Kendo for LIFE

Kendo-Guide.Com Newsletter, Issue #005 - October Part 2

Since I introduced most of the new articles and videos in the last issue, I do not have many of them for you to catch up.

I am working on a new article and one question I have received recently at Kendo Q & A section. They may be ready by the time you read this issue.

If you have not done a kendo general survey, please participate. It takes only a few minutes. Thanks!

What we have in this issue is shown below. Enjoy this Newsletter!

Table of Content

- Articles Since the Last Issue -

- Kendo Q & A -

- Kendo as Budo: Not Martial Arts -

- Comments or Questions -

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- Articles Since the Last Issue -

* Normal Training Procedure

This is just to show you how a kendo training session is held normally; start from bowing at the entrance of the dojo. I hope this helps to grab a big picture.

To know more about Normal Training Procedure, click here...

- Kendo Q & A -

- Right-Handed Kendo

- Cutting properly

- More power in the left hand than the right hand. Why?

- Kendo as Budo: Not Martial Arts -

Kendo is still new to the world. Many people see kendo differently. Some say it is a martial art and other say it is a sport. And many say it is both.

I do not know why people have to go on and on about what kendo is, when All Japan Kendo Federation clearly declares the concept of kendo and its purpose. Here I would like to share my idea of kendo.

I would say kendo is a budo. Maybe you would think that budo means martial arts. Yes. It is translated as "martial arts" but it doesn't feel right.

Probably it is because some people have asked me how effective kendo is in real fighting as a martial art. And also some see kendo as a sword fighting like we see in movies.

"Maybe it is time to introduce kendo as budo to the world", I thought.

As I explained in Martial Arts is a way of life?, something-do is an activity we pursue through our entire life.

As a learning process, we have matches (tournament, championships and so forth) but it is not everything. Winners of these tournaments are really great and should be praised for their achievement.

But winning is not everything in kendo. That is why even All Japan Kendo Champions struggle to pass their 8th dan exam.

Kendo has matches so it has a sport aspect. But matches in kendo are not to win. It is to check our own improvement.

Do not get me wrong. If we are in matches, we should try to win. We should not have an attitude of "I don't care if I lose or win". It is extremely rude to your opponents.

We should do our best and fight our opponents with everything we've got. And we can learn a lot out of these matches. And what we learn from these matches helps us to improve our kendo.

Kendo is a method to challenge ourselves. And kendo has many helpful teachings so we can learn how to deal with ourselves and our lives.

The purpose of other budo such as judo, karate, kyudo and so forth is the same, I think. They just have different forms.

We choose kendo. Others choose other budo. But our goal is to challenge ourselves and become a better person. That is the common goal in all the budo.

- Comments or Questions -

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