Kendo, Iaido, Kenjutsu...

[Psirus]

I love the japanese sword arts, im starting this some in all three, and maybe some Europene fencing to, Eepee to be exact. But mainly Kendo Iaido and Kenjutsu, anyone have any opinions? And no, i don't care that there not gona help me on teh street:) heh

- Psirus

Ride the winds of Shinobi...

[Highlander]

I also love swords. A few years ago I tried to find a Kendo School, but there aren't any in my area, so I signed up for a renaisance sword class. It was great. One of the first things that I learned is that you can't win with force or strength. This helped a lot in learning to use soft force to overcome the hard. Also, in this style of fighting both hands are used so you don't become too one sided. The only problem I ran into was in the foot work. It was very different from my Wing Chun footwork and in some ways, it messed up my Wing Chun footwork for a while

[Budokan]

I envy you. I would love to start learning iaido.

K. Mark Hoover

[Psirus]

Thank youfor your feedback! I thuoght some troll was going to say "Why would you wanna learn those? You can't use those on the streat!" Blahblahblah, but i like em just for that reason, cuz theve been preserved sense anciant times, your learning a part of history. Plus swords are just **** cool:)

- Psirus

Ride the winds of Shinobi...

[Anthroman]

I study Iaido and I think its great. As far as application it does help in empty hand technique if you study a sword based art, like aikijutsu. Some of the principles can also be used with other weapons.
Anthroman

[SLC]

...but no teacher. On is a WWII blade that is low quality but hand made. It is heavy.

The other is a tachi (older than a katana and a little longer) from about late 1300's. This is like a religious relic to me. It is a curious feeling to sit in seiza, holding in your hands a sword that was made before the great plagues took Europe. I try to imagine its life.

[Highlander]

My Sifu studied Iaido and had one of those sharp reproduction 440 stainless steel swords that you usually see selling for $60.00 to $120.00. The sword is actually decent for what it is and it is very sharp. Unfortunately the constant drawing of the sword cuts threw the shieth and has left a large scar on the palm of his left hand. After that happened he learned that several of the other students had similar mishaps. So if you practice with a sharp sword, be careful and check the condition of the shieth frequently. :(