File :-(, x, )
Anonymous
I have some money to waste, and quite frankly, I have no "sports" im in to. How's Kendo? Some old asian guy, apperantly the sensei of the Dojo was handing out pamphlets to join the Kendo Club starting next month, the only problem is that you have to shell out about $1,000 for decent, proper, equipment, the outfit, membership fee, blade, etc.

Has anyone ever been in a Kendo Dojo before, and if so, will I regret joining one. Keep in mind I have never played Kendo before, I am willing to learn and get up early in the morning, and quite frankly, I need to get more fit.

TLDR; Kendo.
>> Anonymous
Most anything fitness-related from Japan sucks ass.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
/fit/ is about to motherfucking rape you about how weak and weaboo anyone who does kendo is.

Me, on the other hand: I do kendo and I love it to death. It's not really a sport as much as it is an art. Sure, there's combat, but it's not contingent on your strength or your speed. What it depends on is how much you've practiced kendo itself and how well you can apply what you've practiced. Initially it's a lot of conditioning--you might not see your own armor on yourself until several months in--but it's surely worth it. Also there's no blade involved btw.

Up to a point, the conditioning will definitely get you in shape, and everything about kendo is intensity as opposed to endurance (max bout is 3 minutes long, usually 2 depending on given rules). I wasn't too in shape when I began kendo, but having wanted desperately to get better at it, I'm now in the best shape of my life because I thought it would help me. Fitness helps at the margin, but as I said, it's more art and practice than sport.

You'll regret joining it if you're the sort who can't be dedicated for a long time to one thing--the kendo world is a whole different one you have to adapt to whenever you do kendo. There isn't too much versatility between kendo and other arts/sports aside from mentally and philosophically, so it's not going to make you excel much in a different fighting style besides kendo.

But man I love it. Pic related, my hand after a year of kendo and a hard kendo-related workout. I wonder if it'll heal once I quit, but that hasn't happened to me yet.
>> Anonymous
>>187462

I've done kendo for a while now, and I really enjoy it. I was a moderate fatty when I first started, and since then I've lost most of my body fat.

Although, you're having to buy all of your equipment upfront? Seems dodgey to me. When I first started, my sensei opposed me even buying a hakama before I was fully committed to it.
>> Anonymous
>>187511
187479 here. Yeah I found that odd too--I just assumed he calculated costs up front. I think at the dojo I practice at over the summer (not my intercollegiate club I usually practice at), they charge some monthly fee which has the costs of all the equipment already added into it, so that when you're ready, they simply give you the hakama/kendogi and then bogu without any additional cost. So maybe that's what going on here.
>> Anonymous
>>187462sensei of the Dojo was handing out pamphlets to join the Kendo Club

What kind of sensei does this himself without his students to do it for him??? Also, is this a club or a dojo? There's a difference.
>> Anonymous
You weeaboo faggots need to lift weights and carry a pistol like me. I'm a clutch tyrannosaurus motherfucker, you're not going to get that way swinging a wooden stick around.
>> Anonymous
>>187543
Oh hey Larry, how's the wife?
>> Anonymous
>>187545

This ain't Larry, its me ya boi Ramiro
>> Anonymous
weeaboo

learn fencing if you really want to do sword fighting. it's also cheaper.
>> Anonymous
Kendo is not for everyone, just like any other martial arts. The only way to find out if you like it, is to try it for a time.
>> Anonymous
>>187551
They're two completely different styles aside from the footwork. Kendo is a more slashing ordeal, as opposed to stabbing. Which do you suppose is more applicable to real life combat?
>> Anonymous
>>187590

His post does have merit, though.

I've done both kendo and French foil fencing, and the latter kicked my ass. No, you won't really learn applicable real life techniques with either, but I can say for sure that western fencing does a great job of building cardiovascular endurance.

I think, it's more of a personal taste. Do you like east or west?
>> °-° !!yxFrHrMXyX9
     File :-(, x)
>>187462
I would say try a European martial art first, such as medieval style training. I currently train under the Lichtenaur tradition of German longsword, which teaches principles that are applied to other weapons, as well as hand to hand combat. It also includes the oldest form of martial arts, wrestling, in order to best your opponent when bound or when disarmed.
Now, why do I say this is better than Kendo or other weaboo style of swordplay? Quillions, motherfucker.
The "cross section" or "hand guard" of the blade. These are your defense, are used in winding, half swording, disarming and so on, making it a superior weapon to that used by Kendo and wapanese arts.

