The following article was originally published in April 2011 and is by Ota Tadanori hanshi (see author bio below). I placed this article on my ‘to-do’ list a while back and picked it up randomly a few days back. With the 15th World Kendo Championships happening this weekend, I thought a timely re-visit of an aspect of modern kendo that many sensei complain about: lack of manners. Especially during shiai, this seems to be the first thing that goes out the window.

The word ‘REI’ in Japanese refers to the physical act of bowing as well as ‘good manners’ in general. The term in Japanese can have a far deeper and wider meaning that simply ‘manners’ in English and brings a kind of (at least to me) sophistication and refinement/dignity with it. Due to this I have mainly left ‘rei’ in the original text as ‘rei’ in the translation.

Keiko itself is rei

As far as good etiquette in kendo goes, you either do it or you don’t. Respect, consideration, and a feeling of gratitude for your partner is where the essence of rei lies. If this is lost then kendo is nothing but an activity where you hit each other with sticks. This short essay is about how an understanding of rei can be used to improve your kendo.

When I was learning kendo from Fukuoka Akira sensei we didn’t have a dojo, but practised in his garden. Keiko only began after I cleaned the garden with a bamboo broom. Of course there was no Kamidana (small Shinto shrines found in many dojo) but I was taught that cleaning the area itself was an act of purity and that the place was sacred. After that I performed ritsurei (standing bow) to my sensei. This was the first form of etiquette I was taught.

Eventually, someone in the locality volunteered their storehouse and we remodeled it into a dojo. The finished structure had a kamidana and I learned the correct etiquette to perform in this type of environment. I feel that in a child’s mind, when you have a kamidana, understands that the place is different to others, that it is sacred.

When I first became a member of Keishicho (Tokyo metropolitan police force) we used to practise in the Keishicho gym, which didn’t have a kamidana. Instead there hung a large, solemn, picture of Mt. Fuji by the painter Yokoyama.

When I was a member of the physical-education division I was lucky to be taught by Masuda Shinsuke sensei for a year. During this time the kendo members were doing their warmup stretches in the dojo and Masuda sensei got angry and taught is a valuable lesson: ‘Do your warmup outside of the dojo. Don’t come to the dojo until you are ready for keiko!’ Also, when I entered the Tokuren (special kendo training division) we were told: ‘When you enter the dojo you mustn’t laugh nor smile.’ We were taught that a dojo was a place for serious and strict training (shugyo).

When top sensei like Ono Jusei and Horiguchi sensei stepped into the dojo immediately the atmosphere would change and without thinking your resolve would harden. It was such a powerful feeling that those people that came for degeiko (i.e. visitors) would often feel oppressed by this atmosphere. It was my good fortune that my day to day training happened in such an environment.

The sensei didn’t teach through words, but by demonstration – you had to watch how they acted and copy it. These sensei trained like their lives depended on it, so there were many many points that had to be studied. Individually we thought ‘I want to be like X-sensei’ and proceeded to practise with that sensei in mind, trying somehow to catch their kendo essence. Of course, this included all their mannerisms, including their etiquette.

‘Rei ni hajimari, rei ni owari’ (keiko begins and ends with rei) – I was taught that it was very important what happens in the time between those first and last bows. First you should bow with the feeling of ‘onegaishimasu’ (please, thank you, a sincere feeling), then keiko with all your energy, finally finishing with the feeling of ‘thank you.’ That is to say: ‘everything in keiko is rei.’ If you practise daily with this feeling, and go to your teacher for instruction, then in the midst of your strict training you will naturally pick up the correct etiquette manner. My experience tells me that its BECAUSE of the severe nature of training that real etiquette can be learned.

If you can’t express yourself physically, then your true intentions cannot be read

I think that the ‘shape’ (kata) of etiquette is very important. Its because it helps express the correct essence of your feeling (the feeling of ‘thanks’) to your partner.

Of course, simply going through the motions without the feeling behind them is unbelievable but, looking at many competitions nowadays, I see many many cases where indeed participants are bowing at their own pace without taking into account their partner (i.e. they are doing the shape only). This gives me a chill.

One of the things that changed kendo from a ‘method of taking life’ to a ‘method for the perfection of the character’ is, I believe, this ‘rei.’ Without this kendo can only be an activity where you simply hit each other with sticks, just another sport. If we support something where people just jump around smacking each other randomly then kendo will change into something that resembles (some) other sports, where there is no sympathy nor feelings of thanks between you and your partner. I think that this rei is the difference between Budo and Sport.

So, teachers must reduce telling their students that ‘shiai is a part of kendo’ and place more emphasis on the ‘everything in keiko is about rei’ aspect. It is essential that teachers themselves ensure that they have the correct etiquette ‘shape’ and show (display) that they understand the feeling behind the movements.

The correct feeling is important, then the shape of expressing it. Kendo no kata is an important tool for this. Everything needed to understand rei is embodied in it. Starting from your bow to the flag (depends on the dojo), how you bow to your partner, how you walk, how you stand, how you sit, how you use your hands… all this must be done in unison with your partner and with the feeling of ‘onegaishimasu’ at the start and ‘arigato gozaimashita’ at the end. We tend to concentrate on how to do the kata themselves (i.e. what we are doing with bokuto, how many steps we take in and out, etc) but in reality its the rei that is permeated throughout that is important.

