kendo

[Icetuete]

could anyone please tell me something about kendo? i think its a very interesting art, but i know very few.

 

thanks in advance!

[Treebranch]

Kendo came from Kenjutu which is a sword fighting art. Kendo is the sport version. It looks like fun.

[Icetuete]

sport only?

[Tibby]

Sword fighting, it is the Japanese Fencing. Yeah, it is a sport, what mroe do you want? It isn't like you are going to rip a Katana out to Defend yourself with!

[Cybren]

hahah, I think Tibby's got a point there.

 

I have a pair of shinais, though I definitally don't have the armor.

 

That's expensive!

[renketsu]

Just had a quick 'taster' of kendo at my kobujutsu class the other week, in full armour... great fun

 

Tends to get very hot and sweaty under those thick peices of armour and the shinai tends to hurt when it hits bits of you that are unprotected

 

If you get a chance to have a go - I suggest you try it, it gives you a whole new side to training (I am from karate so dont tend to whack people with weapons very often ).

 

Andy.

[Tal]

i just got my 1st dan in kendo last week. its an awesome art and i enjoy much more than the other arts i've practiced (karate and jujitsu). the whole dressing up like a samurai and having sword duels thing is pretty cool. the biggest problem with it is expense. you can spend hundreds of dollars on bogu (armor), and the shinais (bamboo practice swords) can break after a while. your dojo should let you borrow at least the bogu for some time, but you'll need to buy your own eventually.

 

kendo is the simplified and safe form of kenjitsu. kenjitsu is an amalgamtion of hundreds of sword schools from between 1000 AD to 1700 AD.

 

it is really a sport style, because people don't carry swords around any more. you still get the benefits common to all MAs; fitness, improved reflexes etc, but unless you get attacked in the billiards club its not much use for defense

 

training is mainly sparring and kata. some schools emphasize the kata more than others. my school does about 20% kata and 70% sparring, with about 10% of basics and other stuff. the kata are different from many MAs because the kata are practiced by two people together, as if they were fighting one another. the uchidachi (initiator, usually the instructor) attacks the shidachi (counter attacker, usually the student), the shidachi then makes a defensive move and counters. the kata are practiced unarmored with bokken, which can either be katana or wakizashi sized. sparring is practiced with shinai and bogu. kendo is also very etiquette heavy.

 

kendo is heavily stylised, with many of the complex and dangerous techniques removed. an old master of kenjitsu would kick a kendoka's butt in a real sword duel.

 

if you want to know more, email me. i'd be happy to answer any questions.

[Icetuete]

thanks all for the information and special thanks to Tal, very generous but i think i know enough for the moment to go and try out kendo class when u should ever have the opportunity!

[Icetuete]

just one more thing

 

is an armor required for any purpose? since i am only 17 i dont have my own income and cant spend too much money on martial arts.

[Tal]

your dojo will probably lend you the armor for some time. i borrowed it for about 6 months then bought some second hand armor. i got the full set of armor for £80 which is just over €100, i think. it was very well worn and not great quality but it does the job.

 

the armor is necessary for sparring because getting hit with a shinai hurts. it won't break bones or cut you but you get very nasty welts and bruises if you are hit by one without armor.