Kendoka wear armour protecting the head, throat, wrists and abdomen; these are the only legal targets. The split-bamboo practice sword, called a shinai, is wielded two-handed; the kendoka faces his opponent squarely. A small number of high-level practitioners utilize a shinai in each hand. Kendoka move using a peculiar gliding step refined for use on the smooth floors of the dojo. Kendoka generally practice as partners although the basics of posture, movement, grip and swing are learned in supervised solo practice. Because of the equipment, kendoka can and do practice full speed and full power, including free-sparring. Kendoka sometimes practice partner kata similar to kenjutsu, in which two partners carry out a prescribed series of attacks with wooden or steel swords.
Having defined terminolody, the art of winning real fights with real swords
is kenjutsu. The primary goal of
kenjutsu is victory over opponents; the primary goal of kendo is to improve
oneself through the study of the
sword. Kendo also has a strong sporting aspect with big tournaments avidly
followed by the Japanese public.
Thus kendo could be considered the philosophical/sporting aspect of Japanese
swordsmanship. Howver, since
the early 1700s virtually all ryuha teaching kenjutsu have promoted it as a
means to self-improvement and
emphasized the philosophical aspects of the art.
In terms of learning to fight with a sword, kenjutsu has a more complete
curriculum. Kendo of necessity limits the
range of techniques and targets. Kendoka generally use shinai, which allow
techniques which do not work with
real swords. Kenjutsu practitioners do not usually use shinai in training,
preferring to use bokken (wooden
swords) or katana (steel swords) in order to preserve the cutting techniques
of real sword fighting. Kenjutsu
training largely consists of practising cutting technique and performing
partner kata. For safety reasons,
free-sparring is seldom practised with bokken or katana.
In some ryu, there is contact, which usually happens in a controlled manner
within a partner kata. Some of the
ryu use protective equipment, such as the gloves and head padding of the
Maniwa Nen Ryu. Others, Shinkage
Ryu in particular, use a fukuro shinai which is made of bamboo split into
many pieces at the end and completely
covered with leather.
Ueshiba-sensei was trained in many styles of bujutsu, including kenjutsu,
jojutsu and aikijutsu. He distilled and modified the myriad of techniques
he knew into modern aikido. Most modern students do not have the
time or inclination to learn the empty handed curriculum as well as
bokken and jo, so the concentration tends to be on the aiki techniques.
Even among those dojos which emphasize bokken, the techniques are
somewhat different from kenjutsu. Ueshiba-sensei's swordsmanship was
excellent, incidentally. Should you ever get an opportunity to watch
film of him with a bokken, take it.
According to some sources, Korea does have its own style of swordsmanship but
it is little practiced and mostly
lost. The older style seems quite circular and often incorporates kicks and
punches into the forms: it seems
related to Kumdo only in that a sword is used. During the 15th century
Japanese swords were imported in
significant numbers; previously Korean swords had been straight and mostly
double-edged. Most of the older
texts which survive label the weapons used as "Japanese swords" but may have
been showing older forms
incorporating the more modern weapon.
There used to be hundreds of kenjutsu ryu; only two dozen or so have survived
and they are mostly very small
organizations. One of the oldest is Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu. There
is also Itto Ryu, from which much of
modern kendo is derived. Here is a list of known surviving ryu compiled by
Antony Karasulas and Satoshi
Yokota:
1a. OK, then what is kenjutsu?
Generally (but not always)
in Japanese martial arts, the "do" forms
are those used to improve the self, while the "jutsu" forms concentrate
on teaching the techniques of war. Note that this is a modern convention, not
something that reflects historical usage of the suffixes: what we now call
kenjutsu may have once been referred
to as kendo. The jutsu/do terminology convention as used in the west was
largely popularized by Draeger.1b. Isn't bokken technique taught in aikido?
Yes, with qualifications. Not every aikido dojo offers qualified
instruction in actual sword techniques. Many of them use bokken
practice only as a way of better understanding the empty-handed
techniques, as these techniques are grounded in kenjutsu.
1c. What is kumdo?
Kumdo is the Korean pronounciation of kendo. Kendo was introduced to Korea by
the Japanese during the
occupation. After the Japanese left, the Koreans continued practicing using
slightly different gear and new
terminology. A considerable amount of revisionist history can be found
regarding Kumdo which can be attributed
to a strong nationalistic attitude, not to mention bitterness towards the
Japanese.1d. Are there different styles of kendo/kenjutsu?
Kendo is pretty much the same world-wide. Most dojos are governed by the
International Kendo Federation
(IKF), which grew from the Zen-Nippon Kendo Renmei (ZNKR, the All-Japan Kendo
Federation). There is a
second federation in Japan, not as popular, but the differences are more
political than technical.
kjartan@ii.uib.no