Its important for teachers to study this aspect, feel it for themselves, and finally for them to show it to those around them.

Train children though correct etiquette

Especially nowadays, people act as if they are blind to children’s discourteous behavior. Its because they are not disciplined properly at home I guess. But surely the essence of childhood isn’t different nowadays than what it was in the past? If you teach children properly, then any child can learn to be polite.

I help to teach the children’s kendo class at Nippon Budokan and nowadays I see that many kids can’t act as part of a group: they suddenly disappear from where they are meant to be, and don’t bother saying hello or goodbye to the teachers or their friends, etc. Of-course, its part of the teachers job to persevere and try to teach the children these things properly. At this time you must not think “how do I teach this kid?” but “how can I communicate my feelings towards this kid?” This is whats important. Thats is to say, whats important is to consider how can you build up a feeling of trust between yourself and that child.

When I am teaching children, sometimes I lightly tap them on the behind with a shinai. Do you call this punishment or teaching? Which side of the border line you lie on depends on whether you are attempting to build up the trust I mentioned earlier. If you honestly desire to ‘teach’ the child something then – if you manage to communicate your feelings to them – trust will be born and the child will begin to change.

Rei is the basis of your daily life in society. ‘Rei = the bonds forged between individuals.’ The base of of this rei is discipline. If you don’t have discipline then rei cannot be learned and will fade. I want people (children) to be disciplined in manners in their homes first, then above and beyond this through kendo.

Of course, that children are becoming ill-mannered is a symptom of Japanese society in general. A while back an American person said this shocking thing to me: “Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Taiwanese all look kind of similar but its the Japanese that are the most discourteous.” The reason for this is that the modern society has taken to referring to any selfish action as “freedom” thus forgiving it.

The only way to fix this is through rei taught in budo! Our chance to enact this is when budo begins to be taught as part of the national curriculum in junior high schools around the country (this started April 2012).

The best place to teach rei is in the dojo

Its sad to say, but recently many local dojo have been closing and more and more kendo clubs are doing their keiko in public sports gyms. In the ‘All Japan (ken) dojo renmei’ (a group set up for the promotion of kendo for primary and junior high school ages) actually only 1/4 of groups have their own dojo. The rest are probably training in sports gyms or maybe even – like me when I was a child – in gardens. But, obviously, a place that is sacred and pure has a special meaning to it (i.e. a dojo with a kamidana).

First, make sure your appearance is tidy and neat, line up your footwear correctly, then enter the dojo. As you enter collect your thoughts and bow towards the kamidana. The kamidana is not a religious thing, but embodies the spirit of budo. ‘Today I hope to do keiko without being injured’ or ‘I want to do keiko with a pure heart’ etc etc its perfectly fine for people to decide their own individual goal for the days keiko. This is what Fukuoka sensei taught me.

You can only perform such initial salutations in a dojo environment. Why? Because a dojo is a space where everyone from children to adults are under the same roof and – as adults are teaching the children – they are training themselves at the same time. While adults are teaching children they themselves must always heed their own manners, all the while studying from their own sensei. This type of ‘living teaching environment’ is the best attraction of a dojo. Thus I believe dojo are the optimum environment for learning manners.

At any rate, you can’t do kendo without a partner. If you keiko with compassion and gratitude at all times then once keiko is finished you will natural say ‘thank you.’ I believe that this type of satisfaction is kind of ‘beautiful.’ So, everyone, won’t you consider reevaluating your manners again, even just one more time?

This article was published in the April 2011 edition of Kendo Jidai.

About the author

Oda Tadanori, kendo hanshi 8dan. Born in 1941, Chiba prefecture. After graduating high school he entered Keishicho directly. He has won the all japan police championships and taken part in the tozai-taiko, Meiji-mura taikai, etc. He taught as the top kendo teacher at keishicho until his retirement in 2000. He currently has posts in the ZNKR and teaches kendo at various locations.

Source

剣道時代２０１１年４月。「剣道人と礼。真剣さの中に本当の礼が生まれる」。太田忠徳。

Translating something from one language to another is always very difficult, and Japanese budo concepts are no different. Any errors in fact, misunderstandings in the reading of the text, errors in translations, etc, are all my own. If you think you spot an error by all means get in touch.

See Seme #1 published in 2008.

SEME

You must face your opponent with the feeling that ‘ki’ is crystalized in and emitted from your body. Your hands must be soft. The softness of the inside of your right hand is especially important. Lightly touch the tip of your sword against your opponents sword; don’t especially strike or push their shinai in any way. During this time your body should be soft and flexible and your heart/spirit firm. To get the knack of this you must constantly think about this ‘firmness.’

While keeping this ‘fullness’ of feeling in your body you must project the feeling of ‘come and strike me!’ at your opponent, and – at the same time – while abandoning yourself to their strike, slowly close distance. Depending on your opponents movements you may sometimes close in relatively quickly and largely, but in any case the most important aspect you must keep in mind is your breathing as you move: it is essential that you unify your body movement and your breathing. That is to say, you must not move as you breathe out in a large/long blow, but execute movement as you are breathing out rhythmically in short, slow blows. This is so that your opponent cannot read your intentions easily.

