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**arriplify** · 01-26-2006, 04:17 PM

I'm 30 years old with lots of athletics under my belt, a few years of fencing and a bit of traditional Taekwondo as well (second degree green belt back in high school).

The general athleticism will help, as will having learned how to learn a physical activity. Other than that fencing and taekwondo experience won’t be much more beneficial than any other physical activity.

Anyway, I've seen Kendo sparring and while that interests me a little bit, I'm mostly interested in the slower, more meditative aspects of Kendo such as the katas. Kendo kata isn’t much slower than sparring, if it’s done right, though there is less running around. I’ve also never found any part of kendo “meditative,” other than mokuso. But maybe I’m doing it wrong.

Realizing that Kendo probably varies a lot from dojo to dojo, I'm wondering what I can expect? This varies tremendously. However, as a beginner you probably won’t be doing either kata or sparring. You’ll be doing lots of suburi, footwork practice, some striking of simple targets, and maybe some Bokuto Kihon (superficially like kata, but very different underneath). But, again, this varies by dojo. As to practice for non-beginners, this varies quite a lot. Even whether beginners are separated out or thrown in the deep end varies.

At my club, kendo practice is two hours long. We spend about 10 – 15 minutes on suburi, about 10 minutes or so on solo (footwork) drills. After this, we split into beginners and non-beginners. The non-beginners work on Bokuto Kihon and kata. The beginners might work on more footwork or suburi or might work on strikes with a partner. Or they might work on Bokuto Kihon with the non-beginners. This goes on for the rest of the first hour, at which point we bow out the beginners. Then the rest of us do bogu practice: kirikaeshi, basic strikes, maybe some waza for about 30 minutes. Then kakari geiko for 5 or 10 minutes. Then the last bit (15 – 25 minutes) is spent doing jigeiko.

But, we seem to be on the bokuto-geiko heavy end of the spectrum. There are (apparently, I’ve never been to one) dojo that only break out their bokuto a few weeks before a shinsa.

I'm certainly looking forward to a bit of sparring, but using a metal sword in a slow and methodical kata is more what I'm after. That sounds like iaido may be more what your after. Metal swords are usually used only for demonstrations in kendo, and then not all the time.

How much of Kendo is sparring with the bogu, For us, about 10-15% and how much of it is kata about 20-25%
sword technique all of it
and meditation? maybe 3 minutes total.

And while iaido is slower than kendo, I’ve never found it meditative.

Unless repeating the my-thighs-are-not-actually-on-fire mantra counts as meditation.

01-26-2006, 04:17 PM	#5
arriplify Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 383 Senior Member	I'm 30 years old with lots of athletics under my belt, a few years of fencing and a bit of traditional Taekwondo as well (second degree green belt back in high school). The general athleticism will help, as will having learned how to learn a physical activity. Other than that fencing and taekwondo experience won’t be much more beneficial than any other physical activity. Anyway, I've seen Kendo sparring and while that interests me a little bit, I'm mostly interested in the slower, more meditative aspects of Kendo such as the katas. Kendo kata isn’t much slower than sparring, if it’s done right, though there is less running around. I’ve also never found any part of kendo “meditative,” other than mokuso. But maybe I’m doing it wrong. Realizing that Kendo probably varies a lot from dojo to dojo, I'm wondering what I can expect? This varies tremendously. However, as a beginner you probably won’t be doing either kata or sparring. You’ll be doing lots of suburi, footwork practice, some striking of simple targets, and maybe some Bokuto Kihon (superficially like kata, but very different underneath). But, again, this varies by dojo. As to practice for non-beginners, this varies quite a lot. Even whether beginners are separated out or thrown in the deep end varies. At my club, kendo practice is two hours long. We spend about 10 – 15 minutes on suburi, about 10 minutes or so on solo (footwork) drills. After this, we split into beginners and non-beginners. The non-beginners work on Bokuto Kihon and kata. The beginners might work on more footwork or suburi or might work on strikes with a partner. Or they might work on Bokuto Kihon with the non-beginners. This goes on for the rest of the first hour, at which point we bow out the beginners. Then the rest of us do bogu practice: kirikaeshi, basic strikes, maybe some waza for about 30 minutes. Then kakari geiko for 5 or 10 minutes. Then the last bit (15 – 25 minutes) is spent doing jigeiko. But, we seem to be on the bokuto-geiko heavy end of the spectrum. There are (apparently, I’ve never been to one) dojo that only break out their bokuto a few weeks before a shinsa. I'm certainly looking forward to a bit of sparring, but using a metal sword in a slow and methodical kata is more what I'm after. That sounds like iaido may be more what your after. Metal swords are usually used only for demonstrations in kendo, and then not all the time. How much of Kendo is sparring with the bogu, For us, about 10-15% and how much of it is kata about 20-25% sword technique all of it and meditation? maybe 3 minutes total. And while iaido is slower than kendo, I’ve never found it meditative. Unless repeating the my-thighs-are-not-actually-on-fire mantra counts as meditation.
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