Kendo Techniques

The kendo martial art is based on ancient Japanese sword fighting technique called Kenjutsu. The word kendo is formed of 'ken' (sword) and 'do' (way of doing/philosophy of). Those who practice the Kendo techniques are known as either kendoka or kenshi. Kendo sword fighting has developed in Japan and around 4 million Japanese people practice it. There are many simple and complicated techniques that one can learn in this art. Here is an attempt to present basic information about this martial art.

Techniques of Kendo
The basic and advanced techniques of kendo are explained in short, in the paragraphs below.

Basic Techniques
Here are some basic techniques of kendo. In these techniques, emphasis is laid on maintaining proper body posture and stance, so as to be able to enforce proper self defense, if the need arises.

Rei-gi: The word 'rei' in Japanese, means to show courtesy and respect. It is displayed through the bowing action. The different actions associated with showing courtesy are altogether known as rei-gi. The term rei-ho, on the other hand, is used to denote different rules that guide the actions associated with rei-gi.

Kamae: The swordsman gets ready to strike in this position. There are 5 sub-types of the kamae stance and chudan-no-kamae is the most important one. In the chudan-no-kamae stance, body posture is kept upright. The right foot is placed in front of the left and both are aligned in a single line; the heel of left leg is raised slightly. The body weight should be distributed properly between the left and right feet. Right hand should be positioned below the tsuba while holding the shinai or bamboo blade. The left hand should be held in line with the tsuba-gashira.

Advanced Techniques
The different kendo sword techniques are categorized into the offensive, 'Shikake Waza' techniques and the defensive, 'Oji Waza' techniques. The different offensive and defensive techniques are explained below.

Shikake Waza
The different offensive techniques included in the shikake waza category are explained below.

Harai Waza: In the harai waza technique, one has to flip the opponent's sinai with his. The technique is used to make an opening and then for striking.

Renzoku Waza: The term renzoku waza is used to denote the action in which one attacks with the sword consecutively. For the action of striking twice, the term, ni-dan waza is used. San-dan waza is the term used for 3 consecutive strikes.

Debana Waza: The debana waza is an action of striking with sword, as soon as one gets a sign/signal about his opponent's move. The word debana can be translated as 'just about to start'.

Maki Waza: The maki waza move requires you to first connect your shinai with that of the opponent's and hook them together. The next step is to spin the opponent's shinai in the upward or downward direction.

Oji Waza
The defensive techniques of kendo sword fighting are included in this category. Getting mentally prepared to receive and return/block the strikes is the key point to remember in learning the defensive techniques.

Uchiotoshi Waza: It is also known as the striking-down technique. One has to hit down the opponent's shinai. The uchiotoshi waza technique includes 3 sub-techniques i.e. kote-uchiotoshi-men, men-uchiotoshi-men and doh-uchiotoshi-men. The doh-uchiotoshi-men and kote-uchiotoshi-men techniques make use of 2 strikes (with shinai), the first one to hit opponent's offensive strike downwards, while the second one to make a counter-attack. The men-uchiotoshi-men technique just uses one strike for deflecting the offensive strike of the opponent as well as making a counter-attack.

The different beginner kendo techniques along with some advanced ones are explained in the article above. The information would help in getting familiar with this form of sword fighting.