How to Start Learning Kendo in Taiwan

Go in sports clothes. Bow toward the front when you enter and when you leave. Learn to sit in seiza, to be still for mokuso, and to answer the Japanese commands even when the explanation is in Mandarin. The room may be a school gym, a university club, or a community dojo; the bows are the same ones written on the Hong Kong etiquette page. Two or three sessions a week is a sustainable start. Ask which body the club grades with — for the national pathway that is ROCKA.

Stay out of bogu. Hold a shinai, practise suburi, and learn suri-ashi in chudan. Sensei on both shores often mention the shoulders, the wrist, and whether the step comes from the hips. Between classes one may read the beginner’s guide, the footwork page, and the stances page. In the room, the sensei standing in front is the one who shows it.

Kendogi and hakama come before armour. Bogu is the expensive step and the one most often bought too early. When the sensei agrees, borrow first if the club can lend a set. Taiwan’s humidity is close to Hong Kong’s: sweat left in a bag grows mould, so the humid-climate bogu-care article applies on both shores. Men strikes feel strong at first. Breathe, bow, and continue.

Students look at the school team or the university club first. Adults who are not on a campus look for a community dojo with an official page, then write and ask for a trial. None is a usual answer when they ask about experience. Weekly hours are on that official page.

ROCKA publishes dan and title examinations, often at the Beitou Sports Centre, from shodan upward and for the titles renshi, kyoshi, and hanshi. Pass lists show dozens of shodan candidates at a single sitting and far fewer at higher dan. The time to sit an examination is a question for one’s sensei, who knows the reiho, the kihon, and the record of keiko. The grading page explains the general FIK and AJKF ladder.