Kendo

The sword was the symbol of Japans feudal warrior class, the samurai, and plays a big part in the nation’s historical and cultural symbolism. Japanese swords are famed the world over for their cunning design and the quality of their workmanship and the art of using them in combat was raised to the same high level during Japan’s feudal period. Kendo means “the way of the sword” and is the modern evolution of the samurai sword techniques of the past. There were many hundreds of different schools of swordsmanship in existence over Japan’s history and great technical variation. Modern kendo was formed by a committee of swordsmanship experts, taking techniques from this rich history that best represented the essence of Japanese sword work. Originally there were several proto-styles of kendo, often referred to by other names such as gekiken and some involved grappling and leg sweeping techniques in addition to orthodox sword attacks. However, the art was consolidated under the Meiji era Dai Nippon butokukai for promulgation in the newly reformed Japanese school system and later formalised by the All Japan Kendo Association into the format that is practiced today. Taking a cue from Kano Jigoro’s Kodokan judo, the suffix “-do” was added to indicate the evolution from classical battlefield technique to modern sporting and personal development system. Kendo training involves the use of special armour consisting of a helmet and faceplate known in Japanese as the “men”, a breastplate called a “do”, heavy gloves called “kote” and small armoured fauld called a “tare”. The weapon used is a facsimile of a Japanese sword, traditionally made from strips of flexible bamboo called a shinai. Shinai is written using the characters for “bamboo sword” but phonetically the name means “non lethal”. This equipment allows full power contact in training and competition without the risk of injury. Like judo, kendo has a highly developed competitive format and especially in Japan there are many competitions held at local, national and international levels. A lot of training time is devoted to learning competition tactics but there are also a set of classically inspired kata, performed with a steel sword rather than the shinai, that enshrine the principles of traditional swordsmanship.