Kendo

[anatagasuki]

A friend of mine takes Kendo and I heard it was pretty fun.
I get the fact that you have to use a wooden sword but can someone explain it better?

[Jaydelart]

Originally Posted by anatagasuki

A friend of mine takes Kendo and I heard it was pretty fun.
I get the fact that you have to use a wooden sword but can someone explain it better?

I'm not sure what you're asking exactly, but I'll try to throw out some information.

I haven't trained specifically in Kendo, so my knowledge of it is limited -- very limited. However, I have been taught some basic concepts of Kenjutsu, and as they are basically the same thing, I would assume some of these concepts also apply in Kendo.

You are taught to master your mind, body and weapon (shinai a.k.a. wooden or bamboo sword) to achieve victory in combat. Accuracy, speed, technique and focus are what you train for...

My knowledge of the history of it is also very rusty... But it is basically the art of swordplay born from the Samurai that is practiced in a less lethal form.
These days, since you may not train to kill people, you may train for sport. And, therefore, there are certain things in Kendo that may be prohibited or emphasized to translate into a sport... For example: scoring points based on various aspects of your performance is a primary objective... And dirty or potentially lethal attacks can be made illegal in a match. (However, some lethal attacks are still taught to practitioners for whatever reason.)
Armor is used in matches to protect the fighters from serious injury.

Clean strikes or gaining an obvious advantage through disarming your opponent is what may determine a victor in a Kendo match.

Here are some quick clips [Note: You may find some of them to be very quick and simple; speed and control is very important]:





I hope that helps a little.

[Kaoru3]

Hello!

Originally Posted by Jaydelart

Yes, like Tenchu said, kendo, these days, is a sport.

It is both a MA and a sport, but mainly an MA.

It is a combat sport, less practical in the use of actual swords, but still valuable in certain aspects, as a martial art.

We don't use real swords in kendo. And, you cannot use a real sword in any situation unless you want to do jail time. So, neither are practical. Kendo is useful for developing one's character, though, and that is one of the purposes of studying kendo.

Kendo is weapon-based, so it can't really be compared to Karate.
Hand-to-hand combat is very different from weapon-to-weapon combat.

This is correct. Having studied TKD, I can say this is very true.

You'll mainly be using shinai,

Actually, one uses only shinai in ji-geiko(sparring) and regular kihon(basics) practice. Our kendo kata is paired and is non-contact only. We use bokuto for that, which is a wooden sword. We never spar with bokuto. Too dangerous.

and will likely start wearing padded armor at some point along your training (maybe immediately, depending on the teaching method).

The armour isn't padded like TKD gear. You will get bruises on the wrists at times.

One never gets tossed into bogu(armour) immediately unless it is a McDojo.(fake school with a person who is not a recognised member of the All US Kendo Federation(AUSKF, a member of the AJKF.), or in other countries, the respective federation of that country that is a member of the All Japan Kendo Federation(AJKF) and IKF(International Kendo Federation) now known as FIK, which can be found on the AJKF website. If you visit that page, you can look up different countries to find federation info. If the country has no listing, it means no dojo has been established in most cases.) Teachers in these McDojos usually have had no legitimate training at all, and just made it up or tried to learn from books and videos and think they are trained and gave themselves rank. Or, they themselves learned from another McDojo teacher and have opened a new dojo teaching the McDojo stuff which is not the real thing.

There are lots of good warning signs of McDojos such as: No affiliation with an official kendo federation listed on the AJKF/FIK website, has made up their own federation, lots of patches on uniform, use of real swords besides shinai, use of a title such as grandmaster, soke, Doctor, or other inflated title, an excessively high rank(In kendo, outside of Japan, people at the 6-8 dan levels are few. 5th is not common either.), use of karate uniform, and the biggest sign? A colored belt. Kendo never issues belts for rank, and we don't grade every few months either. Also, excessive cost to attend. Sensei don't get paid. It can be any combination of these things.

In legitimate kendo, it takes anywhere from 3 months to a year before one is allowed to wear bogu, depending on the dojo and the sensei's policy. One must develop decent basics first before being allowed to spar.

Kaoru

[Kaoru3]

Originally Posted by godwine

Yup, its more of an art than anything else. However, I do need to correct one perspective, most kendo school, still teach empty hand techniques, its limited, and its mostly applicable to "If i am disarmed, how do i charge in to disarm my opponent or take their weapon", so they do train SOME level of empty hand combats, but its very very limited

This is very incorrect. In legitimate kendo, techniques like that are not taught and also never allowed. However, the police dojos in Japan, as I understand it, do practice pre-war kendo techniques that involve such things as footsweeps, and take downs. But, for us regular people, it is not allowed to learn such techniques. They are forbidden.

The object is not to disarm your opponent. Disarming is a higher dan level thing anyway, and not used all that much as far as I'm aware. It's not exactly a polite thing to do, especially if you are lower ranked. Taking someone's shinai would result in a penalty and is beyond rude and also not allowed in kendo.

