Kendo

[Bob Hubbard]

From the rec.martialarts FAQ

(Contributor: Al Bowers - bowers@wilbur.dfrf.nasa.gov)

Intro: This is a popular sport in Japanese communities.

Origin: Japan

History:

Kendo is the sport and competitive form of Kenjutsu. Kendo has been
practiced for a long time in one form or another.

Description:

The practitioners wear protective armor and use simulated swords
(split bamboo called "shinai") to "spar" against one another. Strike
areas are limited as are moves. It is a very formal art. It is
linear, hard, and external.

Training:

Training mostly consists of two-person drills, basics, and some kata
that have been retained from kenjutsu between individuals.

Sub-Styles: none (?)

 

[arnisador]

Originally posted by Kaith Rustaz
Sub-Styles: none (?)

I think this is correct; there are of course many styles of kenjutsu.

Is there any serious effort to make kendo an Olympic sport?

 

[Cthulhu]

Just took a quick peek at the chapter on kendo in Draeger's Modern Budo and Bujutsu and there does not appear to be any mention of kendo sub-styles. The names of the schools of kenjutsu from which kendo and its kata was derived are mentioned, but no individual kendo sub-styles.

Cthulhu

 

[arnisador]

I learned something about kendo tonight that I hadn't known before--one of the 8 regions that may be struck for points, the left wrist, only counts if struck when above (or at?) shoulder height.

Is there a rule for left-handed kendoka or must they all play right-handed?

 

[arnisador]

Are the rules in kumdo the same as those in kendo? Do kumdo artists compete against kendo artists?

 

[arnisador]

http://www.kendo-world.com/

 

[Kingston]

Originally posted by arnisador
Is there any serious effort to make kendo an Olympic sport?

No....not from the Canadians at least.

Also to score a point the practitioner has to show spirit. Basicaly if the judge didn't think your heart was in that last "point" he wont give it to you.

 

[islandtime]

Originally posted by arnisador
I learned something about kendo tonight that I hadn't known before--one of the 8 regions that may be struck for points, the left wrist, only counts if struck when above (or at?) shoulder height.

Is there a rule for left-handed kendoka or must they all play right-handed?

.....................................................................

As in JSA , there are NO left handed kendoka


Gene Gabel:asian:

 

[Eddie Miller]

Actually there has been talk about Kendo and the Olympics. Personally I doubt you will see Kendo the way we know it in there. To much of the Judges decision is based on the way the strike "feels" to them. Olympics has to use a electronic score system so that there is no room for a bias. As to date I have seen no electronic score system that can feel the points However the Koreans are trying to create a sytem that can be used. They may try to introduce Kendo when it comes back to Korea. I don't think that Japan would. At least not right now. They don't want Kendo to go the way of Judo. But there are people out there trying never the least.


Eddie Miller
www.OrlandoKendo.com

 

[Yari]

Originally posted by arnisador
I
Is there a rule for left-handed kendoka or must they all play right-handed?

I dont think there is left handed kendoka at all. Your mimicing the sword, and if you draw the sword from the other side it would get entangeled in your gi. And to switch you gi the other way around is a no-no, since you only do that to dead-people.

So I've been told.


/Yari

 

[Yari]

Originally posted by arnisador
I think this is correct; there are of course many styles of kenjutsu.

I beg to differ.

If you read Darrell Max Craig's book "The Heart of Kendo"(ISBN 1-57062-407-0), it looks like there is an "older" art(of kendo), that is still praticed but not accepted into noraml kendo tournements.

/Yari

 

[Charles Mahan]

There is a saying that goes, "There are no left handed swordsman in Japan". The iai crowd would usually argue the point based on the amount of left hand involved in drawing the sword, but that's neither here nor there. There are no left handed swordsman in Japan for the same reason that there are no left handed people in Japan. To much pressure to conform. So there are right handed people and ambidextrious people.

 

[arnisador]

http://www12.mainichi.co.jp/news/mdn/search-news/888567/fencing-0-1.html

A teacher from a top private high school here has been arrested for molesting one of his students, police said Tuesday.
Mitsutoshi Toyama, the teacher, was arrested for indecent assault.
[...]
Police said Toyama took the Nissho Gakuen kendo team to Osaka for the national kendo high school championship in March. The team traveled by ferry from Miyazaki. On the night of March 23, he ordered one of the girls to visit his cabin.
[...]
Sickened, the girl quit the kendo team immediately after the tournament.

Toyama has a seventh dan rank in kendo, or Japanese fencing. He was the 1980 National Kendo Champion.

 

[nijntje]

i have ones have hold an shinai,,,its fery light ,its almost weight nothing.and a katana weight about 1000 grams,,
and kendokas moves and strikes are very fast.
i wonder,,(when i hold an katana in my hand ),,
are those movements and fast jumps posible with an real katana???

have any kendoka tried this movements with an katana?
and what is their conclusion??
does it feel right??

i'm not a strong guy,,and i see strikes with high speed with a shinai,,
so i wonder,,since the katana is quit heavy,,is this posible with an real katana???
and kan they stop an strike ones started,,,,,suddenly in mid air??
or is this sword to heavy to stop when it eventualy started to moved forward to the oponent?

 

[Yari]

Originally posted by nijntje
i have ones have hold an shinai,,,its fery light ,its almost weight nothing.and a katana weight about 1000 grams,,
and kendokas moves and strikes are very fast.
i wonder,,(when i hold an katana in my hand ),,
are those movements and fast jumps posible with an real katana???

I can understand you concern. I can't say that I've tried it. My Iaito is 1.200 gram., and I only use it to iaido.

I've been told that pratice will make you stronger and you will be able to handle the sword with more agility, the questions is really if the sword can handle the way you are handling it.

/Yari

 

[Makalakumu]

I purposely practice with a heavy blade. It is balance, nonetheless. Eventually, I will switch to a lighter one to see if I gain any speed advantage. (now days with the threat of death removed such experiments are possible)