Hello, E-Budo

[Unjust Jester]

Hello, everyone.

I am new here and wanted to introduce myself. My name is Jesse Mathews, I'm 27 years old, and I live in Northeast GA, in the city of Athens.

When I was younger I had the privilege of studying Okinawan Shorin-Ryu karate. More recently I began studying traditional Taekwondo. While it is my interest to study Kendo and Iaido, financial restrictions currently apply, however, I hope those disciplines will be available to me in the future.

In short, I'm glad to be here, and I hope to learn a lot.

Thanks!

[Steven Wood]

Welcome, Jesse. You will find a wealth of information here.

There are certainly ways to make kendo and/or iaido affordable. If you are near a qualified teacher, which for us in the US is, in my opinion, the single most difficult obsticle to overcome, you should ask to watch a class and see where that leads you.

[Joseph Svinth]

Jesse --

E-budo has been very quiet the past few years. Social media has changed since the late 1990s, when E-budo had its first iterations. But there is truly a whole lot of material available via search.

To my knowledge, there isn't much kendo in Georgia. Atlanta and the university towns are probably your best bet. Try http://atlantakendoclub.com/index.ph...mid=71&lang=en

For access to a wide variety of classes, you will need to consider moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, Toronto Metro, Los Angeles Metro, Vancouver BC Metro (Steveston in particular), or Seattle Metro. Depending on your political and religious views, a transition from a middle-sized town in Georgia to urban Left Coast is going to be either a) offputting or b) nirvana.

[Steven Wood]

I think there may be kendo right there in Athens taught by Shigeru Koyama. I'm sure you can do a google search and find out. Good Luck!

[George Kohler]

Welcome to E-Budo.

[Unjust Jester]

Thank you all for your replies!

Yes, Shigeru Koyama teaches Kendo here in Athens, GA at the Classic Martial Arts Club.

Your advice is sound, Steven, but I know the moment I visit and watch a class I will want to sign up. So I'm not planning on visiting quite yet, but I am planning on it. I'll need to take some side jobs first.

Yes, I've noticed there isn't much activity here, Joseph. But that might not be too unfortunate. What I've seen in many of the topics (and in those engaged in them), is a lot of quality--and that's what counts.

Thanks again, everyone.