In conclusion, DO IT FAGGOT. Try out one of the oldest European martial arts that conquered nations and see how much you enjoy it.
I GUARANTEE.
>> Anonymous
>>187601
Endurance sure, but which one built up better intensity?

Either way, yeah, to each their own. Preference etc. I for one perfer to look like darth vader than the tooth fairy.
>> °-° !!yxFrHrMXyX9
>>187605
Also, for the fuckwits of this board, my suggestion is entirely different to fencing. It's aggressive, brutal and was the main style used to fight wars for hundreds of years on a battlefield with thousands of knights.

Fencing < Longswords.
>> Anonymous
>>187610
>Also, for the fuckwits of this board, my suggestion is entirely different to fencing.
>Fencing < Longswords

If you say so, chump.
>> Anonymous
>>187610

MMA + gun training > fencing> kendo> cosplay swordfighting
>> Anonymous
>>187479
You're gripping your shinai wrong. Way too hard.

And I hope you don't have to pay $1000 upfront. You can buy your own online for a fraction of the cost. A hakama/gi set plus a shinai from e-bogu is only $100 inc. freeship.
>> Anonymous
>>187605
Nihonto have a hand guard as well and crossing these and using them to parry and push are legit in Kendo (Tsuba Zeriai).
In fact, if you study european style and japanese style Kata, you will find many similarities, especially in throws, grapples and "tricks".
>> Anonymous
>>187620
With the left hand? Too hard? Wut.

Anyways, that was directly after 1000 hayasuburi straight, near-bleeding.
>> °-° !!yxFrHrMXyX9
>>187615
0/10
Not cosplay sword fighting like those shown in movies, where the actors telegraph at every given moment, use no subtlety and basically just do a bunch of fancy guards followed by generic locking of swords and harsh words. Then there is the other stereotype of longswords being difficult to wield, heavy, clumsy. Couldn't be further from the truth, they offer better protection and flexibility than a short sword and shield, and much more than a weaboo katana.

But hey, it was just a suggestion. It works for me, I have fun dueling people in bouts, doing demonstrations and learning the art that won the wars of our ancestors.

You have fun imitating anime.
>> Anonymous
>>187624
I'm not doing kendo, but kyudo and I can tell you that only the beginners get callouses.
The sensei have smooth hands cause they know how to do tenouchi properly.
I doubt that you are supposed to get them in kendo either.
>> Anonymous
>>187627
katana have a handguard as well idiot.
>> Anonymous
>>187636
In any case, that picture was from a year ago exactly. I still have callouses, but they're much softer now. But they will still come up if you do a lot of suburi practice without kote on because it's not about gripping too hard which gets you them--it's about the friction in handling the shinai from the initial motion to the stabilizing catching of it. Hard leather against your skin tends to get you callouses, and everyone else in my dojo has them, from beginners to yundans.
>> Anonymous
>>187627

What you're learning is from a book or from some other faggot that learned it from a book. While you're busy off pretending to be a medieval warrior in fairy tale lala land, I know practical shit, like 6 years of high school and collegiate wrestling and 2 years of amateur boxing. On top of that, I've had my CCW for a year now plus a mini armory in my apartment. You can't even be considered my equal.

You are nothing more than a fat, out of shape cosplay nerd. Go do something modern and productive instead of telling me how awesome your +10 ice element Rune Sword is.
>> °-° !!yxFrHrMXyX9
>>187638
Please don't call me an idiot when you have no idea what I am talking about, you naive fool.

Longswords have "quillions" which are used to protect you, they are your only defence since the sword is too big to use a shield with. They are used to catch the enemy's blade, used to pincer their hands between their weapon and their wrist, used to "wind", used as an offensive weapon of their own during a bind or to counter a bind.

