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About Kendo Overview
of Kendo
After a period of time participating in this sport, some of my ideas of kendo were overturned while others received their validation. Furthermore, I realized that kendo is much more than what I had envisioned and what I had saw in my first contact with it. Is kendo physical? - Yes, Kendo is extremely physical. You wouldn't think that from watching it, but you will certainly feel it when you are sparring. At times, you will feel that the best kendo comes when your mind shuts down and you are only acting based on trained muscle reflex. Is kendo mental? - Yes, much of kendo happens in the mental sense for higher level kenshis. Limits of speed and reaction time is reached or comes close to being reached with sufficient training. After a certain level, the competition becomes one of timing, distance and order of execution. Often times, I have heard strategies in kendo referred to much like those for chess players. It is the one that thinks of the most moves out that has the advantage.
It is not surprising to find that there is a high attrition rate in Kendo for beginners, particularly in two stages. First stage is shortly after beginning of training for the new student, especially if their expectation of kendo prior to beginning the class is different than what they realize they had to go through. The second stage is when the student puts on the bogu for the first time and realize that there is a certain amount of physical punishment they must endure.
Kendo has also been commonly called "Sword Fighting" or "Japanese Fencing" by those who tries to associate it with something familar. Almost everyone knows that Kendo originated from Japan. It is one of the oldest and most respected form of martial art (budo) around.
In the 17th century, Japan entered the relatively peaceful era of the EDO period and techniques of killing with the sword gradually evolved into a more peaceful art of inner personal development. Kendo originated in the early 1700s when the bamboo sword (shinai) and the armour (called kendo-gu at the time) were developed for training. The shinai and the kendo-gu eventually evolved, over the next 100 years or so, to become equipment that is similar to what is being used today. Throughout history, there had been several times when the popularity and the legitimacy of kendo faced serious obstacles. During early Meiji period (or the latter half of the 19th century), popularity of kendo declined as Japan started dissolving the samurai class and prohibiting the wearing of swords. Additionally, kendo was prohibited in the US during World War II and was also suspended in Japan after the war. After WWII, kendo resumed in the US and Japan, but there are some who believe that kendo had resumed and developed fairly independently between the two countries for some time. There is not one singular philosophy which applies to kendo that would be accurate among all the individual and schools. In fact, the All US Kendo Federation refuses to post a set philosophy on kendo stating that "Each Dojo will have similar but sightly different ideas of what Kendo should be. The student must discover through their Dojo and themselves what this is." - (Full content of excerpt can be seen at the AUSKF site) The "similar but slightly different" concept of kendo referrd to by AUSKF would be in line with what the All Japan Kendo Federation presented: "The concept of Kendo is to discipline the human character through the application of the principles of the Katana (sword)." (Full content of excerpt can be see tat the AJKF site). Most school of kendo would accept a philosophy similar to this ideal. The All Japan Kendo Federation had also developed the following "Purpose of Practicing Kendo" in 1975. The
purpose of practicing Kendo is: This
will make one be able:
There are just as many of those who practices kendo for the sake of competition and winning as those who would not think twice about comparing themselves to others. I will not make a judgement on which should be the accepted method, but would, rather, each individual decide for themselves after spending an amount of time on each side of the spectrum. More often than not, most kendoists fall somewhere between the two extremes. There are kendo federations and dojos in just about every modern country around the world. The international kendo federation (IKF), headquartered in Tokyo Japan, segments the regions into the following: North
America Each region is the sub-segmented national kendo federations, then possibly further into regions within the particular country. The largest public kendo event would be the World Kendo Championships (WKC) where kendoists from all over the world gathers to compete. The Championships happen every 3 years with the last event held in Glassgow, Scotland in 2003. The next championship will occur in 2006 and will be taking place in Taiwan. Any dojos or clubs in the United States wishing to be recognized by the International Kendo Federation would need to joing one of the following state or regional kendo federations. AEUSKF
-- All Eastern United States Kendo Federation All of these state and regional federations belongs to the All United States Kendo Federation (AUSKF). Contacts for each of these federations can be found at the AUSKF website. It is highly recommended that if you do decide to join a kendo dojo, make sure that it is a member of one of these regional federations. There are also many non-affiliated clubs and dojos, but if your participation in kendo is restricted to one of these non-affiliate groups, it is likely that you are missing out on many of the opportunities available and, therefore, limiting your kendo experience. It should be noted that there are Kumdo Federations available in many of the regions within the U.S. However, since I am not familar with them, I will omit their information here.
