Left hand in the front?

[terrince]

Hi,

I just attended my very first Kendo class today and I loved it!! :smiley:

I was instructed to hold the shinai with my right hand in the front but I am kind of left-handed and I feel weird and uncoordinated. It feels so much natural to put the left hand in the front and step out with my left foot. I feel I have more power and control that way.

My question is: Are there people out there who practice Kendo by holding the shinai with their left hand in the front? Is it allowed? Can I ask to be allowed to hold it to my natural tendency/comfort? If I can, how should I approach the sensei to explaine this? Or should I just forget about it because it is not allowed or done?

I am so new and I really appreciate all your advices. Kendo is so much fun and there is so much to learn and I am looking forward to my next class already! :)

[shred_lord]

I don't think you can. Sorry.

However, I think you may have an advantage in the long run. In kendo it's the left hand that does the cutting, as you're left handed you're less lightly to put too much right hand into the cut.

Your right hand is only needed with any strength for techniques most would consider intermediate level and above. By the time you tackle these, the shinai will feel more comfortable in your hands.

[Sinta]

Glad you enjoyed your first Kendo Class :) You have now started, just keep on going. Starting is easy, continuing is difficult.

Not really sure what changes when you are left-handed. I'm sure there are others here who will be able to answer your questions better than I could.

[Charuzu]

Hi,

I just attended my very first Kendo class today and I loved it!! :smiley:

I was instructed to hold the shinai with my right hand in the front but I am kind of left-handed and I feel weird and uncoordinated. It feels so much natural to put the left hand in the front and step out with my left foot. I feel I have more power and control that way.

My question is: Are there people out there who practice Kendo by holding the shinai with their left hand in the front? Is it allowed? Can I ask to be allowed to hold it to my natural tendency/comfort? If I can, how should I approach the sensei to explaine this? Or should I just forget about it because it is not allowed or done?

I am so new and I really appreciate all your advices. Kendo is so much fun and there is so much to learn and I am looking forward to my next class already! :)

I hate to say it but (as far as I know) its not allowed :(

However, I hope that you enjoy kendo! I have a cousin who is left-handed who will be starting kendo soon ^_^

[Kingofmyrrh]

It is permitted, but very much frowned upon unless there is some kind of exceptional circumstance such as disability.

[The great I AM]

I spoke to someone recently (it may have even been Nagao sensei, King) who said that he had seen a couple of peeps in keishicho doing it. People couldn't get the hang of going against it because everything is mirrored for them, whilst their opponent just carries on normally, because his opponents are normally doing "standard" chudan anyway.

[Banza Joe]

I'm left-handed, but to be honest, i'm more comfortable holding the shinai as intended, with right hand nearer the tsubs and right foot forward.

Historically, samurai/swordsman were all taught right-handed. Musashi was allegedly left-handed and one particular why he developed and mastered his 2-sword school.

[nodachi]

Kendo is conformist... that means everyone does everything the same, regardless of which handedness you are... the nice thing is that everyone gets the same instructions and no confusion of switching feet and hands that you may have in other activities so just enjoy that it is so clear cut and you will get used to it...

[don quixote]

Many people would actually tell you that being lefthanded is an advantage when holding the shinai the standard way even if it feels strange to you. Most of the strenght should come from the left hand, most beginners use their right too much. There are even waza where you only use the left hand, which will obviously be easier for lefthanders. As far as I know there are no 'ancient and accepted' kendo waza using only the right hand (outside of nito anyway...), although some will let go with the left hand while passing through after do uchi.

Anyway, if you do a search on these forums you will find that this question has been posed before, and many people strongly disapprove of this sort of kamae unorthodoxy. :rolleyes:

Edited to add the parenthesis above.

[stuartwilson]

I have heard more than one sensei mention that right or left handedness makes no difference, it's a learning curve for everyone. You definitely do not want to deviate from the standard. It would mess up everything. Stick with it and you'll see what I mean.

[terrince]

Big thanks to all of you who posted your advice. I will try to stick with my right-hand in the front for now and try to get use to it. If it gets to the point of extreme fustration then I will think about ask for permission to do it left hand in the front.

I am actually right-handed in general but in certain situations my left hand/leg has a much better execution of speed and control -- like my left leg is the "stronger" leg when I do martial arts, way faster and accurate than my right leg. So theoretically it would work perfectly for me if I put my left hand in the front for control and right hand in the back for power, since that is the correct technique. I guess I took some of the leftiness from my brother, who does everything left sided.

Anyhow, thanks again and if you have more comments/advices please do post.

[nodachi]

"...then I will think about ask for permission to do it left hand in the front."

