Comments for Is it possible to train with two swords in kendo?

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Jul 20, 2013
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starstarstarstarstar 		Nito Ryuu
by: Tanno

Well, it's possible to practice nito-ryuu, but it's NOT possible without a nitoka instructing you the very basics. Julien Goullon(the best French nitoka) taught me the basics. After that I practice it not only by myself, but with other nitokas, who are more experienced than me. The best shot is to find a nitoka in your country(or in USA).

You should ask Raymond Matthews about instructing you for that matter.

HOWEVER, if you're not shodan(1st Dan) and above, it's really difficult to do it. For the time being, stick with chuudan, and once you see that you even beat someone who's the same lvl as you, then you can do nito.

Good luck!

P.S.: I'd love to spar with you, if chance gets presented for the both of us. :)
Jul 28, 2010
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starstarstarstarstar 		Nito is Difficulty (A lot!!! I'm not kidding)
by: Anonymous

Difficulty (A lot!!! I'm not kidding)

I just started nito kendo again after a break. I had to ditch nito kendo for a tournament that doesn't allow it. I started it again and I rediscovered how painful it was today... Oh, god... The pain.

I felt my left hand (the hand where the daito is) was going to break. Then I had to spar with my sensei and I guess you could say he had a good time messing around with me like trash. :D

Don't even think about nito unless you reach shodan or higher with good arm strength and you are serious in learning it.

The usual rank you should start is at most 3 dan. Why? Because at that time you understand chudan the most I think. Me, well it kinda fits my style and I have some good arm strength (my left), but not so much anymore. So, I gotta start lifting more weights on my left. XD

Kendo-Guide.Com: Thanks for sharing your experience. Maybe you can switch your daito hand. I know your left hand is stronger but you may be able to learn more.
Nov 22, 2009
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starstarstarstarstar 		video
by: Anonymous

I've watched the video... In fact I've watched them all several times.  Mostly what the video shows is the basic stance and strike. Pretty much the primary strike is the men. 

It also shows him going up against 2 separate opponents in a spar, he gets a couple shots in on both matches, and I think it would be worthwhile to look over to just see if it's something for you. 

(I also fence and the guy in the video reminds me a lot of fencing.  Lead hand using a shorter shinai and holding the standard shinai in an over head cut.  The lead hand blocks and deflects so the attack can occur. I fence single sword and sword/dagger.)

I've only seen this one video on the style so I couldn't tell you how effective it would really be. 

Train enough and you can be effective at anything.

Kendo-Guide.Com: Thank you for your post. The basic movements are always important and without them, kendo will become their own "style" or "ge-do" according to Musashi Miyamoto.

"Train enough and you can be effective at anything.": Strongly agree. If we train hard in chudan, we can learn anything.
Feb 18, 2009
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starstarstarstarstar 		To pass 3rd dan with nito...
by: Matt

It's also important to hear something Sugawara Sensei once said to a self taught nito player who had failed for san-dan (3rd dan) "to pass san-dan doing nito you have to be prepared to show maybe roku-dan (6th dan) level kendo".

Kendo-Guide.Com: Thanks for your comment. For those who do not know about Sugawara sensei, he takes jodan. He says, "I believe that even jodan kendoists should be able to take chudan well. I?ve never taken jodan in grading (promotion exam)".

Chudan is the basic stance of kendo. I am not against taking jodan and nito. I encourage my students to learn those stances so they can learn some movements that they cannot learn from chudan. However, I never allow them to take jodan and nito when I am not around.

As long as you practice your chudan well and correctly, it is easier to learn other stances. So my advice is to learn chudan thoroughly.

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