There are some 20 dojos in Southern California that belongs to SCKF. SCKO has also a handful of member dojos. I have often heard references to the incredible numbers of talents that are in Southern California. These references base themselves upon the fact that post WWII kendo in the U.S. originated from the Southern California region as most of the original immigrants from Japan had settled here. It is not surprising that much of the US teams competing the World Kendo Championships are composed of memebers from this region.
In any case, I, for one, feel very fortunate to be a part of the kendo community in this region for the opportunities having been made available to me. There are some benefits and drawbacks to living in San Diego and doing kendo. There are a small handful of dojos here so that if you really wanted to, you can find a practice to attend almost every day of the week. The two main dojos are San Diego Kendo Bu and San Diego Kendo Club.
This is the dojo that I personally belong to. The Saturday class is associated with UCSD Extensions so there is a large infux of new students every quarter up to 50 beginners each time. San Diego Kendo Club is a member dojo of SCKO. It is headed by Lorimer Sensei and practices at Miramar College on Friday nights from 7pm to 9:30pm. There are also a handful of social clubs not affiliated with the IKF. These clubs will not be mentioned here.
One interesting note is that since San Diego is a naval town, the kendoists from the Japanese Self Defense force gets to visit the SDKB about once a year... making for some interesting practice sessions.
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Kendo
is one of the most difficult form of martial arts to master. It
is one of the few exercises which demands use of a physical implement
in fighting where competitors move at full speed and full strength.
On the surface, it looks like a purely physical sport... and a
messy one at that. At my first experience seeing kendo, I was
not able to distinguish between what is a valid point and what
is not a point. Opponents seems to just be striking each other
quickly and hastily with occasional pushing and shoving. What
I observed was nothing close to what I envisioned prior to starting
Kendo. My thoughts were "if this was done using real swords,
someone should have gotten killed a long time ago". The kendo
that existed in my mind was something more cool and calculated
where the expert swordsmen would always make the clean kill as
was in all the samurai movies I watched as a kid. Despite these
thoughts, I still decided to start kendo when the opportunity
came about. 
Additionally,
kendo requires a great deal of control from your body, the shinai
you hold in your hand, your instinct and urge to make certain
moves, and your natural reaction to sudden or anticipated movement.
It is not the easiest of activity to accomplish, but it forces
those who participate in it to think about what they normally
wouldn't and to push their endurance to the limit. 
Kendo
is defined as "The way of the Sword". This is derived
from the literal meanings of the kangi charactors. The first word,
is pronounced
"ken" and literally means "Sword". The second
word is pronounced "do" and means "The Way"
or "The Path". Put these together and you have "The
Way of the Sword". 
Japanese
sword has been around and used for combat since the 11th century.
Prior to that time, the production techniques of the Japanese
sword had not yet been clearly defined. 
Kendo
today has evolved quite a bit from the days of its origin, but
has maintained much of the roots in its intentions. There are
those that treat kendo as a competitive sport, but there are still
just as much those who view kendo as a way of cultivating self-discipline.
These two main line of thoughts are both accepted and common to
see. 
The
two main federations in Southern California are 
Many
have also commented to the fact that post WWII kendo in Southern
California had developed fairly independently from the kendo in
Japan during the same time period. Many early Southern California
kendoists are second or third generation Japanese that has been
detached from the restrictions associated with kendo developments
in Japan. As a result of this, many people feel that kendo in
the U.S. is distinctly different from the kendo in Japan. This
trend may have subsided in the recent years.
The
drawback to kendo in San Diego is that due to geographic limitations,
it is more difficult to visit other dojos than otherwise. Visitors
to San Diego dojos are also limited by the geography of the region.
During competiton season, it is also more tiresome to travel to
the tournament location when compared to most other Southern California
dojos.