They are much more than merely a piece of metal to guard your fingers from being shaved too closely, and are shaped differently than the "handguard" on a katana, giving it more uses as a defence.
>> Anonymous
Who invited all the weeaboo and cosplay fags to /fit/
>> Anonymous
>>187649
Sorry, but you are an idiot.
I've been doing martial arts for a decade now, knowing everything from fencing, to archery to boxing.
YOU are a stupid child babbling proud of his european martial art, while looking down on asian martial arts.
As I wrote before, the differences in fencing are small, but stick that quillion of yours where the sun never shines. Maybe it'll broaden your view a bit.
>> °-° !!yxFrHrMXyX9
>>187648
Sorry I'm not a gung-ho americunt like yourself. I believe there is much more to honourable combat than pointing a gun at someone and pulling the trigger.
And if you've seen me post around on /fit/, I'm quite the opposite of a "fat, out of shape nerd" and I too have completed 6 years of highschool, currently attending a private college and have done japanese martial arts in the past.

And yes, what I am learning IS from a book. A book written hundreds of years ago, as most books that you learn a martial art is from. But I still go to a school to train in, still have an instructor, armoury (of the older kind) and so on at the "dojo".

I don't pretend to be anything, I am just a guy who chose to train with weapons that require more finesse and skill than, point, fire, reload.
>> Anonymous
Kendo is good for maybe discipline.

Try Fencing instead. Much more invigorating.
>> °-° !!yxFrHrMXyX9
>>187657
I've done fencing, haven't tried kendo, but I've fought people who have.
I found fencing was only useful in a dual, were the opponent also wished to fence with a foil or some such weapon. So I went and learnt a bit about the Lichtenaur tradition and found that it was a much more subtle yet effective art than I had anticipated. You are still highly aggressive, as the guy who did kendo was when I fought him, but it's much more technical. For every single attack there is a counter, there is winding, which takes a lot more control than you can imagine, there is disarming and so on.

I just found it more interesting. Shove your foil through your cock.
>> Anonymous
>>187658

If you lived in the greatest country in the world, you'd be itching to get your hands on the firepower I get to play with. And your ignorance is showing, eurotrash. Modern weaponry requires advanced knowledge and training. It's not for dumbfucks like you. There's a reason people don't swing broadswords around anymore, it's ridiculous, inefficient, impractical, and time consuming to learn. And I don't plan on going around gunning people down because that's what you inbred european mongrels are brainwashed to believe. Modern wrestling and boxing is more than enough to defend myself with without having to pull.

And yes, you're still a bitchass cosplay nerd that doesn't live in this century. I'm surprised you know about Ye Olde Internete.
>> Anonymous
kendo wont get you in shape
>> Anonymous
OP, you haven't tried Rugby then.

That is hands down the most fun sport to play, though not as popular as soccer or football. Also, if you're looking for a martial art, screw Kendo. Take kickboxing.
>> Anonymous
OP, how about learning to box, you can never go wrong with that.
>> °-° !!yxFrHrMXyX9
     File :-(, x)
>>187681
I honestly don't believe America to be the "greatest country in the world", but I'm all for your patriotism. Also, I'm no Eurofag, my ancestors may have been, but then again, so were yours.
I still say there is no skill to pointing a gun at someone and pulling the trigger, but if you say that it requires a lot of knowledge and training then hell, I guess I'm wrong.
Also I suppose there is a great deal of honour in killing your opponent from a distance, though that brings up another point of mine. Swordplay isn't JUST for killing your opponent, unlike guns. They are a test of skill, endurance and dedication to the art, seeing who is better is easy without ending the other's life.

I have no qualm with your boxing or modern wrestling, just guns.
Besides, this all started with the question of European swordplay and Japanese swordplay.
Then you had to land your pump action, penis compensator 9000 in the conversation and scream americunt bravado. See pic.
>> Anonymous
>>187698

>I still say there is no skill to pointing a gun at someone and pulling the trigger, but if you say that it requires a lot of knowledge and training then hell, I guess I'm wrong.

Yes, you're absolutely wrong. America IS the greatest country in the world, and aiming a gun and hitting a target (stationary and moving) is extremely difficult. But then again, you lack insufficient data to have a valid opinion. Guns are for keeping the peace; its the pyschos and gangbangers that dishonor gun owning, law abiding citizens. And you have no concept of history if you think swords weren't meant for killing. Just because you think its for testing your mettle doesn't change that fact.