While you are moving your body in this manner, the tip of your shinai should be soft and flexible. If your shinai tip is stiff then in the instant where an attacking movement occurs it will not be able to stay in the center, and all your strikes will be incomplete. Please be careful about this point.

To conclude, keeping this ‘fullness’ of feeling in your body and spirit you must begin to ‘seme’ and – whilst this is happening – you must study from where the intention of your opponent appears: is it from their shinai top? their right hand? their eyes? When your opponent doesn’t begin to move/react to your pressure but you see an opening and attack, then this is called ‘kakari no sen’ and if they move because of your pressure and you strike them this is called ‘go no sen.’ When you strike, do so straight from your kamae.

About the author

Sakudo Masao hanshi is a professor at Osaka sports university (specialising in Budo) and the leader of the kendo club. He is a graduate of Tokyo University of Education, earlier called Tokyo-shihan-gakko, the school that was home to Takano Sasaburo. There he was taught kendo by such famed sensei as Nakano Yasoji hanshi and Yuno Masanori hanshi. Upon moving to Osaka he did kendo under various sensei including Ikeda Yuji hanshi. He had competition success at university level and has taken part in the 8dan taikai. Outside of university life he holds several kendo related posts both in Japan and abroad.

Source

剣道時代の「名選手、錬磨の日々」（1983ー84）からの抜粋です。「錬磨の日々」の本は1989発行。昨道正夫。

Translating something from one language to another is always very difficult, and Japanese budo concepts are no different. Any errors in fact, misunderstandings in the reading of the text, errors in translations, etc, are all my own. If you think you spot an error by all means get in touch.

‘As soon as you stand up, 1 – seme, 2 – seme, 3 – seme… pressure, pressure, pressure.’

‘If you want to strike me men go ahead, do it! When you attempt to I will strike your dou.’

‘Just as your partner attempts to strike have the feeling of thrusting his left eye, this will cause a disturbance in his heart/will.’

‘Pressure the omote and strike the ura.’

etc etc. Whichever strategy you have decided on stand up silently from sonkyo and with full vigor face your opponent – if you do this and manage to take an ippon within 20 seconds it will be a mark that your kendo is improving.

Its very common for teachers to say ‘do shiai with mushin’ but this advice is for experts who have already forged their technique. If inexperienced people whose technique is far from polished try to do this they will simply be struck.

In order to stand up and take an ippon in under 20 seconds you have to concentrate on taking the ippon at shotachi (the initial strike). Shinken-shobu is often called ‘the fight for shotachi.’

2. While pressuring your opponent, or when their body-shape is in disarray after execution of an attack – when their heart/will is in a state of confusion – you should immediately attack without giving them time to breathe. If you are too late in taking the chance it will not come again.

Your mental state should be the same as an athlete who is waiting at the starting block of a 100m race: ‘ready, set, go!’ If the strike isn’t an ippon you must cultivate the practise of striking multiple times in one breath (until you hit a good strike). If you don’t do this in your daily keiko then your body won’t be able to keep up (during shiai or against other opponents).

This isn’t about striking with your head. Your legs should move of their own volition. Only when you have reached this state can it be said that you have mastered technique.

About the author

SAKUMA SABURO sensei was born in 1912 in Fukushima prefecture. He started kendo at around 10/11 years old in Fukushima Butokuden. After graduating from what is now Fukushima University he started teaching kendo at various high schools. In 1939 he began to work in Mitsubushi’s mining operation and taught kendo throughout the country whilst visiting various mines. After the war, he became a student of Mochida Seiji hanshi and – while running his own kendo club – began working as a director in the Tokyo Kendo Renmei amongst other things. He died at 84 in 1997. He was hanshi hachidan.

平成・剣道 地木水火風空 読本（下）。佐久間三郎。平成9年発行。

Note

Please remember I am not a professional translator, nor have studied Japanese at university nor in an institution. Any errors in fact, misunderstandings in the reading of the text, errors in translations, etc, are all my own. I can but apologise in advance.

The duel took place on a very small deserted island in between Shimonoseki in Yamaguchi prefecture, and Kyushu called Funashima, later renamed to ‘Ganryu-jima’ allegedly in honour of the slain Sasaki Kojiro (his sword style was called ‘gan-ryu’).

*Allegedly. This is the current ‘official’ date but – as with almost every aspect of Musashi’s life – there are many theories. Discrepancies range as much as 10 years.

What is there to see?

Well, not much! There is a statue of the swordsmen fighting, and a couple of plinths in the area. There is also a man-made beach with a boat placed strategically on it, as if Musashi himself had just jumped out of it waiving a newly carved oar/bokuto.

Why go?

The value of going there is not to see the tourist-aimed statues, or to buy the trinkets on sale, but more to celebrate a piece of Japanese swordsmanship history. Its cool to just sit down and relax, pondering your own kendo/iaido/etc journey.

Getting there

I’ve visited the island twice. Once when I first visited Fukuoka in 2004, and another time I took some kendo friend there in 2008. Although out of the way, its not so difficult to get to if you are heading down to Kyushu from the mainland and you have 3 or 4 hours to spare.

Assuming that you are taking a train there get off at JR Shimonoseki station (this is a regular train stop and a Shinkansen stop). From there you can walk to the pier or take a bus. Its not really obvious which way you should go, so its best to ask someone at the station ‘Ganryu-jima?’ and they will point you in the right direction.

