One video is available for Newsletter subscribers at the bottom of the page. The video Part II is only available for Kendo For Life Club members only since it is a lecture for my own students. You can become a member of Kendo For Life Club at Pateron.
The kendō I have been wanting or searching is that tsuyoikendo. What is tsuyoikendō?
One day when I was 12 years old, at my dōjō back in Japan, the late Tsurumaru sensei called me and asked me, out of nowhere, this question.
Which One Is Better, Tsuyoi Kendō and Umai Kendō?
Tsuyoi means strong. And umai means skillful.
What do you think?
His explanation…
Tsuyoikendō is like this. You can strike a target, for example, men while showing that you are going to strike men. So your opponent knows what you are going to strike.
UmaiKendō is like this. You strike a target, for example, kote while showing that you are going to strike men.
My answer was tsuyoi kendō would be better and I did not know why until he told me an answer for this question.
Almost 30 years later, I talked to Masayoshi Miyazaki (7-dan) about it. He was in charge of kids’ kendō back then and have been my sensei for as long as I have been doing kendō.
He said, “The former one is martial arts and the latter one is sports”.
Sports Chanbara, Pierre-Yves Beaudouin / Wikimedia Commons, via Wikimedia Commons
Martial Arts vs. Sports
I do not think there is a vivid line between the two (at this very moment) and I am still figuring that out but I know what he meant.
In training, we should not focus about hitting targets, even though that is what we do in kendō. In training, we should focus on the process rather than results.
It is always important to have a good result (sports aspect) but more importantly we should focus on “how” to get a good result (the way part of kendō).
Tsuyoikendō is more like the core of our life. Live and fight fair and square. Live right. Fight without cheating. That is why the late Tsurumaru sensei said, you should practice kendō like “I am going to strike men and strike and get men”.
Umaikendō is also necessary. Mind you, umai does not mean cheat. We need to know a lot of different techniques to fight with righteousness and support the tsuyoikendō.
Kamiizumi Isenokami Nobutsuna
Here is an example of Umai. I am telling this story from my memory that is very poor so please forgive me if this is not very accurate.
The founder of Shinkage-Ryū, Kamiizumi Isenokami Nobutsuna was passing through a village.
The villagers were gathering looking very worried. And as he passed by, one of the villagers asked him to save a girl from a kidnapper hiding in a shed (or a house) because Nobutsuna looked like a great samurai.
Nobutsuna agreed to help the girl. But he started shaving his hair off and dressed up like monk. He also prepared some rice balls.
He walked toward the shed and said to the kidnapper, “You (and/or the girl) must be hungry. I have some rice balls for you (and the girl). Let me in”.
The kidnapper let him in and then Nobutsuna pinned the kidnapper down and rescued the girl.
No one died or got hurt by Nobutsuna getting into the shed to rescue. He just chose one technique out of other possible solution and executed it very well.
He could confront the kidnapper as a samurai. He could try to persuade the kidnapper like a negotiator. He could use other villagers to attract the kidnapper’s attention.
To accomplish a goal, he probably had a lot of techniques but he chose the best technique at that time under that circumstance.
Become a Strong Person with a Lot of Techniques
Up until recently, I was aiming to do tsuyoikendō but now I am trying to add more techniques to my kendō.
The core of my ideal kendō is tsuyoikendō but I absolutely need more techniques to expand and improve my kendō.
Life is the same, don’t you think? People who live their life seriously and with righteousness are not always treated correctly. People need some skills so they can be treated right and also the right things can be seen “right”.
Many want to learn kendo. I am so glad and so happy to hear that. I would like to do anything I can help those who want to learn kendō.
But they want to learn kendo so they can create their own style or just to add something to what they call a “combat or fighting system”.
They can do whatever they want to do on their own time but there is one thing that we all should know.
No One Should Intentionally Change Kendo.
Kendō has its own history and culture. And during the course of its history, it certainly changes its form and nature.
Kendo was a part of kenjutsu training. But as we all know it is not a part of kenjutsu training anymore. But that is how it started.
Then going through all kinds of incidences such as Meiji Restoration and World War II over the last 300 years or so, it turned itself into kendō we now know.
