Starting Kendo in Tasmania, Australia
by Sam
(Launceston, TAS, Australia)
Hey Hiro, my name is Sam and I'm 17 and looking to start kendo. I live in Launceston, Tasmania (Australia) and to my knowledge, there are little to no Kendo dojos in my city/local area, the closest being a 4 hour trip to Hobart and back.
I was considering starting Kendo as a way to maintain my body and mind given next year I will be attending college to qualify for a university, but given the lack of professional teachers in my area, I am a bit stuck and don't know where to start. I have watched many of your videos and am already trying to correct my natural posture so, after this year's examinations, I can begin training. I also watched your 7th podcast and mentioned sending you a clip so you can give accurate advise as to correcting movement, etc and wondered if this was an option?
I have contacted my local police to get information on owning and importing training shinai and bokken, but am yet to get a response.
Thank you for your time.
Answer: Thank you for your question, Sam. And I am so glad that you're interested in taking up kendo for your physical and mental training. I didn't see any message from you at the 7
th Podcast. Do you mean the 7
th basic video on YouTube? I am sorry if I missed your comment.
Even it takes 4 hours (one way, I assume), you should go and see them once every few months. Or as many times as you can. Having some people to show you the right things when you are doing them wrong is so precious.
A long story short, yes, you can send me a video and I can give you feedback. No problems. I won't charge you for that but I do offer video feedback for platinum members so if you can help me at
Patreon.Com, that would be really helpful.
Hope this helps!