I've been wanting to learn some sort of martial art ever since I was a kid. Since I haven't had the chance, I want to start sometime soon. I would like to learn either Kenjutsu or Kendo. Right now, I don't have a job yet since I moved here recently to attend college. Besides not having an real source of income right now, I can't seem to find any dojo or Kendo/Kenjutsu training places around here (RI). I've already begun learning about some of the backgrounds of each art. Although, I'd rather want to learn Kenjutsu, but I think it's harder to find a trainer for that then for Kendo (I am probably wrong on this).

I want to begin teaching myself. I've researched around and found a lot of "videos" for each but don't know which ones are worth spending into; only until I get a job and find a place to train, probably during the summer.

Anyone have any background in any of these? Maybe some helpful tips, links, resources? I'll take anything i can get my hands on.


I apologize if this is in the wrong area. I don't know where else I would put it.

Have you considered looking for Kendo/Kenjutsu forums?

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navc...Kenjutsu+forums

Yeah i just recently did a few searches on forums. Of course, I only think of it after I post here lol... Anyway, most of the usefull forums I searched through emphasis to find a trainer and avoid self teaching. I don't even know where to begin to find one. So far, i've only been able to find 1 Kendo training center, from an online source.

As far as the dvds and such, they're mostly based on japanese swordsmanship, and I've read that those aren't the best videos for what I'm looking to do. I'll keep looking though.

Maybe there is someone on this forum that lives near me that I could maybe train with? Anyway, Thanks for the quick response.

Hopefully someone comes along with a better answer for you...

So do I. Thanks for your efforts, though. I still haven't found any places around here. I've been using YellowPages to search.

Hopefully you will find somewhere you can train and be trained. The problem with training yourself is that any faults you have in your style will not be picked up and if they are eventually spotted you will be in such bad habits it will be hard to break them.

Try getting in touch with ANY martial arts classes - karate, aikido etc etc - they may know somewhere that may not be advertised very much in the way of the arts you wish to study. (You may even find they study these styles themselves).

I found this place in Mass (http://www.bostonsamuraiarts.com/). I might check that out depending on the circumstances. The site doesn't say how much it is to train there. Probably have to email and ask.

If you don't find one, then stop looking. You will stumble across a trainer eventually. And although you may need one to learn a specific art, you can figure out the basics on your own. Buy a bokken and swing away, you'll get the drift.