NationStates Jolt Archive

Any other NSers practice Kendo?
Ive been going once or twice a week to a place here in Tucson, its a very good work out for me. You use quite a few muscle groups, and its fun. Face it, you get to hit people with sticks and yell a lot. What more could you want? :P
For those who dont know, Kendo is basically Japanese fencing. Instead of a 'live' Katana, most practice takes place with shinnai (bamboo swords). Depending on whos teaching it can be quite relaxed or very energetic.
The main issue for me is sitting on my legs for long periods. Its fine for five minutes, but at the end of class it gets moderatly unpleasant when the more advanced students are practicing and you have to sit around for ten minutes, and are then expected to stand up and run to your own practice when theyre done.
I guess you get used to it after a while...or if your Japanese >_>

Kendo - 3 years practice.
Kenjutsu - 2 years practice.

I used to Fence, sort of like kenpo but with sissyer outfits(combat knickers).

I did it for 3 years i was an Epeeist.

Any other NSers practice Kendo?
Ive been going once or twice a week to a place here in Tucson, its a very good work out for me. You use quite a few muscle groups, and its fun. Face it, you get to hit people with sticks and yell a lot. What more could you want? :P
For those who dont know, Kendo is basically Japanese fencing. Instead of a 'live' Katana, most practice takes place with shinnai (bamboo swords). Depending on whos teaching it can be quite relaxed or very energetic.

Nice!

I used to do naginatado, which is very similar. The kata in particular are all tachi vs naginata. In sparring, the main difference (aside from the length) is that the sune (shins) are also targets, in addition to do, men, and kote.

The main issue for me is sitting on my legs for long periods. Its fine for five minutes, but at the end of class it gets moderatly unpleasant when the more advanced students are practicing and you have to sit around for ten minutes, and are then expected to stand up and run to your own practice when theyre done.
I guess you get used to it after a while...or if your Japanese >_>

If you think that's hard, try a 8-10 hour special training session in an unheated dojo with all the fusuma open, in the dead of winter with 2 feet of snow on the ground, and a couple of hard core visiting sensei (one of whom was using a live blade in her kata, but only with the advanced students) drilling you (your feet only hurt for an hour or so...)

As far as being Japanese, many younger Japanese have trouble sitting seiza as well.

And, a little help from someone who's been there and done that:

Ask your sensei to check your sitting posture to insure you're sitting properly. Also ask if your sensei will allow you to sit anza (cross-legged) during longer periods. (And if he does, make sure you know the proper etiquette for switching.)
Try sitting for a short time at home every day. Extend that time until you can sit comfortably for as long as you need. (This would also be a good cahnce to do a little meditation as well.)
A hint for sitting seiza that my old tea teacher gave me was to cross and uncross your big toes

Kenjutsu - 2 years practice.

What ryu? And where do you study?

My dad did Kendo, and tried to teach me, but I wasn't interested. Much more interested in team sports as a little kid.
Personaly, sitting in Seiza is comfortable, but that may just be me.

Interesting, Dai. Ill talk to him.
One of the other tricky aspects of this particular Dojo is the wierd mix of formal/informal. They use all the traditional postures and such, but the instructions come in a sort of polyglot slang you would expect from a Scott Card novel. Mostly Japanese, Spanish and Russian. Basically its up to you to figure out what means what, since nobody is going to tell you O_o
It is quite fun though, especially once you get out of the 'Men, men, men, men, men, men, men' strike over and over. I recently started on men-hiki-men (most likely mispelled :P), which, for me at least, is challenging for now. I forget to close before I start smacking 'em on the head for some reason.
And I have a deeply ingrained 'sorry' reflex that Im trying to get rid of.

As to environmental challenges, we have our own share here in North Mexico (AKA: Arizona). We just got out of the Monsoon season, and 90 degree temperatures plus %50 humidity, combined with being new to Kendo is NOT fun. Im just glad you dont start out wearing a Bogu, because that would have been hell.

Interesting, Dai. Ill talk to him.
One of the other tricky aspects of this particular Dojo is the wierd mix of formal/informal. They use all the traditional postures and such, but the instructions come in a sort of polyglot slang you would expect from a Scott Card novel. Mostly Japanese, Spanish and Russian. Basically its up to you to figure out what means what, since nobody is going to tell you O_o

Hehe that reminds me of the Tai Kwon Do class I went to in Mexico - it was run in English, Korean, and Spanish. (>.<)

It is quite fun though, especially once you get out of the 'Men, men, men, men, men, men, men' strike over and over. I recently started on men-hiki-men (most likely mispelled :P), which, for me at least, is challenging for now. I forget to close before I start smacking 'em on the head for some reason.

Keep at it.

And I have a deeply ingrained 'sorry' reflex that Im trying to get rid of.

I got over that in my naginata class when, in the beginning when I lacked enough control, I managed to smack one of the dear grandmothers* in the head during a kata, and stopped to apolgise. She didn't, and I got my own bonk on the head for being in the wrong position. And then I got dressed down pretty well infront of the class for doing it.

