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Is there any point to studying sword fighting
I've been looking for a sword fighting school (kendo, gumdo, iaido) in Fresno for a while, for a few reasons:
1. I was just curious.
2. Many Jujitsu and Hapkido techniques are based on sword cuts.
3. Many Jujijtsu and Hapkido techniques originated as defenses against someone grabbing your sword hand, so I thought it might be interesting to train the other side of the picture.
4. Sword fighting is cool.
5. Sword fighting could still come in handy in the event of certain types of global catastrophes.
I finally found an instructor who teaches iaido (the art of drawing the sword and cutting in a single motion), kendo (whacking each other with bamboo swords), and jodo (short stick defense against sword).
I dropped by his dojo and watched an iaido and jodo class. It was boring. Just basics and kata, performed in an extremely ritualistic, controlled way. The skills are interesting, but the way the arts are taught is very, very dull. The kendo is probably more interesting, I'll see if I can watch that class.
It's a non-profit school and all three arts are taught for only $25 a month! But it represents a time investment, and then you have to go home and practice, and it seems like it would take years to really develop some skill. I already have 15 hours a week of martial arts class. Would it be wise to add another class, especially one that I find so boring that the idea of joining feels like torture? I don't think so.
I wonder if there is really any point to studying this stuff, I mean from a modern self-defense and combat perspective.
Views: 36
Tags: gumdo, iaido, kendo, sword, swordfighting
Comment
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Comment by Wael on December 6, 2011 at 6:46pm -
Yes, the iaido instructor I watched had a long scare on the inside of his arm from a cut gone wrong.
Your rule of thumb makes sense, and reminds me of a blog post I wrote some years ago: Taking the Harder Path
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Comment by Torbjorn Karlsen on December 6, 2011 at 2:18pm -
By the way, I thought that the Tedeschi lineage that you're in teaches some basic sword techniques? Maybe you could try that instead if possible, it's sure to fit in better with your existing training.
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Comment by Torbjorn Karlsen on December 6, 2011 at 2:16pm
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Exercising with a live blade that can very easily cause serious injury to yourself, which you do in iaido, kenjutsu, and haedong gumdo once you actually know what you're doing after a couple of years, focuses the mind wonderfully, I'm led to believe.
The useful stuff is almost always boring to watch and learn (like the multiplication table). As a rule of thumb, if anything looks flashy and entertaining, I usually expect it's completely useless ;)
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Comment by William Milewski on December 1, 2011 at 11:47am -
I was attempting to take a kendo class a couple years ago, unfortunately the school was to far away. All these sword arts can be a bit boring in the beginning, I was told that the first six months would be bokken training, learning all the basic cuts, positions and skills, which can come across as boring. They told me not even to think about buying armor for the first six months. I think kendo is alot like old style judo and jujitsu instructors, 6 months of learning how to fall before they teach you anything.
© 2012 Created by Wael.
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