[GECEDEANY]

"Also...I have read a few other forums that I will not name that are very anti-kendo do to the fact that is more of a sport than actual fighting art, such as Kenjutsu....I have encountered similar ideology in Aikido vs Akijujutsu. What is everyone's take on this thought process?"

rec.martial-arts (oops! I named one) generally has a lot of "kendo is just a sport" sentiment. You will always find that it comes from people who don't do and have never done kendo. Martial arts seem to be notorious for this kind of pettiness. It's a sign of immaturity. No experienced practitioner of any art-form will ever be fooled into making perjorative statements about other artforms. It is a very sign of their experience. I think we start out closed-minded but become more and more open as we progress. Rinzai Zenji said: "Personally, I don't dislike anything." I think that's pretty cool.

Good luck. I hope you find a good teacher to train with.

b