So, yes, kendo did change. And I can tell you that kendo in 2015 and kendo in the 80s are different. If you do not practice kendo you probably cannot tell the differences but I can tell you that they are different.
But history that kendo has will not change.
Kendō Has a Long History
If you go to a traditional dōjō, you can see a shrine there. It is to keep the dōjō sacred. It is to keep the dōjō and practitioners safe. And most of all, it is for the practitioners to train fair and square sincerely under the martial god. And funny enough, kendō has influenced by Zen Buddhism.
There is nothing surprising if you know about Japan. Shintoism and Buddhism are two major religions and they have been around for a long long time. Of course, kendō was influenced by those two religions. Also it has influence from Confucianism.
I am not here to talk about religions. I want to point out that kendō has a long history. If you want me to be precise, kenjutsu was influenced by those religions and kendō is carrying the influence up until now.
And also kendō has teachings from samurai, the Japanese warriors. The teachings were not just words. They were from the samurai’s experiences that were learned from the dead-or-alive situations. This also includes techniques as well.
Of course, the modern history had influenced kendō as well. Whatever happened in the past made kendō into what it is now.
Your Perspectives Will or Will Not Change the Culture of Kendo
History and culture influence each other, needless to say. Kendō was derived from kenjutsu and it took its own course. Thus, it has developed its own culture.
The Japanese culture is influenced by samuraiculture as well. We have a lot of proverbs that are made from samurai and katana cultures. You can learn where you should position yourself, say where sitting, from kendō because we still follow how samurai used to place themselves in a room when sitting.
So I would like to ask you a question.
Good or Bad? Less Traditional Houses Now
What Do You Value The Most?
Do you think what we do in Japan or in kendō is stupid? Or you think it does not make sense because you don’t know the reason behind it?
The Japanese do not always know all the reasons behind their customs/culture because what they do is already a part of their life. So they don’t even question about them. I am sure not all the Japanese know all the historical reasons of the Japanese customs, including me.
Does it mean we put less value on the customs because we are not sure reasons behind them?
I hear a lot of people say, they do not want to do things that they do not know why they should do them.
That is their perspectives. Many just refuse to do what they learned because it does not have enough “evidence” or “reasons” for them to follow the tradition. These people will change the tradition.
I would like to share one reason for you to know why it is so hard to know reasons of doing certain things in certain way.
A Reason to Have the Right Side of Keikogi Under the Left One
From the Xianbei Tomb Paintings
Do you think your instructor knows why? Do you think this is important to know?
Your instructor might not know everything. And that is OK. We are talking about something that has a history that is possibly longer than the Japanese history.
But there is a reason why we have the right side of the keikogi under the left one. At least there is one theory.
It was an influence from China. According to the book, Kendo (2009) written by Baba Takenori sensei and Baba Kinji sensei, the roots of how to put the kimono like top with the right side on top of the left one started from Scythae.
To make a long story short, Chinese people were suffered from the attacks of the Xianbei and the Huns for a long time (as long as between 300 B.C. and the mid 500 A.D.) And the Xianbei and the Huns were wearing their top with the right side on the left one.
That reason they wore their top like that is because they pulled the arrow with the right hand and grab their bow with the left hand on their horse.
They did not like the right side on the left one because those people who attacked them wore the top with the right side on the left side. So they had the left side on top of the right one when they wore their clothes.
Officially in Japan, they had this declaration in 604, “You must have the left side of your cloth on top of the right one”.
Did I learn this when I started kendō? No.
Did my parents tell me about this? No.
Did we have to know this? No.
If we know, it will help us. Probably.
You learn how to do things and then either you or others question about it. Why do we do that? That is the start of your journey.
Tradition will be passed on with or without reasons or explanations to the next generation.
For some people, even after getting explanation, they want to argue. They want to argue so they can do things in their way. They do not have any other reason than “that makes me feel more comfortable”.
We learn as taught. That is how tradition survives. It is very nice if we are told why we do things in certain ways but it is not always the case. So we should strive to study why.
Learn, Study and Dig It More Deeply
Do Whatever It Takes to Get to the Higher Level. Photo: 唐山健志郎 (唐山健志郎) via Wikimedia CommonsRecently I really think that we cannot teach kendō. Kendō is something that you study.
