What sport should I practice besides Kendo?

by Lizardi
(Amsterdam)

I want to start kendo. But I also want to practise other martial arts what martial art should I practice in cooperation with kendo? Like what martial arts have the same principals as kendo, and what martial art will teach me new things but still let my kendo practice untouched or even help with it (preferably a martial art without sword)

Answer: Thank you for your question. It depends on what’s available around where you live but any martial arts should help you with learning kendo.

Many people try to apply “movements” directly from other martial arts to kendo. And many are not successful. The reason is simple. Kendo does not have “classic” movements anymore.

What is classic?

Kendo is derived from samurai swordsmanship and samurai was a warrior, i.e. combat specialists. They needed to use different types of combat skills such as empty handed, short sword, staff, spare and so forth. So basically many Japanese martial arts have similar movements.

But since kendo took its own course so it is very different from classic martial arts. A good example is how we stand in kendo. We keep our feet relatively close to each other while the feet are apart in other martial arts.

The starting stance is different so how we move and use our body are different. That means you really have to be able to differentiate the kendo movements and the movements of the other martial arts. This is the hard part for many people.

So if you want to do multiple martial arts including kendo, you should start kendo first and learn it thoroughly. The kendo movements are unique so they are harder to acquire. Once you learned other martial arts it is very hard to get the kendo movements right.

Hope this helps.

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