Kendo, iaido or a sword class?

Four ways to pick up a sword

The listings use "samurai experience" for almost anything with a sword in it. Underneath, the classes teach different arts, and the difference decides whether you leave out of breath or calm, sore or smiling at a video of yourself. A fifth option skips the sword altogether and puts you in armor instead. Each section below covers one discipline, what a first lesson looks like and the class in Kyoto that teaches it.

Kendo, fencing in armor

Kendo grew out of the sword schools of the Edo period, and practice in protective armor (bogu) with bamboo swords (shinai) spread from the 1700s. Two people face each other and attack. Points come from clean strikes to the protected targets, the men (head) and kote (wrist) among them, each delivered with a loud shout called kiai. Ranks run up to 8th dan, and a black belt does not exist. It is the most physical of the options, and in summer the gear gets hot fast.

Kendo Experience, from ~$101, is the beginner's version. You put on uniform and gear and work on the basics with shinai and foam swords, from grip and posture to footwork. Light sparring against staff or your family can close the session. Kendo students sometimes help out. The catch is the location in Shugakuin, far up in north-east Kyoto, and some reviewers never wore the full mask shown in the photos.

For something closer to a dojo's own training, Samurai Trip's genuine kendo session, from ~$117, puts you in full armor under a 7th-dan teacher who has practiced for over four decades. Its catch is distance and numbers. The dojo is in Hanazono in west Kyoto, you meet at the north exit of JR Hanazono Station, about 15 minutes from Kyoto Station on the Sagano line, and a session can take up to 30 people.

Iaido, the art of the draw

Iaido has no opponent and no contact. You practice set forms (kata) alone, drawing the sword and cutting in one motion against an imagined attacker, then returning the blade to the scabbard slowly and precisely. The sword is an iaito, an unsharpened practice blade that looks and handles like a katana. Good iaido looks calm from the outside and feels like hard concentration from the inside.

Iai Dojo Yushinkan, from ~$129, teaches it in a basement dojo on Rokkaku-dori under headmaster Seto Yushin, who has trained for more than 20 years. Dressed in dogi and hakama, you practice the draw and the sheathing with a zinc-alloy training katana until you can put them together in a full kata. The master's two-sword demonstration closes the class. The listing bills him as a modern-day Musashi, after Miyamoto Musashi, the two-sword fighter who, according to tradition, fought duels in Kyoto against the Yoshioka school. The class is for ages 12 and up, with no sparring and no cutting.

Waraku's samurai house class, from ~$114, mixes a short iai lesson and wooden-sword drills with a cut at a target, then ends in zazen meditation. It gives you a taste of the draw rather than a full class in it.

Kenbu, the sword as stage art

Kenbu is a sword dance performed to recited poetry, and it belongs on a stage more than in a fight. Movements follow set patterns, and a folding fan often joins the sword. It suits travelers who like story and costume more than sweat.

The Kembu Theater sword class, from ~$63, opens with a short samurai film and a change into kimono and hakama. Then come the bow and the draw, and after them a few kenbu strikes built into a short routine with sword and fan. The sword is an imitation katana. A few reviewers found one instructor impatient, and sessions sometimes run shorter than booked.

The same theater stages a kenbu show, from ~$32, with narrated performances on samurai tales and photo time with the performers. The catch is that you watch far more than you do, holding a sword for about 15 minutes in a crowded small room.

Chanbara, sword fights for the camera

Chanbara, or tate, is the choreographed sword fighting of Japanese period films. Nobody tries to land a hit. The aim is a fight that looks dangerous on screen and stays safe on set. GOATtrip's film shoot, from ~$125, has professional period-drama sword actors demonstrate a fight and teach you the basic cuts before filming your own short scene at Myokaku-ji, the temple where Oda Nobunaga often lodged in Kyoto. The swords are stage props. It is choreography, not martial arts, and one guest felt it was pitched at children.

If the look matters more than the sword, the Kyoto Samurai Walk, from ~$104, fits you into full samurai armor with no lesson at all. Samurai armor and photo shoots compares it with the studio options.

Which one suits you

• You want a workout and contact. Kendo, and bring a towel; our clothing advice covers the layers under the gear;
• You want precision and calm. Iaido at Yushinkan, if everyone in your group is 12 or older;
• You want story and costume. Kenbu at the Kembu Theater, the cheapest of the main classes;
• You want fun on camera. Chanbara with GOATtrip, often with only your own group;
• You came for the outfit. The armor walk, with photos by the Kamo River.

Every option starts and ends with a bow, and dojo etiquette for first-timers explains the rest. To see what the sword in each class is made of, read real katana, iaito or bamboo.

Kyoto and the Butokuden

Kyoto holds a special place in Japanese martial arts. The Butokuden in Okazaki, near Heian Shrine, went up in 1899 for the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai, and few martial arts halls in Japan are older. In early May it hosts a major kendo gathering that draws thousands of practitioners from across Japan. You will not train there on a tourist class, but the building is a short walk from the shrine, and samurai Kyoto, place by place fits it into a day of sights.