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Thread: (Re)starting Iaido and Kendo at the same time? Your thoughts?

  1. #16
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    I think that what Simon may be asking is how the kinematics from one translate into the other. If you watch an iaidoka perform jodan, it looks totally different from kendoka doing the same kamae, at least in our ryuha. My wife trains in both kendo & iaido, & we both train in two schools of iai. It was fairly easy for me to understand both ryuha, but when kendo is added in, my wife gets corrected nearly every session for her "kendo hands."

    Ken

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    I did both. My first Iai teacher was Suzuki Sensei ( kendo 7th dan) who taught us seitei. Being that everyone in the dojo had done both and were aware of the differences and the sensei would make sure were we corrected on our technique it may have helped. We also did Kendo kata for 30-60 minutes after every class. We were an old man's dojo that were taught Kendo as a more complete art than a lot of the college dojo I have seen. Maybe that made a difference that we were not into shiai. I think how a shinai feel different than an iaito helps to mentally compartmentalize.

    I later did Seitei and MJER/SMR at the sametime I could compartmentalize the differences which is actually unusual for me. I tend to operate instictively at tasks.

    I think eventually you need to do both shinai kendo and some art that actually handles a sword to get a somewhat complete education, if that is your goal. I never learned to cut in Kendo. But if I had bet money on a sword fight between a kendoka vs iaidoka ceterus parabus I would bet on a kendo player. Cuts may not be clean but he sure could hack the beegeebees out of someone and know how to move his feet.

    Life is a time allocation problem.
    Last edited by CEB; 1st June 2015 at 22:25.
    Ed Boyd

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  4. #18
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    Lol, well you opened a cans of worms with that one. Two completely different disciplines where one moves around going through with a strike whereas koryu demands that you more or less stay on the spot and let them enter your ma-ai to cut him. Thing is as you advance to a senior level in kendo you tend to do a similar thing, let your opponent do all the dancing around and pick him off.
    Hyakutake Colin

    All the best techniques are taught by survivors.


    http://www.hyoho.com

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  6. #19
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    One of my favorite teachers was Maeda Sensei from Chicago. He has passed away now but he played Kendo in to his 90s I believe. At a Tai Kai he asked the group I was with to tie his shoes. He couldn't tie his shoes but he practiced Kendo at a high level. The man would struggle to go up and down stairs but when he was on the dojo floor he was a tiger.

    I remember a godo keiko session. The top practitioners in the midwest formed a line. Everyone else would pick a line across from one of the teachers and ji geko then you got critiqued and given things you should work on. No one was lining up across Maeda Sensei. It seemed rude not to do so therefore you went to Maeda's line. You are thinking 'God I hope I don't hurt this old man'. . He just stands there in chudan no kamae so you try something and he strikes you like a tiger. After a little bit of that you start to think 'OK the old man is going to get it now'.

    He is like air. You can't touch him. He knows what you are going to do before you do. He reads you like an open book. He doesn't move unless it is with purpose and he does it with authority.

    Kendo done at the highest levels is amazing.

    Maeda Sensei, memory eternal.
    Last edited by CEB; 3rd June 2015 at 14:52.
    Ed Boyd

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  8. #20
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    I was wrong about his age. He passed away at 89.

    The photo gallery I found an inspirational Budo picture picture.
    http://obits.dignitymemorial.com/dig...56&mid=4463876
    Attached Images Attached Images  
    Last edited by pgsmith; 3rd June 2015 at 18:23. Reason: removed extra picture - pgsmith
    Ed Boyd

  9. #21
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    If you have time, do both. If you don't have time, chose what is closer to your way of looking to the Martial Art - if you like competition, go for kendo. If you like to pay attention to details, do iaido. But chose what will make you happy and will keep you wanting to do it and improve on it. It is your spare time after all, and doing something you don't get pleasure from it sucks.
    Now, pairing katas from kendo are a good exercise for what is missing in iaido- and this is an easy fix with an Iaido Sensei who knows them and practice/or was practitioner of both. For me, iaido and kendo are not opposite, are complementary in the spirit of training. There is no good answer to your question. With your background in empty handed martial arts, things will go smoother than you imagine.

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