Back during my semester abroad in Japan, I tried Kendo for the first time. The university I went to had a Kendo club and I wanted to do some club activity during my time there. The training and the 1-on-1 fighting looked amazing and I really wanted to learn Kendo there.
Unfortunately, the club wasn’t really prepared to teach any beginners. The trainer there was kinda surprised to even see beginners there — and there were a lot of us. I learned some of the basics there, but never really progressed significantly. Also, week after week it seemed like the motivation to teach us went down and the amount of time they told us to just sit there and watch drastically rose. So, I stopped going there.
Still, I really enjoyed doing the little Kendo we could actually do and I wanted to start a beginner course after my semester abroad. Well, then a little thing called COVID came in the way and my plans got postponed two years.
Anyway, now me and my brother started a beginner course together that goes for 8 weeks, where we learn all the basics and even have a test at the end, where we have to prove our skills.
Today was the first day and I really enjoyed the training and the atmosphere there. I feel like one of the hardest things to overcome, for me personally, is the kiai, the fighting shout. Everytime you attack, you have to shout really loud, kinda like doing a warcry. In the beginning, it feels awkward to just shout out loud, especially for me as a more quiet and reserved guy. But I look forward to breaking that inner barrier and start just shouting at people while attacking them 😬
Ash