When to buy your own stuff?????

[J-san]

Uhhhhhh.....ive been doing kendo for like 3 months now and ive been gettin the itch to buy my own stuff!!(dont we all??) But any way i just wanted to know how long you all waited before you got your own stuff? My sensei said to wait about a year to make sure your really interested and going to stick with it. but you know teenagers we tend to not listen.....any help would be helpful.
thanx again
J-san

[Kirsty]

I got my bogu after about 6 months. You have to make sure you are absolutely ready to get it. Last time I was at kendo, someone wanted to borrow bogu. They told her she couldn't because she wasn't ready. Ask your sensei if he thinks your ready for it. He did say a year, but maybe if you tell him that you really want to stay in Kendo for a long time, he will let you get it. Three months isn't very long though. I'd wait awhile.

[Pan-Chan]

By "stuff" I'm assuming you mean everything from hakama and keiko-gi, to shinai. With the hakama and keiko-gi you should probably wait until your sensei mention something about it to you, or talk you should ask them about it. But that all depends on your dojo. I know in my dojo you can purchase a hakama and keiko-gi whenever you like, but it is advised to make sure Kendo is something you really want to stick with.

Buying a shinai and/or bokken is fine I'm sure, but you should still check with your sensei. Shinai are going to be the part of Kendo that you go through the most, equipment wise, so buying your own is advisable.

But IMHO you shouldn't even think about purchasing bogu until your sensei think you are ready to use it.

I hope this helps some. :D

[ben]

Hi J-san

Have you heard of the search function? Use it and you will find other threads devoted to this topic. I assumed you meant bogu. Of course you need shinai asap. FWIW I didn't get my own bogu until I was 1-dan (about 3 years of training). I then get my second bogu when I got 5-dan (another 10 years). My first bogu is still in good nick because I waited and bought a good quality one (3mm machine stitch/titanium mengane/deerskin all-round--about 160000 yen). Many people buy fancy bogu and then stop training. Ask yourself if having a new bogu will affect whether you go to training regularly or not. If no, then that means you're probably interested in kendo the activity. If yes (and you have lots of disposable cash), then maybe you should consider becoming a collector. The Japanese make a lot of really nice, collectable objects.

b

[Alex_McGrady]

Uhhhhhh.....ive been doing kendo for like 3 months now and ive been gettin the itch to buy my own stuff!!(dont we all??) But any way i just wanted to know how long you all waited before you got your own stuff? My sensei said to wait about a year to make sure your really interested and going to stick with it. but you know teenagers we tend to not listen.....any help would be helpful.
thanx again
J-sanUhh, your own bogu??? Well....how much money do you have?

Alex

[taganahan]

but you know teenagers we tend to not listen.....any help would be helpful.
thanx again
J-san
true, we tend not to listen and usually we end up regretting it. might as well follow your sensei rather than spending money on bogu, which you MIGHT wished you didn't do. most people buy bogu then after a few months they never return or maybe they return after a couple of months.

~taganahan

[drizzt]

^^^ listen.......


seriously,Bogu is a big investment(even the cheap stuff). IF you decide your going to buy before your sensai says your ready, make absolutley shure your commited to staying wiht it. Im going to guess your looking ahead to college soon, and thats something you need to think about. Let me assure you -you will be broke in college. my bogu was my xmas and birthday present(nice to have them ten days apart) from my entire family(and i mean everyone....they all gave me money for it, and i had about 50$ left after i threw some i had been saving in......). If your extremely commited, and if you know it will be something you will be able to continue in college , then you might think about it(actualy might not be a horrible idea to get it while you can afford it, rather than when your scrimping and saving down the road.....if you fit the above described).

break that hard headed "in high school" streak on this one:)(i know the feeling i just left it not long ago). above all else, i would not advise making your sensai angry....he may show you the "folly of your ways".....with a shinai hehehehe........

[Optomitrist]

drizzt, I wasn't broke untill I took my first step into the dorm rooms. College poverty really doesn't hit until you get there. Even so. I bought my bogu a couple months ago. I'm even more broke but I have a smile on my face and that is all that matters :)


J-san, I think if you get bogu (meaning you are wearing bogu) before 6 months it should be school gear that they asked you to wear because they thought you were ready. I personally don't like seeing new people put on bogu. it seems disrespectful in some way. To make you feel better it does take about a month to order. So you can always order it early, if you are so inclined.

[joekc6nlx]

I had been taking kendo for about 2 months and asked my sensei for his recommendations on bogu. I thought he'd take my head off - especially when he asked, "What do you want to get bogu for right now? Ask me in six more months." I knew right then and there I wasn't ready for it. So I bided my time, and took that six months. My dojo doesn't have spare gear to let the newbs use bogu, so everything we use is our own.