At the pier there are two companies that run boats to and from the island with return tickets being 800 yen. You can buy tickets and check times in the small cabins by the pier. The boats run pretty frequently. Make sure you can get on the last boat back to the mainland otherwise you will need to swim.

Gallery

Click on the image to see it bigger.

If you get hit and do something like raise your eyes/head up (i.e. look annoyed after being struck), it may help you dissipate your anger a little, but it would be much better if you just accepted the fact that you were struck, thought on what happened, and studied how to fix this weak point.

“KO-KEN-CHI-AI” : to understand ‘compassion’ through the clashing of shinai**. Reading the AI portion as simply ‘love’ has no meaning. You must do kendo so that your opponent thinks: “I’d love to have the chance to keiko with this person again.”

Becoming more proficient whilst being struck is kendo.
In the beginning, everybody is struck.

* The Kyoto Taikai (held Mat 2-5th every year) is the pinnacle of the kendo community. With a history of over 100 years, you have to be at renshi level to take part (non-Japanese living abroad can take part at only 6dan). Although this example using the Kyoto Taikai, you could extend it to shiai and to keiko in general.
** 愛はおしむ（情）。大切にして手離さない。物情しみする。

About the author

SAKUMA SABURO sensei was born in 1912 in Fukushima prefecture. He started kendo at around 10/11 years old in Fukushima Butokuden. After graduating from what is now Fukushima University he started teaching kendo at various high schools. In 1939 he began to work in Mitsubushi’s mining operation and taught kendo throughout the country whilst visiting various mines. After the war, he became a student of Mochida Seiji hanshi and – while running his own kendo club – began working as a director in the Tokyo Kendo Renmei amongst other things. He died at 84 in 1997. He was hanshi hachidan.

平成・剣道 地木水火風空 読本（下）。佐久間三郎。平成9年発行。

Note

Please remember I am not a professional translator, nor have studied Japanese at university nor in an institution. Any errors in fact, misunderstandings in the reading of the text, errors in translations, etc, are all my own. I can but apologise in advance.

しない競技は、終戦後の廃墟と混迷の中から生い立った新しい競技である。
Shinai kyogi was a new sport that sprung up In the ruin and confusion of the post war period.”

… is the first line of the chapter on Shinai-kyogi in the book “How to study kendo” that was published in 1965. It goes on to explain in a bit more detail:

To say it another way: a modern and democratic sport was born out of the older kendo. At the end of the war, when both the outside pressure (GHQ) and self-reproach from inside kendo circles caused the breakup/dissolution of kendo (i.e. the Butokukai) the discipline was at a crossroads; it was at this time a chance was taken and the new sport was created.

At that time the (kendo equipment) manufacturers and kendo exponents wanted to somehow (in any way possible) keep at least the essence of kendo alive but, because of the severity of the situation (the current state of destitution and poverty in post-war Japan combined with the strict law of occupied rule), kendo wasn’t allowed to continue as it was (i.e. it was banned by GHQ).

Despite this situation, the involved parties continued to work ceaselessly in negotiations with the the occupied authority, gathering as much information and working with their total energy and concentration to leave the purity of kendo intact, the result of which was a version of kendo with modern elements added that we call shinai kyogi.”

What follows is a 80 page plus manual of shinai kyogi instruction (the first 230 pages are about kendo).

What was this ‘shinai kyogi,’ where did it spring from, and what happened to it? This article will look very briefly at this often ignored yet important aspect of kendo’s history.

Background

Its almost certainly probably that kendo only started to become widely practised after its introduction into schools in 1911, and especially once it was made a mandatory part of the education system in the 1920s. Japan at that point was becoming increasingly militaristic and kendo was co-opted as part of the war effort, primarily as a way of ‘spiritual and physical training’ of male youths (girls were made to practise ‘naginata,’ created as a form of calisthenics and thinly disguised budo).

Changes in dev of kendo during the 15 year war period (brief explanation)

Starting from the invasion of Manchuria in 1931, Japan was constantly at a state of war until 1945, a period of over 15 years. As the tension in Japan escalated the younger the age for mandatory kendo training became, and the emphasis on group drills and practise (rather than a person-to-person training) increased. Eventually training took place outside, shinai become shorter and heavier, and even hakama and keikogi were abandoned in favour of trousers and shirts. Rules in kendo competition changed to reflect a more ‘real-life’ situation: ippon-shobu, no katate-waza, no jodan, no nito, and all cuts must be big.

This was the situation of kendo at the time of the end of the war and was the kendo that the American occupation forces banned (the war-cabinet controlled Butokukai dissolved itself under pressure soon after the war ended).

The aftermath of the war

Kendo was banned but – obviously due the sheer number of people who had experience in it – not forgotten. During the banned period various groups continued to practise in secret anyway (for an example, see the article in ‘Kenshi247: selected articles 2008-2011′). A public effort was made to promote kendo at higher diplomatic levels. Often cited at this point is Sasamori Junzo sensei’s (Ono-ha itto-ryu soke) influence: educated in America (PhD from Denver University) and a fluent English speaker (and Christian priest) he worked with GHQ during the occupation period, and supported the re-introduction of kendo in educational circles (he was headmaster of various universities and eventually worked in the Education Ministry. He emerged in the post-war kendo community as the head of the Shinai Kyogi association, then eventually the university kendo association).

