[vaalmerruutel]

I had already started Kendo and Iaido in France so I looked in the BKA website for a list of all the London Kendo, Iaido and Jodo dojos and started visiting them one by one, until I found one that corresponded more to the spirit of the people in my original Kendo and Iaido dojo.

So the addresses and maps in the BKA webpage were quite a help to me, and I have noticed that lately there was an update on those pages: they now use Googlemaps and look quite nice. It is also easier to compare where the dojos are located.

I just find it a shame that 3 years on and after a BKA website renewal, the Iaido & Jodo dojo I joined in is still shown to be located at an uncorrect spot. How I went up and down that very long lane for hours, by foot and by bus trying to find that boy scouts' hut. It is possibly a perseverence test that dojo has on it's beginners: if you can find that hut, then you can enroll. I almost did give up.

[djmassk]

I remember it well.
It was a long time ago....I had been staggering in the snow during the worst storm we had in ages.
I was running for my life, actually. Away from a wild animal I had killed in a cave...
Just as I had all but collapsed from exhaustion, some deranged old Hermit appeared in a vision and gave me directions.

Why were you running from it if you had already killed it? Or did you just remove one of its arms?

[hrthwhr]

Last winter I started fencing, and I was really into swords and whatnot. At this point I had no idea kendo existed. When summer came, I had to go home from school, so I needed to find a place to fence at home. All the fencing places were at least a 45 minute drive and unreasonably expensive.

While I was searching the internets for fencing places, I found out about this thing called kendo, which was apparently the Japanese version of fencing. I watched a few videos of people doing it and decided that it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. I made my way to the AUSKF website and found a dojo very close to where I live and extremely reasonably priced. I was also lucky enough to find a dojo near where I go to school after summer was over. I enjoyed it so much during the summer that even if I couldn't find a dojo close to my school, I would commute 2 hours to my home dojo. I'm glad I don't have to do that.

[Lvnufcdc]

I was walking down the street and some teenage boy kendoka came out of nowhere thinking he was a badass and tried to pull a hiki-men, i side swept the bastard and grabbed his shinai and went flying over him scoring a solid men. I kept his shinai as my reward and some guy saw me walking the street and took me as a practitioner of kendo...I agreed to follow him to this "dojo," little did I know I was being inducted into a cult...(to be continued..)

[Unergerah]

I enjoyed it so much during the summer that even if I couldn't find a dojo close to my school, I would commute 2 hours to my home dojo. I'm glad I don't have to do that.

Well, you do have a carpool to hop in with and besides, we aren't that scary out here, are we?

I found my first dojo...well, I should probably say we started ours after watching a martial arts expo on campus and we thankfully had the guidance of a nearby dojo during those first few months. We eventually formed a full club and when I graduated we were in the process of going through the membership process with the MWKF. I found my current dojo after searching for one that was closer to where I lived since I really want to avoid driving on the Sure-kill...I mean the Skukyll expressway at night. A bit of a lame story but thought I could contribue at the other end of the spectrum.

[Sellorect]

Well, you do have a carpool to hop in with and besides, we aren't that scary out here, are we?

Oh no no, It was a different place that I went to over the summer. You guys are great. I'm going tonight, in fact.

[Lvnufcdc]

I guess my current dojo found me rather than the other way around. I somehow had my name added to a local mailing list for DC area kendoka without my permission. A year or two later after training at other places, I joined my current school.

Took me nearly 3 years to find my original dojo. The contact information was out of date by several times listing times and locations that hadn't been in use in years. During my freshman year of college, I found out that the local on campus aikido instructor had studied iaido at the school I was looking for. He refused to tell me the location of the school, I can only assume that he didn't want me to quit his aikido class as he would not give me a reason why. Found out a year later through a MA friend of mine where the location was and tried it.

[Relsenlilky]

I knew roughly what Kendo was (i was studying TKD at the time)

Saw a poster at the Black Lion centre in Gillingham, turned up to watch, joined in & have been doing it since

Of course it turned out to be Phil Wrights dojo, but I didnt know that the 'sermons' werent any valid part of kendo for about a year until id moved away and found a dojo where the sensei knew what he was talking about

Our dojo has a click through email enrollment & this has been providing steady source of beginners (between 3 and 12) per course for the last 15 months now

good luck !

[bppstorr]

My daughter was interested in some type of weapon training (fencing, sabre, kendo, naginata) and we looked in the phone book.... kendo was there.

