Maybe practice some of that snazzy japanese dancing you see old men in samurai movies sing to. In many JSA.they expect ya to pick up the footwork as you go, and don't insult you since you aren't as coordinated as a dancer. It depends of course, but as a first sport or art.I wouldn't expect much cept stumbling, dropping bokken, excitement and bowing/courtesy. Really in one and a half months.I wouldn't expect learning a whole lot. If one was doing goshiken, they'd get those maybe or make their own. Then sometimes kneepads if the dojo works out on a hard surface in seiza. Eventually ya might get like a gi to tide the time until you can get a hakama and uwagi/keiko gi which can really range in price. They really only ask that you get a bokken or shinai and a proper obi, not one of the new kinds of martial arts belt. Jujutsu or Aikido or legit aikijutsu hopefully would.Ī lot of schools in JSA, reccomend get your equipment as fast as you can, but don't push it cause it can run into some money. Judo.probably wont concentrate on stepping around. Kendo.maybe but not all styles use the foot stomping. Similar from a glance but not in the stepping. Karate will probably not give you too much help in JSA footwork. Think about it.did young samurai wait 9 years to wear hakama or kimono? I really enjoyed my iaido training while it lasted back then.Īs for as that sounds like he wants to teach you kobudo and more than likely his conglomerate of jujutsu and kenpo/karate- which might not be so bad all in all except for that 9 years comment. To be honest, I'm not very interested in taking tumbling/hand-to-hand martial arts as opposed to iaido and kendo. What do you all think? Iaido/kendo as a first martial art or no? Should I be wearing a hakama?Īt this point I feel very intimidated and I'm not sure where to go now. I'm just discouraged and looking for advice from you all who know better then me, I'm sure. Was he trying to drum up business for his jujutsu training, or is he just right? Should I give up on JSA and just take some jujutsu or something for a year or more first? The things that really turned me off to his school was that he claims you "master" 9 weapons like nunchaku, stars, etc which I find a bit juvenile (am i wrong to feel this way?) He then told me that in his family's style you dont wear a hakama for 9 years (my old iaido sensei told me to get one and a gi after 2 weeks of practice) Now, I am trying to find training again where I live now, and I found a jujutsu/taijutsu trainer who knows some iai who told me to demonstrate to him with my bare hands what I learned of iaido in 1.5 months.Īfter watching my (admittedly rusty) attempt at the first kata he said: "forget iaido" he told me I needed to take another martial art, anything japanese, first because my footwork and hand positions were bad. The sensei was an older japanese man, and the first thing he asked me was "have you taken other martial arts already?" I started taking iaido training a year or so ago, but stopped after 1.5 months due to a move.