Martial Arts in Hiroshima

In Green Arena (next to Righa Royal hotel) they have a "Budojo" (place of practicing martial arts). There are signs when you get to Green arena that will show you where the budojo is located. This is a series of 4 large auditorium/gymnasium type rooms that can be rented out. The schedule is posted inside the door on an electronic sign board (all in Japanese). There's a small information window that you might be able to struggle out some information in English about what's going on.

The easiest way of course is to just walk over to the doors and peer in them. I've seen karate tournaments, kendo sparring (fighting with bamboo swords and wearing protective armor), and another kind of sword martial art (can't remember the name right now). Most of these seem to happen in the morning on Saturday and end around noon/1:00 PM, so go early.

If you're interested in training you should be prepared to be serious about it and ready to communicate (to some degree) in Japanese. Most of the places I know of don't speak English, but they're very accommodating like most Japanese people. Most serious martial arts places also expect serious students. This means going to work out in a serious state of mind, being somewhat regular, and showing dedication and spirit to actually wanting to learn. The information I have below is sketchy, but it's a start:

This Martial Arts page was written by Brad Probert.

Karate

There's a place in the phone book listed that's very near Hiroshima station. You can actually see the sign for this place when you're Southeast of the station. It's on the 3rd floor or so in a building along the river. In red letters it says "Karate". Be warned- most Japanese karate is very serious and usually comes with a large degree of physical "abuse". I can't vouch for how this dojo is run, though. Mazda also has a karate club that meets in the Mazda gymnasium on a weekly basis.

Jyu-Jitsu

There is a small dojo near Mazda. I've heard that some Ford people attend his weekly class. If you walk along the sidewalk in front of the Mazda hospital, going Southeast, you'll come to a parking lot. In the road that runs behind the parking lot, this place is located on the 1st floor of a 2 story building. There's a sign that hangs out over the street, but it's all in Japanese. If you peer into the windows of the first floor you'll be able to see the dojo training area.

Kendou

Several local communities have some sort of kendou training. Around most schools you'll see posters up in the community with a picture of someone in kendou gear and a list of dates & times. I know there is practice at the Ushita school (I forget the dates). There is also a kendou dojo listed in the phone book (Ishida Myodoukan). Mazda also has a kendou club. A word of warning on kendou. Kendou equipment is very expensive. Your initial equipment (uniform & bamboo sword) will run you about 20,000 - 30,000 yen. After about 3 months, you can graduate to wearing the armor. The cheapest set of adult armor costs just under 100,000 yen. If you're going to start into this, make sure you have the money and will get your use out of the equipment.

Aikidou

There are supposedly some aikidou schools around town that some foreigners go to. I've never seen one, and I'm not exactly sure where they are. So I'm not too much help here.

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