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kendo the martial art

Where do we begin?   How do we describe kendo?  Simply as a traditional Japanese martial art?  As a sport enjoyed by over six million practitioners worldwide?  Or as one of the most physically and spiritually intense activities out there?

​The facts:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kendo

Some quality blogs:
https://www.kendo-guide.com/
https://www.kendo-world.com/wordpress/
https://kenshi247.net/

Youtube channels:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt9ijyEJRrvIOFu-N3urSJw/featured
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfPtNgACZziQ1uWF5Mqbk4Q

Other links:
​https://www.reddit.com/r/kendo/

​Few other Japanese martial arts are so steeped in tradition.  For some, this is off-putting.

​For others, it is a magnet.  
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Perhaps it can be put most succinctly in this way:  After a successful strike in a kendo contest, a fist pump would mean a penalty for that contestant.
Think about that for a moment.
Please think about what any other physical contest in this world has become.  In kendo, prerequisite modesty and an exquisite ​degree of respect for one's fellow combatants is demanded at all times.  This is a species of integrity.

Who cares about this anymore, and why?
​

Every time I reread what I just wrote, I feel compelled to stop for a few seconds, because my heart tells me to.

(Stop for a few seconds)

​


​Maybe you care about this.  Maybe.  But make no mistake, if you don't, stay away from kendo.  It doesn't want you anyway.

​However, if you do care about things like modesty, and respect, or think you may, visit a kendo dojo​.

​There are so few bastions​  anymore.  Maybe I'm just old, but I like the idea of bastions.  Kendo - as a concept - is one of mine.  And I will continue to hold it dear until the day it betrays me (might that be the day it is accepted into the Olympics?).  The first time I see a whiff of self-congratulation after a point in a kendo match, something inside of me will die.

​
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  • KEN the game
  • Kendo the martial art
  • HOW KEN CAME TO BE
  • CONTACT
  • KEN Privacy Policy
  • KEN the Blog