(*Naginatado tends to be largely female - this particular class happened to have several little nice sweet little old ladies who just happened to be able to be the crap out of you with a stick)

As to environmental challenges, we have our own share here in North Mexico (AKA: Arizona). We just got out of the Monsoon season, and 90 degree temperatures plus %50 humidity, combined with being new to Kendo is NOT fun. Im just glad you dont start out wearing a Bogu, because that would have been hell.

Yeah, at least Niigata summers were fairly mild. (But being from Houston and living over here, i laugh at your dry 50%. ;))

My dad did Kendo, and tried to teach me, but I wasn't interested. Much more interested in team sports as a little kid.
Personaly, sitting in Seiza is comfortable, but that may just be me.

It is for me now as well.

My dad did Kendo, and tried to teach me, but I wasn't interested. Much more interested in team sports as a little kid.
Personaly, sitting in Seiza is comfortable, but that may just be me.

I never did any stick fighting, (heh, don't kill me!) but I did do a Japanese martial art for a while. I never had trouble at that time sitting in Seiza - and always not only crossed and uncrossed my big toes, but tended to play with them when I got bored. Anymore I can't though, as I damaged my knees. I've never had an instructor insist - all I have to do is stand up, and have them listen to the noises as I bend my knees. I have had some suggest I visit a doctor, though.

I do historical rapier, which is nothing like sport fencing.

I have my own style of martial arts.
A combination of Mui-Thai kickboxing and Brazilian ju-jitzu.
I call it Mui-jitzu. :p

I have my own style of martial arts.
A combination of Mui-Thai kickboxing and Brazilian ju-jitzu.
I call it Mui-jitzu. :p

Sounds like someone's been watching too much UFC.

Sounds like someone's been watching too much UFC.

No The bastards stole my idea and called MMA.
And there is no such thing at too much UFC. :p

For those GENUINELY interested and living in the south of France, Montpellier area, check with
bob.kendosudfrance@wanadoo.fr

I used to Fence, sort of like kenpo but with sissyer outfits(combat knickers).

I did it for 3 years i was an Epeeist.

Sabrado, myself. Spanish Saber. But I just can't do those knee-bends anymore (ouch!).

I used to do ninjitsu and train with various weapons, mostly the katana, usually training with a bokken - a wooden sword, and the bo staff which was six foot. It was fun carrying those onto the bus and train. :rolleyes:

I used to do ninjitsu and train with various weapons, mostly the katana, usually training with a bokken - a wooden sword, and the bo staff which was six foot. It was fun carrying those onto the bus and train. :rolleyes:

I like my pocket-sized, go anywhere, (but a plane) short handle, long chain nunchakus. :D

I used to get my weapons training from Kali, a Filipino martial art. We used rattan sticks and aluminum or plastic training daggers in class. The art also uses swords, but for safety reasons we couldn't swing bolos (http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/8/86/250px-Bolo_ni_Max.JPG) or Kampilans (http://www.valiantco.com/philippines/Kampilan.JPG) at each other in class. I currently practice it from time to time on my own or with friends.

I like my pocket-sized, go anywhere, (but a plane) short handle, long chain nunchakus. :D

They seem like fun to play with, and when someone knows what they're doing it looks amazing. Yes, I've seen all of Bruce Lee's films. :D

I've never had the chance to use them myself though. I guess that ninjas never used them, I don't suppose they'd be that useful against an armoured samurai with a katana. Oh well. :(

They seem like fun to play with, and when someone knows what they're doing it looks amazing. Yes, I've seen all of Bruce Lee's films. :D

I've never had the chance to use them myself though. I guess that ninjas never used them, I don't suppose they'd be that useful against an armoured samurai with a katana. Oh well. :(

No not so good against katana. Exelent against a guy that insists on financial improvment at your expense, w/ a 30 dollar switchblade.

On the topic of Bruce Lee: Do you think Matt Hughes, Royce Gracie, or Dan "the beast" Severn could beat him? I like Lee's movies too and love the Green Hornet (recorded every episode way back when FX played them) But respectfully, dont think he could beat any of the 3 above. I mean those guys are MACHINES aren't they?

No not so good against katana. Exelent against a guy that insists on financial improvment at your expense, w/ a 30 dollar switchblade.

On the topic of Bruce Lee: Do you think Matt Hughes, Royce Gracie, or Dan "the beast" Severn could beat him? I like Lee's movies too and love the Green Hornet (recorded every episode way back when FX played them) But respectfully, dont think he could beat any of the 3 above. I mean those guys are MACHINES aren't they?

Dan Severn and even Matt Hughes outweigh Lee by quite a bit. Also if Lee had lived there's a pretty good chance that he would have increased the ammount of Grappling in Lee Jun Fan kung fu. There was already a tiny bit of grappling in it before Lee died. Who knows? If he had lived long enough he may have fought in the octagon. I think he'd have done quite well.

Dan Severn and even Matt Hughes outweigh Lee by quite a bit. Also if Lee had lived there's a pretty good chance that he would have increased the ammount of Grappling in Lee Jun Fan kung fu. There was already a tiny bit of grappling in it before Lee died. Who knows? If he had lived long enough he may have fought in the octagon. I think he'd have done quite well.

I drool just thinking of Lee in UFC.
I am positive that Lee could have beat Mike Tyson (also heavier) on any day of Mike's life. :D

I fence, and I know others on here do.

And I have a knee problem ad weak ankles which can get very painful.