Kendo looks fun. two person are given a ‘sword’, suited up in armor and you have a swordfight, the adult version of the cardboard tube fights! soo…, is it fun?
PS while quickly searching to see if this’d been done, i found Lobsang’s year old thread: “Why do men like shiny, metre-length, pointy objects?” when i was a kid, after watching tv i had exclaimed how wonderful it would be if i had a sword. an older, wiser friend looked at me and asked “What for? Do you want to kill someone?”
swords are not toys. they are weapons designed to cause grievous hurt, though it’s still cool to own one until you have to use it for real.
PPS what do they mean exactly when they say the sword is a phallic symbol? surely that doesn’t just mean it physically resembles a penis? (for that would be soo childish… )
It looks kinda fun, but the more I watch, the more it looks like the kendo schools try to ritualize the enjoyment right out of the whole deal. I mean, how thrilling can it be when Prime Ministers are doing it?
Although now that I think about it, Japanese sports clubs and schools tend to ritualize the fun out of everything.
My mandatory Kendo class in junior high school was NOT fun. It’s more painful than it looks because the only padding inside the helmet is a thin towel you wrap around your head. But I guess it wasn’t so much a Kendo class as “teaching discipline through Kendo” class…
I tried kendo briefly (one lesson), and found it to be extremely not fun. Even granted that introductory lessons are often not particularily enthralling, it didn’t look like it had much potential to even be fun.
The impression I got was that the moves you were permitted to use were very restricted and proscribed (this was just an impression, and I may be wrong about this), but what really put me off was the shouting. I dont’ mean I dislike shouting, but there seem to be preset yells for each move which you must do in advance for the move to count as ‘valid’. This strikes me as rather telegraphic your moves, as well as just generally a rather stupid idea. Not to mention that these yells sound extremely silly. I found this idea to be so off putting that I didn’t even consider going for a second lesson. Maybe I was missing out on what would have made it fun, but I doubt it.
That being said, although I used to vaguely be into martial arts and the like just for the fun of it, these days if I were to start up again I’d be disinclined to do anything that wasn’t useful in a real life situation, so I might be biased - even if one had a stick (or even a sword) I don’t think kendo would do much good in any realistic encounter.
Kendo is a sport. It is certainly not a martial art. In this respect it is much like modern fencing. There are rules that restrict the manner in which one strikes the opponent to score ‘points’. And so you end up with people wacking at eachother tring to get that tap that’s going to score a point with little regard for their own safety or the opportunity to cause real harm to their opponent (as it would be in actual combat).
If it is Japanese swordsmanship you find appealing, then look for a reputable Kenjutsu school of martial arts.
Or, you can go the way I did and take up European historical martial arts and historical fencing.
You can study renaissance cut and thrust sword or rapier, or learn the medieval longsword. Of course medieval and renaissance martial arts encompass more than just the sword (unarmed combat, dagger, spear, pole arm technique are all covered), but there is no reason why you can’t focus on fencing.
The difficult part may be finding a school near you, or finding a study group in your area. Once you do, it will be a study comprised of real learning. You’ll feel like you’ve accomplished something everytime you learn technique once taught by knights and sword masters of europe and, depending on the kind of group you work with, it can be a LOT of fun.
My friend takes kendo and I’m thinking about starting. He said it takes a few lessons of practicing footwork before you even get a sword and many more before you get all the cool looking armor.
The place that offers lessons near me is fairly expensive, and you have to buy all your equipment.
I have been training in Kendo for about a month now. As stated above, it is not really a martial art per say such as Karate or Kung-Fu. Consider it the Japanese version of Fencing.
It is very structured, being that you are only taught to hit scoring areas, so if you are expecting to be able to pick up a sword and use it in any meaningful fashion, you ain’t going to be a samurai (If you want to learn to be a samurai look into kenjutsu).
For me, kendo is fun. After all, where do you expect to be able to hit people with sticks legally? Plus, being as structured as it is, it is difficult to get injured. I am not 20 anymore, so if I practice a martial art anymore, it cannot be something that I can break bones in. Breaking bones hurts.
Now, from my understanding, there is a version of kendo that is more martially oriented. It is called Prewar Kendo. It turns out that kendo was pretty much gutted of the martial aspects after the Japanese surrender in WWII, but you can still find people that practice prewar kendo. Some google searching will find what you are looking for.
One more thing. Kendo is one of the most expensive martial arts to practice. You are looking at around $300 for the least expensive armor that is usable. That is only for the armor. You also have bokken and shinai, uniforms, and bags to pay for. Make sure that you are into it before getting your equipment. My dojo asks only for a shinai and bokken for the first couple of months. Then after Sensei thinks you are ready, he will ask you to get a uniform. After some more time, you will be asked to get armor. This way, it will spread the cost over a year or so, and save the ones who drop out a large sum of change.
No, and it stinks. God, does a kendojo reek. In my school, the fun is Japanesed right out of it. Regular fencing with epee was great fun, though: the whole body is a valid target area, it’s electified to prove who touched, and being poked is painful enough to feel macho.
dammit! you beat me to it. SCA combat is the closest analogue to Kendo that I have found, though there is no ‘scoring’ system. The styles range from very period styles (there are fighting academies devoted to this) to flailing around, hoping to hit something before you get hit. I’m attempting to master the latter form.
In Service,
Jocelin FitzHugh de Rouen
humble servant of House Brightlands
Barony of Small Grey Bear
Yeah I was going to mention the SCA as well. If having fun with sticks is all you are interested in then the SCA might just be for you.
The only two things I’d like to mention about the SCA:
They take their period customes and personas very seriously. It’s like one huge role-playing association. This may put you off, or draw you in more, depending on what you are looking for.
The SCA does not sponsor historical fencing. Their bouts boil down to stick fighting and nothing more. However, several groups within the SCA are starting to study historical fencing in a serious way. IF you want to go that way be sure to study on your own a bit so that you can recognize functional eauropean martial arts from make-believe fighting. If fun is the ONLY thing that interests you, then don’t worry about it
I took some classes in Shinkendo, which seemed more like a martial art and less like a sport. It’s not that widely taught - see http://www.shinkendo.com/main.html for information about the art and a link to pages of authorized dojos.
I didn’t see where you were coming from. I started on the road to joining up. I went with a friend to a local meeting in central Jersey and watched some of the bouts with rattan sticks, had some fun watching the kiddies go at it Also had a lot of fun drinking and eating, lot of good food.
But we never really met anyone who had much to say to us. I did speak with one of the organizers (I think) and I plan on attending another meet in a month, hopefully with better results
Unfortunately I didn’t meet anyone who knew whom Cappo Ferro or Sigmund Ringeck were
