Yongfook is a web producer and usability consultant based in Tokyo

I started Kendo again a few weeks ago. I studied it for 2 years whilst at university, then took an indefinite break. Taking it up again in Japan marks the end of a 2 year long sabbatical from the art / sport. If you don’t know what Kendo is, there is a little explanation at the bottom of this diary entry.

During the first session in Japan, it all became horribly apparent to me as to why I had stopped it in the first place. I enjoy the discipline, the formality and the chance to hit people, but there are many aspects that I am not so enamoured with.

1) Its extremely tiring. It is the only sport that really makes me sweat. Of course it’s not unusual to sweat when you are clad head to toe in armour that weighs about 10kg, and you are continually screaming your face off whilst swinging a mock sword with wild abandon. Taking your helmet off at the end of a practise causes steam to unnervingly rise from your hair and face, making you wonder exactly how much of your body you have managed to cook in the last hour.

2) The smell Kendo armour doesn’t get washed. Couple this fact with the aforementioned sweating and the outcome is quite predictable. After a while, Kendo armour smells evil - the gloves being by far the most heinous. Worse than my sink that one time, worse than the black seaweed sludge that Japanese people sometimes put on their rice and worse than millions of dung beetles having a party at a sewage plant, dipping their shit-flavoured potato chips into nattou.

3) You sustain injuries Kendo is a contact sport, even in normal practice. If your opponent manages to miss your armour and thwack you on an unprotected part of your body, it can be painful. Bruised wrists are quite common. The continual stop-start nature of Kendo also manages to totally shred up your feet. Burst forward, stop, swivel round, eek blister. There are other less obvious, but more alarming internal injuries that I have sustained too. I attribute my neck crick (I am one of those people who has to ‘crack’ their neck periodically) to being repeatedly donked on the head whilst practicing Kendo.

It’s frustrating for me to find that I have many old habits from Kendo in England that just aren’t dying here, no matter how much I am told.

“Jon-san, your leg too high. Must be low. Relax!” the sensei tirelessly repeats for the 12th time that minute. Cue me repeating the manoeuvre, exactly the same as before, incorrect and retarded. I watch the sensei’s armour rise and fall as he gives a big sigh.

What is Kendo?

Kendo is a style of Japanese fencing. The fighting style is rigid and efficient, and is based loosely on methods of the Samurai. In the dojo, Kendoka (that is, people who practise Kendo) wear dogi (like the tops in other Japanese martial arts) and hakama - a kind of extremely loose trouser, the idea being that it is difficult for your opponent to see what your legs are doing. A Kendoka’s armour consists of 4 parts, Men, Do, Kote and Tare. The Men offers protection to the head and throat, with the face protected by a metal grille - so the wearer can still see out. The Do protects the Kendoka’s stomach area. The Kote are gloves which protect the Kendoka’s wrists and hands. The Tare is not reinforced, and offers only some protection to the Kendoka’s groin and hips - but in Kendo, these areas are not legitimate striking points.

In a Kendo match, points are awarded based on strict criteria. The attacker must hit a legitimate area (head, stomach or wrist), and the attacker must have good kiai and form. Roughly speaking this means 3 things must happen at the same time for there to be a point scored - a strike, a shout and a stamp of the right foot.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 15th, 2002 at 2:31 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.