I signed up for Kendo in September 2020 (in Uppsala, here). Unfortunately, coronavirus stopped my classes just a couple of months after. I was enjoying it quite a lot… Here and here is what kendo looks like. Basically, you have a wooden stick-sword, armour, and you are trying to hit your opponent into 4 areas you are allowed to hit – head, neck, arm, and belly 🙂 I haven’t done enough to be any good, still, skill level zero, but it’s quite entertaining 🙂 You get the equipment from the club, although I do already have my own sword.
Here, unlike kyudo (read about me and kyudo here 🙂 ), you start the fighting from the beginning. Every class we work on specific skills – hitting specific areas, different steps, different kind of attacks, and often get a bit of time for trying to fight at the end 🙂
Some of it is quite a good cardio 🙂 And my arms get tired a lot.
The most difficult, however, is yelling. Apparently, you need to make a loud scream every time you hit or intend to hit. Not only do I feel very awkward yelling loudly at a sports class, but it’s also really tiring for my vocal cords and leaves me hoarse (so I try not to go to a class if I need to give a talk next day 🙂 ). I often get scolded by a coach for not being ‘loud’ enough 😀
But actually, I was enjoying it a lot! And was often soaked through with sweat by the end of the class. It’s not exactly like the fencing classes I’ve taken (a lot of hitting, not stabbing) but kinda like it 🙂