Kyudo vs. Kendo (the art of whacking people with bamboo sticks)

[SavageJapan]

I am preparing to relocate to Aichi Prefecture and was looking into possible martial art related activities to participate in around the Nagoya or Gifu area.

I was considering Kendo for a while because classes seem easy to come by and the concept sounds fun, but after looking into it I realized it was not for me.

I knew Kendo was only a sport, but I didn't realize how "non-combat" oriented it was until I researched a little more.

After fighting full contact for 5 years, I don't have much enthusiasm for sports where they purposely violate real fighting rules of engagement just to make irrelevant contact. With real swords, such irresponsible charges would simply not be an option. And don't get me started on the ridiculous yelling in kendo. That was perhaps the biggest bummer for me, when I discovered they do the freakazoid yelling thing :-)

It has been amazing to me how my Japanese friends fully understand that Kendo is a sport and a recent invention that has little in common with real sword fighting, yet westerners are obsessed with convincing themselves that they are on some mystical path of the Samurai if they study the art of bamboo stick whacking.

Anyway, I didn't start out planning to hurt anyone's feelings here. I am more interested in hearing suggestions on what other martial art related activities might be available to me in and around Aichi & Gifu Prefectures (between Tokyo and Osaka).

Recently I have become curious about Kyudo archery. Yes I know it is not much of a combat activity. As I understand it they don't even focus on hitting the target as much as the meditative aspects, but it still looks like it could be fun and maybe even enjoyably peaceful. Are Kyudo ranges easy to find in Aichi/Gifu? Does anyone know if they have classes for beginners, and would a non-native, low level Japanese speaker be welcomed?

In an ideal world, Yabusame classes would be really cool, archery on horseback. Yes, such classes exist in Japan, but I haven't found any in Aichi/Gifu, and it might require more of a commitment and time than my study trip to Japan will allow.

I would also be interested in considering real sword fighting training, but I doubt I will have the necessary time to commit to that, and it seems such classes are not so readily found as the wacky Kendo yelling and bamboo swatting classes are.

I will be plenty busy whitewater kayaking and snowboarding when not in language classes, but I do want to try something new and distinctly Japanese while I am living in Japan.

Suggestions are welcome. :-)

[kokunin]

my old japanese teacher does kyudo and stopped kendo. He said every time he let an arrow fly he cleaned his soul, now my old sensei was a gaikokujin so...