Kendo for non kendoka

Thinking back to my distant days as a student, I remember wading through a book entitled “Finance for non Accountants”. Picking up on the perceptions of kendo amongst people who have not tried it themselves, a similar “Kendo for non Kendoka” might be of value. Strangely enough, practitioners of other martial arts often have the most [...]

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Mutual Respect!

As the kendo versus Iai debate has continued, I have given way to popoular demand by posting the two image polls below. The output from these should help sociologists, anthropologists and sports scientists reach a definitive understanding of how practitioners of the two arts regards each other. The polls have been scientifically designed by Kendoinfo’s crack team of behavioural scientists [...]

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Shodan shinsa

Sometime back I wrote a post on how to train for grading examinations. Having sat on the 4th and 5th dan panel in Brussels last week and as I am scheduled to be an examiner for the Irish National Grading this coming week end, I thought it might be useful to highlight some of the [...]

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Tokui waza

Experienced kendoka are expected to have a “Tokui waza” It translates as “Unique Technique” , although it is generally thought of as favourite technique. Think of Eiga san’s tsuki and you have the kendo definition of tokui waza. Most strong shiai players have a technique that continually wins their matches; but of course, it is [...]

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Big or Small?

I am frequently asked by people in the early stages of their kendo career – “Why do you tell me to cut big when you cut small”. The non diplomatic answer is “because I can and you can’t”. Of course, I am a lot more polite and encouraging than that, but to make successful small [...]

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Ask not what kendo can do for you ……….

To misquote a well known saying! I use a number of business networking sites for work and do get a lot of value from one in particular – Linkedin. This site is of a size where it has lots of specialist groups, including one for Kendo Business Professionals. In the Q and A sessions for [...]

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Kendo and Zen

I am not for a moment going to try to explain the relationship between kendo and zen. To attempt to do so would take me way beyond my own level of understanding. This is more me musing on the different levels of emphasis placed on that relationship by different kendoka. Along with kyudo, sado, shodo [...]

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How does Kendo fit in?

I just got back from teaching at the Norwegian Martial Arts Association Summer Camp in Mandal. This event is unusual in that it attracts students from many different martial arts. This year there were instructors teaching various schools of Karate and Jujutsu, Kung Fu, Kick Boxing, Judo, Aikijutsu, Escrima, Krav Maga and some I didn’t [...]

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