[VtLe67WR]

When I was a lad we didnt have computers and internet. I actually worked on the first computer using CAD software at Whessoe in Darlington where CAD was invented. It was a Honeywell machine and we used green on black displays for pipework for oilrigs. (useless p.c. info you didn't need to know...chapter 3)

I heard about kendo and later iai from my buddy at karate class, which was also a judo class, and a jiujitsu class...(anything which involved hitting somebody really) How could we resist, hitting somebody with a stick! When I turned up, so did everyone else from the 'karate' club. My buddy packed in, I kept going...

[Feloascarlelt]

I was very fortunate. When I moved to Japan, my apartment was next door to the dojo!

[InsManKV]

I found my Kendo dojo via the Internet and in passing through town when they were having keiko outdoors.

Afterwards, my sensei invited me to join him and his fellow Iaidoka at another dojo downtown.

[WaydayFep]

My dad used to practice kendo about 20 years ago, bought all the equipment and stopped six months after starting but he kept his bogu. Fast-forward 14 years of moving from country to country, I asked him about what the bogu was for and after his vague explanation decided I'd give it a try. I looked the BKA up in the phonebook and arranged for my first keiko the following Sunday and haven't looked back since.

As for iai and jo, I think I was just poking around the BKA website, about three or four years after starting kendo, and discovered these weird things called 'iaido' and 'jodo'. Curiosity didn't kill me but it forced me to look up a dojo and try first iai then jodo six months later.

Neither my kendo sensei nor my iai/jo sensei have recognised me as the hopeless case that was prophesied by every ancient master and prophet in human history and must be killed on sight...

[Drugsonl]

When I was a lad we didnt have computers and internet.

Abacus?

[fajerdoksdsaaker]

I had been mildly interested in kendo ever since my friends and I back in junior high school played around with a couple of shinai one day, but I never had the time, energy or resources to join a kendo dojo until college (UC Irvine).

Fast forward to the spring quarter of my junior year in college when I joined the fencing club, partially for the reason that I needed something to write about in my journalism/non-fiction writing course. While I had fun in the club, I decided not to continue after the quarter was over, mainly due to the fact that I had to start buying all the equipment...not knowing that kendo equipement would be be more expensive.

My senior year rolled around and one of my friends convinced me to join the iaido club on campus, which he had joined during the summer break. I figured that eventually I could get into kendo by practicing iaido. After a little over a year of practicing iai, watching a kendo class that a best friend of mine was attending and having a regular job, money and time, I finally decided it was time to start kendo.

I found out about OCB Kendo Dojo from one of my iaido friends who started there and quit after a few months. The dojo actually tried to convince me to join another kendo dojo up in L.A. (where I was living at the time), but I decided on OCB because I had heard good things about it and it was close to work.

I switched iaido schools/styles in 1997 and this month will be the start of my 15th year at OCB.

[jakitula]

I tried Kendo in Gillingham, but became unhappy with the teacher there very quickly and didn't know what to do, so I posted on this forum asking for help as Kendo is sparce in Medway, and Scott Uk recommended I try the Shin Bu Kan and Iaido instead. Best thing I ever did.

[pesty4077]

...and what a teacher you have there. His awesomeness is inversely proportionate to his altitude.

[Goodwin]

I remember it well.
It was a long time ago....I had been staggering in the snow during the worst storm we had in ages.
I was running for my life, actually. Away from a wild animal I had killed in a cave...
Just as I had all but collapsed from exhaustion, some deranged old Hermit appeared in a vision and gave me directions.

They have kendo on Degobah?


Hmmm, your tenouchi you must work on.

[Auzuigcx]

So the addresses and maps in the BKA webpage were quite a help to me, and I have noticed that lately there was an update on those pages: they now use Googlemaps and look quite nice. It is also easier to compare where the dojos are located.

BINGO! Can I quote you on the posters? Who'd have thought they'd turn out to be useful.

I just find it a shame that 3 years on and after a BKA website renewal, the Iaido & Jodo dojo I joined in is still shown to be located at an uncorrect spot.

If the maps are wrong please send me a PM with the address/postcode and I'll shift the markers, it's only accurate with the help of the members, thanks.

[seatlyled]

...and what a teacher you have there. His awesomeness is inversely proportionate to his altitude.

He is one hell of a teacher. Great organisation, great teachers, happy students; just well lucky to train there.