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Jörg Bellinghausen
29th November 2000, 10:16
Hello everybody!

This is my first post to this forum.

While being primarily a student of historical European Martial Arts, I am seriously interested in broadening my horizon and I want to take up training in historical Japanese Sword-Arts.

However, while a Kendo-dojo can be found in almost every larger city, finding a qualified teacher for kenjutsu seems very difficult. Kendo is not of interest to me, since I consider it to be quite removed from the older styles of swordsmanship, much like Western sportfencing ist removed from historical fencing.

So, here is my question: Do you know,if there is a teacher in Germany, who teaches kenjutsu?

Your help is much appreciated.

Blues
29th November 2000, 10:29
Hi Jorg,

I don't know of any kenjutsu dojo's in Germany but I do know that there are several authorized Shinkendo dojo's over there.

You can find them on this page at the bottom...
http://www.shinkendo.com/dojomap.html

Good luck,
Menno

Jörg Bellinghausen
29th November 2000, 10:39
Hello Menno!

Yes, I do know the German branch dojos of the ISF.

Shinkendo does not interest me too much either (I believe it is a rather "modern" system, while my interest is in the koryu), but I would take up training Shinkendo if there is nothing else.

Unfortunately, the *closest* dojo is almost a 3-hour-drive away...

Ruediger
29th November 2000, 12:56
Hi Jörg,

It is difficult to find kenjutsu - especially outside japan, not only in germany - but... it is possible, it depends on you..., how far are you willing to drive?
There is a Dojo in Frankfurt a.M., where you can study Kashima Shinryu.
There is also a Dojo in Leer / Ostfriesland where you can study the Sugino Form of the Katori Shinto Ryu.
As i wrote above, i depends on you. If i you are interested, i can give you the phonenumber from both teachers (Kashima Shinryu and the Sugino Form of the Katori Shinto Ryu).

Best regards

Warwick
30th November 2000, 04:03
There are a couple of Shinto Muso Ryu dojo in Germany. I'm not sure which cities they're in, you can look up the European Jodo Federation web site at http://www.fej.ch

SMR primarily focuses on the short staff, but also teaches sword and several other weapons.

Warwick Hooke

_______________________________________________
The Buddha sat under the Bodhi tree and all I got was this lousy T-shirt

Jörg Bellinghausen
30th November 2000, 14:49
Hi everybody!

Thank you for all the replies.

Unfortunately, there is no dojo in my area, the one in Frankfurt being the closest.

But it still too far away for me, since I've got a rather timeconsuming job. Plus, my beloved and the kids won't be too pleased with the thought of me driving several hunderd kilometers several times a week "just" for MA training.

Just some guy
1st December 2000, 11:57
Jörg,
Hi there. I know the Feeliing about the Kenjutsu as a Jinenkan Member living in Mainz. I myself finally broke down and started my own group to train with. The Maiin suggestion I would have on the subject would be seminar training. If you e-mail a dojo I'm sure they would be happy to let you know when they are having a seminar and could also tell you some cheap places to stay. The best thing about this is that you could brng the Miss and the Kids and make a vacation out of the whole thing. You can always practice sword forms alone at your conviniance. I know it's not the same as a Dojo, but you work with what you have.
CHris Baker

Joachim
1st December 2000, 17:39
Hi Jörg!

If you don't mind me asking, what are you training in now?

Jörg Bellinghausen
2nd December 2000, 10:18
Hi Joachim!

Currently I'm training in German historcal fencing.
My current weapon training includes longsword as my primary weapon, secondary weapons are the single-hand sword, the long knife, dagger and a bit of grappling and wrestling, which in the ancient European styles is an integral part of most weapon training, especially with the dagger.

I also do a bit of rapier fencing now and then and I train with the halbard during reenactment events.

My training in modern fencing focusses on the saber, but it is pretty defunct at the moment due to an overly crowded agenda and some major knee problems I had in the last months.

Hope this helps.

Joachim
2nd December 2000, 12:19
So learning the basics of Japanese Kenjutsu would already help? So you would be able to decide whether you want to make the Journey to Leer or Frankfurt now and then?
Then you might want to try the local (there is one in Bonn) Bujinkan school. They teach a bit of Kenjutsu as part of their curriculum. Although I don't know how good the teacher in Bonn is (regarding Kenjutsu). Also you could get a feeling for the japanese sword by attending a Iaido class. Most of the local Aikido schools teach Iaido. (The Aikido-Kreis-Köln even teaches it on it's own, sepparate from the Aikido, as far as I know.

BTW: German histroical fencing? Tallhofer?

Ruediger
2nd December 2000, 13:17
I'm not sure whether or not Iaido will work for what Jörg is looking for. Mostly, the Iaido Dojo here in germany are pretty far away from "practical swordwork" (once there was a guy, watching our training, at the end of the training, he asked about swordfencing (Schwertkampf). He was - as Jörg is - interested in historical european swordfencing - i've send him home, because i was pretty sure that he soon would be disapointed with Iaido). But, - as Joachim wrote it - it may help to get a feeling for the japanese sword. In our style (Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu) there are a few sword vs. sword forms, but i wouldn't call it kenjutsu (just my opinion). At least - i wrote it in my post above - it's up to you, what are you looking for, what are you willing (and - for sure - what are you able to do) to reach your goal (kenjutsu).
Speaking for myself... i just started - together with a friend of mine - with Kashima Shinryu. We try to make our way every 14 days to Frankfurt for the friday evenning training. It's a "two hours by car, two hours training and two hours by car back session". For kenjutsu...it's absolutely necessary that you have a partner with whom you can practice at home at your own dojo (again speaking for myself - if there is a dojo very close to your hometown it's a different situation)!

best regards

[Edited by Ruediger on 12-02-2000 at 10:13 AM]

Jörg Bellinghausen
2nd December 2000, 19:31
Hi Rüdiger and Joachim!

Yes, kenjutsu basics would help me at the moment, as well as Iaido would help to get a grasp what Japanese swordmanship is about. There is a group practicing Muso-Shinden-Ryu(?)-Iaido and the Seitei Iai of the ZNKR, and I definetely plan to give this a try.

Learning a bit of actual kenjutsu definetly has something to it, so Joachim, it would be great, if you could send me the contact adress for the Bonn Bujinkan dojo.

As for my training in Western Swordsmanship, yes, the works of Master Hans Talhoffer belong to my field of study, however, one can NOT learn how to fence according to his manual, but that's off topic for this forum, I suppose.
Send me an email if you're interested.