Obviously wary about the militarism that was inherent in the immediate pre-war country controlled Butokukai, GHQ was seemingly very reticent to allow its restart. To battle this, the pro-kendo lobby introduced not ‘kendo’ but a new kendo-inspired sport called ‘shinai kyogi.’ Renamed, and without some of the more nationalist attributes, it wasn’t ‘kendo’ per-se, but it was to have a long lasting on the art.

What follows here is some information about the sport itself.

Name and term changes

It is important to note that the ‘shinai’ portion of shinai-kyogi is written in hiragana and not kanji (though there is kanji for it), much like the change that was done for naginata. This might not seem particularly important to non-Japanese speakers, but it had 2 effects:

1. It explicitly removed the ‘weapon’ aspect of the arts name, thus giving it a “softer, less violent feeling”;

2. It gave the sense that something new was being made. In the naginata community they actually named it ‘atarashii (new) naginata’ to reflect this. The new sport created from kendo was called ‘shinai KYOGI,’ a term that refers to pure sport.

Not only this, but many long-used words were changed to make shinai-kyogi more sporty for example ‘nafuda’ (name tag) was changed to ‘zekken’ (a term of German origin that refers in Japan to names/numbers on athletes), ‘ippon’ was changed to ‘tokuten’ (points), and tasuki to ‘hyoshiki’ (flag). The white line from where participants start a match was called the ‘shuppatsusen’ or ‘starting line.’

The parts of the bogu were also renamed (see below).

Equipment

Clothing:

- clothes should be made of strong cloth, a tracksuit top and trousers should be worn;
- girls may wear a skirt instead of trousers;
- shiai held outdoors generally require the use of footwear. If the ground is safe then you can use socks or go barefoot;
- any colour may be freely worn but black doesn’t fit with the bogu well, so its banned;
- clothing should be a little bit loose, not tight fitting;

Shinai:

- shinai should be wrapped on the outside with leather (i.e. a fukuro-shinai);
- shinai must be split in either 4, 8, 16, or more pieces;
- shinai must be equal to or less than 3.8 in length and weights where set based on age/gender;
- the kote-dome (i.e. tsuba) must be smaller than 3-sun and made of leather or rubber. It can be of any shape.

Bogu:

- bogu consists of a men, doate, and tebukuro (‘gloves’)*
- names were also given in hiragana MASUKU (‘mask’ i.e. men), PROTEKUTA (‘protector’ i.e. dou), and GURABU (‘glove’ i.e. kote);

* Note that the ‘tsuba’ has been renamed ‘kote dome,’ the kote ‘tebukuro’ (gloves), and other pieces given English-sounding alternatives in order to de-swordify the art and make it seem more sporty, much like the use of the name ‘shinai kyogi’ itself (see above). We could also surmise that this was done to placate GHQ as well.

Rules

Shiaijo:

- usually matches occur indoors, but outside is ok too;
- whether held inside or out the area must be flat and have no obstructions;
- the shiaijo is to be 6×7 meters and have a space of 1.5m between the middle and each player;
- if you are outside you can mark the shiaijo boundaries with stones or paint;
- if the shiaijo is raised it would be preferably if the boundaries were roped (like boxing)*;

* early all Japan championships also seem to have this feature

shiai:

- at the start of the match shinai must not be touching (a change from pre-war);
- shiai were 3 points (pre-war this varied);
- there will be 3 shinpan (apart from tenran shiai, there was almost only ever 1 shinpan, sometimes 2);
- time limits and the use of encho (and hantei) were defined.

hansoku:

- violent behaviour (e.g. taiatari or leg sweeping);
- use of shouts (i.e. kiai);
- going out of bounds.

Impact on kendo

If you look at the history of kendo as told by the ZNKR (All Japan kendo federation) you would be mistaken in thinking that shinai-kyogi had a short life-span and was irrelevant to kendo in the long run. This isn’t true. Although the shinai-kyogi association was created in 1950 and merged with the new ZNKR in 1954, books continued to be written and shiai run for quite some time it seems. The book mentioned in the opening was published in 1965, showing that a full 11 years after the dissolution of the shinai-kyogi association there was still a market for manuals. More than that, just this last weekend (end of January 2012) I found reference to shinai-kyogi shiai results from 1975 in a shiai brochure… a full 21 years after the merge.

So we have shown that shinai-kyogi outlasted its original remit, but what lasting impact – if any – did it have on kendo?

I don’t want to go into the complete ins and outs of this topic as it would require some very detailed research and presentation (maybe in the future). In brief, here are some of the far-reaching impacts of shinai-kyogi. Those in bold are fundamental changes to kendo as it existed prior to or during the war:

- fixing shiaijo sizes;
- fixing of shinai weights and lengths;
- definition of time limits;
- creation of a more democracy i.e. males and females could practise and compete equally;
- establishing 3 shinpan for all shiai;
- disallowing violent actions, specifically foot sweeps;
- creation of a ‘sporty’ image.

There are of course more things we can add to this list, for example how a yuko-datotsu was defined, but I will leave it here today.

