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Old 04-23-2007, 05:56 PM   #3
Kent Enfield
 
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Location: Oregon, USA
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 224
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Re: kendo, Iaido and aikido

Two years to get into bogu? That's a long time, even by conservative standards.

Anyway, as a kendo person, there's a very good chance that, while you'll probably find the aikiken--whatever flavor you're doing--waza interesting, you'll be frustrated with their practitioners. Aikido "swordwork" tends not to be. It tends to be an exercise using a prop for developing certain traits that are useful in taijutsu.

From a kendo perspective, a lot of aikido sword work is slow, over-powered, and full of openings. You'll have to resist the urge to lop off your partner's hands or to just tsuki them as they step forward. Of course, when it comes time to be uke for tachi dori, you can have a lot of fun.

Aikido people who have sword training outside aikido tend to have less of these problems, and there are some lines of aikido weapons that are a lot better with regard to the above than others, so you may find yourself pleasantly surprised. But then you might not.

Kentokuseisei
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