First time post

Hello,

This is the first time i have posted here, but have been reading many posts of others.

I am very interested in learning a sword skill, i feeling it is something i would lke to try and become adept at and study over my life, i have looked at many different sites to look for a skill to learn but im not sure what skill would better suit me and where i can learn it. i live in the uk just out side of london.

i can afford books and dvds till i am able to dinf a teach, and would love to travel to Japan and learn from a master or the proper kata.

i have been looking to buy a proper sword, and like what i have seen on swordstore.com . So what im really asking is could anyone if possible please give me some discriptions of what styles there are and what kind of persons that suits, also i have read the book bushido and loved it.

Thank you for your time

Kind regards

Wire

[Katsujinken]

Wire,
Think you would have been better posting this in the sword forum rather than the Ju Jutsu forum, you also need to sign your posts with your full name or a moderator will jump on you.

Anyway in the UK there are three main sword styles which are taught via the British Kendo Association and these are Seiti, Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu and Shinto Ryu,the last two are classified as Koryu, but everybody has to learn the Seiti forms first and you practise with a Bokken until you take out their licence and insurance. Their web address is www.kendo.org.uk/dojo/london.shtml and this has a club listing. There are some groups outside of the British Kendo Association, but I would definitely look at their clubs first as they bring over Japanese teachers regularly.

Regards

Chris Norman

[George Kohler]

Originally posted by wire
Hello,

This is the first time i have posted here, but have been reading many posts of others.

Wire,

First, welcome to E-Budo.

Second, please sign your posts with your full name. This is a E-Budo rule.

[George Kohler]

Moving to the correct forum.

[Charles Mahan]

According to his profile, his name is William Law. He still needs to add his name to his signature.

William, the easist way to do that is to click on the User Cp link at the top of any page then edit your profile. Add your name to the Signature field. That's all it will take.

The good news is that there is qualified instruction out there. There certainly is stateside. You haven't mentioned where you are located so we won't be able to help you much. Months of study of the pictures in books and videos will not net you much more knowledge than you would have learned in your first real class. Sad, but true. You just can't learn much from books and videos. They are useful as a reference and can remind you of things you've already been taught, but that's about it.

Now if you could give us some idea where you are, perhaps we can help put you into contact with someone nearby.

Swordstore is a good choice, but I'd suggest waiting until you have proper instruction as it is very easy to injure yourself without proper instruction.

Huh.... This was my 666th post...

Hey guys

Thanks for all the welcomes, also sorry about not signing my full name under my last post, i didnt understand what it ment.

Ok where i live is in England, uk about 1 hour and 30 mins by train, so i really need to find somewhere that i can train weekend or late friday night as my working hours do not allow me much free time.

thank you very much for all the advice that you have given me so far and i can not wait to hear more from you all.

thank you for your time

Kind regards

Wire

(just incase my sign dont work
William Law)

hey dudes

im kinda looking for a discription or synopsis of different styles, so i can then go and watch the the styles that interest me.

again i would like to thank you for the information you has so far given me.

Kind regards

Wire

[gendzwil]

Doesn't work that way - mostly, you go looking for what is available close to you (answer, usually nothing, if you're lucky kendo and maybe iaido) and then decide if you want to practice that.

Close to London, you've got kendo and iaido. See here for more info and dojo lists in the UK.

For information on JSA generally, you can try the JSA FAQ. For info on koryu (older schools) see koryu.com.

[Chidokan]

an hour and thirty minutes from where exactly? Name your home town and we will try and help. There are plenty of clubs around, and fairly well scattered about so you should be fairly close to one you can visit and take a look. My own teacher from Japan is visiting shortly (Leeds in late august/september) and there will be other events round the UK in general. Look on the seminar boards here and at kendo world for details of potential local ones for you. Also try and find some sword related sites, such as Hyaku's site below, to give you a little more insight...

http://www.hyoho.com/

These should give you some idea of what you are getting yourself into. Be prepared to spend possibly the rest of your life trying to learn a sword art. Some people make it look easy, and that it certainly aint....

hey guys

Ok i live in a town called watford, in hertfordshire, if that helps at all.

ok question, what you say are the pros and cons for each of kendo and iadio ( i hope i spelled that right).

and if you had to make a choice which one would you choose?

again i would like to say that i am grateful for all the information that you have been giving me and your thoughts on my problem.

also if i was only able to do 1 class a week because of either working hours or cause the class was only ran 1 day a week, would you recommand that i take what i learn in that class and practice it every day?

live long a prosper LOL sorry i had to do it lol

from wire

hey guys

Ok i live in a town called watford, in hertfordshire, if that helps at all.

ok question, what you say are the pros and cons for each of kendo and iadio ( i hope i spelled that right).

and if you had to make a choice which one would you choose?

again i would like to say that i am grateful for all the information that you have been giving me and your thoughts on my problem.

also if i was only able to do 1 class a week because of either working hours or cause the class was only ran 1 day a week, would you recommand that i take what i learn in that class and practice it every day?

live long a prosper LOL sorry i had to do it lol

from wire

[Kaoru]

Hi!

There is also Shinkendo, a gendai(Newer since the Meiji era) JSA which is Kenjutsu.

Go to this page:

http://www.shinkendo.com/dojomap.html

If you scroll until you see "United Kingdom," you will see two dojos listed. I am not sure how close they are to you, but you can check them out on a map to see, ok?

Oh, and one thing... If you have to drive a bit, don't worry about it. Many of us drive for a long time just to get to the dojo. It is really rare to find a dojo right near a person.

Hope this helps!

[gendzwil]

Originally posted by wire

ok question, what you say are the pros and cons for each of kendo and iadio ( i hope i spelled that right).

Have you bothered reading the references I gave you? A lot of this sort of stuff is addressed. Fundamentally, kendo involves sparring with other people and iaido is mostly swinging a sword solo. I don't have a choice, no iaido instructors where I am. The few times I've tried iaido at clinics it hasn't really appealed to me. I like the live, thinking opponent on the other end of my sword.

hey dudes

well i have been reading alot of the sites i have found and that you guys have shown me. i have a kendo and an iadio club near to where i live but they only run once a week, and from what i have read i think i will choose to do iadio at first and learn all the kata and the (i hope i spell this right lol) etticates.

it sounds very interesting even thou there is no contact, i feel that once i have got to grips with it and start to understand that basics and the meaning behind the kata and the use of a sword and what it ment to be a worrior.

i will then start slowly moving into kendo, and learning to use what i have learned and learn more from that, i read on a post that kendo and iadio are two face of the same coin and compliment each other very well, please correct me if i am wrong with anything that i have said here.

if you could please give me yout thoughts and feeling one what i have said here because if i am wrong in anything it could slow down my learning of either style.

again thank you for your time

kind regards

Wire

[Charles Mahan]

The Kendo Renmei folks have that saying, but oddly enough, I've never heard that saying within the ZNIR That said, Iai and Kendo are certainly compatible for the most part. There will be no small amount of contradiction between the two, but with the proper application of compartmentalization you should be able to keep the one from contaminating the other.