This has only been a very brief look into shinai-kyogi and its impact on modern kendo. We do know it had a massive impact on the kendo community as the sportive element of kendo (introduced by shinai-kyogi) went in a direction and at a speed no-one seemed to predict. Proof of this can be seen in the writing of various senior sensei in the 50s and 60s lamenting over the state of kendo at the time. Their unifying cries ended up with the ZNKR getting together a group of its most senior people; the publication of ‘Concept of Kendo’ was the result.

Unfortunately, the Concept of Kendo didn’t really work out to be the call to rally as expected, and kendos sportive elements have continued to evolve, sometimes seemingly in opposition to its stated goals. The ‘Mindset of Kendo Instruction’ (published 2007) has been a newer initiative to address the situation but its end point may potentially be that as the earlier Concept Of Kendo. Inclusion of kendo as an eveny in the Olympic/GAISF ‘Combat Games’ in 2010 is yet more evidence of the continued sportification of kendo, a process that has its roots in shinai-kyogi. Some people may argue that kendo was heading in this way anyway, but a closer inspection of kendo in the 1930s and during the war suggests that kendo was getting very much back to its roots. That story, however, is for another time.

I hope you found this brief introduction interesting!!!

Check out Morishima Tateo sensei’s ‘Pursuing the spirit of modern kendo‘ for a further insight into the comments above.

剣道とシナイ競技。小西康裕。1952発行。
剣道の学び方。柏木賢。1965発行。
剣道に内在する武道・スポーツ性について：しない競技規程と剣道試合・審判規則の比較から。国分 国友。鹿屋体育大学。1990発行。
大阪新人大会2012年度BROCHURE。

I have a load of kendo books and magazines at my desk at work. In amongst these I have a couple of kendo-specific scientific sports conditioning and training books. I use these as reference and pick them up for a leaf through quite regularly. Last December I randomly took a picture of a nice diagram from one of them and posted it on the kenshi247 facebook wall. It showed the action of how the shinai moves in your hand as you start and complete a strike. The picture caused a bit of debate on facebook (for and against) so I decided to translate and present the text that goes along with the picture here. I must stress that this is only PART of a larger topic and urge you to read the original book if this topic interests you (see source).

As implied by the above, please realise that this is not some ‘how to do kendo properly’ article at all, but is presented for your (and my) study purposes. One of the well-known kendo phrases is:

我以外皆師
‘Everybody but myself is my teacher’

Look at the picture. It shows the tenouchi, specifically the rather unique usage of the pinky, and its role in energy manifestation in a kendo competitors left hand (as the muscle is extended power is generated). As you can see, as finger/hand muscles are being used the shinai-gashira (the bottom of the shinai) moves/slides between the up and down swing. This unique manipulation of the area around the pinky allows for faster control of the shinai, e.g. when you do kirikaeshi. It also allows for a finer control of the shinai tip.

Although this picture mainly demonstrates the action of the left hand in kirikaeshi, let us think about the position of the thumb and index finger and its role as a fulcrum for the pinky leverage. In this situation the wrist is in a fixed position (i.e. it doesn’t move). If the wrist bends the leverage mechanism will disappear and shinai speed and the ability to do kirikaeshi will be compromised. It follows that if the wrist is fixed then the fulcrum power of the hand can be used and kirikaeshi speed will increase.

If you move the wrist further than needed you risk compromising the ability to snap the wrists when you strike. Please be careful of this.

Lets think about it a little bit more. What we found out before (read the book – see sources) is that – when raising the shinai tip to strike – you risk losing energy in the strike if you bend your wrists in an awkward or crooked manner. Instead, as you raise the shinai tip to strike, keep your wrist fixed and allow the shinai to ‘slide’ in your hands. Ok, so where does the energy start from when you start to raise your shinai tip?

This energy comes from the elastic energy produced by the fumikiri movement (pushing of) from the left foot. As the body is being pushed forward the movement transfers energy (inertia) from the lower body to the left side of the body and arm, and the leverage of the left and right hands causes the start of movement in the shinai tip. Using the elastic energy that is transmitted up from and through the left side of your body plus the coordination of the bend of the muscles in the left shoulder, hand control, and the angle of the raised shinai tip, allows you to the possibility of changing the timing of your men strikes.

Elite competitors say ‘technical ability = the knack of striking men’ (i.e. if you can master how to do a men strike the rest will naturally follow). Once you have this control/knack you can attack with various timings, strike from various positions, be able to turn/rotate your shinai at will, and strike with correct hasuji (‘blade angle’) etc. For example, once you have this control you won’t lift your shinai tip up further than you have to when you strike.

The control of the shinai tip is found through the transmission of elastic energy from lower body >> body trunk >> upper body >> tenouchi (hands) >> shinai.

Source

剣道選手の打突のしくみ。今福一寿。剣道日本。2009発行。

Bonus

UPDATE: Check out some youtube footage of the DVD that comes with the book that was released prior to the source listed above:

Please remember I am not a professional translator, nor have studied Japanese at university nor in an institution. Any errors in fact, misunderstandings in the reading of the text, errors in translations, etc, are all my own. I can but apologise in advance.

This year has been different one than the others due to being struck by a car on my way home from work and was hospitalised. After spending three weeks in the hospital and another week at home I was immediately back in the dojo for mitori-geiko.

Its been almost 4 months since the accident now, and I am back to teaching kendo at work and going between teaching and joining in with the beginners at my normal adults dojo. I’m still commuting to the hospital for rehabilitation and doing exercises at home. Just a little bit more and I will put my bogu on and see what happens. Thanks to everyone for getting in touch to offer words of support!!

