Left-handedness in kendo

[Falcon]

Hi, I'm new to this forum, and also pretty new to kendo in general. One reason for this is that I am left handed. For some reason or another, almost everyone I've talked to about the sword arts discourages me from kendo as well as any other art that involves a sword. Out of sheer stupidity on my own part, I listened to them and instead practiced other martial arts like karate and ju-jitsu. But that never curbed my love of blades. Every time I would hold a sword, there was a prat of me that would come alive.

A few years ago, a group of friends invited me to try a form of sword fighting using shinais. Well, I jumped at the opportunity and have been swordfighting ever since, even starting a class of my own to help those who would like to learn a bit about the basics of sword fighting.

But recently, I feel my skills have tapered off due to lack of techniques to master and opponents. And I would like to try kendo, but I'm still a bit nervous about being left handed. Is it bad to be a lefty? Is anyone here a lefty that is activly practicing? If so are there training difficulties when starting? Should I decide to start kendo, how do I begin?

If anyone could answer any of these questions for me, I would greatly appreciate any help.


Falcon

[Hattori Hanzo]

What? Ehhh I would think you would be at an advantage in Kendo if you are left handed, being that the left hand is the power hand and the right hand is the guiding hand.

I have been taking Kendo for over 6 months now and I am left handed and seem to be doing okay, not sure what they were talking about.

[Neil Gendzwill]

And I would like to try kendo, but I'm still a bit nervous about being left handed.
No worries, lots of lefties play kendo.

Should I decide to start kendo, how do I begin?
Contact Ando-sensei in Anchorage, see here (http://alaskakendo.org/) for details.

[taganahan]

i have to agree with hatori-san. being a left handed person is quite an advantage but don't carried away some right handed people can still kick a lefties @ss.

[Ralutin]

I'm left-handed and I've been practicing kendo for almost 10 years - iaido for almost 11 years. I never noticed any advantage when I started both arts, nor was I put off by the fact that you had to hold the sword one way. One interesting thing that's happened over the years, though, is that my right arm has gotten stronger, partially due to all the sword drawing techniques in iaido.

[Hattori Hanzo]

Oh I am sure, it's not the be all and end all it is still going to come down to that some people are more dextrous and have better eye hand coordination, and now that I think about it, it may balance out, because it might be easier to guide if you are right handed...but to conclude...being left handed won't hinder your kendo :)

[reitkt]

i'm a leftie too and have been practicing kendo for 2 1/2 years. i don't seem to have a problem. since i've always been a leftie, i don't really know what advantage or disadvantage i have over the others. what i notice when i started iaido, is that i have less cordination and strength on my right arm. noto is a bit tricky for me. but i'll get over it with practice.

[JamesB]

I am a leftie too. I am doing Kendo for 4 years now and don't see it as a disadvantage...

[KhawMengLee]

Ditto! Helps a lot in Nito too :wink:

[Falcon]

Thank you all for your help in this. It's very reassuring to know that there are so many southpaws in kendo. Now all I have to do is get work settled into a kendo freindly schedule, I can start.


Once again, thank you all for your responses

Falcon