The next beginners’ course starts: Thursday 02.02.2024

The training times are:
Tuesdays 7.00-8.15 @ Porthania (Yliopistonkatu 3)
Fridays 7.00-8.15 @ Porthania (Yliopistonkatu 3)

Can I join the University of Helsinki Kendo club?

Helsinki University Kendo Club is a student club for both the students and the employees of the University of Helsinki, as well as for UniSport cooperation universities (Aalto University and Hanken School of Economics). If you are a student at any of these universities, you can join our club and its basic course.

The universities of applied sciences (polytechnics) are not UniSport cooperation universities, so unfortunately the students of these universities can not join our club.
In this case, you could do your basic course in another Helsinki club: Ki-ken-tai-icchi or Lebudo

The good news is, that after finishing our basic course you are free to practice at any club anywhere in Finland whilst being our member!

What is the basic course?

During one semester we will teach you the basics of Kendo, this includes, introductions to sword techniques and secrets of Japanese fencing and a dive into the etiquette of kendo.
For around one month (depending on the amount of participants), we keep you separate from the main practice. After that, you will join the main practice while getting tailor-made instructions and individual feedback. After 3 months, you will be able to attend your first grading. You will try to pass your 6th kyu.

Ok, and practically, what does it mean?

For the first week, you don’t need to pay anything, just be in front of Porthania (Yliopistonkatu 3, Helsinki) at 6:50. We will open the door and let you get to the changing rooms. After the first week, you will need to get your license and insurance at least and enroll in the club’s course on SuomiSport. Don’t worry, we will explain everything!

The course fee is 60 euros which covers essentially everything you need for the kickstart of your kendo journey. What exactly?

– the practice fee for the semester during which you started the course
– the club membership
– membership to the Finnish Kendo Association (FKA)
– insurance that covers injuries at official FKA events

All you need for the course is a comfy pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt. The basic course is held at the same time as the regular practices. 

The course lasts about 3 months and after that training continues with the same schedule.

We are super international, and all speak English, don’t worry! Also, we take our equality measures very seriously: we don’t tolerate discrimination or bullying. We try to be as inclusive as we can, and we are happy to discuss your potential concerns with you in case you would have some doubts about joining the club!

The club’s communication is mostly through WhatsApp. We have a community there, and there is a channel specially for you. Please join HY Kendo and HY Basic course 2024. HY Chatroom is optional (there is a lot of discussion, it’s fun, but sometimes pretty off-topic…) 

How to apply ?

Insurance and licence payment to FKA (Finnish Kendo Association)
The insurance is paid to SuomiSport either via their website https://www.suomisport.fi or the mobile app.

  • Register as a new user or log in as an existing one
  • Choose “To purchase / Ostamaan”
  • Choose “Licence/pass or license/pass with insurance”
  • Search for “Kendo”
  • Choose “FKA Peruskurssivakuutus”
  • Pay the 30 euros basic course insurance

Membership to the club:

  • Login to suomisport
  • Follow link bellow:
  • Membership fee + Basic course (30e): apply on suomisport here
  • Wait until your membership is accepted by the club (usually within a day)
  • Once accepted go to your page on suomisport.fi and you can click on the tab “maksut” or “dues” on the top right. you will be able to pay your fees there with all the classic Finnish online payment methods.

If you want to pay your fees another way, please contact Tatu – contact [at] hy-kendo.com to ask for IBAN or to inform that you paid through epassi, endered or smartum.

What should I bring with me?

As mentioned, you only need a T-shirt and sweatpants. There are possibilities for showering at the UniSport premises. We practice barefoot. You can borrow the shinai (bamboo sword) from the club during the course. We also have quite some bogu available, in case you finished the basics’ course but you are not ready to make your first bigger kendo-investment yet. Let’s talk about this when you get there!

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