The Philosophy of Kendo

○The Meaning of Budō

The word bu (武) is made up of two sub characters. "Hoko" (戈) means "arms" and "tomeru" (止める) means "to stop." The modern meaning of the term budō (武道) is to look for a way to avoid conflicts. One's ultimate goal when pursuing budō is to train oneself in controlling one's actions.

○Utte hansei, utarete kansha (打って反省、打たれて感謝)

In a situation where your opponent misses his target, but still gets the point, you must think about why the judges gave your opponent that point. It is easy to say that your opponent missed, but it is impossible for the judges to give your opponent the point if you had proper kamae or if the shinai didn't even touch the target.

"utte hansei, utarete kansha" This means that if you get a point on your opponent, you must think about why you got a point and how you can further improve your hits. If your opponent gets a point on you, you must think about what you did wrong and thank your opponent for pointing out your weak points.

○Shu ha ri（守破離）

Shu ha ri describes the course of one's training, but it also applies to the stages in one's life.

Shu: This is the first step, where the student strictly follows what his teachers has taught and focuses on both physical and mental training. This is also where students focus on the basics.

Ha: Once the student has mastered the basics, he or she should slightly change what he learnt in order to break away from blindly following what his teacher has taught him.

Ri: The last step is to move away from your teacher and to look for or build one's own path.

○Sannsappō（三殺法）

Sannsappō refers to three ways in which you can kill your opponent's shinai, technique, and his ki in order to make an opening.

Killing his/her shinai means to remove it from the center line. There are many techniques to use, but one of the most common one is to apply pressure from the left or right the shinai. Killing his/her technique means to attack continuously and to deprive the opponent of any chance to counter attack. Also, by using ōji waza, one can apply pressure to the opponent's mind in order to make an opening. Killing the opponent's ki means to take away the opponent's desire to fight by first killing his/her shinai and then his/her techniques.

○Shikai（四戒）

One's mental state is just as important as physical endurance. Shikai refers to four mind states that create gives others a chance to attack. During practice, please keep in mind the below four and try to avoid them.

To be startled by the opponent's actions and to lose one usual frame of mind.

To fear one's opponent.

To question or lose confidence in one's ability.

To be indecisive.

○Kenntai icchi（懸待一致）

Ken (懸) means to initiate the attack and tai (待) means to wait for the opponent to attack. Commonly beginners rely on either one of the two and tend to play his/her kendo without thinking about the opponent's actions or how to take advantage of these. In order to avoid this, one should try and use oji waza and debana waza because these combine defense and attack.

○Ichigan, nisoku, sanntan, shiriki（一眼、二足、三胆、四力）

There are four very important elements in kendo. The most important element is vision, i.e. the ability to sense/see the opponent's actions in order to make fast decisions in various situations. Second, smooth footwork allows you to move and hit accurately. Third, a strong sprit/mind that is not easily distracted is important. Fourth, power and technique are equally important. Please keep these in mind when practicing.

○Kou ken chi ai（交剣知愛）

Kou ken chi ai means to practice kendo with others and to learn to be affectionate towards them. The purpose of kendo is not to hurt others or to over power them. It is important to get to know others though practice and one should try to play good kendo so that the opponent will want to practice with you again.

○Why is hard to get a point with gyaku do?

Gyaku do is the left side of the opponent's do (seen from your point of view, it is on the right side). It is hard to get a point in this area unless the his is very clean because if one were in a real battle situation, the opponent would have a sword there to block your strikes. (Samurai's had two swords: one long and the other short. The long one was used for combat, while the short stayed by his side.) This is one example where old styles of thinking prevail. Another example is "刃筋" (hasuji), which is how one hits the opponent. If the tsuru is facing down or the side, the hit will not be a point. Please make sure you hit properly during practice.

○Senn（先）

Senn means a chance to win by preventing the opponent from initiating an attack. There are three types of senn. These are not just physical movements; they involve a lot of mental elements as well.

Senn senn no senn（先々の先）

Predict the opponent's movements and take advantage of the openings that he or she creates by using debana waza.

Sennzen no senn（先前の先）or Tsui no senn（対の先）

When the opponent moves, he also create openings. One must take advantage of these chances. Sennzen no senn refers to situations like these where you attack using waza other than debana.

Go no senn（後の先）

This refers to when one pressures the opponent into attacking, and counterattacks by using ōji waza. It is important to make the opponent move and not to wait for hi/her to attack.