Kendo, the art of Samurai
The Kendo is a traditional martial art as Judo or Karate, or Jujutsu. The Kendo singnifie literally "the sword way". This is a very old sport which is still widely practised today.
It had been a katana that they used. The katana is a Japanse sword, but today, we use the bamboo sword called shinai which we hold by two hands. The shinai is conceived during the Edo period (16th century) for the training of kendo as a sport and can play in competitions without hurting the opponent.
The etiquette of this sport is primordially important. At each fight, they start and finish with greeting. Everything is codified from the manner of wearing the equipements until holding the shinai outside of the fight. The training of kendo imposes a strong discipline.
Short story
The ancestor of kendo is kenjutsu, which has been obligatory trained by samurai for the wars. However, from 16th century, Japan was pacified and the war was over so that the art of sword became unneccessary. Accordingly, they continued to learn it without any concrete application.
The training became more spiritual and it was started to be oriented to the one who does it and not for killing someone. Then the training started to be by bokken, wooden sword, and it changed into by shinai, the bamboo sword. The diverse protections were developped accordingly. The kenjutsu became kendo by steps.
from top to bottom : katana, bokken and shinai
After the defeat in 1945, the practice of kendo was accused by United States for progressing the military propaganda and it was forbiddened. The "fight with shinai" was tolerated a little later, and the kendo training authorized again. The international federation of kendo is founded in 1970.
The rules
In a match of kendo, the assaults are necessary.
The aim is to touch the opponent, but the only several parts are applicable to be targeted area : head, throat, waist and gloves. And the assaults should correspond the criterions for jugment which is indspensable.
The kenshi has to be imperatively as follows:
- to express a kiai (a shout to express one's fighting spirit when striking)
- in an appropriate posture
- to attack in determination
- to position the shinai in an appropriate position
- to proof the vigilance after the fight
The speed of assault makes difficult to judge yes or no of the points which should be considered. That is why the referees are 3 and they also needs the experiences!
The equipment of Kenshi
The equipment is: a uniform, protective armours, and a shinai.
The uniform is composed by kendogi (top) and hakama (a garment separated in the middle to form two wide trouser legs) to move easily even wearing a mask.
The protective armours (bogu) are composed by following pieces:
- a helmet (men)
- thickly padded gloves (kote)
- a breast plate (dô)
- tare for the protection of waist and groin area
The bogu pieces protect the targeted area to attack (apart from tare).
The philosophie or the principles of kendo would be able to describe by the following phrase: kikentai icchi (気剣体一致), which is literally said: "The spirit, and the sword, and the body are in one".
This phrase says that those three elements should be parfectly harmonized and synchronied (the spirit are presented at the assault by kiai). The unity of the body-spirit-sword is the basic of the kendo training.