Tora Kendo Dojo near Waterloo: £5 Sessions, Join Any Week

Tora Kendo Dojo practises on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8 pm to 10 pm in the sports hall of London Nautical School, 61 Stamford Street, London SE1 9NA, a few minutes from Waterloo, Southwark and Blackfriars stations. Unlike most London clubs, it takes new joiners in any week of the year rather than waiting for a set course, and after a one-off £70 joining fee each session costs £5. The way in is through the side gate to the school car park on Hatfields Street.

Tora, which means tiger in Japanese, was founded by Hyun Hong Cho, a 7th Dan Kyoshi from South Korea. Her story is told at length on the club's instructors page: she started kendo at 23 in a private dojo in Seoul in 1996, came third in her first competition six months later, and in 2000 fought as taisho for South Korea at the World Kendo Championships in Santa Clara, winning a Fighting Spirit Award after a long encho against a Japanese medallist.

She later coached the British ladies' team from 2008, became a BKA grading officer, passed 7th Dan in Kyoto in April 2019 and received the Kyoshi title in December 2023. She now lives in Melbourne and teaches at Tora's sister dojo there, and she has written several books on kendo, among them Kendo Is My Light and The Kendo Notebook.

Day-to-day teaching is led by Dominik Christ, 6th Dan Renshi, who managed the German national team from 2014 to 2018 and fought for Germany from 2005 to 2013, winning European team silver in 2008. The other active instructors are all 6th Dan: Andrew Lam, a former Victoria state team member listed as a European Kendo Championships 2026 referee; Walter McCahon, captain of New Zealand at the 2018 World Championships; Ricardo Oliveira from Portugal's national team. And Kaoru Fujita, a 2026 GB women's coach.

That line-up is the main reason to choose Tora. With about 30 active members, a beginner can find themselves facing a former national team player in the same evening, and the club describes itself as an extremely multicultural bunch. One member review on the site says joining after moving to a new city felt natural because everyone was warm and patient.

Several London clubs put complete beginners through a fixed course that starts only a few times a year. Tora does not. It says it accepts new joiners year-round and will make sure an instructor is free to teach you whenever you arrive. Wear loose, comfortable training clothes for the first visit. The club will lend you a shinai for that session.

The weeknight sessions are open to adults and to young people from 15. Anyone under 18 needs a parent or guardian to come and watch at least once, plus written permission to join. Payments are by card only, taken at every practice. That rules out handing over cash at the door, so bring a card even if you are only coming once to try it.

Tora's prices are simple. The joining fee is £70, paid once, and it buys life membership of the club. After that you pay either £5 per session or £30 per month. If you come to both weeknight practices every week, the monthly rate pays for itself after six sessions. If you can only make one evening a week, pay per session.

British Kendo Association membership is separate, since Tora is a fully registered BKA club. That registration is what lets members enter gradings and competitions. The club's results list shows how far its members travel to compete, with team wins at the London Cup in 2016, 2017 and 2018, the Mumeishi 3s in 2018 and the Oslo Open the same year.

The weekend session is different in tone. On Saturdays from 2 pm to 5 pm Tora trains at Canada Water Leisure Centre, 7 Deal Porters Way, London SE16 2AJ, and children from six years old practise alongside adults, starting at the same time. Families can train together, which is rare in London kendo, and the three-hour block leaves plenty of room for jigeiko at the end.

If the weeknight hall feels too intense for a first visit, Saturday is the gentler entry point. If neither slot works, Nenriki Kendo Club at Elephant & Castle trains on Tuesday and Friday evenings, two stops away on the Bakerloo line, though it brings beginners in through a set eight-week course.

Stamford Street runs between Waterloo and Blackfriars, so an 8 pm start gives time for dinner first. The Cut, five minutes south, has the Old Vic and Young Vic theatres and a strip of casual restaurants that stay busy before curtain-up. Walk north instead and you reach the South Bank, the Oxo Tower wharf and the river path toward Tate Modern.

After a 10 pm finish, the walk along Stamford Street back to Waterloo is quick, and Southwark station on the Jubilee line is closer if you are heading east. Saturday visitors at Canada Water can walk around the dock and its boardwalk before practice, with the Jubilee line and the Overground both stopping at Canada Water station.

Weeknights: Tuesday and Thursday 8 pm to 10 pm, London Nautical School, 61 Stamford Street, Lambeth, London SE1 9NA. Enter by the side gate to the car park on Hatfields Street. Saturdays: 2 pm to 5 pm, Canada Water Leisure Centre, 7 Deal Porters Way, London SE16 2AJ. Phone or WhatsApp: 07507 416746 (Dominik Christ, lead instructor). Email: torakendo@googlegroups.com.

Fees: £70 one-off joining fee for life membership, then £5 per session or £30 per month, card payments only. Minimum age 15 on weeknights and six on Saturdays. A shinai is lent for the first class. Bring loose training clothes and a card. Under-18s need a parent or guardian to watch at least one session and give written permission before joining.