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Already well known in Japan, Osaka sports universities Sakudo sensei is becoming more and more well known outside of the country nowadays, so I thought I’d dig out a piece of kendo literature by him to share with kenshi247 readers. Here is a translation of a short description of ‘seme’ that was originally published in …

Editors comment 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 …

There are some people that take jodan-no-kamae whilst sparring their sempai or sensei. Jodan is about overpowering the enemy and forcing their technique, spirit, and power to cower before yours, all the while unreservedly attacking any of their openings wholeheartedly (sutemi). To reach the point where you can do this requires a long and arduous …

The following is a translation of another short article by Takizawa Kozo hanshi. As someone who was never taught tsuki for many years of his kendo career I think I would have liked to have had Takaizawa hanshi’s advice on the matter earlier. I started my own experiment (almost untaught) as a member of the …

This is not meant as a guide for learning jodan, but more a guide of how to implement jodan training in your dojo. I’ll assume  that you already have permission from your teacher to practice jodan and skip the whole ‘why train jodan’ issue. I also assume that your are proficient with a variety of …

It’s a not uncommon sight on sword-related forums these days. An aspiring student of the Japanese sword arts, left-handed, joins the forum and asks about studying ken (be it kendo, iaido, or aiki-ken) with a left-handed grip. He is quickly informed that no, Japanese swordsmanship is a right-handed affair, that all Japanese swordsman were right-handed, …

The following rule changes will probably not impact your kendo training any time soon nor in the near future. However, implementation of them in competition for young Japanese kenshi ensures that there will be a stylistic change in the kendo leaders of the future and it is also strongly hints at what the kendo leaders …

The Musashi-kai are a group of experienced kenshi based in Japan that seek to promote the systematic training of nito in modern kendo. Up until their creation nito practitioners often had to invent their own methods of fighting using two shinai, often resulting in haphazard, random, or just plain bad technique. They have changed this. …

銃剣に対しては普通の構より右肩を前に、體を稍々平身にし切先を下げ心地にして構へ、機を見て剣先を押へ飛込んで相手の面を撃つか、左足より左斜前に飛込んで、左片手を似て、相手の右横面を撃つのである。相手が突いて来た場合は身を交し、はらふか押へて直に正面を撃つか左右の片手を似って相手の横面をうつか、或は左胴をとろもよい方法である。突は不利で面を撃つが良法である。 When facing someone armed with a Juken (bayonet) you should slightly put your right shoulder forward, drop the tip of your shinai, and have the sensation of a more flattened posture than normal. Looking for a chance to attack, strongly jump foward and attack your opponents men, or jump diagonally to the right with …

So, Fujimoto Kaoru… have you heard his name before? Probably not. I hadn’t until quite recently. But like myself, almost everyone reading this website has seen his picture (above). So who was he and – if he was was strong enough to fight in front of the Emperor – why isn’t he more widely known …