Sure, sensei will teach you and show you how to do the basics such as footwork and how to swing your sword. But after that, it is all up to you to study it. Polish up your skills and dig it more deeply.
I always tell my students that I can tell them what they are supposed to do. But it is up to them to make it right. I cannot control their body for them. It is their body so only they can control them.
When they do things right, I tell them they are doing well. But that is not the end. To make it even better, it is up to them.
I even tell them what they should do to improve their skills. But it is up to them to STUDY and DIG more deeply what they are taught.
Some Skills Cannot Be Taught
Seme is a good example for this. Seme is often translated as “to attack” or “pressure”. So basically there are two types of seme, one is visible and the other one is invisible.
The visible seme involves physical action such as tapping your opponent’s shinai or actually stepping in.
The invisible seme is to put pressure on your opponent by not being reacting to your opponent’s seme. Most often the invisible seme is done with a combination with the visible seme.
Now if you do not understand what I am saying here, then you are not at the level to understand seme. And that is totally fine.
I am 6-dan and just started understanding it. Hopefully I really did start understanding it.
Anyway…
Senseis will tell you what you are supposed to do. You might be able to do it right away and you might not.
And it might take years to even understand what you were taught. And it might take more years to actually perform what you learned.
That happens in kendō quite often. And that is why it is necessary for us to actively study what we learned and to keep digging more deeply.
Kendō has a long long history and it is related to Japanese culture. It is not something you can just change because you don’t feel comfortable about something about it.
Why would you want to change it when it is pretty much an Intangible Cultural Heritage?
That Is Why Kendō Is Fun
Kendō is very difficult and hard to understand, study and perform. That is why we can have fun. And even when we reach our 60s and 70s, it is still fun and probably it will get more fun. That is why there are a lot of old people in kendō, because the fun never ends in kendō!
I learned the shinai swinging mechanism at the 8th Nito Seminar. The mechanism is very helpful for all the kendo practitioners but I do not want to make it to the public because I am still learning. If you want to learn come and join the Study Group. If you a member of the study club, you are seeing this fine 🙂
If you have some spare shinai, prepare two pieces of bamboos from the shinias you no longer use. Then tape them together like the photo above. Then mark where you think the center of mass is.
The reasons that you make this shinai is
to have a light shinai
Why?
So you can strike one handed strike without unnecessary strength.
This is very very important. If you use a normal shinai, you will put extra strength to swing the shinai down and stop it. This will develop unwanted habits. So we want to have a light shinai.
Once you have the light shinai and marked the center of mass, then time to swing it down. What you should do is
Have your shinai right in front of you so the mark is right in front of your face
Lift up the shinai a little bit so the mark goes over your eye level
Push it forward to strike a target
Place your shinai in front of your faceThe mark should be above your eye levelExtend your arm
When you extend your arm here is what you should pay attention.
Once you lift up the shinai as the mark goes up above the eye level, just extend your arm so the mark is going toward the target.
You can feel how effective it is to strike a target with this method.
This video will introduce a suburi (empty cut) called haya suburi. I used to call it “choyaku shomen uchi“. So there are some people out there still calling this suburi “choyaku shomen uchi”. These are the same thing. Just different ways to call the same thing.
Haya means “rapid” or “fast”.
Suburi means “empty cut”.
Just for your reference,
Choyaku means “jumping”.
Shomen Uchi means “men strike”.
Probably people stop using choyaku shomen uchi, because it gives an impression of “jumping (with both feet) strikes”.
You should take time to learn this because it is easy to develop bad habits. One of the reason is that people try to do it too fast. Like I have been advising here, the basics is not something you should do quickly.
The basics should be learned slowly and correctly.
Some points you must pay attention:
Do not try to do it fast. “Slowly and correctly”
Do not hop or jump up. Always think about the basic footwork
Gradually make it smooth. NOT fast, but smooth.
This will help you with footwork for your small strikes and continuous strikes. Study this very well.
One video is available for Newsletter subscribers at the bottom of the page. The video Part II is only available for Kendo For Life Club members only since it is a lecture for my own students. You can become a member of Kendo For Life Club at Pateron.
Kamiizumi Isenokami Nobutsuna
I learned the shinai swinging mechanism at the 