Despite my keiko-life taking a turn for the worse, kenshi247 still managed to release 34 articles and publish our first ever real-world physical book (more on this below).

Amongst the articles released this year I’d like to highlight the following:

- Pursuing the spirit of modern kendo: a 5-part marathon translation of Morishima sensei about the state of modern kendo.

- Thoughts on tameshigiri from famous swordsmen: a translation of the words of Nakayama Hakudo and Takano Sasaburo. This caused a little bit of controversy online, despite it not being the translators words nor opinion.

- A lineage all but forgotten: the start of a series about the famed Yushinkan dojo. Hopefully the follow up articles will arrive soon.

- I am a deshi and The True meaning of gratitude: a couple of very short translations by children that remind us of some important things we must keep in mind while studying kendo (or any budo).

- Take-dou: A labor of love: my friend Eric handmade his own dou from scratch. Yup, you read right! Check out the link to see how he managed this incredible feat.

There are of-course loads of great articles to be found on the site… look around!

Part of my aim with this site is to produce accurate kendo information in English to the non-Japanese speaking world. I think we are succeeding in this mission somewhat. However, some articles get buried deep within the site and are hard to find. To combat this, one of the things I’d like to do is to gather and publish articles now and then. This will also help to pay for domain names, hosting, etc.

kenshi247: selected articles

This is our first printed publication. Created solely with articles off the site its a beautiful 50-page book in magazine format. To see more pictures and read more about it, please click here or on the image to the right. A link to buy it can be found on that page or alternatively you can click the picture in the sidebar to go straight to preview/purchase.

Your support is appreciated!!!!!

Kendo 2012 calendar

We put together a 2012 calendar using never-before seen pictures, click here for preview/purchase information.

2011 Xmas present – Kendo places

I have collected the ‘kendo places’ series into a magazine-styled book and have made available for FREE as a xmas present (pdf/iPad) !! If you wish to get a physical copy you will of-course have to pay a small fee for printing etc costs.

Please click here or the cover image on the right to preview/download it. Enjoy!

Publications for 2012

I am hard at work on two separate projects, hopefully to be finished in the first half of 2012. I will post information on the site and on facebook when they are released…….

Renewal and redesign

Over xmas/new-year I HOPE to sit down and do my yearly renewal and redesign. The site is getting a little bit cluttered, so I want to streamline it. In particular:

- make it easier to find older, high quality articles
- archive some of the old/short articles for historical purposes (rather than delete)
- a cleaner/easier managing process for the Eikenkai and Yoseikai sites
- a creation of a new website for kenshi247 publications – http://kendo-book.com/
- re-instatement/development of a proper gallery function

And thats it!!! I hope you have a good winter holiday period, and good luck with your keiko next year. See you in the dojo.

Cheers!

- George
Osaka, 21st December 2011.

I often get email from people abroad wishing to join Eikenkai or Yoseikai pracises when travelling through Osaka, and the odd email about people wishing to look for dojo in places outside of the Kansai area. The usual format is “Hello, my name is X and I am Y grade.” After that I may get more information, for example where they practise, the duration of their experience, and – less commonly – their teachers name. People with experience in training in Japan, however, find that when first entering a dojo they are usually asked these questions in the reverse order, i.e. the initial question asked is “who is your sensei?”

Over the net, if someone tells me their age, duration of experience, and grade I can make a pretty good guess of where I think they should/may be technically. Generally. However, this is just what it is: a guess. I can’t possibly know how they do kendo or – more importantly – their attitude to it. This is where telling me your teacher becomes very important. If I know your teacher – either personally, through word of mouth, or reputation – its a much better indicator to me about your method, style, and purpose for practising, which is arguably more important than simply how good you are. Even if you are not so experienced now, if your teacher is well thought of then I know that you are going in the right direction. These people – i.e. those I can easily profile – I am more inclined to spend more of my time to help out. In the same vein, I know that the initial treatment you receive when attending a new dojo in Japan can be affected (both positively and negatively) depending on your answer to the initial “who is your sensei?” question.

Of course there are many times when people mention instructors whom I don’t know, and at that time mentioning your teachers-teacher can be useful. Since I study mainly under a couple of teachers, one being relatively well known (in Japan) the other not so, I often qualify the other sensei when I go to a new place by telling a little bit about his background.

How many people actually know their teachers teacher and what qualifies as a ‘teacher’ anyway? These questions might seem sudden, but they are an important part of this discussion. Let me tackle these questions in reverse.

A teacher is someone you learn from and study under for a (somewhat long) duration. Someone – at least in the earlier stages of your kendo career – you simply copy. If they are a good teacher you will never outgrow them. They should hopefully also be someone who has reached a proper teaching level. It follows that I do not – and I hope you don’t either – consider someone my teacher if I do kendo with them at seminars once or twice a year, even if that spans multiple years or even decades (if they are Japanese then they almost certainly don’t consider me their student in that situation anyway, despite what I or you may wish to believe).