Don't bother asking because it just isn't done. Does anyone on the forum have sensei who have taught kendo with the hands in this manner? Does anyone practice any other Japanese sword art like iaido, ittoryu, etc that teaches with hands in this manner?

Unless there is an odd exception lurking about, it just isn't done and no one will answer this question.

[mingshi]

like my left leg is the "stronger" leg when I do martial arts,Then you'll probably need to stand with a reverse stance on the feet as well. It's quite difficult to generate power from the hips standing the wrong way round. Take a look at people doing boxing for example...


I have heard more than one sensei mention that right or left handedness makes no difference, it's a learning curve for everyone. I think this makes a lot of sense. To beginners their main problem is that they are not used to coordinations of their body movements, be it arms/feet or left/right. I've a left-handed kohai who bends her elbows a lot when she raises the shinai for a cut (too easy taking de-gote from her). But this problem also exist in right-handed people. Makes me wonder what advantage do left-handed people really have.

[JoonShik]

First of all, welcome to Kendo

Like most people here said, being left handed is already an advantage for you. So, maybe, if you stay long enough, you can do Jodan, where you hold your shinai above your head. Most attacks are one handed, left handed. Gotta wait some time before you can do jodan, though. Anyway, Good luck on you kendo and hope you dont quit.

[Lloromannic]

Think of it this way: Most of us are right handed, meaning that our strong hand is the right. Yet all had to learn to use our left hand. Equally you'll learn to use your right.

[Grenamier]

Hello,

congratulations on your first class. I wonder if you might be using too much of the right hand in your swing and stepping too much with the right foot. I'm left-handed myself, and I find the standard way of holding the shinai and setting the feet actually make my left-handedness a big advantage.

When you move forward, you should do so by pushing off of the rear foot, which is normally your left one, which for you is the dominant foot. You're not supposed to initiate the movement by stepping out with the front foot. As for the hands, you will hear over and over again that the power comes from the left hand. The quality of your stroke will have a lot to do with how much you trust your left hand and let it do the work. A beginner tendency I had to work out of my system was trying to get power by pushing with the right hand. It doesn't really work.

You should be practising at home. Perhaps you could practice doing the sliding step by pushing with your left foot and also doing practice swings with shinai in your left hand only. Eventually you'll see that the standard form works to your advantage.

[kody13]

i dont think i can help you on this matter:down: i am both left and right handed, and plus ive only been to one class

[pgsmith]

i dont think i can help you on this matter:down: i am both left and right handed, and plus ive only been to one class
Besides that, the original poster wrote this a year and a half ago so I doubt he still needs any help. :)

[Robobob]

I don´t believe being left-handed is an advantage, since this would mean right-handedness is an misadvantage. If that was so, we would hold the shinai the other way around in the first place. The main thing isn´t the power that you need for the strike, so you can leave your secondary hand for that minor purpose. The important thing is the control during waza. Both hands are included here, but the right hand has a bigger role.
But there is another aspect. If you change your kamae the mentioned way, your kote will be open, resp. your opponents will be, if you switch shinai-position. The usual play with kensens won´t work anymore, all would odd.

[Alan Molstad]

The righthand first only concept is one of the very first problems we might run into in kendo... this can be a problem for the left-handed new person.

I know it just feels wrong at first. I can understand how it adds one more thing you have to deal with that a right-handed person skips.

Sometimes I switch my hands around to try to understand how Kendo feels to a lefthanded person, and it's weird I give you that.

But the right-hand-first manner is just the way Kendo is, I dont know what else to say.

[Halcyon]

The exception to the right hand at the tsuba rule is when you're playing gyaku-jodan. It's a mirror image of hidari-jodan.

[fifthchamber]

Or when you study the Yagyu Shinkage Ryu...But even then you have to wait for a while to get to that level..
Regards.

[Omnis]

Actually, I'm lefty and when I first started, the grip and footwork weren't as weird as I thought they'd be. If you're lefty and fight as a southpaw, the kendo stance and hand position is the same.

[Alan Molstad]

Thinking back to that very first moment of learning footwork, the weird thing I remember is that being RIGHT handed, I still felt at the time that the LEFT foot should be in the front....

I think thats how I would stand in baseball, and it just felt to me that the left foot should be in front.

[ManyRoses]

I did the same exact thing. Just have to understand concept of transitional kata. This brings up another good point, anyone learn kendo on their own, then discover that when they got into a legit dojo they were actually decent swordsmen& quick(er) learners?

[Frame]

no, and quick learning isn't the most important thing, turning up day in day out is

(diffusing before the flames land)