There are rules for what to do when you are disarmed. I know you cannot disarm your opponent if you are disarmed. I can't decently comment further on what should happen, since I haven't the rules near me. There are also specific rules about what you can/cannot do when your opponent is disarmed.

Now, in kenjutsu, they do have an empty handed curriculum in addition to sword work(which does not include sparring in legitimate dojo.)
Some ryu(style) that have this are the Suio Ryu, Yagyu Shinkage Ryu and Kashima Shin Ryu. You can visit Koryu.com for very detailed information on the Koryu sword arts. There are a lot of good articles there written by qualified sensei who really know their stuff. Another great place to do research and ask questions is at e-budo.com in the sword arts forum. Many knowledgable sensei are on that forum.

You should join a Goju or Shoto ryu Karate school, both of them are the main Okinawa style, much closer to Kobudo than any other style Karate, weapons is in their curriculum, definitely Kenjitsu

Kenjutsu(No "i" in this word.) is not traditionally a part of the karate or Okinawan art curriculum. Ever see that silly twirly stuff on TV or at competitions the American karate people think is kenjutsu? It's not. Don't even think it's even related to the traditional Koryu(old school, pre-Meiji, anything created before 1876.) swordarts.

The Okinawans were not allowed to own katana. So, that's why kama were used along with other farm related objects that became okinawan wespons. Karate came from Okinawa.

Kaoru

[Kaoru3]

Originally Posted by Tenchu

That is not true.

Anyway, why learn a weapon if you never could use it?

Oh yes it IS true. If you belonged to a proper kendo dojo you'd know this. Go visit the Bankok Kendo Dojo and ask their sensei. He'd tell you that, too.

If we used real swords in the dojo, there would be serious injuries and even deaths. Any fool should know real swords are sharp. Even Iaito(Very thin blunt edged sword) can cut and even kill a person.

There IS a time when a type of real sword is used in kendo, and you will never learn to use a real sword from it.

In KATA ONLY, the only time iaito, a blunt-edged sword(never live blade-meaning sharp) are ever used in kendo is when high ranked(5th dan and up) sensei are doing a demonstration at a place such as a seminar. That is the ONLY exception. There is NO contact involved.

I didn't mention this before, because I think you mean swords are used by everybody in kendo, when they are NOT. So, that is what I was referring to. I should have mentioned the kata demonstration w/swords bit in my previous post, but didn't think it necessary. But, I guess it was. Sorry about that. But still, you will not ever learn to use a real sword in kendo, because it is WAY too dangerous. There are serious control issues and real swords are NOT SAFE for use by students or anyone else, due to the speed the kata is done, once it is learned. We never EVER spar with swords either in legitimate dojo.

There ARE idiots out there who do, but they are always untrained people who have taught themselves. I've seen some pretty awful stuff...
It's unfortunate.

And, swords are never EVER used otherwise in kendo because of the fact that they are sharp, even if you use Iaito.

No offense, but your last sentence is a very unsensible question. Try using your brain please. Why? Because the law says you cannot use it. Not sure about Thailand, but here in the US, if you use a sword on someone you'll get arrested and tossed in jail. If you kill someone, well... forget life outside jail. You'll be there for a long time. You can't even legally carry one with you for protection. The Samurai are gone. Deal with it. The only thing you are allowed to do, is transport it in it's case to and from the dojo.

While kendo does not teach how to use a real sword, both Kenjutsu and Iaido do. There is no sparring in either art, and you only do solo kata.

You use a bokuto for a long time until the sensei gives permission to buy an iaito he/she approves of. Live blades are not allowed for 5-6 years at least, for obvious reasons. Sensei has to decide if you have enough control. Some never are allowed a live blade.

Paired kata in those arts is not learned until the highest levels due to the dangers of using such swords, and control is a MUST, since the kata simulate actual situations. There is no contact in the paired kata

You need to know that a legit sensei would kick you out of the dojo for using a sword for hurting someone or for carrying it around for protection. Once you get accepted as a student in any sword art, you then represent your dojo and what you do reflects on the dojo. And, they only take serious people not into being a samurai and all that. So, studying a real swordart is more serious than you think.

If you want to learn about why to study a swordart if you can't use a sword, you should visit koryu.com and read the article titled "A Koryu Primer." It's very informative and was written by a highly respected sensei. There's a lot more to studying a traditional, legit swordart than you think. If you can't be bothered to read that, then you aren't serious about it.

Kendo is as serious as a traditional koryu, so expect to get kicked out of a kendo dojo for the above as well. Kendo sensei don't want some sword wielding backyard Samurai nut in their dojo either.

If you want more information on why we study kendo, please visit the AUSKF website. Type
AUSKF into your favorite search engine and the page will appear. I'd have given you links, but I'm on a pocket PC, and it's hard to go get links, since I can't open a 2nd window. Sorry about that.

Well, now you have been given lots of stuff to read, so read before posting please.

Kaoru

Kaoru

[Jaydelart]

Thanks for the corrections, Kaoru.
Like I said, I don't have complete knowledge of Kendo, so much of what I said are assumptions based on what I do know.