Your teachers teacher is obviously someone that your teacher spent many years studying under, and is possibly someone who you have never met. What good is it knowing about them anyway? If your teacher is serious he/she probably limited themselves to a small number of instructors and studied under them for a good many years. What they learned from their teacher is what they imparted to you. So your teachers teacher has, in effect, influenced your own kendo as well (fundamentally so). So when someone asks you “who is your sensei?” or “whats your experience?” its not only much more useful (to the experienced questioner) but may even be more ‘correct’ (in a traditional manner) to tell them not only your immediate teacher, but your teachers teacher as well (especially if your teacher is not well known). If you list a few dojo’s or multiple names (or heaven forbid, you can’t think of anyone who you would gladly call your ‘sensei), then I’d say you’ve not just gone of on a dangerous tangent, but you are not doing ‘Kendo,’ at least in an orthodox manner.

Kendo is – as I’m sure you don’t need a reminder of – a physical tradition that is taught not through websites, books, and certainly not through video, but is a living tradition taught and learned physically and verbally. If knowing your teachers teacher is to (start to) know your own roots, then it follows that not having a teacher means you have no base.

Unnatural selection a.k.a. the bespectacled watchmaker

Like a lot of people when I was in my teens I often wondered if the strange people living in my home were actually my relatives – their ideas seemed so alien to me I suspected that I might have been adopted!!! As a poor student living hand to mouth I was often bitter about being born in a family that was far from wealthy. As you can guess, I was (am?!) quite an ungrateful son! We can’t choose to whom we are born nor (at the moment anyway) whats going to pop out in the maternity wing. Luckily, kendo-wise, we DO have the ability to choose, for want of a better word, our parent(s) and our genealogy.

What we are taught and study in the dojo is simply the physical (and verbal) teachings of generations of instructors. From your teacher you simply inherit what they were taught and these teachings are, if you will, part of your kendo DNA. Naturally, choosing a ‘bad’ teacher leads to a dubious (even bleak at times) future.

So when you go to new hospital or visit a new doctor and you are asked about any congenital conditions in your families background, maybe you will recall your first visit to a Japanese dojo when they asked you “Who is your sensei?”

Addendum

Obviously peoples learning experiences and situations are different. Some people may not even be interested in their teachers teacher or further down the line. But for those of us that take the study of kendo seriously, researching and discovering your roots is, I believe, vitally important.

The kanji for KEIKO means – as everyone knows – to ‘reflect’ on the ‘past.’ One basic meaning of this is ‘repetition’ – to repeat what you have (and your teacher, and their teacher, and… has) done before, polishing and refining it.

I remember *Ken-Zen dojo’s Ebihara-sensei stop and tell the class one day:

“Everything you do in the dojo has been done before. You might think you have made up some new technique or strategy for attacking but thats rubbish. Its all been done before. Just repeat kihon. This is keiko.”

(I paraphrase – I have a strong memory of the scene and the gist of what was said, but not the exact words. I was a young and immature kendoka in Ken-zen in the mid/late 90s… I hope my understanding of Ebihara-sensei’s words are correct, in content if not in words.)

Thanks!

This post has been a bit of a ramble, so apologies and thanks for putting up with it!

I’d also like to say a big thanks to the people that contributed to kenshi247 buy purchasing either the 2012 kenshi247 calendar or our first publication: “kenshi247: selected articles 2008-2011.” The publication has only been available for 10 days now and I’m pretty happy at the rate people are picking it up. The quality of the printed version is really great (you can see pictures here) and I’ve been getting a load of positive feedback. Very inspiring!

Please click on the image below or in the side-banner (or here) to see a full preview and to purchase.

kenshi247: selected articles 2008-2011

By George McCall

50 pages, published 4 DEC 2011

A collection of the best kendo articles from kenshi247.net spanning 2008-2011.

Contents:

1. About kenshi247
2. Kenshi (swordsmen): Takano Sasaburo; Fujimoto Kaoru; Takizawa Kozo; Ikeda Yuji; Furuya Fukunosuke; Kendo no kata creators.
3. Oshie (teachings): The reality of seme – Furuya Fukunosuke; Kendo Is – Sawaki Kodo; The Concept of kendo – Nishino Goro.
4. Waza (techniques): Kobayashi Mitsuru hanshi’s katatezuki; Dead or dying.
5. Shinsa (gradings): A brief investigation of the shogo system; How to pass hachidan (2 versions).
6. Extras: The formation of reiho in modern kendo; Some naming guidelines.
7. References and sources.

Why publish something now?

From the start kenshi247.net has always been free and will remain so in the future as well. All the articles in the publication above are still available online for you to enjoy completely free. So why bother? Basically, I had 2 reasons why I decided to publish now:

1. Over the years I’ve had many people ask ‘how do I donate?’ or ‘how can I support you?’ an answer to which I’ve never really had. Rather than just accept money, I thought I’d collate some of the articles for posterity and give people the chance to donate by buying them. Any profit made will go into hosting and domain costs and theme purchasing. If a miracle happens and 10 million copies are sold then I’ll build a dojo!

2. Next year I am aiming to publish at least 2 kendo books, one is a completely original book written by yours truly, and the other is a top secret translation piece. This ‘selected articles’ is a sort of dry run for these. I have never published anything online before, and never done any book design or what have you, so this is all new to me.

Thanks!

Just a final word of thanks to the kenshi247 readers out there. Hopefully we can continue to produce interesting and informative content (online and in print) for many years to come!!!

Cheers,
- George
Osaka, December 2011.