[JacomoR]

Hey guys, so I wasn't sure where I would post this but if I made a mistake please feel free to move my thread. I'm relatively new to Kendo, been at it for about a week. Love it, and can't wait til next practice. Decided to pick up a martial art as I enter university. And Kendo was something that popped up on the university site, I checked to see if it was affiliated with CKF and it is so I joined. I had always been interested in Kendo when I was young but the price was too much for me back then, now that I have the money to do it, I'm psyched.

I have a question as well. Am I the only one who feels awkward when doing a kiai before fumikomi as a beginner?

Anyways, nice to meet you all.

[shiciapsisy]

The awkwardness beginners have with kiai is pretty common in my experience, there have been some threads on it here. You do get over it with time. I was very self conscious about doing kiai at first but now it's easy. There are times when it would be harder for me NOT to kiai, actually, it's gotten a bit automatic.

[strmini]

We had a camera crew in once interviewing some of the older members while the rest of us did kirikaesh in silence in the background. That was difficult - little shouts and grunts kept slipping out.

Force yourself to make strong kiai and soon it will feel completely natural.

[antonyandruleit]

Haha..alright, was hoping I wasn't the only one who felt awkward screaming.

My Kiai something like this:
AHHHHHHhhhhhhnnnnnnnnnng!...*cough*

[PrettyFifa12]

I started Iaido first, where there's no kiai. So I felt extra awkward doing kendo kiai in the beginning, but it comes natural now. By the way, finding your own kiai is the fun part!

[Singukil]

I went from TKD where we hardly ever Kiai (at least in my class) during sparring to Kendo where its the norm. I returned to my TKD class once to say hi, had to spar with a few people, The Kiai just flowed out as if I were breathing. THey looked at me so weird. They thought i was crazy, but it seemed to unnerve a few people so i kept on doing it. It was fun.

It will become easier as time goes by. It helps in so many ways. and yes finding your own Kiai is fun.

[RealCHEAPsoftDOWNLOAD]

I've always maintained that on a basic level kiai is the only thing a beginner can do. Sadly most beginners get shy about that aspect. Rest assured you stand out more by not kiai-ing as loud as you can. Anyway, the sooner you start bellowing like a maniac the sooner you'll feel like your actually taking part with the rest of the bellowing maniacs!

As a beginner you are joining a group of people who are doing stuff that as yet you cannot do, but you will be copying them so you can learn to do that stuff. Stopping yourself from doing the shouty bit, on reflection, shouldn't make much sense. It's natural to feel self-conscious but as you're aware it may not be right you must overcome that awkwardness and join in.

[AbraxiaAsus]

Yeah, I'm the newest person in my club and the least experienced (I'm at the end when we line up). Today we did Kata and I had trouble remembering what to do as we went through 1,2,3 all in one session. But it was fun.

[kabelshik]

Oh man, developing kiai is way fun. I was lucky and I have a forest nearby my house. It's fun to just go there once in a while with a few friends and freak the hell out of them by yelling like crazy, hiding, and jumping out with kiai and scaring them.

Repeat until paranoia settles in. Fun and develops kiai.

Google and Youtube stuff on how to develop it. They have things like the philosophy - "why kiai?", how to not kill your throat and what-not.

[DYjLN8rF]

Today we did Kata and I had trouble remembering what to do as we went through 1,2,3 all in one session. But it was fun.

I have trouble remembering what to do too. I know I'm better at kata now than I used to be but I'm still not 100% certain I could do all the kata's from start to finish without feeling some level of confusion.

[chuecafresss]

I been trying kiai at home and once or twice I got it to sound right, but half the other time, it comes out as a westen style roar/scream war cry. lol

[TSVIDeo]

You guys are already doing kata? At my dojo, kata is for shodan+'s only. Or so it seems. The non-bogu class has never done it.

[Z2sc8gEz]

You guys are already doing kata? At my dojo, kata is for shodan+'s only. Or so it seems. The non-bogu class has never done it.

Seeing that kata is required for the ikkyu and shodan shinsa, it wouldn't make sense to restrict kata practice to shodan+...

Unless the rules in Canada are different.

[Obebtetibre]

You guys are already doing kata? At my dojo, kata is for shodan+'s only. Or so it seems. The non-bogu class has never done it.

He's in a university club. Odds are the class is small and he was just doing what everyone else was. I find kata difficult to teach to newbies. Waiting until they have solid enough basics to be in bogu or close to it is a perfectly reasonable approach and what we do.

As verissimus points out, you need to know the first three kata for ikkyu here in North Canuckistan, so you will be learning it sooner than you think.

[TaliaJack]

He's in a university club. Odds are the class is small and he was just doing what everyone else was. I find kata difficult to teach to newbies. Waiting until they have solid enough basics to be in bogu or close to it is a perfectly reasonable approach and what we do.

As verissimus points out, you need to know the first three kata for ikkyu here in North Canuckistan, so you will be learning it sooner than you think.

Correct and correct. My club is roughly...8-10 people normally but for that one class it was just 3 people + 1 sensei. Remembering the stances was difficult enough I barely remembered the movements and had to constantly ask quite a bit. But I'm enjoying Kendo, though I wish more people would join, it'd be more fun. But, I doubt a lot of people will stick with Kendo and join at the University (we just finished promoting it today).

[reiruviartugs]

Well my classes have a ton of people in them [We ARE at the largest Japanese community center outside of Japan, afterall.], but so many people drop out after a few weeks of non-bogu. I'm sure they have their reasons, but I'm still kind of disappointed they don't want to continue.

Also, most of the non-bogu people are below ni-kyu, I'm only roku-kyu myself. Testing comes again in spring. Everyone ni-kyu and above is in the bogu class, or are starting to prepare to move into that class. I heard it's way more intense than non-bogu. (Personally, I can't wait to get into bogu. I like a challenge.)

So yeah, I guess it makes sense that our non-bogu people don't get to learn kata yet.

[Anakattawl]

(Personally, I can't wait to get into bogu. I like a challenge.)

Good luck, Knowing who practices there, and the stories I heard, you will need it to avoid the kiss of death.

[Erexecike]

Oh right, forgot to say this :

To the O.P. : Awesome reference to Expendables.
To anyone who hasn't seen it : Go see it. Nao.

[Chiquita]

Oh right, forgot to say this :

To the O.P. : Awesome reference to Expendables.
To anyone who hasn't seen it : Go see it. Nao.

Lol. Ay, someone noticed. Kickass movie lol.

[Ccddfergt]

I'm relatively new to Kendo, been at it for about a week. Love it, and can't wait til next practice.

Hullo! I am pretty much just as new as you. Just started at the end of July, and I have been loving it as well. Practice had to be cancelled today because the YMCA where we train is redoing the floors. So now I am all antsy, not to mention inwardly bemoaning the fact that now my feet will stick to the floors even more.

I have a question as well. Am I the only one who feels awkward when doing a kiai before fumikomi as a beginner?

I feel awkward with kiai when I am facing Maestas Sensei, but not so much when I am just facing empty space and (we have one of those mirror walls) my own reflection.

Nice to meet you!