Sword Schools in Germany

[Ien]

Hi all, I just recently moved to Central Germany and was hoping to find a sword school nearby.

I have studied Iai for a few years, including 3 years doing MJER in Japan. A MJER Dojo would be ideal but the chances of that are slim, so I would be interested in checking out anything, including western styles (even if just for a look).

I am living in Weimar, Thüringen, and if you know of anything within a couple of hours that would be great.

Eynon Phillips

Missing my sword:cry:

[ulvulv]

http://iai-do.com/

i dont know about mjer situation in germany, I think that msr is bigger, germany have had a stronge connection with sagawa sensei for many years, who is hachidan hanshi msr
I know that there are som mjer dojos in holland. I think you find seitei-iai in most of the dojos listed under "weitere dojos"

[Chidokan]

I remember meeting a few guys from there some years ago, I think they were connected with kokusai budoin,IMAF. Try a websearch for them.

[Joseph Svinth]

You might ask the same question at http://pub32.ezboard.com/bbudoforum . Their links include http://www.iai-do.com/ and http://www.iaido-nrw.de/ .

[kabutoki]

hello,
a very good trainer who i visit every now and then lives and teaches in kassel, germany. he teaches mjer on a very high level and hold a seminar with three japanese teachers every year. the dojo is affiliated with the zen hihon iaido renmei, shikoku branch.
if you want to contact him, pm me since his site has been down for months.
there is also suppose to be at least one group doing mjer in berlin.

in general, as it already has been said, msr together with seitei iai is what you find in most bigger towns, whereas mjer is harder to find.

hth
karsten

[Dahlia]

Weimar? You're forsaken. NO LIFE in Weimar. Social or whatsoever. All died with Goethe and Schiller. But lot's of cafés and lot's of tourists.

I've had a look at German Iaido-related sites, there's no training opportunity in the area. No kendo, too, by the way. There is an iaido dojo in Erfurt, but they don't have a homepage and I couldn't find the adress. Hope that helps though.

Oh, and there are kendo clubs both in Erfurt and Jena.

Joseph: Shame on you. Weimar is in Thueringen, not in NRW ;)

[Ien]

Hi, thanks everyone for the replies. I`ll try to get in contact with the guys in Erfurt. Karsten I sent you a PM.

Eynon Phillips

[Mushin San]

ein gutes schwert kunden schule im deutschland. Ich habe nicht jetzt gefunden.

[ulvulv]

Originally posted by Mushin San
ein gutes schwert kunden schule im deutschland. Ich habe nicht jetzt gefunden.

Your german is just slightly better than mine, I still prefer to answer in english. ;)

There is a rokudan muso shindenryu in bamberg, isnt that pretty close to Stuttgart?

I have to travel by plane for two hours to get instruction, so I may have another sense of short versus long distance than many people.:)
I have also been to germany to practise iai once, and got nice and qualified instruction.

Six years later, i stil wake up in a cold sweat with nightmares including excessive amounts of beer and sausages. haha

[Mushin San]

I went to one school\club in Stuttgart. I was kindly asked not to come back. I studied koryu for years. I think they were none to happy I brought a shinken to practise with. They use those zinc thingies.

[ulvulv]

Originally posted by Mushin San
I went to one school\club in Stuttgart. I was kindly asked not to come back. I studied koryu for years. I think they were none to happy I brought a shinken to practise with. They use those zinc thingies.


Bad luck for you. Good luck on your continued search for a good club in south germany.
You are lucky to have a relatively short distance for traveling to countries like holland, france and switzerland, where there at least is huge annual seminars with aknowledged iai-teachers.
I am sure that you will find something, if you are willing to spend some time on the autobahn with in a "mean fastmoving sauerkraut machine"(bmw)

It all depends of course on how rare your koryu is, if you just want to continue your practise of that particular ryu,

What koryu have you practised, and what kind of "orientalischer schwerdkunst" did the aforementioned club claim to practise?:)

It will be a help for germans reading this thread, if you want to be directed to the right club.

[D.S. Brown]

Ien,

I apologize for not having specifics, but I am positive that while doing a search for iai in Germany several months back, I came across a club at the University of Mainz. I don't know how if it's MJER or how close it is to you. If it is turns out to be MJER then the only thing I wish is that I'd known about it 16 years ago when I was stationed there with the Army.

Good Luck.
Dave

[Shikiyanaka]

"mean fastmoving sauerkraut machine"

yes, check it out... you may not find the sword school you are looking for, but at least you may go 150 mph on the autobahn... :)

[Just some guy]

Ien,
I know the guy who runs the Club at the Mainz Uni, so I feel justifed in commenting. Also the guy is a friend of mine. Now, the club at Mainz is not a Kenjutsu club nor is it an Iaido club. They actually only do Kendo. One of Frank's ( the training leader) students does Iai on the side and has a sort of study group during the friday class. I don't know anything about the guy and won't comment on his skill or style. I can give you Frank's e-mail if you like.
Frank himself is a very nice guy though a little crazy sometimes, a traid I like in someone. He speaks english very well. The only thing is if you want him to do something you need to remind him a LOT as he tends to forget things. He generally tries to do too many things at once.
Regards,
Chris