to bother with shampoos, conditioners, blow-drying, and half-hour primping. i just shave it all off every few days, and i'm done with it.

rock on \m/

[Shogun97]

Hello guys!!!!!!!
I didn't say that everyone who's doing Kendo has to have long hair!
I just made the statement that the Samurais had long hair!
I raelly never said anvthing like get long hair everyone and become a samurai!

I like long hair, it lookes cool(for boys and girls)!!!!!

[Masahiro]

I've been practicing kendo with long hair. to give you an idea, length wise my bangs are a little longer than my chin and the hair from the back of my head covers my entire neck ulmost to my shoulder. It looks great when I have it styled, I look very profesional and GQ. but sadly, I am cutting it soon. i've been pondering on this for a while now. I will do so because it getting in my way of tying my tenugui. Even though I use a band to tie it up, but it still impedes the process of putting on your men fast. So, long hair wont work for serious kendo guys. as I've never seen a kendo champion with long silky hair. (Maybe for girls!) Even then, at the last tournament I was surprised to see how many girls who had short hair.

[Serenity]

Hmm, I’m getting afraid. :confused2 I’m a newbi (train kendo for 2 months) and I have very long hair:devious: (20 years old and I have never cut them of (except every 3 months about 3 cm:D ). So, my hair is “but” long (and a little bit longer). I love my hair and I won’t cut the off, never ever!!! :grin: But after this thread, I’m scared. :surprise: I love kendo very much, but there is no way of cutting my hair. I will have to find some other solutions. Beside this, my sensei has long hair. And it seems he never had any problems.

About the summer heat; not a good argument (for me) to cut them of. I have insisted for 20 years and I shell for some more time. :D

I usually wear my hair in a plait.

Serenity :happy:

P.S. I hair shell stay long! :p

[tantadi]

I have long hair, but I have no problem with putting on the tenugui or men. But the men makes my hair smell horrible...

[D'Artagnan]

This topic is lame. It is very "pretentious" to have long hair for the sake of feeling more samurai-ish or whatever other reason. Kendo is not about hair length.


No you are right, it is not about hair length. It is about whether or not you are a 'rich-boy show off', isn't it Hai Hai.

[meow]

You have long hair...oh, I envy you so much, because my hair don´t grow in length but in heigth...
I have the same problem. :D

I would loooooove to have long hair.

On the other hand, maybe I am too old to wear long hair.

[Stimpson J. Cat]

my hair isn't going to win fights for me, same as yours.

Long hair may in fact lose fights for you. Throughout history, many groups with reason for such concern have cut their hair short specifically so that an opponent wouldn't be able to get a good hold on it. Roman soldiers being the earliest historical instance I know off the top of my head, but it seems likely that it wasn't an original idea even then.

[NorthernKendoka]

I've practiced kendo for just under two years now and have never had any problems with my hair. I just make a ponytail and lets it hang our from under the tenugui. As for spending time on your hair, i've found that people with short hair often spend more time on it. They use all sorts of mouses and waxes to fix what little hair they have.

Love Alm

[Hai_hai]

No you are right, it is not about hair length. It is about whether or not you are a 'rich-boy show off', isn't it Hai Hai.
Kendo is the way of the sword. Rich-boy show-off kendo is about bling-bling. Bling is like 10000# hakama with embroidery on the hip... bogu over $1000... shinai that cost a C-note. :smoker:

But let me make one thing clear, if you've got the balls to back up your kendo, it's okay. There's too many beginners with half-a-nut wearing the good stuff.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Bling is like 10000# hakama with embroidery on the hip...
Guess my 11000# one is way over the top then... 10000# hakama are quite common, and the embroidery is just a few extra bucks. It's nice to have your name embroidered on all your stuff, makes it easy to avoid mixups in big crowds.
bogu over $1000
That's not even a nice machine stitched set. Bling is the same-doh that costs the same as a used car.
shinai that cost a C-note.
List price for top-end shinai is only $80, so you're high there. Unless you're talking carbon-fibre, but you can argue good economics there.

Clueless as usual, hai_hai. But good for the occasional laugh.

[Bleda]

I've seen shinai that when you add leather and shipping will hit 100 bucks easy. Its not that hard to find em really.

[Neil Gendzwill]

I've seen shinai that when you add leather and shipping will hit 100 bucks easy. Its not that hard to find em really.
I'm just talking take (bamboo) here. I don't normally think of all the pieces when I talk shinai prices, as they get reused from shinai to shinai. 8500 yen is pretty typical list for a nice take. I guess you can go higher but they get kind of hard to find.

If I piece together a shinai from Koei's catalog using all the best bits and ignoring discounts it comes to 20000 yen ($US185) - that's with sharkskin tsuba.

[Hai_hai]

Guess my 11000# one is way over the top then...
Hai.

Bling is the same-doh that costs the same as a used car.
Hai.

List price for top-end shinai is only $80, so you're high there.
Hai.

Clueless as usual, hai_hai. But good for the occasional laugh.
Hai.

Wakarimasu.