I'm going to bed now, I'm not a cosplay nerd that can stay up the whole night arguing. I have a job to get to in the morning and bills to pay.
>> Anonymous
ITT: SERIOUS MOTHERFUCKING BUSINESS.

And internet tough guys EVERYWHERE.
>> Anonymous
>>187691
This anon speaks the truth, OP. I've done many different styles of fighting (including wrestling, karate, etc.) and i've never had as much fun as when i did Muy thai and boxing. Seriously awesome workouts where i went and you still get the feeling of a fighting style :D
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>187725
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>187738
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>187749
BANG BANG
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>187753
>> Anonymous
Ok, so uh...
How would someone get started on any one of these martial arts anyways?
>> &gt;.&lt;
european swordplay: 2 guys deciding who has the better armour

japanese swordplay: 2 guys deciding who can swing their katanas faster

fencing: 2 gays deciding who porks who
>> Free Pepsi !!iXxa+hO94Mg
     File :-(, x)
>>187756

Try Jumping Mantis Kung Fu
>> &gt;.&lt;
kendo is a joke... you don't even get to use a real sword anymore, i can't imagine how a fake wooden bamboo, well mostly polycarbon, stick can imitate the real uses of a sword (katana) to be anything useful...
>> Anonymous
>>187761
>fencing: 2 gays deciding who porks who
That confused me for a second.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>187766

So... is it a ....

sexual confusion?
>> Anonymous
>>187763
HOLY SHIT DUDE THAT'S AWESOME
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>187768
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>> Anonymous
>>187764

I'm not defending this shitty "sport", but moonpeople swung wooden imitation swords called bokken hundreds of years ago for your information.

Still a waste of time though. Learn to use your last resort - your body - as an evasive and offensive weapon.
>> Anonymous
>>187776
feels good man
>> Anonymous
>>187776

christ those are the greatest comics ever, where'd they come from?
>> Anonymous
>>187764
You're a joke for commenting on something on which you have close to zero knowledge. Kendo is derived from kenjutsu, as a more modern sport-type of Japanese art, formed when the Americans said no to Japanese swordplay post-WWII. It's not meant to use a real sword, never was, never will be. If you're imagining some shit with a katana, then that just shows who the real weeaboo is. The sword isn't even polycarbon at all unless you order one of the $600 carbon shinai--95% of all shinais ever used are just leather and real yellow bamboo with a string to symbolize the top.

It's surprising to see people talk about sports and martial arts as if there were ever any widely applicable uses for them outside of their arenas. And yeah sure, fighting arts can help you kick ass on the street, but how often do you even need to do that? In general, you practice a sport or sword style for its own sake, not the fitness or otherwise. Kendo is as legit as the next thing, everyone will defend their own form to the death (I want to see this now, actually), there's no point in making slanderous comments about other people's hobbies.

Anyways, I have a feeling I just got baited&trolled.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>187782
This is better.
>> Anonymous
>>187794
HAHA WHAT
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>187605
>My style is so great that it conquered nations and I can kill you if i wanted to and it has to be better because I know the technical terms for it.
This Lichtenaur crap actually seems pretty interesting, but I'm having trouble finding anything on google about it, which means it probably isn't a good idea for the OP. It seems very unaccessible because of this, whereas kendo dojos are relatively very easy to find and join for anyone.
Either way, whatever you choose to study, it isn't real combat. Even most classical martial arts like and those based on them that try to be hardcore (like kyokushin) are just pale imitations of actual combat. This is more apparent in most fencing schools, particularily sports focused arts like kendo. Anyway, the OP was asking about fitness and even used the term "play" when it came to kendo, so he probably wasn't after the most technically accurate craft in the first place.
Posting about your craft was great, but you came across as somewhat arrogant by blowing out over how great it was, which diminishes people's carefactor towards it, because frankly noone really gives a crap about claims of superiority especially when there is no measurable way to ascertain which style is superior and in which circumstances.

TL;DR: 9/10

>>187462
yeh paying upfront = fail
most places will let you borrow armor temporarily until you can get some, and even then you don't actually get into armor for quite some time
>> Anonymous
>>187794
BAH GAWD, please tell me there's a sauce on this.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>187834
http://www.legorobotcomics.com/?id=1