What is Kendo?

Kendo literally means - The Way of the Sword.
In eighth century Japanese warfare was conducted by local conscript armies, which were drilled by professional military instructors in horsemanship, grappling in armour and the use of the bow, spear and sword.

Later, during the rise of the great clans, skilled swordsmen found ready employment as instructors to the clan warriors by means of Kenjutsu. (Ken - sword, Jutsu - martial application)

The names of great swordsmen, and the techniques they developed, are still alive to this day.

During the early 18th century it was insisted that Kenjutsu was an art with a definite limit - that of the mastery of sword technique.

To further gain mastery of spiritual development it was necessary to transcend the physical technique.

Miyamoto Musashi and Odegiri described their swordsmanship as a spiritual discipline and shows the written character DO to replace Jutsu, thus the full word KENDO was formed.

Each Dojo you train at or talk with will have similar but ever so slightly different opinion of what Kendo should be.

The role of the student is to discover through their Dojo and themselves what this is.

KEN JUTSU