Hounslow Kendo Dojo With a £60 Starter Course: Mumeishi

Mumeishi Kendo Club is one of the oldest kendo clubs in Britain, and it has spent more than 40 years in the same sports hall at Cranford Community College, High Street, Hounslow TW5 9PD. Adults start with a four-class beginners course on Tuesday evenings from 7 pm to 8 pm, priced at £60 plus a £10 temporary membership of the British Kendo Association. Children can start their own course any Sunday morning, which makes this a rare London dojo where a parent and child can begin within the same week.

The club was founded in 1968 by a small group of west London enthusiasts training with the late Okimitsu Fujii, 5th Dan, and its first home was Hayes Sports Centre in Middlesex. One of the founders, David Chambers, spoke some Japanese and suggested the name Mumeishi, which translates as no name. When Cranford Community College opened, the club moved in during its first week and never left.

Terry Holt, another founding member, served as chief instructor from 1971 to 2015 and reached 7th Dan. He fought for Great Britain at the second World Kendo Championships in Los Angeles in 1973 and chaired the British Kendo Association in 1980 and 1981. On 1 July 1998 he and the club received the Japan Festival Award for furthering understanding of Japanese culture in the UK.

Today the dojo leader and head instructor is Emiko Yoshikawa, 7th Dan, a former British champion who has fought for Britain at the World Kendo Championships and referees internationally. Bryan Ayres is senior instructor, and the teaching team also includes Adam Melnyk, Sarfraz Aziz and Eri Fujioka. That depth of grades is unusual for a suburban club and shows in how carefully the basics are taught.

The club keeps close links with Japan. Sumi Masatake, an 8th Dan Hanshi, is one of its long-standing guides, and Sueno Eiji, a former All Japan Champion, runs a private seminar at Mumeishi once a year. The club has also grown branches abroad, and its website lists Mumeishi groups in Melbourne, Tel Aviv and Tehran alongside the original London dojo.

The adult beginners course is four classes long, held on Tuesdays from 7 pm to 8 pm at Cranford, and it includes your own shinai, the bamboo sword you keep afterwards. You learn dojo etiquette, how to hold and look after a shinai, basic kamae stances and footwork, then the first cuts and attacks. Adult courses run in set intakes, and the club calendar shows the most recent cohort starting on 8 September 2026.

The £10 British Kendo Association payment buys three months of temporary membership and covers your insurance in the dojo. Children under 18 do not wait for an intake. The club tells families to simply turn up to the Sunday junior class from 10 am to 11:30 am and start a four-week course there. Members range in age from six to over seventy, and women and men train together.

Mumeishi trains three times a week. On Tuesdays the hall at Cranford runs from 7 pm to 10 pm, with beginners taking the first hour before the full adult practice continues. On Fridays from 7 pm to 9 pm the club moves to Gunnersbury Park Sports Hub, Popes Lane, London W3 8LQ, near Acton Town. On Sundays adults train at Cranford from 11:30 am to 1 pm, straight after the juniors.

After the course, monthly fees are £30 for adults and £20 for juniors. The club lends sets of armour against a deposit, so new members do not have to buy bogu straight away, though it asks you to buy a kendogi jacket and hakama trousers. Its FAQ points to Kendostar International, Eurokendo and Nine Circles as suppliers. Graded kendoka visiting in full armour pay £5 per session in cash, since card payments are not taken.

The club's own tournament, the Mumeishi 3s International Kendo Championship, was started by members in 1973 and now draws more than 300 competitors a year. Teams have three fighters aged 18 or over, and at least one must be a non-Dan grade with no more than two years of experience, which keeps the event friendly to newer players.

In 2026 the tournament becomes a two-day event. Saturday 14 November runs from 8 am to 5 pm with the women's individual competition and the team event. Sunday 15 November runs from 9 am to 3 pm for juniors, with age groups for 6 to 9, 10 to 12, 13 to 14 and 15 to 17, plus a category for children not yet in armour.

Cranford sits on the western edge of the London Borough of Hounslow, close to Heathrow. From central London, take a train from Paddington to Southall and catch the 105 bus towards Heathrow Airport, which stops outside the college. On the Piccadilly line, ride to Hounslow East and take the 111 bus, which stops just down the road by The Queen's Head pub.

Drivers will find the college half a mile from Junction 3 of the M4, with a large car park on site. The H28 bus stops just past the college, and routes 81, H98 and 222 run along the Bath Road nearby. For the Friday session, Gunnersbury Park Sports Hub sits inside the park itself, a walk from Acton Town station on the District and Piccadilly lines.

Arrive early on a Sunday and you can walk to Cranford Park, a stretch of open green along the River Crane with the old St Dunstan's Church standing among the trees, a listed building on the site of the former Cranford House estate. The park is free to enter, and its riverside paths make a quiet loop of half an hour or so for anyone who wants to stretch their legs after a long Sunday keiko.

The Queen's Head on the High Street is the obvious stop afterwards. It is listed by CAMRA as dating from 1604 and rebuilt in the 1930s, and it is the landmark the club itself uses in its bus directions. For Friday trainees, Gunnersbury Park has a free museum in the former Rothschild family mansion, and a lap of its ponds and lawns is an easy way to fill the time before the 7 pm start.

Main dojo: Cranford Community College, High Street, Hounslow TW5 9PD. Second venue: Gunnersbury Park Sports Hub, Popes Lane, London W3 8LQ. Adults: Tuesday 7 pm to 10 pm and Sunday 11:30 am to 1 pm at Cranford, Friday 7 pm to 9 pm at Gunnersbury. Juniors: Sunday 10 am to 11:30 am at Cranford. Email: mumeishi.london@gmail.com. The club does not publish a phone number.

Beginners course: four classes for £60 plus £10 BKA temporary membership, shinai included. Adults start in set intakes on Tuesdays, while under-18s can start any Sunday. Monthly fees afterwards are £30 for adults and £20 for juniors. Armour is lent against a deposit. Visitors in full bogu pay £5 per session, cash only.