I've seen several people who bought bogu, went to class with it, maybe a couple of tournaments, then where are they now? Some have legitimate reasons, (family, job transfer, etc.), but some find out just how hard bogu makes your practice. My sensei told me before I bought my bogu that it's at least 10 times harder than without bogu. He was right, I'm just now getting into good enough shape (again) that I can go through practice without having to sit on the sidelines to catch my breath.

As I've stated in other posts, one of the most important things you can learn and apply in kendo is patience. If you keep nagging your sensei about bogu, he's going to take that into account when you go up for promotion. Take your time, enjoy the journey, and you will find that you have reached that point where you're ready for bogu before you know it.

[Talen]

In our Dojo we follow a 12-14 week training course. The beginners start simply with Bokkun and street cloths. After some 4-6 weeks they are introduced to shinai and it is suggested they should look at getting hakama and keiko-gi after some 8 weeks. Once the beginners course is complete, those that wish to continue are introduced to club bogu.

As soon as I tried on club bogu I knew I need to buy my own. The fit was poor and the smell was terrible, but at least we had a chance to try a few weeks in the club bogu first.

As others have said, practise in bogu is a hugh step up from practise without, and buying bogu is expensive, so take yer time and make sure you are gunna continue with Kendo rather than fork out a wad for bogu and then drop....

[rainmaker]

I have seen so many teenager drop Kendo right after they buy their bogu.. We had 15 teenagers and now they all quit. Especially more students quit right after they got their bogu. It is right that it takes 1000% more efforts and hard once you get into bogu. It is also big investment for your parents. Please listen to your sensei.

sungmin

[Zehm bah deh]

my question is how much will starting and get going cost usually?
gear+school+registration?

[bullet08]

wait till your sensei tells you to order the 'stuff'.

everything is very simple in kendo. listen to your sensei.

pete

[Zehm bah deh]

good advice,

[J-san]

Hi J-san

Have you heard of the search function? Thanx! And yes i have heard of the search funtion ive even used it(quiet a bit really) and it only answered a fewa basic things for me. I just wanted to know a little bit more. once again thanx for all yalls imput i have takin it to heart.

J-san

[elssha]

^^^ listen.......


seriously,Bogu is a big investment(even the cheap stuff). IF you decide your going to buy before your sensai says your ready, make absolutley shure your commited to staying wiht it. Im going to guess your looking ahead to college soon, and thats something you need to think about. Let me assure you -you will be broke in college. my bogu was my xmas and birthday present(nice to have them ten days apart) from my entire family(and i mean everyone....they all gave me money for it, and i had about 50$ left after i threw some i had been saving in......). If your extremely commited, and if you know it will be something you will be able to continue in college , then you might think about it(actualy might not be a horrible idea to get it while you can afford it, rather than when your scrimping and saving down the road.....if you fit the above described).

break that hard headed "in high school" streak on this one:)(i know the feeling i just left it not long ago). above all else, i would not advise making your sensai angry....he may show you the "folly of your ways".....with a shinai hehehehe........ Last tuesday (so, two days ago), this newb who's been to 14 classes at most (and was petrified first time sensei told the newbs to hit a real motodatchi a week or two back) waltzed into class with a new set of bogu, asking sensei to show him how to put it all together(spent more $$ than needed, too, since our dojo has a contact who gets us e-kendo prices with great reductions). I (and a few others) couldn't believe our eyes. He went to eguchi (there's an outlet close to us) for a shinai, comes back a week later with bogu . Hell, we thought it was kinda soon for US to get into bogu... and that was with sensei's approval. Sensei had let him wear the do and tare, but he still had to practice with the rest of the newbs...
Anyway, That day was the first spar for the few of us who have recently gotten bogu (as in, this quarter). Fun as hell, but I degress...
As there was an odd number of people in bogu that day, one of my friends wasn't able to spar. When we were speaking with sensei after practice, with the newbs right behind us, sensei joked that said friend could practice on the newb with bogu... you should have seen the guy's face... it was priceless. He was afraid of hitting us for goodness sake!
I think Sensei made him rethink the idea of wearing bogu with that comment. Hopefully.
Moral; wait till you're told to wear it, even if you do get it early. Rushing into this stuff will only leave you in deep ditches, be it financial or otherwise.

[Optomitrist]

that was a tear jerking story. That poor kid probably went home and threw his bogu into the garbage and took up ping pong.